Know your farmer. Know your food. Create a vibrant community!

I have a small group of 'friends' on Facebook (primarily family including my terrific nieces and nephews, now all in their mid-20's to early 30's - yikes! how did that happen?). I don't post up a lot on Facebook, just occasional short clips from my brain. Frankly, I prefer blogging because I like having a chance to expand on my thoughts, rather than keeping them short and clipped!

However, I'll post here today what I put on Facebook this morning. It is about as short as I can be (and I was surprised that I wasn't told to shorten it up). It included a link to an article in today's New York Times about the emergence of a new generation of farmers.

"Dick and I are not helping to push down the average age of new farmers, but it deeply satisfying to know that we are working together with these young people who are committed to creating healthier and more vibrant communities with organic farming. 'Know your farmer; know your food'."

More snow and ice last night here in Michigan. Winter is not quitting. I'm still recovering from the "cold from xxxxx" that, ironically, I caught last week when at the MOSES organic farming conference in LaCrosse, WI. While being mostly self-confined to home (and even bed!), I have taken the time to sort more stuff before we move out to our farm. I have deeply enjoyed pulling out the piles and piles of letters and cards and photos and articles that people have sent to me over the past 14 years since first publishing my book A Dietitian's Cancer Story, some as far back as 1997, its first year of publication.

I will love carrying all those "good vibes" with me going forward (even as I recycle most of the paper) to do our part creating a healthy and vibrant community in a new way, with the food from our organic farm, in addition the circle I've created by my book, website, and blogs. So don't feel badly if you are not part of my tiny Facebook group. I enjoy writing for and connecting with you, i.e., my much larger community, through these other avenues.

Now back to sorting (again). Step, step, step..........!

"Cultivate your life - you are what you grow - inch by inch, row by row"

Diana Dyer, MS, RD