“Bob put me through my workout paces and encouraged a lifestyle bullet around eating whole foods (long before I’d ever heard of the story that shares that name and mission).
I resisted. But even as different diets came and went, his advise remained consistent and wise: Eat foods that make you thrive.
A few years ago, I finally got the big aha and started growing my own vegetables. And what began with a few rows of lettuce, some tomatoes, and basil (my favorite herb) in my backyard in Santa Barbara eventually became a genuine farm in Maui. My gardening interest grew into a passion…
In rural Mississippi, where I was born, a garden meant survival. In Nashville, where I later lived, my father always cleared a “patch” by the side of our house, where he would grow collard greens, tomatoes, crowder peas, and butter beans.
Today that’s my favorite meal; add some cornbread and I’m clicking my heels. But when I was say girl, I saw no value in eating freshly grown foods. “Why can’t we have store bought food like other people?” I’d complain. I wanted my vegetables to come from the “valley of the jolly- ho, ho, ho- Green Giant”! Having to eat from the garden made me feel poor.
I now know for sure how blessed I was to have access to fresh food- something not every family today can take for granted.
Thank you, Lord, for growth.
I’ve worked hard to sow the seeds for a life in which I get to keep expanding my dreams. One of those dreams is for everyone to be able to eat fresh food that goes from farm to table- because better food is the foundation for a better life.”-From, “What I Know For Sure” By: Oprah Winfrey