In an Instant it All Changed

It was in my tiny office in Northern Minnesota when everything changed. I was talking with my mentor when I realized that I had to share my passion for food with the world.

We had just finished my first introduction to personal development. They spoke a lot about legacies. What did you want to leave behind? How did you want to be remembered? This was the first time I'd ever taken that long term view of my purpose on this planet. I loved hearing and reading about others who had found their mission and were doing it better than anyone else on the planet. But I thought that was for everyone else. Not me. Did I really have a purpose? God really had a plan for me? (Spoiler Alert. Yes. And he has one for your life too.)

I looked at my role as an Environmental Health Officer with the Indian Health Service and I realized that I came close to my passion in the most cerebral, left brain kind of way. I learned about all the science of food safety. But I had missed the mark slightly.

I was a frontline witness to the hardships around food. The stories of kiddos going home to empty kitchens broke my heart. Not empty like my kitchen where I just didn't want to eat what I had. I mean empty, empty. Empty cupboards. Empty fridges. I spoke with the Kitchen staff at schools and they told me stories with tears in their eyes. How kids come up to them at the end of the school days asking if there is any food they could take home. Especially on long weekends, and school breaks. Because at school is the only place these kiddos got food. The food ran out before the line of kids did. School looking to create year-round schedules. Education aside, so they could feed the kids all year.

I spent days, weeks, and sleepless nights trying to figure out how to solve this issue. I know it isn't unique to Northern Minnesota. I chose the best option was to leave my government position and start a edible landscape design business. Design food into our landscapes and then teach kids how to identify food plants.

I had the best of intentions, but not the right mindset. I soon found ourselves in this position as I was expecting our first. I made a decision to myself and my son, late one night. We would never face this again, and we would strive to ensure others don't either. A lesson I learned from a reservation deep in northern MN, came to mind. As I spoke to a group of elders I was explaining the USDA's Food Desert grant program as a potential funding source for some of our gardening projects on the reservation. Unknowingly I had upset an elder. She looked at me and said, "FOOD DESERT?!?!?! Are you kidding me? We are surrounded by our traditional foods! We just need to re-learn how to gather them. Just because we don't have a grocery store that meets the USDA's definition, doesn't mean we don't live in a grocery store!" Lesson learned loud and clear!

Since then I've put all our extra resources into food plants. Perrenial food plants, and learning how to forage where we are. Moving to the Last Frontier has long been our dream, but has provided additional challenges to our commitment to producing food. But we are learning every day.

Another lesson I learned from my career with the Indian Health Service is how important nutrition is to the growth and development of our kiddos. Inspiring me to further my education into holistic nutrition. Having health issues myself, I've seen firsthand how nutrition can play into our mental, emotional, and physical health.

I'm so glad you're here to share in this learning journey with me. I learn something new every day! I love sharing what I learn in hopes that it helps you move faster on your learning journey. Together we got this!

xoxo

Megan