It’s that time of year that makes everyone start thinking about routines again.
School is starting, summer is winding down, schedules are getting a little more predictable, and maybe we’re all thinking about getting back into the rhythm of regular meals, packed lunches and family dinners.
For many families, this time of year means back to school. For us, it means something else.
Harvest.
And harvest has a way of changing the rhythm of our days and making us think about food in a completely different way.
The guys are spending long days in the field, and a big part of our day becomes thinking about food. What are we going to eat? What can I make ahead? What can I send out to the field? What do we have that needs to be used?
From the Farm to the Table
We practice regenerative agriculture on our farm, and one of the things I love most about it is that it makes us think about the whole food journey.
It starts with the soil. My husband, Paul, is kind of an expert on soil health and it’s become a big part of what we do around here.
Healthy soil helps us grow healthy crops, and those crops eventually become food that makes its way into someone’s kitchen and onto someone’s table.
When you’re involved in agriculture, it’s hard not to think about all of those steps.
Who grew it? Where did it come from? How was it raised? What went into producing it?
Because of this, we have a pretty big focus on cooking at home. Both Paul and I will cook for the family, and we try to make as much from scratch as possible (Paul can cook the best cast iron pan steak!). Don’t get me wrong, we grocery shop for our needs and sometimes life gets busy. But I found once you start reading ingredients and labels, it’s hard to stop. And once you start making your own food, you feel inspired to keep going.
Getting Back Into the Kitchen
It makes me so happy to see the movement of many of you wanting to get back to basics in the kitchen. I think that’s a really good thing. There is something special about making food yourself when you have the time.
There’s something satisfying about turning a few simple ingredients into bread, muffins, soup or supper. There’s something nice about knowing what went into the food you’re feeding your family. And there’s something even better about sitting down together to eat something you made.
It doesn’t have to be complicated.
Maybe this is the season to try making one thing you normally buy. Or maybe it’s simply making supper at home a couple more times a week.
Little things count.
I think that’s really what this all comes back to for us.
We care about agriculture. We care about healthy soil. We care about where our food comes from. And we care about helping people feel a little more connected to the food they’re putting on their tables.
That’s a big part of our “why” here at Birch Block Market.
We recently shared a few simple ideas on social media for anyone wanting to cook more from scratch, and I think this time of year is a pretty good time to try a few of them.
Not all of them. Not perfectly. Just start somewhere.
Because whether you’re packing school lunches, feeding a family after a long day, or sending supper out to the field during harvest, food has a funny way of bringing us back to what matters.
And for me, that’s one of the best parts of this season. The days are busy, the kitchen is busy, the fields are busy, but at the end of it all, there’s still something pretty special about gathering around the table and sharing a meal with people you care about.
