Dear Friends, “Stress will kill you,” said his doctor, this story recounted to me by a close friend long before COVID made anxiety the proverbial elephant in the room. For me, a Type A personality to the max, stress manifests in my sleep cycles. I wake up at 4:00 a.m., my mind racing. I know…
Dear Friends, January was farm meeting month. I’ve attended hours of Zoom meetings and virtual farmer meet-ups. (1) Now, I turn to summarizing the information for our farm team and our customers. The main theme of our discussions was how to use biology to solve our environmental and health problems. From the gut microbiome to…
Dear Friends, Yes, it’s the holiday season, marking the end of a disjointed, up and down year. Because of COVID, Bill and I are forgoing the seasonal house parties here at Mt. Folly. Instead of spend-the-nights, we are celebrating Christmas outside around a campfire, at the insistence of a retired doctor who always welcomes Christmas…
Dear Friends, Several Fridays ago, I tuned into a live-stream conference at the National Center for Complimentary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). The conference speakers reported on their research into the properties of full-spectrum hemp, under the title Exploring the Mechanisms Underlying Analgesic Properties of Minor Cannabinoids and Terpenes. Homestead customers may not know much about…
Dear Friends, By now you may realize that Laura’s Mercantile is part of an effort to build a regenerative agricultural system. For our part, this involves our regional Laura’s Homestead Alternatives accounts and our online store. In addition (this is Kentucky, right?) it also includes a distillery, Wildcat Willy’s! One of the key practices of…
Dear Friends, Yes, I’m stubborn. At a close friend’s birthday party, she circled her guests around, and recognized each of us for what she admired. Was I brilliant? No. Was I beautiful? No. I had the quality of “perseverance.” Let’s just say I’ve embraced my inner mule. Here, you see me with Bingo, our Jerusalem…
Dear Friends, Ever since I’ve been in business, I’ve been lucky enough to be the focus of good press coverage. But this month I was especially pleased by a story titled, “Local Jobs, Local Wealth and a Fix for Climate Change,” that appeared on the cover of The Lane Report (“Kentucky’s Business News Source.”) The…
Dear Friends, For me, at least, reality is setting in: with Covid, we are in for the long haul, until there is a widely available and effective vaccine. Having just started new businesses to complete our circular economy, particularly Wildcat Willy’s farm-to-table restaurant, the stressors on me and our teams are obvious. I have two…
Dear Friends, We are almost through with planting here at Mt. Folly, and my mind has turned to next year’s seeds. This May, to mark the Covid cancellation of the Kentucky Derby and increased demand for milled organic grains, Laura’s Mercantile sent Bloody Butcher corn seeds to our grain customers. During the lockdown, many of…
Dear Friends, It has been observed by many that Covid has exposed the nation’s food system, with metaphors ranging from the emperor with no clothes to naked swimmers at low tide. Seeing the bare shelves at our local grocery, then watching nightly news reports showing industrial farmers euthanizing thousands of pigs, has shown us to…