One thing I really miss since the overhaul of my diet is crunchy food. Sure, carrot sticks and celery batons have crunch … but it’s a different kind of crunch. A wet crunch. When I’m sitting in front of Project Runway or watching the latest Netflix has delivered, I want something crisp and crackly, a vehicle for some guacamole or something that substitutes for my fingernails during a scary zombie chase scene.

These flavorful flax crackers fit the bill perfectly.

I was introduced to flax seed crackers during a short stay at Canyon Ranch up in the Berkshires a couple years ago. The food there was great, but I don’t remember anything specific except for their flax crackers. Oh, and their lemonade in the workout rooms. I ate their flax seed crackers like potato chips … and came home two pounds heavier. Oh well.

Flax seeds are loaded with good stuff, including alpha linolenic acid, or ALA,  an omega-3 fatty acid that’s somewhat similar to the fatty acids found in oily fish (super good stuff if you’re vegetarian or vegan!) Omega-3 fatty acids are anti-inflammatory, which is good news for anyone suffering from conditions like arthritis or asthma. Flax seeds have lots of fiber … over 5 grams in two tablespoons. Lots of fiber in your diet = good digestive health + fewer hunger pangs during the day.

(Read more about all the health benefits of flax seeds here.)

Since my son likes to go out for pizza a lot, I need to bring foods with me that really satisfy my taste buds, because if I may be honest, there’s nothing I’d rather do than dive head-first into a Jay’s Heart pizza at the Flatbread Company and not come up for air until the whole pie is gone. But I can’t. These crackers help. They really do have a strong pizza-like flavor. I find that two or three large pieces can get me through the first few minutes after the pie is delivered to our table. They give me time to regroup and remind myself of how bad I’ll feel in a few hours if I eat wheat or dairy.

And these crackers really do taste damn good.

Pizza-flavored Flax Seed Crackers
Yield: about 12 large crackers

While these crackers will satisfy the munchies, don’t devour a whole plate full of them in one sitting — they’re loaded with fiber. Too much fiber in one sitting can not only be painful, but it will wreak hell on your social life. A dehydrator works best for this recipe, but you can also make the crackers in your oven set on the lowest heat setting.

1 cup golden flax seeds
1 small tomato, roughly chopped
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes, soaked in hot water for 15 minutes and drained
1/2 red pepper, roughly chopped
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 small clove of garlic
1 tsp. salt
A handful of fresh basil

Fit an “S” blade in the bowl of a your food processor. Add all ingredients to the bowl. Process for about 1 minute, stopping once to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Pour the flax seed mixture onto your nonstick dehydrator sheets. Using an offset spatula, smooth out the flax seed crackers until they’re even and about 1/4″ thick. At this point you can use the edge of your spatula to cut your crackers into sections; I don’t. I just break the large cracker apart with my hands.

Dehydrate for about 8 hours on the “nuts & seeds” setting. When the top of the cracker is nearly dry, peel off the sheet, turn over and dry for 2 to 4 more hours. The cracker should be completely dry and crisp. Break apart and store in an air-proof container.

(If you’re using an oven, spread the flax seed mixture out on a silicone baking sheet, such as a Silpat, set on a rimmed baking sheet. Set your oven on the lowest possible temperature — 150 degrees Fahrenheit on most ovens — and check every hour or so. When the top of the cracker is almost dry, peel it off the baking sheet and turn it over to dry on the other side.)

As a biker and someone who often has to eat on the run, I love healthy handheld foods like granola bars. They fit nicely into my bike pack, they’re easy to eat, and they give me energy when I need a boost, whether I’m tackling a steep hill or a long afternoon filled with errands.

Unfortunately, a lot of store-bought granola bars are loaded with too much sugar (including corn syrup), wheat (which I don’t eat), and raisins. Raisins are okay, but for some reason, I don’t like them, or other dried bits of fruit, in my granola bars. Moreover, for what’s in these little bars, they’re darned expensive. So I decided to make my own this summer.

I started with a recipe from Emily Franklin’s Too Many Cooks: Kitchen Adventures with 1 Mom, 4 Kids, and 102 Recipes and made a few modifications to suit my tastes. Here’s my version, with lots of chocolate flavor, no wheat, and a palatable price tag.

Chocolate Flax Granola Bars
Yield: 8 bars

The beauty of a recipe like this is that it begs for experimentation. Substitute hemp cereal for the flax cereal, or if you don’t like chocolate, use plain puffed rice and skip the chips. Don’t like pumpkin seeds? Add crushed hazelnuts or toasted almonds. And of course, raisins will work too.

3 1/2 tbsp. almond butter
3 tbsp. honey
3 1/2 tbsp. brown rice syrup
1 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chocolate flavored puffed rice (I use EnviroKidz Organic Koala Crisp cereal)
1/2 cup flax cereal (I use Perky’s Nutty Flax cereal)
1 1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats (not the instant kind!)
1/2 cup salted, roasted pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup miniature chocolate chips
Dash of ground cinnamon (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line an 8″ x 8″ baking pan with foil or a large sheet of parchment paper, leaving the ends hanging over one side so the bars can be lifted out of the pan after baking.

In a small saucepan, stir almond butter, honey, brown rice syrup, and brown sugar together over medium heat. When the sugar has melted and everything looks syrupy, take the pan off the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Set pan aside.

In a large bowl, stir together the puffed rice, flax cereal, oats, pumpkin seeds, chocolate chips and cinnamon, if using. Scrape the syrup mixture over the cereals and mix until all the grains are thoroughly coated and sticky with the syrup. Dump the mixture into the prepared baking pan.

Now wet your hands with cool water and press the mixture down into the pan evenly. When the cereal starts sticking to your fingers, wet your hands down again.

Bake for 22-25 minutes, checking at 20 minutes. Remove the bars from the pan by picking up the long ends of the foil or parchment paper, and let the bars cool on a baking rack. When totally cool, cut the bars into eight triangular bars. Wrap each bar in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

I blame my mother:

She’s a quilting fanatic and it looks like her fanaticism has finally rubbed off on me. This is my first attempt at real quilting, and I have to admit, I’m a wee bit proud of myself. I’ve done other “quilt-like” projects, but none have involved batting, or stippling the fabric, or binding edges with bias fabric.

The design of the pillow is not my own. A few months ago, I was stopped cold by the cover of a seasonal sewing magazine called Stitch, put out by the Quilting Arts folks. The photo of the pillow on the cover is what grabbed me. It was designed by a fiber artist in Austin, Texas, named Malka Dubrawsky. Go check her blog — she does amazing things with dyes and fabrics, and if you love this pillow design as I do, you’ll love her aesthetic.

Anyhoo, the directions for the pillow couldn’t have been easier. They were well written (something I find lacking in a lot of craft magazines) and everything was so clearly explained that even I, a home ec flunkie, had no trouble turning out a beautiful pillow of my own. I was so proud of my work when I finished it up last night that I carried the pillow around room to room so I could let my eye catch the colors as I tidied up.

I told my husband I was making it for a gift, but come on — it’s my first real quilting project. I can’t give it away now! Besides I made a couple of mistakes (the binding is not as lovely as I would like it) — the next pillow will be better.

Here’s the back:

P.S. This pillow is also my inaugural sewing project to receive a custom label from my workshop. I ordered them last week from Hong Kong. I feel so Seventh Avenue.

Since I’ve radically changed my diet and stopped doing so much professional recipe development, I’ve been spending less time in the kitchen, which leaves a lot more time for my other obsession: sewing! I put my sewing machine away soon after my son started walking, a little over six years ago, because I was afraid he’d put a pin in his mouth or slice himself with one of my rotary cutters. Now that he’s almost eight, I decided to drag everything back out … and boy, is it ever fun. There’s something about sewing that really relaxes me and puts me into the “zone.” Know what I’m talking about? Where you’re so involved in a project, you look up and realize it’s 2:30 … in the morning?

One of my “big” projects was a quilted blanket for a good friend of mine from college. Actually, the quilt was for her son Liam, born in December. It took me awhile to finish it, but here it is … my second attempt at “quilting.” I was pretty happy with it (loved the fabrics, which came in a little kit), but I hated working with the faux fur. My friend wrote to me after I sent it and said her little boy loved the fur, so it was worth it. Here’s the little guy enjoying his new blanket. Isn’t he the cutest little thing!!

Next up is something I finished this morning, an apron that I’m giving as a belated birthday gift. I liked the design of the pattern a lot (Butterick 4945), with the contrasting facing and band along the bottom. My son picked out the material — not what I would have picked out, but I think he did a good job picking a polka dot contrast against the ladybug material. (The apron is seriously wrinkled in the photo — I wanted to take a photo of it outdoors before it started raining again.)

While I love the design, I’m not sure I’ll make this apron again. It was a little too fiddly for my tastes, with all the hand whipstitching along the facings. However, I watched the YouTube video that Barbara at Cat Fur Studio posted about her experience sewing this apron, and it looks like I made more work for myself by following the pattern’s directions. So maybe I’ll give this apron another shot; I got back from our local quilt shop not 15 minutes ago and have already fallen in love with some Kaffe Fasset prints that would look lovely made into this apron.

Okay, speaking of aprons — I do have some new food recipes to post, which I’ll get to throughout the next couple days, including one for yummy gluten-free vegan lemon poppyseed muffins.

Spring fever has hit me hard this year, and I’ve been spending whole days outside, digging out and fertilizing gardens, putting plants in my container gardens, and doing yard cleanup after a brutal winter. I’m hoping to avoid the produce section of my local grocery store as much as possible this summer by participating in our CSA, as well as growing a significant amount of food, including lettuces, kale, swiss chard, spinach, and green beans. Our first home-grown harvest should be ready in a few weeks … that is, if the damned groundhogs don’t get to harvesting first!

As for health and weight loss, both continue to improve. I’m free of any PA symptoms – woo hoo! – and I’m down 22.5 lbs. since January. Yesterday my mother came up from Connecticut and was teasing me about my butt crack — yep, my size 8 boy-cut Levi jeans are falling off my hips. And now people I see every day are starting to notice … mostly it was just friends and family who hadn’t seen me in awhile. It’s really nice because it’s not, “Wow, you’ve lost weight” but “You look great! Tell me what you’re doing …” People really seem interested, and I’m always happy to evangelize about good, wholesome food.

OK, recipes. I said I’d start posting them, and here’s something you soy-eating vegetarians will like. Last year, I became addicted to the golden sesame tofu in Whole Foods’ prepared foods case. These rectangular slices of tofu are fried until they’re golden, then covered in toasted sesame seeds and glazed with a slightly sweet/salty sauce with just a hint of heat from hot red pepper flakes. They’re also kind of expensive — something like $7.99 a pound. Since tofu’s cheap — and so am I — I decided to replicate the recipe at home. It took a few tries, but I think I’ve nailed it.

I’m pretty sure the Whole Foods’ folks fry their tofu in lots of oil, because all six sides are crisp/chewy. I just use a little oil and fry on two sides. I’ve also used a silcone basting brush to lightly coat each side of the tofu with oil, then cooked them on a grill pan. Yum, but it doesn’t give the tofu that chewy coating I like. If you’re watching your fat intake, you can skip the cornstarch dusting and bake the tofu in a 350 degree F oven for 20 to 25 minutes with the sauce, turning the tofu every 10 minutes or so, checking that the sauce isn’t burning (add water if it’s getting too dark). The tofu will have no chew at all, and the sauce will get thick and sticky, but it’s still yum.

Instead of stuffing these slices of tofu in my mouth like I do when I’m at Whole Foods, I pack them in a plastic container and store them in my fridge for lunches. I cut them up into tiny cubes to add flavor interest to salads — when I put them on top of a potluck salad at Easter, tasters asked me about the delicious croutons … umm, I didn’t have the heart to tell them. This wasn’t a tofu-loving crowd. They also make great sandwich stuffers.

Golden Sesame Tofu
Yield: 4 servings

The Whole Foods version has scallions in it. I’m not a huge fan of scallions, so I skip them. The secret here is the cornstarch … it gives the tofu its chewy coating, but you have to sprinkle it over the tofu evenly and with a light hand; otherwise it’ll get gloppy. Since I make this recipe a lot, I put cornstarch in a fine-mesh shaker; it gives me excellent control when I’m coating the tofu. You’ll find toasted sesame oil and mirin in the Asian sections of well-stocked supermarkets.

1/4 cup raw sesame seeds
14-oz. extra firm tofu
1/4 cup cornstarch
Canola or peanut oil, for frying

For sauce:
2 tbsp. agave nectar (for vegans) or honey
3 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. minced fresh ginger root
2 tsp. toasted sesame oil
2 tbsp. mirin (Japanese sweet cooking wine)
2 garlic cloves, minced
Dusting of crushed red chili flakes, to taste

Heat a fry pan over medium-high heat. Add sesame seeds and toast until golden and fragrant, stirring frequently. Remove pan from heat and place sesame seeds in small bowl to cool.

Remove tofu from package and drain. Press the tofu gently between the palms of your hands to squeeze out water, then wrap the tofu in paper towels, place it on a plate, then put a another plate on top of it. Place a 28-oz. can of tomatoes or a cast iron fry pan on the plate. This will press out any remaining water from the tofu. Let sit for 20 minutes or so.

Unwrap the tofu and slice into eight rectangular slices. To make even slices, I slice the block of tofu in half, then half each half, and then half each quarter. Make sense? Then dust the slices with tofu evenly with cornstarch on all sides.

Heat about 2 tbsp. of oil in your fry pan over medium high heat. Add the tofu slices, but don’t crowd the pan. You might have to fry in batches. Fry until the tofu is a light golden color, approximately 2 minutes, then turn the tofu over to cook another 2 minutes on the other side. Remove to drain on paper towels. If frying in batches, add more oil to the pan. Note: it is normal for the tofu to splatter, so wear an apron if you don’t want to ruin your clothes.

While the tofu is frying, stir together the agave nectar/honey, soy sauce, gingerroot, sesame oil, mirin and garlic together in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until slightly syrupy, about 5 minutes or so. Remove from heat and set aside.

Place tofu in glass container to hold. Pour sauce over tofu and turn to coat. Dust tofu with toasted sesame seeds and turn again to coat. Season with crushed red chili flakes. Can be served warm or chilled. Will keep for about 5 days refrigerated.

Well, it’s a long story (so I’ll save the super-duper long version for the book … no, really!) but for now I’ll give you the long version.

I’ve been having problems with sore feet for the past couple years — blamed it on aging, wearing the wrong shoes, etc., etc.) — but then early this winter, I noticed my 2nd and 4th toes were swollen, red, and itching like hell around the toenails. I assured myself it probably had something to do with my regular pedicures at the salon, so I ditched those, but the swelling and itching got worse. Down deep, I knew what the problem was. It was the family curse.

You see, my maternal grandfather, in his late 40s/early 50s, was diagnosed with psoriasis, an autoimmune disorder that attacks the skin. He had one of the worst cases doctors had ever seen. A lot of psoriasis patients only get patches of psoriasis, and they can be covered by shirts or pants. Not my grandfather. He had it everywhere — not only on his trunk, but his hands, feet, scalp, and arms. You couldn’t not notice it, and believe me, everyone noticed it. By the time I was old enough to realize what was wrong with him, he’d become immune to the stares, the whispers, the withdrawn handshakes. Not I. I used to get angry when people did these things. When I was eight, I remember someone snidely offering that my grandfather had leprosy. I went ape on them, then ran into the house, crying. He suffered for over 20 years with this horrible, disfiguring disease, basically becoming a human pincushion for every skin and immune disorder specialist in New England. In his mid-70s, he finally died of septicemia, a result of infection getting into his body through the open lesions on his skin.

Then ten years ago, my mother was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, also an autoimmune disorder. Let me just say that this was one of the cruelest diagnoses for her to get because before she got sick, she was a total shoe-a-holic. Imelda was an amateur next to this woman. The rheumatoid attacked her feet, and today she has to order special shoes — not Jimmy Choos, but these ugly clodhoppers from medical supply companies. Years of taking all the new advanced drugs for rheumatoid haven’t alleviated the symptoms of the disease, never mind “cured” it. (Rheumatoid, along with psoriasis, are “incurable” according to medical specialists.) On top of this, she also has the psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.

And that’s what I have, the psoriatic arthritis. Or I should say, “had.” I’m one of the rare folks who only had the arthritic symptoms, not the skin lesions (although I’ve been assured by the medical community it’s only a matter of time). What choices did I have to control the swelling and itching? A drug that would mean a blood test every six months to see if it was destroying my liver.

Something snapped. It was a long-time coming, a moment when I could see every health problem in my past rushing up to me, screaming out for attention. I remembered a childhood filled with hives and eczema, my teen years with my parents spending thousands of dollars on dermatologists to help control the seborrheic dermatitis in my hair and eyebrows, and on my fingers and lips. And even in adulthood, the strange rashes would come and go,  I got asthma attacks throughout my 30s, and then flattened by pain and lethargy in my early 40s.

Something had to change, and I wasn’t going to take drugs to fix it. I’ve seen what these drugs can do first-hand. Basically, nothing beneficial. Since I know my family has a history of autoimmune diseases, and I know that autoimmune disorders are relatively recent diseases (meaning they didn’t exist until the early 1800s or so — industrialization folks?), I suspected that my environment was triggering a predisposition in my genes. And dammit, I wasn’t going down without a fight.

I spent weeks doing research, focusing on diet. The medical community generally agrees that autoimmune disorders cannot be influenced by diet. However, there are some doctors who do believe diet has a huge affect on them, namely Joel Furhman, MD (who is now something of a hero to me). When I read Eat to Live, more lightbulbs went on in my head. I’ve always been a totally dairy girl — hey, I grew up in Vermont! And then I read that fruits/veggies from the nightshade family and citrus fruits can trigger some anti-immune responses. The hair on my arms stood up when I found that out — I’ve always broken out into terrible rashes eating tomatoes … eggplant makes my mouth itch … and citrus, well, I won’t tell you what a glass of orange juice does to my digestive system. It’s not pretty.

So I designed my own diet, but took it slow. First, I weaned myself off artificial sweeteners. That meant drinking my six morning coffees without Splenda. No problem. I substituted with agave nectar. Then came the day to unhook myself from caffeine. Again, I went slowly, weaning myself down to one cup of coffee a day, then finally switching to tea. Then I went cold. I did have some caffeine withdrawal symptoms, weirdly enough, weeks after I stopped the tea. But then I realized I’d become so caffeine sensitive that the occasional tablespoon of cacao chips I slipped into my morning smoothie were messing with my system, so out went the cacao.

Then came the elimination of white sugar, white flour/wheat, dairy, and processed foods. This wasn’t so hard because by now, I was starting to feel a lot better. (This was maybe two weeks in.) My feet weren’t hurting, the swelling had gone down in my toes, and they didn’t itch as much. Plus, I’m not much of a junk food junkie, detest fast food, and dislike soda, sweetened or diet. At the same time, I started drinking smoothies for breakfast, filled with fruits and veggies like kale, spinach, mango, bananas, and hemp seed, and eating monstrously huge green salads, topped with beans or seasoned tofu and drizzled with delicious dressings I’d been developing in my kitchen. I’d replaced the morning coffee with dandelion tea topped with a splash of Rice Dream. (Seriously, I’m writing this thinking, “Di, are you mad? A year ago you would have laughed at these dreadful concoctions.” But when you feel like your back’s up to the wall, you can get used to anything.)

I used to be a vegetarian in my 20s. Over the last year, I’d been toying with going back to it, but figured it would be too difficult living with two rapacious carnivores. Finally, I made the decision to cut out meat, as well as eggs. Hell, I thought — I’m going to go whole hog here, pardon the pun, and go vegan! Upon which declaration at a family dinner, my younger brother David insisted that PETA had finally robbed me of my brain.

On top of this, I don’t drink alcohol.

So basically I’m a teetotaling gluten-free vegan(ish) eat who avoids citrus and plants from the nightshade family — tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and potatoes. I say “ish” because I’m not sure I could pass up a small taste of wild Alaskan salmon at some point. I joke with people that I’m on the Gorilla Diet because sometimes I feel like I’m eating what the zookeepers toss into the primate cage.

And I’m here to tell you over the last few months, I’ve been eating some of the best meals of my life, which I’m going to start sharing with you on this blog. I’ve been having a blast trying to make the most of the bounty before me — and it is a bounty! — and I hope you’ll stick around for the new Diana Cooks.

Oh yeah, the psoriatic arthritis. It’s gone. My feet look (and feel) completely normal. Back in February I went to Texas and showed my mother-in-law the last little bit of redness on my toe, and  here it is April, and there’s not red spot anywhere on my body, tootsies included. My skin glows. I’ve lost 16.5 18.5 lbs. since January, and continue to lose about 1/2 to 1 lb. per week. I eat three hearty meals a day and I’m never hungry. On top of all this, I FEEL AMAZING. For the first time in years, I feel like I can think clearly and focus on projects. I have tons of energy. I notice that I’m much more calm and mellow (I’m a redhead — I flare up easily!). My monthly bouts of PMS and cramps? Gone. Friends who haven’t seen me in awhile are looking at me and saying, “Wow, what did you do? You look great!” (That’s always motivating!) One of my doctors suggested that I start walking a mile a day. That was in January … now I’m walking/running 3 to 4 miles a day, and this week, I started at-home weight training. (I dumped the gym membership — my new motto is keep it simple.) And cheap. Our food budget has been slashed. Beans, brown rice, fresh vegetables, and fruit just don’t cost as much as processed food, meat, and dairy. And drumroll … my seven-year-old son now wants to be a vegetarian. I didn’t push him into it. He went there on his own. He’s finding his own way and we’re experimenting with a lot of different flavors and dishes, but I’m really excited about this. Even my meat-loving man has started asking me about stuff like agar-agar and date sugar.

Ok, so that’s the story. In a few days I’ll start posting recipes — maybe even some video!

I was reading CNN.com this a.m. when an article about five ways to keep Alzheimer’s at bay grabbed my attention. Here’s one line that made me rub my eyes:

“Small, who’s 57, says that as he gets older, he might also try eating more foods with curry in them.”

Hello? Did anyone copyedit this story? Curry isn’t an ingredient; it refers to a spicy sauced dish. I can only assume they mean “curry powder,” a blend of turmeric, cinnamon, cumin, and other spices, since I doubt they were talking about the “curry leaf,” a distinctive lemony herb common to southern Indian cuisine. Here, it would be helpful (and more accurate) to point out the exact spices and herbs used in the research study. My guess is that turmeric with its anti-inflammatory properties is the hero of the day.

My gosh, if I could add “curry” to my foods, I’d be dumping it on everything.

When my husband and I married, our friends Chris and Melanie gave us a waffle iron as a wedding gift. Waffle irons, along with toasters, are often the butt of wedding jokes, but for us, this was a perfect gift. We adore waffles and make them nearly every weekend.

At first we struggled to find the right recipe. Sometimes the waffles would come out wet and eggy; other times they were as crisp and dry as fall leaves. We even gave boxed mixes a try with disappointing results. Finally, we found the perfect waffle recipe in Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything. He gives two recipes: one for raised, which include a bit of yeast, and a quick version without yeast. My husband and son prefer the taste of the quick version, and since I’m the one whipping these up in our cold, early morning kitchen, so do I. The trick is the folding in of two whipped egg whites, which give the waffles their airy constitution. Sometimes I get lazy and don’t bother whipping the egg whites, and you know what? They’re just as tasty, although not quite as light. These waffles freeze beautifully, too, making it easy to have a waffle breakfast during the week.

Quick Waffles
Adapted from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman
Yield: 12 waffles

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 T sugar
1 T baking powder
1 1/2 cups milk (sometimes I substitute buttermilk)
2 eggs, yolks and whites separated
4 T butter melted or 1/4 cup oil
1 t vanilla extract

In a large bowl, preferably one with a pouring lip, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder.

In another bowl, whisk the milk, egg yolks, melted butter and vanilla together. Stir the milk mixture into the dry ingredients until just combined; do not overmix. It’s okay to see little clumps of flour at this point.

Whip the two egg whites until stiff. Fold 1/3 of the whites into the waffles to lighten them up. Then fold in the remaining whites. Cook the waffles according to your waffle iron’s directions.

I’ve been shopping at Verrill Farm since I moved up to Boston from Connecticut over ten years ago. I used to work in Concord, so it was easy for me to slip over to their farmstand for corn or tomatoes. It’s a little more difficult for me to get over there now that I’m farther north, but it’s always a pleasure to go there. They had what seemed like dozens of varieties of heirloom tomatoes each August. Even my son has always loved it here, the kid who whines at nearly every food place I visit. We have dozens of snapshots taken through the years of him playing on the wooden tractor next to the farmstand. Last year, I wrote a story for the Boston Globe about a small pasture-raised chicken operation being run by the Verrill’s farm manager and his wife. You can’t live in the northwest suburbs and not know Verrill Farm.

I was horrified when I learned the Verrill’s farmstand burned down last weekend. Today, this was forwarded to me from the Massachusetts Farm and Market Report. Normally I don’t blog press releases, but I’m making an exception:

A Note From Steve Verrill of Verrill Farm, Concord:

We want to thank everyone in this community and beyond for the over whelming support after our devastating fire at the farm stand on last Saturday, September 20. Fortunately, the fields were untouched. We are harvesting our crops daily and will be selling corn, tomatoes, pumpkins, mums and more from our wagon and tents along Wheeler Road from 9 am – 6 pm every day. In addition, a temporary building has been put up here. Although the selection will be smaller than at the farm stand, you will find familiar items including our own baked goods, produce and other items. Many of you have asked how you can help. One important way is to shop at our temporary stand which supports both the farm and our employees. And, for those of you who would like to contribute to the rebuilding of the stand, we have set up a special account, the Verrill Farm stand Fund, at the Middlesex Savings Bank, 1208 Main Street, West Concord, MA 01742,  Steve Verrill.

Opportunities to Support Verrill Farm:    http://www.verrillfarm.com/fundraising.html
Fund Raising Events

Thanks to all of you who are planning benefits for the Verrill Farm stand Fund. Events will be posted here as we learn about them. We appreciate your thoughtful support.

Saturday, October 4
Acton Oktobertfest
The Acton Farmers Market group is setting up a raffle at the Oktoberfest. Proceeds will go to the Farm stand Fund.

Sunday, October 5th from noon – 3pm
The Old Manse on Monument Street
Farmers Market: A cooperative effort of over a dozen local farms. Proceeds will be donated to the Farm stand Fund.

Sunday, October 19, 2 – 5 pm
Main Street Market & Cafe
Musical group Two for the Show, which regularly performs at Verrill Farm events, is arranging a benefit of musicians. Proceeds will go to the Farm stand Fund.

Loweco Polar Fleece Clothing
Betsy Lowe of Loweco will donate some of the proceeds from her December Barn Boutique Show to the Farm stand Fund.

Verrill Farm is operated as a partnership between Stephen and Joan Verrill and daughter Jennifer Verrill Faddoul. Our farm consists of about 200 acres in Concord and Sudbury. One hundred acres are prime farmland and 100 acres are wildlife habitats, woodlands, and wetlands. Steve’s father and mother moved to Concord in 1918 and started a successful dairy business. In 1957, upon graduation from Cornell University, Steve assumed operation of the farm. In 1982, after years of planning and negotiations, about 200 acres were placed under an Agricultural Preservation Restriction, thus preventing development of this land. This long term commitment gave sharper focus to our agricultural enterprises.

In 1990, the dairy herd was sold and plans began to replace the existing tent retail space with a new farm stand, which was built in 1995. Our location at 11 Wheeler Rd. in Concord now includes retail space for produce, specialty foods and gifts, and a large kitchen/bakery providing high quality baked goods, entrees, homemade soups, and salads.

***

So if there was ever a reason to go out of my way to shop at Verrill’s, this is it. They’ll be seeing more of me this fall.

ETA 11/20/08: My heart breaks to report this but I just learned that Lori Hall Steele passed away last night. My deepest sympathies to her young son, mother, and extended family and friends.

Ok, ok … I know this is a food blog, but I’m a food writer by trade, a freelance one at that. And I’m here to ask for your help. (This is what I blogged over at my writing website, The Renegade Writer, today.)

I’m not a big reader of essays, but earlier this year I was pointed to an essay at the Washington Post written by Lori Hall Steele, a freelance writer I know from Freelance Success. By the end of her essay, my heart felt as if it were going to break in two. Go ahead. Read it. I’ll be curious what you think. And don’t read any more of my post until you go read it.

Ok now. Here’s the deal. A few months ago, I was stunned to learn that Lori had been diagnosed with a particularly brutal case of Lyme Disease. She couldn’t work, and when you don’t work as a freelancer, you don’t get money and you can’t pay bills. Her friends in Michigan held a benefit for her. I thought things might get better, but recently I found out they were only getting worse. Her doctors were now leaning toward a diagnosis of ALS, or Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, a progressive neurodegenerative illness.

Lori’s financial resources are exhausted. She’s gotten funding from ASJA (the American Society of Journalists and Authors) and just got another emergency grant from them, but it’s not enough. (You can read more detail about Lori’s plight here.) She’s days away from losing her home. At this point, Lori not only can’t work, she’s bedridden and using a ventilator to breathe.

I wracked my brain trying to figure out a way to raise more money so that Lori doesn’t have to worry about losing her home, not when she’s fighting for her life. My suggestion was a blog-a-thon, which I’m starting here. Below is a PayPal button where you can donate directly to Lori. Please please please click on it and give generously. (There’s also a button on the blog started by Lori’s friends in Michigan.) If you blog, consider adding this button to your site and blogging a bit about Lori … let’s spread the word and see what we can do for her and her son. Right after I post this, I’m going to write to every writing blogger I can think of. I know that the power of virtual communities can do good things. My heart breaks thinking about Lori’s words in her Washington Post piece:

“I tell him I’ll always be here for him, one way or another. Always always always. Just like my mother is here for me. Just like I was there when he was 3. It is an impossible promise, a gamble with his trust. I secretly pray I don’t let him down, not on this.”

Please, give what you can spare. $25 is a week’s worth of fancy coffee drinks for some of us. I know times are tight — they are around here — but they’re nowhere near as bad as they are for other folks.

[db]