Thursday, March 8, 2012

...And an Organic Farm

One of the many changes that I had mentioned in the previous post is the fact that I have moved to an Organic Farm. I had decided to post this later, but seeing as it snuck its way into the HTML address, I thought I'd go ahead with it. I'm in a sweet little house with a sun-room for my art, helping the owners of the property with farm-chores and gearing up for the vegetable season. I'm 15 or 20 minutes from work, having ousted the hour commute from my life. I have a little gym inside the guest-room, with a benchpress, and a place where I can leave my freeweights and kettlebells. I have thousands of acres of core-of-engineer-land to run. I can listen to the forest, its just out the back, past the horses.

There are goats: Yitzy and Yaya, India and Arie. Yitzy hurt her foot the other day. There is a chicken-yard and we get 7-10 eggs a day. There are horses, a pony, two pigs and six dogs.

So here it is: One new adventure, in which I will try my hand at growing things and will be so much more connected to the earth and the sun. I will be the best farm-hand I can be-- and I will become stronger and happier. Here we go, right?

COMING UP SOON: Ode 003, and a new Product Pick

Chocolate, Tea, and Your Personal Grocery-Store Bodyguard (you can call me Betty)*

So, my friends, since we have last talked, many changes have seeped into my life like watercolors and told me that some things are going to be different. All for the better, but definitely different.

I had mentioned quite a while back that one of my goals was to be more forthcoming with who I am and what my life is, and I believe that this is a very good time. I am Shaleah, the Tea, Chocolate, and Hosewares Specialist at Whole Foods in Fairview, Texas. While I believe that mentioning your workplace specifically can be a touchy subject, I have decided that with the amount of Primal/Paleo people that I have helped at work, I would be good to do so.

I'd also like to welcome you all to my blog! There are a lot of guests from the local boxes-- CrossFit FX TX, CrossFit 380, and West Plano CrossFit.

Being the store's resident cave-chick, I have kind of an awesome opportunity. I have worked with the company for a while, coming from the Parkway store in Arlington, TX before this one, in which I was on the grocery team. I have read nearly every label in the store, and an generally quite used to what is 'safe' for our beliefs**. I would love to become your resource. Depending on what your views are-- ie: how strict, your allergies, what you love, what you hate-- I can help you find exactly what you want and what you do not. No cheese? Raw cheese, goat cheese, sheep cheese? No sugar? Pure stone-ground Mexican chocolate with only three ingredients (cough, Taza)? Chicken stock without yeast extract? Tomato sauce without sugar? Unsweetened almond milk? Macadamia-nut ''hummus''? Roasted red peppers without canola oil? It can be a dangerous and dodgy world to traverse! I'm even considering building very specific paleo-safe shopping lists that someone in a hurry can come grab or download without having to read every label.

Okay, okay-- this is not an advertisement here. I'm not here with any sort of ill-intent, nor am I a salesmen. But working where I do, I am in a position to be there for ya. Its just me extending a strong hand and telling you-- look here, you have a buddy. You have a buddy who knows stuff about stuff and you have a buddy who comes bearing chocolate and tea. I mean, if you're into that kind of thing.

Come see me at the coffee bar and we'll see what we can do!



*( first person to get the reference in the title gets a free high-five.)
** (That being said, I take pride in being able to help everyone who needs help. I can help a vegan find a chai without honey, I can help a mom find a nut allergen-free granola, I can help some guy find an interesting new beer, and I can tell someone all about our Waxahachie Local Honey.)