It's been a while since I posted on here, but I was waiting so I could share some exciting news. Lots going on in my world, most of it good!
As I wrote about back in January, I am passionately involved in helping my friends over at Comfort Farm to get the word out about the wonderful work they do with veterans and the wonderful organic produce and heritage meats they grow.
A wonderful online magazine, The Cook's Cook, just posted my article Veterans Find Strength and Healing at Comfort Farms. Of all the articles I have ever written, for online or print publications, I am most proud of this one, for several reasons. One, I wholeheartedly believe in Jon Jackson and the incredible work he does at Comfort Farms. Two, I spent a lot of time trying to craft a really impactful article, and discuss not just the veteran aspect but the aspects of organic, sustainable produce, community involvement with the farm, and the importance of knowing where your meat comes from and how it is raised. Three, the editor told me the article needed no editing. (Perhaps only another writer would understand how rare that is!)
I was also delighted to see that my neighbor and friend Carlisle Kellam wrote a terrific piece about visiting Comfort Farms and taking the wonderful photos for the article. Check out Making a Connection at Comfort Farms. Carlisle has many talents, including being a terrific writer, as well as photographer and filmmaker.
Carlisle and I often see each other out walking around in the neighborhood -- him walking his little boys and me walking my dog Lola -- and when I got involved with Comfort Farms I wanted to get him involved, too. We spitballed the idea of making a documentary about Jon's journey to start and grow Comfort Farms itself, which is a remarkable story of faith and perseverance.
After discussing it a bit we decided to go for it. Carlisle has experience making documentaries, and that's critical. I have experience writing films (from years ago, although I was never great at it) but more importantly I could contribute by producing the film. My role is in the background, raising money and finding place to show the film.
So here's the exciting part. YOU can be a part of the documentary! Click on THIS PAGE and read about the documentary and you can buy a cool tee shirt or sweatshirt or mug with the Comfort Farms logo, or you can simply contribute towards helping us pay for the documentary.
Carlisle is donating his time, and so am I, but to do it right he will need to hire and pay a crew, and then there are fees to enter it into film festivals all over the country.
The aim of making it, of course, is to bring attention to Comfort Farms and hopefully encourage folks to donate, plus encourage them to buy foods from Comfort Farms. Jon has a lot of great plans for Comfort Farms.
If money is tight but you still want to be a part of things, check out the Comfort Farms Documentary Facebook page, or the Comfort Farm community page.
I hope to be able to post soon that we raised all the money for the film and are shooting footage!
Finally, I wanted to let everyone know that Comfort Farms is hosting a very cool event in a few weeks, a Boucherie. Here's more about it, from Jon:
On April the 14th and 15th we are holding our First annual Le Pied Du Mont Boucherie Festival. It's a an educational Fundraiser to bring the community together to see the talent of our Veterans, Farmers, Butchers and Chefs work together to educate the public on the importance of supporting local. The $150 ticket covers two people and will give you a share in all of the livestock, farm produce, wine and craft beer tasting along with the low Country boil and Boucherie. It works out to approximately $35 a day for each person to attend. If you ever wanted to experience the ins and out of farm life and the see first hand the hard work of what our veterans, chefs, farmers and butchers do everyday... This is the event for you. From making sausage, porchetta, fresh crackling and roasted lamb over an open fire pit paired with seasonal veggies from the Dirt Farmers and wine from our region... You will be immersed in to an atmosphere of education that taps into all of your senses. Primitive camping is allowed. This is a zero waste event designed to utilize everything the event has to offer to include using biodegradable plates and sporks that can be turned into work food. Purchase your tickets today and we look forward to seeing you at our 2018 Le Pied Du Mont Boucherie Festival!
