In the spirit of spring, let’s celebrate simplicity— both realized and aspirational. It’s not always easy to eat in alignment with our values, every single day, at every single meal, but we continue striving, because it’s important on so many levels.
As always, putting together the spring issue of Edible Madison feels like an act of hope that a warmer, greener season will actually arrive. It’s a blizzard-y ice storm outside as I write this letter. How can it be true that spring is “just around the corner” and will begin to show the first signs of itself right around the time this issue hits newsstands in a few weeks? But that’s the mind game of a long Wisconsin winter. Lucky for us, it will indeed end and spring will arrive, along with the promise of fresh foods, garden time and, most important, thawing out our bones.
In true spring spirit, this issue of Edible Madison celebrates simplicity—both realized and aspirational. It’s not always easy to eat in alignment with our values, every single day, at every single meal. But the articles in this issue give us a boost of inspiration to continue striving, because it’s important on so many levels.
We honor one of the simplest foods on the planet in Andy Radtke’s “Coop Yard Ponderings: The Chicken and the Egg” (p. 24), as he explores this amazing food and all that goes into getting those little beauties into your refrigerator. In “Back of the House: Pasture and Plenty” by Jim Klousia and Kaisa Cummings (p. 30), we give you a photo tour of all that Christy McKenzie and her team have going on in support of our local farmers, including sustainably packaged meal kits and a beautiful space that is home to an incredible array of offerings. It’s literally a one-stop-shop for engagement with locally sourced foods in any way you choose to enter.
In Dylan Bruce’s “Facing the Future Together: The Evolving Landscape of CSA” (p. 40), we dive into perhaps one of simplest concepts of all: being directly connected to the farmers who grow your food. Yet this isn’t as simple as it may seem. Dylan brings us an update from CSA farmers and reminds us how important it is to purchase direct and be engaged. As we learned from Shizue RocheAdachi’s article in our winter 2018 issue, it’s critical that we understand the realities our farmers face and stick with them through the seasonal ups and downs.
As the world comes back to life this spring, let’s face the 2019 growing season alongside our farmers, keeping in mind all of the winter planning they’ve done and all of the hard work they will put into creating the best foods in the entire country, right here in Southern Wisconsin. Thank you, farmers!
With Gratitude,
Jamie Lamonde
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
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