The beauty of ‘food as medicine’ is that the choice to heal and promote health can begin as soon as the next meal. ~ unknown

Happy March! I am so thankful that spring is right around the corner. I love living in Virginia—being able to fully experience all of the seasons—but I am usually ready for one to end and another to begin. And how I love seeing the Earth reawaken from her slumber, as the seedlings sprout up and blossoms burst forth. It gets me excited about planting the garden and the prospect of more local produce becoming readily available. This issue is our special food issue and I am pleased to share with you some wonderful articles about plant-based eating, farmers markets and fermenting. We have highlighted three local businesses that aim to provide food as medicine; I hope you will seek them out and support their efforts. All of our advertisers work tirelessly to provide goods and services that support healthy living on a healthy planet, and they make this free resource possible—please show them some love.

This is a special spring for me as it is my oldest son’s last semester of college. We have been lucky to have him only an hour or so away, and I will miss his visits when he begins his next adventure after graduation. An environmental science and poetry major, he has a deep love for this planet and the natural world. I asked if he’d share a poem for me to include in my letter and he sent me this … I love it; I hope you do, too …

a vernal state

by davis coffey

let the spring of virginia

dance along your skinfur,

shimmer down your spinestem and

into your toeroots —

let it sing with

the thick-fleshed skunk cabbage,

erupting from the ground with a mottled glare

let it whisper with

the rue anemone, showered in

a creamy mist across 

the forest floor

let it howl with

the marsh marigold, steamed sunlit pillars leaping 

through the dew —

let the spring unfold you,

the shattered dogwood, the humming azalea, the tree peony, lilac, lily, tulip, 

let them nourish the

softness of your body

let the bearded iris, the wild geranium, the lyre-leaved sage, 

the steady violet, the squirrel corn, the gentle red trillium

press into you,

and awaken your own 

internal spring

Happy spring and Happy Reading!