On health & wellness

We finally got our garlic in the ground this week! Little hands helped some with the cracking.

Meet this week’s vegetables:

• Brussels sprouts
• Broccoli/romanesco
• Salad greens
• Chard
• Cabbage
• Celery root/potatoes
• Carrots
• Beets
• Delicata winter squash

First, the best news of the week: Casey’s pathology report came back … no further treatment necessary! There were some cancer cells still in the skin, which were all excised during the surgery, and the sentinel lymph node came back negative for cancer! We’re doing a little happy dance here on the farm this morning after receiving this momentous news. What a huge relief.

Casey had a check-up with a dermatologist last week, and she didn’t see anything even remotely suspicious anywhere else on his skin. He’ll still have regular check-ups, but life can go on …

Not surprisingly though, we’ve been thinking and talking a lot about what it means to be healthy … and even more: what it means to be well (which seems to encompass more than just our physical vitals).

In the midst of the amazing outpouring of support and kind wishes we received from CSA members, friends, and family over the last two weeks, we have also heard many stories of illnesses and cancer specifically. We were startled to learn how many seemingly healthy people in our community have gone through very similar — and in some cases much more challenging — bouts with cancer.

In the CSA community alone, counting Casey, we now know of four men who had melanomas removed in their early 30s or younger. When Casey was being treated, each person who saw him made it sound as though he was young for a melanoma, and yet clearly it is not as rare as we might have thought. (Which is a message to other young people with suspicious looking moles — get them checked out immediately! You are not too young!)

Over the recent years, we’ve also a disturbing number of people in our wider community pass away from cancer. Most notably, three within a month of each other last fall. These were all people living vibrant healthy lives, and they were all in their 50s or early 60s.

There have been moments when cancer diagnoses are so prevalent in our life that Casey and I felt like “sitting ducks,” just waiting for cancer to strike our family. And it did. (We both have parents who are cancer survivors too, but those incidents happened decades ago.)

The “diseases of civilization” have also crept into our lives in recent years, as we grow older, along with our parents. Casey’s blood pressure has been in the “hypertension” range for four years now, baffling us and his doctor since he is a lean, active non-smoker.

I suppose all of these events and warnings are part of why we responded so eagerly to the message of Why We Get Fat and Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes (yes, still recommended reading!). Our diet changes are going well (we’re two weeks in!), and even though there are many factors in illnesses, we feel empowered by making a scientific supported dietary change at this point in our life.

But, as I said earlier, wellness is so much bigger than blood pressure readings or cancer. Wellness is about how we live our life between scares (or even during persistent and chronic illness). Wellness is the result of feeling cared for and loved and having engaging interests and purpose in life.

Certainly, feeling so supported through this one hard time contributes hugely to our sense of wellness. And, there’s no question that we feel incredibly fulfilled by our life work. Although there are often aggravating or stressful moments in our days, we never question the worth of our work. Growing food, nourishing our community, and tending animals and soil is good work. No doubt about it.

Casey was checking in with one of the chefs we work with, who was asking about the surgery. Casey said he really didn’t know how we could possibly express our deep gratitude to everyone who had reached out, and the chef’s response made our heart sing: “Just keeping doing what you’re doing.” Our work is clearly valued, and that is a powerful incentive to persist through the annoyances and problems that seemed to be pervasive this year.

But, after such a challenging year, we’re still working on another big key to our family’s wellness: relaxing and having more fun! We’ve been trying to create more opportunities for giggles with Rusty, because those are the best moments of our life.

So, what is wellness? What are our goals? Perhaps one way to think of it is this: going to bed at the end of the day feeling happily tired in body and ready to rest, and waking up the next morning with a soul that looks forward to the day. With such a beautiful family, a wonderful circle of friends, and fulfilling work, I have do doubt we’ll achieve this again. Perhaps even tonight, now that we can let go of our Big Cancer worries.

Next week is Thanksgiving, and this year our list is long. As usual, there are many little, mundane joys, but they are eclipsed by some biggies. I hope yours is full this year too!

Enjoy this week’s vegetables!

Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla

P.S. I just wanted to say THANK YOU again to everyone who sent us kind words or made us a meal over the last 2+ months since Dottie was born. It has been fabulous. This week, I am busy in the kitchen making meals for friends — new babies and another surgery in the community. I think that since I have the energy and time to make meals for others, our time for needing meals FROM others has finally officially ended. Again, thank you for nourishing us with your warm wishes and delicious home cooked food!

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Important reminders!

First of all, because of the Thanksgiving holiday next week, Newberg CSA members will be picking up their shares on TUESDAY in McMinnville. Our McMinnville pick-up is Tuesdays, 3:30-6:30 at the Saturday Market site at 845 NE 5th St — just southeast of downtown McMinnville, in the parking lot behind Buchanan Cellers feed store and R. Stuart & Co. winery. Look for the large brown and green barn. We will obviously have enough veggies for both of our normal sites (the truck is going to be very full!).

Also, it’s time to place your holiday harvest order for pick up next Tuesday as well! See list below.

This year’s CSA season is ending quite soon! The last CSA harvests are at the end of this month, so McMinnville’s final pick-up will be on November 27 and Newberg’s on November 29.

Have you signed up yet for 2013’s season? Now is the time!

Also, have you paid your 2012 balance? I’ll be sending out final statements to anyone with a balance due in the next week.

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2012 Holiday Harvest

How it works: You choose what extra produce you might want from the list below, and email us your order by Sunday evening: farm(at)oakhillorganics(dot)org. We will harvest it fresh for you and bring it to Tuesday’s pick-up for you to receive! Here’s what we have:

• Fall salad mix — $4/bag (a little over 1⁄2 lb/bag)
• Brussels sprouts — $3.50/lb
• Sweet peppers — $3.50/lb
• Celery — $2.50/bunch
• Chard — $2.50/bunch
• Cabbage — $2/lb (order by the cabbage — they are pretty big!)
• Sunchokes — $3/lb
• Red beets — $1.50/lb
• Kohlrabi — $1/lb (order by the kohlrabi — these are huge!)
• Carrots — $2/lb
• Pie pumpkins — $1.50/lb (order by the pumpkin)
• Butternut squash — $1.50/lb (order by the squash)
• Delicata winter squash — $1.50/lb (order by the squash)
• Celery root — $3/lb (order by the root)
• Fingerling potatoes — $2.50/lb
• German Butterball potatoes — $2.50/lb