Two quick announcements, then a marvelously, urgently important guest essay.

Thursday morning, I have the honor of moderating a powerful and thoughtful group of panelists as part of Thrive Regional Network's Tri-State Summit.

Exhausted? The heart needs to be fed. We're so glad to offer events designed to enliven and uplift, regardless of how - or if - you marked your ballot.

It was Halloween, late afternoon. The shadows were getting long. A farmer walked out to his pasture to check on his cows. He was the last farmer in the land.

Earlier this year, we began scratching our heads with a question. Can we tell a complete story of one plate of food served in Chattanooga? Is it possible to trace one meal back to its source?And tell its story? Start to finish. Beginning to end.

This morning, the Hamilton County Commission will consider the future of McDonald Farm as Randall Gross - out of his Nashville-based consulting firm - drives to town to present to the Commission and public an economic impact study on the "highest and best" uses for McDonald Farm.

Asheville's always felt like a sister city to us. Even though there's a list of 'official' sister cities - from Ghana to Germany - Asheville's like a kissing cousin, a brother from another mother-city.

We'd love - as in: really, really love - to see our Food as a Verb community this Thursday night. It's drop-in; come and go as you please. Doors open at 5pm. You're welcome to last-call shut the place down.

A farmer south of Nashville reminded us recently of the 2006 drought, which lasted two years.

Last night's debate. Did you watch? If so, did you make it all the way through the entire debate? Not us. Food was a topic, however briefly. Groceries are hard to afford. They're also apparently eating dogs in Ohio.

Farmers speak on heat, drought and how we can help.

Said it before, will say it again: one of the greatest single-bite culinary experiences in this town is found inside the magic of a Cocoa Asante chocolate.

A big week for us here at Food as a Verb, which, of course, means you, too.

School started last week for thousands of local students, including elementary students at Battle Academy – pictured here at Honey Seed – as part of Tarah Kemp's outstanding Cooking Up Learning courses.

Earlier this week, the Tennessee Dept. of Agriculture (TDA) told Food as a Verb that $7.2 million in funding – it's the restored LFPA Plus money – would reach Tennessee food banks in mid-August.

A friend is dying from cancer. He's receiving visitors, possibly for the final time. ("I should charge admission," he joked.) We all would pay double.

Morning, everyone. We at Food as a Verb – David, Sarah, Alex – have a little idea for you. For us.

Lookouts fans, remember the man who sold beer and peanuts through the stadium? Can you help us find him?

Enjoy some hot slaw news, Dune-tomato-monster tips and original Food as a Verb poetry.

Two Sundays ago, our profile on Norton, one of the last small dairy farmers around, hit home with many of you.

Not long after the pandemic, Mary Elizabeth Kaufman had an idea. Something that would try to mend or heal what had been lost.

One of our very first (and favorite) stories featured Alysia Leon and Bird Fork Farm on Cagle Mountain. Last September, we spent the afternoon with her: harvesting milky oaks, walking her land, marveling at her produce, orchard, herbal products.

We're unearthing some old content from the vault, going back more than a decade. It's good to know our history, so we're at work on collecting stories from the original Main St. Farmers' Market.

Anybody color their hair yesterday? Or ask for a loan? Apparently, Tuesday was a good day for that.

"The work of the Chain Breakers and Miss V is so important," one reader said, "and I for one wanted to say a big thank you for giving it a spotlight.""I cried," said another.Another wrote what she called a "Sabbath prayer."

We'd love to see you. Stop by, shake hands, swap stories. We'll be selling good swag, like our debonair t-shirts and hats.

Monday morning, before recess, a fourth-grader with braids named Zoey was at the far end of an eight-top table at Honey Seed on Market Street, working on a big business decision.

It began, as these things often do, over beer.Wintertime, 2012. The Olympics were on. Three old friends – Scott Shaw, John Coffelt and Tom Montague – were itching for, well, some wintertime fun.

On Sunday, we told the story of Gwen, a grandmother in Tyner working two jobs, living with four other people in a two-bedroom apartment and struggling with a stack of bills over an inch thick.

A few Fridays ago, something really special happened in Sewanee, Tennessee.Gathered around five or six round tables inside a Methodist church, a group of regional farmers, growers and producers met with buyers and grocery store owners.The day's goal: to plan out next year's growing season.

We're constantly stumbling into one very hard truth: growing food for a living is tremendously difficult. We marvel at those who do it well.

Last Thursday, with the 200 block of MLK Ave. closed to traffic, Sharon Palmer of East Lake relaxed at a white table seated on the westbound side of the double yellows as a November wind blew light orange leaves from the maple trees nearby.

This Sunday, we take you to Smith-Perry Berries Farm in Ooltewah, where beloved farmer and Ooltewah-native Aubie Smith harvests and sells the gorgeously good fruit from some 200,000 strawberry plants. Folks come from miles around. Easy to see why.

Welcome to Food as a Verb.

Each Wednesday, so many of us buy our produce from Hernandez Family Farms. From the far side of Monteagle, Daniel, Jennifer and their children drive to the Main St. Farmers' Market, bringing affordable, gorgeous produce – sweet potatoes, spinach, arugula, squash, pumpkin bread – grown with love.

East Tennessee Wheat.That's what Erik Zilen, co-owner of Niedlov's Bakery & Cafe, is calling it.

Today at 4pm, Food as a Verb will be guest vending at the Main St. Farmers' Holiday Market until 5.30 pm in the parking lot adjacent to Finley Stadium.

One month ago, we launched Food as a Verb, telling local food stories you can’t find anywhere else.You responded with open arms, supporting and subscribing in such generous ways.

While other Asian cuisines have found success in Chattanooga, Filipino food and culture are lesser known. But a few local Pinoys are changing that with food trucks and grocery stores aiming to serve all Chattanoogans.

Sunday, we profiled the outstandingly talented Mallory Grimm and her compelling vision for local food and sustainability at LUNCH, located on the edge of The University of the South's campus on beautiful Monteagle mountain.

As travel nurses working in Everett, Washington, in 2020, Amy Dunham and Steven McKinney were some of the first people to experience the Covid-19 pandemic as frontline healthcare professionals. After long shifts tending to sick patients in the ER of a mid-size city near Seattle, the couple would return to their temporary home on Whidbey Island, a regenerative agriculture farm where Amy's brother shears sheep and raises livestock in a healthy and humane way.

Listened to my first Taylor Swift album a few days ago. My very first. I know, I know. Half the world adores her. I'm a little behind the times.

Last week, Mac's Kitchen & Bar celebrated its one-year anniversary with a "Farm and Fire" night that contained everything you want in a Saturday night: a long table of friends, cozy lights strung through the trees, warm fire pits, Lon Eldridge on the guitar and, most of all:Mac's food and drink.

Instead of asking what can go wrong, what if we asked a different question: what can go right?

Here at Who Knows Why Farm, there’s a very wide gap – a maddeningly, comically wide gap – between my vision for growing vegetables and the reality of what actually happens.

At a farmers' market, the most splendidly transformative and radically countercultural thing happens.We buy food from a local farmer.

Hope continues to grow in Nashville, where noble, bipartisan efforts are underway to refund the missing LFPA Plus money. Our last post described the stand-up efforts of Chattanooga's Bo Watson and Yusuf Hakeem, a Republican and Democrat, respectively, and so many others who are working the midnight shift to clean up the mistakes made by Tennessee Department of Agriculture, or TDA.

Not long ago, I was outside Aldi talking with a friend headed to a meeting where folks were asking a most intriguing question.

My best friend is working on a Toyota with a malfunctioning alarm system. Every time you put the key into the ignition, the car alarm blares and won’t stop. It's an awful sound and paralyzing: you can't drive the car with a blaring, honking alarm. But, to fix the car, you must start it, which triggers the alarm and makes working for more than five minutes unbearable and crazy-making.

Refugees for 17 years. Prison. Threats of regime violence. For the Alabid family, coming to Chattanooga was freedom from immeasurable fear. How to express gratitude?

Chattanooga – twice named Outside's Best City – is known coast to coast for our outdoor identity. Name any outdoor sport – minus skiing – and we offer it in gorgeous abundance.

There's some important history between Dr. King and Chattanooga. In 1960, he traveled to speak here, just months after our own downtown sit-ins, as white Chattanooga was boiling over.

Can Chattanooga become a Blue Zone city, where people are living longer, healthier and happier lives?

Last Sunday, we published our beloved story on local beekeeper and Nooga Honey Pot founder Carmen Joyce. Visiting her, we also encountered what felt like a miracle: a swarming hive.

So, you're standing in line at the farmers' market, having arrived there way early – 30 minutes early – for one reason: fresh strawberries, which always sell out. It's your turn. How many do you buy?

Morning, everyone. Let's play trivia. Two questions for your Wednesday.The first: can anyone name Tennessee's official agricultural insect?

Three of us were harvesting milky oats on Cagle Mountain, swish-swishing through the grain, white clouds floating in a blue summer sky, when we all just stopped speaking. 

Imagine if everyone had stable levels of blood sugar.No more skyscraper highs. No more shaky, hangry, hand-me-the-peanut-butter-before-I-LOSE-IT-lows.Instead of helter-skelter, we could be stable throughout the day. Balanced. Calm, even.

We're guest vending at the Main Street Farmers' Market this afternoon, 4 to 5.30 pm. Stop by and say hello; we'd love to see you and show off our new merchandise.

Since we began publishing last August, one question has been quietly brewing in the back of my mind. As we travel across our regional food landscape, I've asked farmers, friends and agricultural leaders:

In October 2022, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) announced big news: thanks to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funding, Tennessee would receive $8.2 million to be distributed among food banks, farmers and families across the state.

Wherever we go, whatever meal we're eating – from gas station pick-ups to white table cloth dinners – we create our present and future health by the selections on our plate. What we eat, our gut becomes. And what our gut becomes, our bodies become.

Good morning, Food as a Verb. Spring officially began this week, which means we're about one month away from our last frost date of the year.