“Food is at the heart of everything. It’s a key ingredient of our families, cultures, and societies, and it feeds our bodies and health. It grounds us in ways nothing else can. We cannot survive without it. This issue [of UNUM Magazine] was curated to bring together women from different backgrounds, from different perspectives, doing different work around this hearthstone at the root of what it means to be human, what it means to be one.”
Click here to read about many diverse women and their relationship with food – from farm to table. Click here for many amazing recipes shared in this issue of UNUM.
UNUM Magazine is a global magazine (created by a local woman) dedicated to highlighting and celebrating women, of diverse backgrounds, by sharing their personal stories and achievements. UNUM aspires to raise awareness of extraordinary women, around the globe, to show that despite what divides us, as one, we are stronger together.
The Farmers Are My Inspiration
by Nina Yozell-Epstein from Squash Blossom Local Food.
I used to work at the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market and got to know the vendors by serving them coffee. On those cold early mornings, being the one with the warm brew makes you a likely friend. After building relationships with many farms, I started volunteering at a handful to learn more about agriculture in my home landscape. I’d worked on many farms abroad when I spent years traveling in my late teens and early twenties and volunteering through WWOOF (Willing Workers On Organic Farms) in India, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Spain, and Italy. I traded my farm labor for food and accommodations ranging from treehouses and tents to beds in farmers’ homes, which were once their children’s.
Upon my return to New Mexico, I was eager to engage in agriculture here, and have always had a deep love for the Farmers’ Market since I was a little girl and would hop in the back of Jake-the-Melon-Guy’s truck to choose a melon. In 2010, a local nonprofit asked me to pilot their farm-to-restaurant program because I was close with many of the farmers and could help connect them to chefs — a bridge that badly needed to be built. The first year of the program was a success, and over the next five years it became my baby that I nourished into toddlerhood under the umbrella of a few different nonprofit organizations so that we could raise funds to support my work in educating chefs and the public about the benefits of using local food. In 2015, I was ready to stand on my own and really test the market to see if this local food business could survive as a part of our food economy without grant support. That’s when Squash Blossom was born. I incorporated as a social enterprise, a mission-driven for-profit entity. Squash Blossom’s mission is to provide a dependable income stream for local farmers, bring healthier food to our community, and strengthen our local economy. With Squash Blossom, I expanded the reach beyond chefs and launched an online sales platform that anyone can shop from. The store is composed of 100% local food, and everything is harvested per order from more than 25 farms in the area.
Click here to read the interview with Nina.