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"The vocation of bringing food to your table is more than business to us - it's a personal ministry and responsibility that we take very seriously!" – Lee & Beth Hitzfield (Founders) ### On a recent road trip, my husband, Tom, and I made an 800-mile trip to visit our favorite online meat purveyor, Seven Sons Farm in Roanoke, Indiana. After making the decision to bypass most local meats in favor of ethnically raised meat, we’ve been buying from them for over two years, and they’ve never disappointed. After trying other companies that lacked consistency, had poor packaging, and delayed shipping, Seven Sons has been a breath of fresh air. Their quality and communication are unmatched.When we were about an hour and a half away, I decided to call ahead, and Sonsee answered the phone. Her cheerful voice was instantly welcoming. "Come on down!" she said, "I'll see if I can round up a couple of the brothers!" Her willingness to accommodate an unannounced visit completely made my day. We didn't expect a full tour, especially since it was a workday, but we were able to meet four of the seven brothers. What an amazing family! Sonsee met us at the farm store, which I would happily shop at every day. She brought over Brandt, the youngest brother, whose warm smile immediately put us at ease. We spent our time talking about everything, and he answered all our questions. It was clear we were all on the same page about quality food and farming. Next, we chatted with brothers Bruce and Brock. The conversation flowed easily with more laughter and a feeling of being part of the family. The conversations were fun, informative, and truly inspiring. Our visit concluded with the oldest brother, Blake, who greeted us with such enthusiasm we knew he and his family were thankful we stopped by. He and his brothers thanked us for our support and were genuinely happy we wanted to share their story. We left feeling like family, a feeling that extends from their farm to our dinner table. Seven Sons’ website is full of blogs, videos, and photos that share their history and vision. Their parents’ story is particularly heartwarming and explains the mission behind their impressive operation. We hope to meet the rest of the family on our next trip! Visit the farm online Their story Take a Virtual Tour
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 I recently visited Christian, my physical therapist, and he offered me a quiz, of sorts, to determine my overall health. I love quizzes like this because I work really hard to maintain my health. My excitement was short-lived when I started the ‘movement’ section. Everyone thinks I’m so active, but honestly, I knew I’d fall short. The other section is my emotional health. I sleep pretty well most of the time, but as a people-pleaser, caregiver, and over-organizer, I expected to fall short again. I wasn’t wrong. In reviewing my scores with Christian, my PT, he noted the same thing I did. Movement and emotional health needed some improvement. Yippee. He suggested I utilize my Fitbit app for meditation … that quiet time between one minute and several minutes. I started with one and struggled. I knew Christian was on to something. It’s been one day and I’m up to three minutes twice a day. It’s not so bad but it is a conscience effort. Now movement will take more effort. While I play pickleball at least twice a week, it’s not enough. I noticed about a year ago that I wasn’t meeting my 10,000 step goal so I did the most obvious … reduced my steps to 8,000 and I still wasn’t cutting it on most days. My Fitbit buddies were beating me every week. Christian’s little test was right. He suggested I take a meditation walk - basically killing two birds with one stone. He urged me to modify my walk to include listening, touching, smelling, and seeing - four of the five senses. Yeah, it’s trickier than it sounds. Of course, two days later I found myself stuck in a doctor’s office for over two hours … but had a lovely and lengthy conversation with a delightful woman. I felt so energized chatting with her … we were like kindred souls, like-minded, caregivers, people-pleasers. We validated each other and we both saw ourselves in each other. What I didn’t expect is it checked one of the emotional health boxes … engaging with someone. Good for me. They say pictures are worth a thousand words … so welcome to my meditative walk … I have spent more of my day being present - I mean really present. One thing at a time has never been easy for me. Even now, as I write, I have a cat on my lap and music is playing. There is a gentle breeze coming through our opened windows - deep breathing is a given. Oh, and there is aroma of bacon cooking in the oven as BLTs are for lunch. Allow me to qualify that ... Tom is having a standard BLT, I'm having a BSTA sandwich (bacon, spinach, tomatoes, and avocado).
For those who know me, yes, I eat bacon, but it's not your standard grocery store fare. My bacon is:
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