Hello SOURCErs and local food lovers!  I write to you this month as the snow lays heavy and wet in our yards and neighborhoods and as the days lengthen at the rapid clip of a new Spring. We have hunkered and skied and snowballed our way through the winter, and have remained so grateful to enjoy the snowy winters of Colorado - how ever weirder the weather may be getting!

We are so fortunate to have the turning of the seasons here in Colorado - my mother often reminds me how happy she is to live in Colorado, where we have actual springs, summers, autumns and winters, and how important it is to pause and appreciate the delightful nuances that each season offers (she's so wise!).

Perhaps there's a metaphor in those seasons for the phases of our lives.  It is with this in mind that I am so happy to write about Balfour Senior Living - whose facilities managers recently began working with SOURCE Local Foods to procure more fresh, healthy, natural local foods for their clientele and recycOil for their cooking oil recycling. 

It is truly an honor to have the opportunity to provide amazing foods from so many dedicated farmers, ranchers and value-added food manufacturers to so many of the elders in our community. And our elders are from a very, very special generation - the Greatest Generation, according to Tom Brokaw. My grandfather, who is still playing golf and reading books at the age of 95, grew up in the Great Depression, fought in Europe during WWII before being taken prisoner of war. He knew what victory gardens were. In fact he kept on growing his "victory garden" all his adult life, up through his 80's - can you believe that?!? When I was younger and ran ideas of "sustainability" by him, and asked what he thought about the need for growing more food locally and having more direct relationships with the dairymen, the apple growers, the meat butchers, he said: "well of course that makes sense! That's how it used to be, and that's how it should be!"

Well, it may behoove us younger folk to avoid the "should" statements whenever possible... but our elders? When they use "should," perhaps we are wise to listen! 

There are many WWII vets, victory gardeners, Rosie the Riveters, and grandmas and grandpas at Balfour who remember those times, who have seen a lot of change in their lives - enough change to know that future decades will also bring a lot of change. I believe they also carry wisdom from a time when victory gardens were a galvanizing force in communities all across the nation, and were simply about growing food for sustenance and sustainability! 

We owe so much to the Greatest Generation, and are so privileged to be able to humbly show our gratitude by providing them amazing, fresh foods. And of course, all of this is possible because of the leadership and dedication of the managers at Balfour. It is through the work and dedication of food and beverage managers like Jeff Wingfield and Monica Hale that the 21st Century will be remembered as THE CENTURY OF SUSTAINABILILTY!

Spring is right around the corner - here's to the seasons. To appreciating each of them and the uniqueness each offers. To celebrating each of them!

May the SOURCE Be With You,

Aaron

CEO & Chief Fungi