Even in the dead of winter sunchokes (also called Jeruselam artichokes) are available locally. The are a tasty marriage of waterchestnuts and waxy potatoes. Reheated this makes a great brown bag lunch.

It's 5:30 on a weeknight in October. You find yourself the last in a line of cars at the nearest burger joint. The choice seemed easy. Grab some grub on the way home for the family. They have 45 minutes to eat before Johnny's hockey's game. You don't have time to think about the choice and really don't want to be bothered. You hand over a remarkably small amount of money and are handed a sack full of food. You check to see if the order is complete. Four burgers and a fried chicken sandwich

Part of finding a more connected way to cook and eat is dealing with abundance when you are blessed with it and scarcity when nature demands it. The traditional coming and going of scarcity and abundance linked us with timeless rhythms of nature and the earth and ourselves. We had to think and plan ahead. We had to treasure and conserve abundance. We had to manage and endure scarcity. We had to take what the world gave us and it taught us discipline, reverence and humility.These lessons are hard

     The typical American meal is a meat centerpiece with a couple of vegetable side dishes, one of them usually potatoes. The side vegetable portion is usually about three ounces. There are really only six or seven types of protein (with some subtle variations) to choose from and the standard Midwestern diet relies almost entirely on three or four. There are countless types of vegetables. We've relegated the largest portion of our foodstuffs to an afterthought on our plates