An untold story from a long-ago Chattanooga restaurant.

Farmland funding, a story from CA and a survey for farmers.

A farmer, his herd and the heartache of liminal space.

This bill could help. A lot.

This is our Valentine's to you.

Thanks, Letty.

Heavens-to-Betsy. Am I the only one confused here?

Support the people building a responsible world.

Meet Chattanooga's Sneakerhead Chef

Join us for "A Conversation with Erik Niel."

The story of four generations of women and one Tres Leches cake.

Mac's set a new standard in 2024.

Silas Luster, representation and the meaning of freedom.

Last month, Chef Khaled AlBanna made a generous statement to this city.

Isn’t it funny what life - and 2025 - will bring?

So many good people and places: here's a look back at the images of 2024.

Wine tells a story. Can we listen?

"You know the story about the Grinch whose heart shrinks three sizes too small? I feel like mine has grown three sizes so large."

"How do we get to the point that one could walk from any neighborhood in the city and access a farm stand of veggies?"

What did it taste like? My first burger since W. was president?

Let's start with two big headlines.

Farm-to-table. It's our beloved phrase. But it doesn't tell the whole story.

Last Wednesday, we're standing in the middle of the Main Street Farmers' Market when Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly begins a story that stretches back 30 years ago with one of the greatest local athletes ever.

All the great parts of life were there, all compressed in a few hours' of warm food, generosity and community.

There is a way out of the tension between development and conservation.

In February 2024, the CEO of a Tennessee food bank emailed a high-ranking Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) employee from her iPhone. The subject line? LFPA Plus.

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

Bill Hull is the in-house wine expert - "the wine guy" - at Pruett's Market, the Signal Mountain grocery store.

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.

When your heart breaks its leash, Let it go. Let it run.

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.

Roy and his daughter Rebecca run their 1100-acre Jones Farm in north Alabama. Their main crop? Fruit, with some vegetables, grown on 15 acres. During prime season, they need a dozen workers, sometimes more.

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.

Our story spotlights a wholesome, intentional relationship between farmers, processors, butchers, animals and restaurant owners. In life and death, these relationships are built on respect. They benefit all involved.

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.

Standing tall in a family of meat-eaters, Kelsey Vasileff was 10 when she made her announcement: I'm going vegetarian.

Today's feature is written by Dr. Robin Fazio, long-time farmer, educator and founder of Baylor School's gardening program and Mechanics' Club.This is a story of authenticity and confidence, not shiny bluster.

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.

It is a mid-morning Monday on the 65-acre Boyd Buchanan campus and a dozen students in Melissa Owens's Agriscience class are planting yellow onion sets, moving zinnia transplants to the greenhouse, checking on - really, cuddling - the lop-eared bunny, tilling new beds, making plans for a fall flower sale.

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.

What do you need to know in order to farm?That's the question being asked by Southeast Tennessee Young Farmers and Crabtree Farms, who are planning to offer free, farmer-led workshops on sustainable-ag topics next year.

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.

On Thursday evening, as Smash Boyz served last-call burgers from the grill and folks downed their second or third drink - Coors in a can, peach LaCroix, 16 oz. Liquid Death - while kicked back on folding chairs inside a Red Bank garage, Tyler Sowrey stepped out from behind the silver-sexy Slayer espresso machine and carried forward two cortados - half steamed milk, half espresso - poured into small, snow-white cups.

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

We are strolling through Flying Turtle Farm, the 68 acres in Cloudland, Georgia, where Dorris Shober and husband John care for pigs, Brangus cattle, a spiral garden, vegetables and flowers - like celosia and zinnias, which Dorris gently talks about like they're dear friends - when this one question almost jumps out of my mouth.

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.

Since 2005, Erik and Amanda Niel have been exquisitely intentional about taking care of Chattanoogans, building their restaurant careers here on this very premise."We've made them feel comfortable," Amanda said. "If you're really good at it, people have an emotional connection."

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

Today? We're exhaling, non-laboring for Labor Day and hope you will, too.

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.

For our one-year birthday, we welcome to our new website home. We hope you love it. We sure do.

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

The more I talk with our local farmers, the more I realize: it's all generosity. It's all grown with love.

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.

Claire Sims found the garden all the way from Wetumpka, Alabama, some 200 miles away. She grew up in a very strict church, whose beliefs – women can't preach in the pulpit or speak with authority – pushed her even farther away.

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.

Fifteen years ago, maybe longer, Miriam Keener had an idea."We need a farmer-run market," she said.

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.

It's a strange, dizzying time for Highland Park and the 37404 zip code that stretches down Dodds Ave., across the foot of Missionary Ridge, onto the lively Main Street.

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

Thursday morning, as he slid eight loaves, each stenciled and scored like artwork, into the Niedlov's Bakery & Cafe ovens, Erik Zilen – a little flour here, a lot of vision there – reached the end of a long journey.

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

Eighteen-hour days and back again the next morning. Your back aches, brain feels like mush and you can't remember the last time you slept eight hours, had sex or watched Netflix – just one episode – all the way through.

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

We're losing 10 acres of Tennessee farmland every hour of every day.

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

In the fall of 2017, Stacy Martin was living in Atlanta – she'd soon move to Chattanooga – when she got the news: her mom was diagnosed with stage IV uterine cancer.

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

Every day for the last 42 years, Sammy Norton has milked cows. Every morning, at 4.30. Every afternoon, again at 4.30.

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.

Letty, Judy and Jane have known each other for seven years now, but it feels like a lifetime, the three bonded in ways only the heart understands.

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.

It's good to say thanks, good to let people know how much they mean to you. Gratitude fills the heart like a big red balloon. Softens the mind like an afternoon breeze.

"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."

Once, Nate Carter begins, a man bought a birdcage. Inside, it was full of birds, but the birds were all locked up in this cage.That's why he bought it.

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.

From their 400-acre Chili Pepper Ranch in Apison, Tenn., Jim and Amy Jo Osborn sell cuts of beef from over 200 head of cattle to hundreds of customers from Seattle to Miami to LA, all of whom ordered more than 60,000 pounds of meat last year.

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.

Meet Uncle Jim. Get soaked in the rain. Savor greens that took two years to perfect at a restaurant without any recipes.

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.

Not long ago, we went to one acre of Red Bank land for a routine afternoon interview with Carmen Joyce, a local beekeeper and owner of Nooga Honey Pot.What we found instead felt like a miracle.

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

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

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?

People begin arriving by 8.30 am. By mid-morning, there are two, three dozen cars and trucks in line. Tags from North Carolina, Florida, Georgia.They're here for one reason: Aubie Smith's strawberries.

In early March, Jeannine Carpenter, director of advocacy for the Chattanooga Area Food Bank, estimated there was a 20% chance that the missing $7.2 million would get restored. Maybe 25%.

On Thursday afternoon, as it passed its $52.8 billion budget, Tennessee lawmakers voted to restore $7.2 million in lost funding for small farmers, families and food banks.

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.

It takes five days to make croissants at Bread & Butter, the beloved bakery in Red Bank. Five days. By hand. You mix on a Monday, laminate on Tuesday, freeze, then shape, and by Friday, you bake. Five days.

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.

When you walk into a dinner hosted by Sujata Singh, you enter a warm, welcomed space complete with flowers, beautifully set tables and air filled with the the most delightful spices and herbs.

It was during COVID and St. Peter's Episcopal Church was worshipping outside. As Kelsey Aebi – St. Peter's lay minister – set up the altar, communion table and chairs, the warm sun fell on her shoulders and the birds sang from overhead trees and she realized:I love this. I love worshipping outside.

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.

After hours, days and weeks of talking with Nashville legislators, explaining to them how and why the state lost $7.2 million in funding for Tennessee farmers and food banks, the director of advocacy for the Chattanooga Area Food Bank may be witnessing this most beautiful event: a selfless, bipartisan response.

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.

Imagine if we graduated agriculturally literate students who, in the words of the National Research Council, could "understand the food and fiber system and this would include its history and its current economic, social and environmental significance to all Americans."

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.

The USDA says it sent six separate funding notifications. Tennessee missed them all.