We're inviting you to a pop-up dinner unlike any other.

If your mind is like my mind, then the world can seem like a jumbled-up and bogged-down place.

Stressed, spinning and rarely still, our minds can make life more difficult than it needs to be. Or, actually is.

Is it possible to quiet our minds?  

Last night, I ate dinner - Midway Mushrooms, lettuce from the garden, cauliflower from Gaining Ground, a little red blend from Pruett's - but rarely remember one bite. I ate, chewed, sipped, swallowed ... but my mind was elsewhere.

Know the feeling?

On Monday, July 12, we're offering a very special event: Mindful Spice.

It's a pop-up at the fabulous Spice Trail. Features a seven-or-eight course meal. Intimate gathering. Good community.

And mindfulness.

To start the night, we'll practice basic mindfulness skills; Chef Sujata Singh will serve a series of small-bites as we practice basic present-moment awareness with each plate. (Trained in mindfulness instruction, I'll lead this 20-30 minute exercise.)

Then, with our minds calm(er), we'll party: a full dinner, drinks and community.

We're really excited about this one. Any meal at Spice Trail is a treasure. Plus, in a warm community, we can practice a few things that help our minds stay calm ... and present ... so we can enjoy life in its many forms.

All members of The Table have access to tickets by visiting here.

These last few weeks have seen plenty of news. Plan Hamilton was proposed, then tabled by the Hamilton County Commission.

The Chattanooga Area Food Bank lost $50,000 in funding, then, gained it back.

Through it all, you've had things to say.

In response to Plan Hamilton and the Unsettling of Hamilton County, one friend - a realtor - responded:

• "As a realtor, I appreciate everything you said and would hate to see Hamilton County sacrifice its farmland and agricultural foundation to throw up poor quality mass housing, destroying what makes this county so attractive yesterday, today, and the many tomorrow’s to come! Destroying one long standing profitable industry (farming) to provide short term riches for another (builders/developers) is fiscal foolishness and irresponsibility."

Plan Hamilton includes Place Types, terminologies created by the Regional Planning Agency (RPA) to both practically and thematically describe future growth possibilities.

Part of the trouble? Our farms and agricultural land aren't listed as agricultural.

RPA's calling our farmland "Countryside Residential."

Not agricultural.

But Knoxville does.

One friend in Knoxville reminded us that their version of the RPA created Place Types and designated them as Rural, or Agricultural.

• "Knox County’s place types, rural agriculture was added after first draft," she said.

Lo and behold. There it is - Rural as a Place Type - in Knoxville's planning document.

If Knoxville can do it, why can't we?

• More on Plan Hamilton.

Here's another friend with thoughts on the regional plan for growth.

"Unless we find more places to build buildings that employ people — especially people without college degrees — those jobs will move to other cities. Who speaks for the people in our community who want to work and need jobs to provide for their families, but now may have to move to Birmingham, Greenville, etc because Chattanooga has become so deeply anti-growth?

"This is a messaging failure on the part of the Chamber and the RPA. Plan Hamilton may not be perfect; no comp plan ever is.

"I believe in the value of protecting our natural assets and no one who currently makes their living from the land should have that taken away from them. But to accommodate the population increases in the TN Valley which are inevitable, we’ve got to create more housing at ALL price points in parts of the county that want it and can absorb it. And that’s going to require political leadership from the city and/or county mayor’s offices which is in woefully short supply right now."

• Earlier this month, the Chattanooga Area Food Bank lost $50,000 in county funding, then, gained it back. Thanks to many of you, who called and emailed your concerns, like this reader:

"I posed a question to the Mayor’s office that I think I would like to hear more about," one reader said. "That question is how are they thinking about the underlying factors that are causing hunger in our area and where is the evidence that it is being addressed? 

"While I do think it is important to provide funding, as a parallel to that I think it is an important exercise to look into the base causes and address those. Especially when the budget is tight, I believe it is important to look into long range planning."

• One reader - in response to the county mayor's office saying the budget year was tight - emailed a reminder that the county was providing $500,000 in funding for a new Sports and Events Corporation.

"Tight budget year my ass," he said.

• Another mentioned the new Chattanooga Lookouts stadium.

"Maybe see if they could kick 10% of that annual $1M stadium naming rights fee Erlanger is shelling to the Lookouts to go instead go towards the Food Bank," he said.

• Another reader had an idea for both city and county mayors.

"[My wife} and I volunteered at the [food bank] many years until our bodies could not go on," he said. "We have seen, first hand, the tremendous need in our area. Let's challenge our two mayors to volunteer at the FB in order to get some publicity ... for each of them and for the FB needs."

• In response to Sunday's story on Damon Bartos and the urban farm at the Bethlehem Center, one dear Food as a Verb friend wrote:

"Whelp. I finally had time on my lunch break to read the FAAV story from Sunday. Made me cry. It’s beautiful. And perfect. I love it so so much. It’s the remedy we all need to start the week. So full of gratitude for the uplifting story and soul filling photos. Thanks y’all."

You are most welcome.

And thank you ... and all of you.

• We're honored to announce our new partner: Reflection Riding Arboretum.

Reflection Riding is a Chattanooga treasure. A native plant nursery. Miles of trails. Stunningly gorgeous land. A repository of wisdom and wilderness and red wolves. (And Tish, who's also a Chattanooga treasure.)

Am assuming you've been. If not, please go. It is one of our city's Best Things: a refuge, wilderness, beauty, all done with committed love and care for this land.

The partnership was made possible by a hugely generous Food as a Verb friend; she signed up to join our community at The Table, opting for a lifetime membership.

With that comes a gift partnership for a regional nonprofit. She chose Reflection Riding.

• A few days ago, our friend Lyric Lewin at the Times Free Press published a good story on raw milk.

You can read it here. It features both Randall Tomlinson and the folks from Fall Creek Farms, who sell each Wednesday at the Main Street Farmers' Market.

• Finally, let's end with something uplifting. A friend - thanks, Cam - sent along some original poetry.

Enjoy, everyone. See you Sunday. Here's Cam:

Sleep with the Sun 

Bring to the fields the sower’s seeds

Number the clouds like so many white steads

The countryside offers bread by the basket

It’s the bounty of earth so let us bask in it

Heap the fruit by the bushel 

Mountain vineyards with airy trestles

Peaks and headwaters on the rise

Earth and mountains kiss the skies 

Stock homes and hearths and stoves

Fill them with honey and kindling and loaves

Cradle a glass when day is done 

Lay with your love and sleep with the sun

Story ideas, questions, feedback? Interested in partnering with us? Email: david@foodasaverb.com

This story is 100% human generated; no AI chatbot was used in the creation of this content.

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