The Woman Who Planted an Organic Seed

A seed was planted the day I sold a car to a woman who walked into my dealership with her son.

I was fresh out of college (focus on PR), my mother had recently died, I was a single mother and I was going to make a killing selling cars.  I didn't make a killing, but I met a woman who planted a seed about eating organically.  I talked to a lot of people when I sold cars and there are only a handful that I remember.

This woman had survived cancer.  Not really sure which type--maybe breast cancer.  She told me her story as we walked around the lot.  I wasn't even paying attention to showing her cars, I just listened to her amazing story.  What I took from it was how she stayed cancer free. She ate natural foods--cooked everything from scratch, and this was in 1996 when there wasn't stores like Whole Foods.

I believe she still bought pasta from the store (I don't believe she ground her own flour either), but when she cooked, she cooked with all natural ingredients and her vegetables were fresh and not from a can.  She talked about all the chemicals in foods like Hamburger Helper.  I used to eat Hamburger Helper regularly (2 to 3 times a week) back then and did for many years.  These days, it doesn't sit on the shelf in my cupboards.  We might buy it once a year now for nostalgia, but I make my stroganoff from scratch--almost.

This is where the reluctant comes in--I do use Campbell's cream of mushroom soup in my recipe; and, until recently used garlic powder and onion powder.  Now, I use fresh onions and garlic most of the time (not as fast).  A slow shift over time.  Perhaps one day, I will use something other than canned soup.

I will have to see if the organic cream of mushroom soup is comparable in price.  I'd love to buy humane grass fed beef, but that is 3 times the cost of standard store bought beef and I just can't justify it on my current budget.  There is the pocket book reluctance--another post.  And then there is the matter of taste--again, another post.  

She, is one of the many messengers that have planted seeds in my life.  Although I didn't act immediately, her message stuck with me and it grew each time I encountered another message about the same subject.