Gratitude 101 with Katy

I would consider myself to be a thankful person.  If you were to dig through the piles of books and papers next to my bed at any given point in time, you would find no less than three unique thank you cards ready to be filled and sent to a family member, friend, mentor, or just someone who did something nice.  However, before this month's action of writing thank you's to folks who have focused on the local food movement, I'd never really thought to explicitly thank this group of people.  This realization saddened me a bit because I value at such a deep level the work these people do each day and the pure passion with which they operate.  All that to say, with my first thank you, I knew I was appreciative but I wasn't quite sure where to go with that gratitude. "Uhh...thanks for what you do! You're really awesome!  Love, Katy" didn't seem like a great option.  I stared at my blank card for a little while, tapping my pen, getting up for a drink of water, changing the song in my iTunes, and basically avoiding the task at hand.  Then, I had the realization that this is no different from any other thank you I would write.  So, I started writing.  Let me just say this-once I got over my writer's block, I LOVED this activity.  Here was an opportunity to send a personal note of thanks to people who have created the local food and drinks that I love so much.  Not only that, I got to share this blog and the work that we are doing as a group with these people.  

I believe deeply in the concept of solidarity.  One definition for solidarity is, "Community of responsibilities and interests."  What better way to describe what we are going for with this whole project of focusing on local food issues for the year?  We are seeking to build and expand this community, our network, of people that feel a responsibility to support local food (or restaurants or businesses) to the extent that they are doing something about it.  In many cases for the thank you notes I wrote, people have quite literally dedicated their lives to their local farm, restaurant, brewery, winery, etc.  I'm so thankful for the work they do, the opportunity to thank them, and the opportunity to share this experience with whoever has found their way to this blog.  With that, I want to invite you to join us and write your own note of thanks to a business or organization that supports something you believe in- I don't care if it is about local food or something completely different.  Challenge yourself to share the gratitude that you express in conversation so often but that rarely gets back to the very much deserving source.

Until next month- keep it local, friends.

Katy

P.S. Scanned versions of some of my thank you's to come soon...