Abby Youngs, Suzie’s Farm

“I am from North Olmsted, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. I was urged into organics by my grandmother in college. She sent me a PETA starter kid, like a vegetarian starter kit, and I started doing some research and everything I found made me realize that our food industry was an absolute debacle.At the time, my parents were both diagnosed with high blood pressure and heart disease and all sorts of things were showing up in their health scans, so I started researching ways to avoid getting diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. I never want to be on prescription drugs. I believe that food is the medicine that we need and also the source of a lot of our illnesses.”

“I have a degree in theatre, but my senior year of college I got a wake-up call in sustainability and found that my heart had sort of diverged. I found that sustainability brings me so much peace and joy and empathy for the people around me, whereas theatre was more ego driven for me. I found that I got goose bumps all the time following this passion where I never got them performing. I love performing. I still perform. It’s still a nighttime thing that I do, but it’s not where my heart is anymore. My heart lies in helping people find their way to a healthy lifestyle that benefits everybody.”

“I would say for parents, at least, get your kids to a farm as soon as you can.I was working with the public schools, with their Farm [De Café] Program, and it was shocking to go in and see kids not being able to identify things like a tomato, or kale. I didn’t know what kale was when I was growing up. I grew up in the Midwest. We ate Midwest food. I think that it’s important for kids to plant and harvest their own food and understand the relationship between themselves and the generations that follow them. I would advise the kids to ask questions. Let your imaginations go wild because food is magic.”

“Nature is magic. At this time in our society we aren’t looking for the magic anymore. It’s awesome to see the connection between the compost and the ladybugs eating the aphids and the magic of what’s in the atmosphere right now and how it all correlates with what we’re putting into our bodies and the cycles of nature creating cycles in our bodies. I think that there’s a lot of education and a lot of fun to be had there. One of my favorite anecdotes is a messy kid is a happy kid. You see the kids with the dirt under their fingernails and the pride in their eyes when they pull out some carrots or radishes that they planted. Then they understand. They eat it right from the ground and they understand that this little tiny seed holds all of the mystery and the magic that you need in life. Ask questions and don’t trust the adults as much as they want you to trust them. It’s your job to take care of yourself and ask the questions that you need to ask to be happy and healthy.”