"There will never be another person as special as our beloved copy editor, Sarah V. Bell. She was diagnosed with cancer  in October and passed away peacefully on December 28, 2020 in Watkinsville, Georgia.. 

She has been with us from the beginning of this amazing journey in editing eleven editions of our special interest publications. She was mindful and often spent time with my late mother, reading to her as her eyesight failed, sharing a cup of tea and a few laughs along the way. She also became close to Maggie Mae and Sadie Sae, our two sister labs and would stay with them when we traveled. She was a caring and loving friend, animal-lover and  co-worker. Her wit, dedication, loyalty and passion will be forever missed. Thank you Sarah for being a part of our lives."
~ Nancy and Dan
Photo by Nancy Suttles in Watkinsville, Georgia. It was one of Sarah's favorites.

Excerpt from her obituary:
No one will ever forget Sarah’s great sense of humor, integrity, intelligence and wit, her dedication to teaching and civic life, her passion for music and literature, and deep devotion to her Christian faith. Every day of her life, Sarah transformed the energy of her clear convictions and love for God into making the world a better place, always with great warmth and heart.
Students from the University of North Georgia, the Prince Avenue Christian School, and homeschool groups recall Sarah as a rigorous English teacher who insisted on critical thinking, good grammar, and close reading of literature. But she was also “patient, kind and never dull – she even made Beowulf enjoyable!” one recalls. A dedicated student of the Bible, Sarah taught and inspired Sunday School classes for many years.
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Sarah’s friends and neighbors will always remember her random acts of kindness—helping a sick friend, driving an elderly neighbor to the grocery store, or donating blood to the Red Cross. She also practiced organized acts of kindness.  For 25 years, Sarah owned and operated We Care Animal Haven, a non-profit, no-kill animal shelter, and helped other animal rescue agencies connect lost pets with their owners.

A long-time resident of Watkinsville, Sarah enriched the life of Oconee County with her gifts of time and leadership. She served as President of the Oconee County Historical Society, chair of the Oconee County Republican Party, and citizen representative on committees for future land use planning and park restoration. Sarah inherited a love for plants from her father, and was an active member of the Watkinsville Garden Club.  Oconee Observations blogger Lee Becker remembers Sarah as a dedicated citizen activist who engaged wholeheartedly with civic and political life, but “above all,” he says, “she was caring.”

Sarah’s love for music always involved service. She grew up singing in Atlanta’s First Baptist Church choir and North Fulton High School’s national touring choir. She sang and played the piano for worship in numerous churches, and was a member of the 250-voice Jubalheirs.
Sarah’s musical legacy is perhaps most rich and indelible in the life of the Furman Singers, Furman University’s nationally recognized collegiate choir. Sarah’s leadership and love for Singers began her freshman year, and bears fruit today in the vibrant Furman Singers Alumni Association, of which she was a founding member, and in the successful campaign for an endowed faculty chair for music, which she helped spearhead. Retired Singers director and Emeritus Professor Bingham Vick declares Sarah “a true Singers icon. Her love for Furman Singers was without limit, her leadership and influence without peer.”  Singers on tour in 1976 will never forget that moment in the middle of Salzburg, Austria when Sarah suddenly twirled like Julie Andrews and burst into “the hills are alive!”

Sarah is survived by her sisters Glenda Bell Chastain of Dunwoody, GA (Richard Chastain) and Marie Bell Davis, of Woodstock, GA; by nephews Charles Chastain and Jacob Davis, and her niece-namesake Sarah Davis.
A Celebration of Life service will be held on Thursday, January 7, 2021 at 3 p.m., First Baptist Church, Monroe, GA with safe COVID-19 protocols observed.  

To access the live stream of this service, visit HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/FIRSTBAPTISTMONROE or HTTPS://WWW.FBCMONROE.COM/ for more information.  Donations in Sarah’s memory may be sent to Bibles for the World, WWW.BIBLESFORTHEWORLD.ORG, P.O. Box 49759, Colorado Springs, CO 80949. 

"Throw down some delicious keto-friendly pork belly for the melt- in-your-mouth combination of bacon-like goodness mixed with that signature crispy, flavor-packed skin for the perfect bite. Pork belly is an inexpensive, fatty cut of meat from the underside of the pig near the loin. Spareribs also come from this area. Whole, the belly is one long piece with the skin on, weighing about 12 pounds. When the skin is removed, it’s salted, cured, and smoked to make bacon.

There is something truly empowering about lighting up the Big Green Egg and cooking anything from a gourmet platter full of smoked artichokes with whipped feta to smoking pork belly. The EGG allows you to immerse yourself in your cooking in a way an oven doesn’t, not to mention how incredible the food smells and tastes!"
~ Lauren Nagel, Founder, Bon Appeteach and Big Green Egger

Read all about Lauren in the current issue of Nourish and Flourish.
Ingredients
1 slab of pork belly
2-4 tablespoons of  Kosher salt
4 tablespoons all purpose Keto BBQ rub (or your rub of choice)
2 teaspoons olive oil

Method
Start by patting the pork belly dry. The dryer the better. Using a knife, score the fat cap and skin on an angle to create a grid ½ inch wide.
Salt the outside of the skin generously with the kosher salt, being sure to get it into the cracks and grooves. Place it on a baking sheet and leave it unwrapped and in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours or overnight to dry the skin out. 

Remove from the fridge and wipe off the excess salt. Lightly oil the entire piece of pork belly and coat on all sides with the all purpose BBQ rub (or your rub of choice). Place on a cooling rack over a baking sheet or foil pan to catch the fat drippings.

Fire up the Big Green Egg to 350°F set for indirect heat and smoke for 2 hours. Around that 2-hour mark, bump up the heat to around 425-450°F to finish off the skin. Let it cook for another 30-45 minutes and remove from the EGG.

Rest, tented in foil for 10-15 minutes and use the scored grooves to slice into pieces and serve!

Notes:
Crispy skin is the goal here and that is all achieved in the prep. Salting the skin is imperative to drawing out the moisture. Avoid rubs with lots of sugar because it will caramelize and burn at a higher cooking temp. Always smoke the pork belly fat cap side up.

Check out this special "furry family friendly" digital publication! Click photo to learn more.

Or order a printed copy for you secret pal by clicking the button below.
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Red Land Cotton was founded in 2016 by Mark Yeager and his daughter Anna, with two primary purposes: to diversify the cotton crop and to create job opportunities in the United States textile industry. Red Land Cotton has done both. Anna’s background in graphic design—combined with her dad’s business acumen—has allowed them to work together to create a brand that’s now loved by thousands of Americans. “We are honored every time we receive an order because it’s an opportunity for us to share a piece of our farm and family with another family,” says Anna. “That’s a responsibility we don’t take lightly, and we are extremely thankful!”
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“When we make a decision, it’s not made by a board with suits; it’s made by a family that sits around and eats dinners together. I think that’s a fundamental difference in our company. We are driven by heart and community—not by PowerPoints, financial markets, and investors.”
One special difference is that Red Land Cotton is grown sustainably.  What that means is that the family grows cotton with an eye on protecting and preserving the land. They have used innovative practices such as using cover crops after they harvest the cotton to protect the land itself and replenish its natural nutrients. They use beneficial bugs to combat destructive ones and apply organic fertilizer. They do not till the land and never irrigate. In other words, they are keeping the land as natural as possible, even while producing a crop from it.

Read all about Anna and her family in the current edition. Nourish and Flourish makes a great stocking stuffer and you are supporting the "Buy Local, Made in America" effort!

“I believe in supporting our bodies through a more gentle, natural way. Once I had children, I began to learn more about how plants and foods work in a holistic way to strengthen our bodies and immune functioning,  as opposed to simply suppressing symptoms. I think it is best to offer alternatives and let people discover what works best for them individually.”

My products are unlike any that you will find on big box shelves. I maintain a food vs. pharmaceutical quality that is tried and true for the past decade. We do not add any thickeners, alcohols, or artificial preservatives. We hand press every batch to maximize plant medicine potency.  We sweeten with a (local) pure raw honey and cold-pack our syrups to maintain all of the beneficial healing enzymes.  Our syrups contain not only the elderberries but also the elder flowers, hibiscus petals, rose hips, lemon and orange peels, and ginger (as opposed to a traditional recipe of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves).  My goal was to make a syrup that kids and adults alike would look forward to each day.

Our main goal is to maintain the highest quality of ingredients and food medicine potency.  We are a small company, offering hand-crafted and artisanal “food medicine.“ From my family to yours, with love, care and attention.
> Amy Parsons, founder, My Elderberry Fairy

​My Elderberry Fairy offers small batch elderberry syrups, tea blends, DIY syrup kits, fire cider tonics and seasonal wellness products. My Elderberry Fairy sprouted wings from a belief and passion for trusting in Nature for nourishment, healing, and food as medicine.  We believe in the power and wisdom of Nature to nourish not only our taste buds, but our whole selves. 

Background:
Folk medicine has been around for millennia, exploiting first wild then cultivated plants to prevent or cure a myriad of illnesses. Black elder has been used for centuries in Europe, northern Africa, and some parts of Asia for such purposes as to keep the evil spirits away and to prevent or cure numerous ailments and health problems. 

Early settlers brought some of this knowledge to America where a closely related plant, the American elder, could easily be found in the wild. Native Americans also have a tradition of using elderberry 
for its healing properties and particularly to treat fever and rheumatism. While some of the reported effects lack adequate scientific validation, there are an increasing number of studies supporting important medicinal or therapeutic properties associated with American and black elders. 
(source: hort.purdue.edu)

This information is intended for educational purposes only, and each person should research and find your own path for health, wellness, and treatments.

Read all about Amy in the current edition! Order your copy today.

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