Wands and her daughter check on rolls they are baking.
By Deborah Salomon
As of Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Take the turkey out of Thanksgiving and what’s left? Thanks giving.
“Turkey is the wrong focus,” says Kim Wands, vegan cook and vendor at the Sandhills Farmers’ Market. “Thanksgiving isn’t about the centerpiece. It’s about what is around the table.”
Wands, a former paramedic and ER nurse who lives in Carthage, hasn’t eaten turkey for 35 years. Her mother became a Seventh Day Adventist, embracing with the religion the Genesis Diet that some Adventists follow. Wands fishes a Kindle from her bag and pulls up Gen. 1:29 — God’s admonition to Adam and Eve:
And God said behold, I have given you every herb-bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed. To you, it shall be for meat.
“If we can stay with a simple diet as close to fresh as possible, we’ll be healthier,” Wands believes.
Because of her home environment, Kim Wands never learned to prepare meat. As a bride, she told husband Joel Wands, a fellow paramedic, that he was welcome to eat any meat he wanted to cook. That didn’t happen.
“He enjoyed the things I fixed,” she says. “I even make a wal-o-burger out of walnuts, oats and bulgur.”
The Wands family goes several steps further: They grow nutrient-dense greens, mill wheat and use natural, preservative-free baking ingredients. At 47, Kim — who wears a head covering as a sign of respect to God and her husband — has rosy cheeks, smooth skin and happy eyes.
Her business, Our Daily Bread of the Sandhills, grew from a project mounted by daughter Emily, now 16. Emily wanted a horse; her parents insisted she map out the yearly cost and divide it into weeks.
“I can do this,” Emily said, viewing the number.
Kim Wands had taught Emily and younger brother Evan bread-baking as part of early home schooling. Emily proposed baking the bread and having her mother sell it to nurses and doctors at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital, where she worked.
The bread became so popular that arrangements were made for a booth at the farmers market. During peak season, the family bakes 160 loaves per week in five rescued ovens installed in their garage. Proceeds support Emily’s equestrian dream — and then some.
“It’s fun having a family business, doing things together,” Emily says.
By 5 a.m. Tuesday, Kim and Emily Wands were busy-busy-busy preparing cornbread, pies, sweetbreads, scones, muffins, rolls and ready-to-bake stuffing in her Carthage kitchen. Christmas carols played softly in the background. The near extinct aroma of home-baked breads: divine.
Most will be sold Wednesday at the Southern Pines Farmers Market on Morganton Road. When the market closes at 1 p.m., the family will load their van and drive to Chattanooga, Tenn., where Kim’s parents live and son Evan attends a church school.
This year, guests at Thanksgiving dinner include a family recovering from the death of a father. They gather at 2 p.m. for a vegan feast: cornbread dressing studded with vegetables, creamy mashed potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, a green salad, whole-wheat dinner rolls, corn from their garden and macaroni with a rich, velvety, better-than-cheese sauce.
The meal ends with pumpkin and pecan pies followed by hot orchard wassail, a combination of cranberry and apple juices with citrus slices and, Kim concedes, a bit of sugar.
Before dinner, each participant expresses personal thanks. This year, Kim is grateful for how the plant-based diet she suggested helped reduce the pain of a friend suffering from a debilitating illness. She’s also grateful, she says, “for the love of God in all things.”
Afterward, in lieu of football, the family takes a long walk. Even without the big bird, they are stuffed.
“You shouldn’t measure Thanksgiving by the turkey,” Emily concludes. “This isn’t Turkey Day, it’s Thanksgiving Day.” Kim smiles proudly at her daughter and adds, “The importance of the holiday is being together. Things can change real quick. You never know when you’ll be together like this again.”
Contact Deborah Salomon at debsalomon@nc.rr.com.
Source
No comments:
Post a Comment