Right as Rain: Spice Up Your Life

My girlfriend Maya and I had been cooped up for 20 days with our newborn daughter, Bellamy — our sweet, adorable, and completely dependent Bellamy.

But last Saturday morning it was sunny (and we were somewhat rested), so we decided to venture out to the Chapel Hill Farmer’s Market to pick up some produce. We settled on coffee and croissants, instead.

While strolling through the booths, Maya told me that she wished she had more of a green thumb. I told her I used to, since I’d grown up gardening with my dad and canning foods with my mom. I even had a pretty big garden at my home in Chatham County back in 2010. But after moving to NYC and then becoming somewhat of a nomad, I’d resorted to eating out a lot more and cooking at home a lot less.

With the costs of raising a child and now having a yard of our own in Durham, we both agreed it might be a good idea to start growing some of our own food.

About that time, I spotted my friend Claudia Sanders talking to a seafood provider. She’s a personal shopper and spends every Saturday at the market. She totally has the hookup with the local food providers and farmers since she generally leaves with a huge hand cart of food for her clients.

We told her about our concerns of growing our own food and her face immediately lit up.

We were talking to the right person.

“Herbs!” she said. “It’s all about the herbs!”

Claudia’s business, Good Intentions Culinary Services, has recently grown from just personal shopping to now private cheffing and catering. Not only does she pick up the best local food, but she’ll take it home and cook it for you, or just give you the recipes so you can cook it yourself.

She told us that we just needed to keep it simple at first and herbs were a great way to do that.

“Adding fresh herbs to a dish can bring new life and added nutrition to your normal staple foods. From parsley in an omelette, to cilantro in jarred salsa, you can wake up the flavor and freshness. Many times, a small addition to a dish can make a huge difference.”

Not only that, but herbs are super easy to grow! Whether you live in the city in an apartment, or out in the country with an acre of land, you can just stick them in a garden, window-box, flower pot — really, anything — and you’ll have a great supply of these flavor boosters.

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver says, “Herbs can be classed as being either woody herbs, like rosemary and thyme, and soft herbs, like basil, coriander and parsley. Woody herbs are tougher and are generally too powerful to be eaten raw. Instead, they’re usually cooked alongside whatever they’re intended to flavour and are often removed before serving. Soft herbs aren’t quite as strong as woody ones – they can be eaten raw in salads, or scattered over and stirred into cooked food.”

Claudia has been coming to the Chapel Hill Farmers Market (right outside University Mall) for years and told us that it has quadrupled in size. She regularly hosts cooking demos out there and any time I’ve seen her, she’s either been on the way to, or just leaving the market.

(The Chapel Hill Farmer’s Market is having its 10th Birthday Celebration on May 19th and is open Saturday 8am to 12pm and Tuesday from 3pm to 6pm.)

“Not only are you getting the freshest in-season food, you’re eating healthy and sustainably-grown food as well as supporting your local economy.” She says.

It didn’t take that much to convince us. With the way Bellamy eats at three weeks, Maya and I will definitely need to find a way to provide her with delicious (and cheap!) meals by the time she starts consuming solid food. It looks like we’ll be cooking at home much more.

But for me, the added benefit of teaching our daughter the skills of growing and cooking her own food will be priceless.

Spring has officially sprung. Get out there and support your local food providers, enjoy strolling around in the sunshine, or just sip on coffee and nibble on croissants. Your local farmer’s market is the happening spot to be on the weekends. Welcome to adulthood.

Claudia left us with some new takes on the classic pesto sauce to practice with our herbs.

You can download it HERE!

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Rain Bennett is a two time Emmy-nominated filmmaker, fitness professional, public speaker, and writer. His mission is simple: to help people realize that they too can be great, no matter where they come from or what they start with. It just takes passion, persistence, and a plan.

Bennett directed and produced his first feature length documentary in true indie fashion by traveling the world with only a backpack and a Canon DSLR camera. That film, Raise Up: The World is Our Gym won “Best of the Fest” at the Hip Hop Film Festival NYC and received global distribution through Red Bull Media House. He’s been featured in publications like Men’s Health and Sports Business Global and is a regular contributor to Breaking Muscle. When he’s not making movies or training clients at Sync Studio in Durham, he’s hosting a new webseries called The Perfect Workout Show.