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The Method to My Madness

Reader Contribution by Sarah Sinning and Assistant Editor
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Hello, everyone! My name is Sarah, and I’m an assistant editor and web editor for Capper’s Farmer magazine. Many of you may already know me from my brief stint as Capper’s Farmer blog manager. But for those of you who don’t, or maybe just didn’t spend as much time chatting with me as others – what can I say? I like to talk! – I’m hoping this blog will provide a space for us to get to know each other and maybe even learn a few new things. While I plan on sharing lots of little tidbits about my life here and what I do to live more simply, sustainably, and all-around homemade – I assure you I really do this in real life! – right now I’d like to take a few minutes to tell you a little bit about who I am and why I’m here.

I’m a creative spirit – if one actually has the right to self-apply this term – who spent almost the entirety of my twenties just trying to find my way – to a career, to an identity, to a fulfilling, authentic life in which I could feel good about participating. I’m still a work in progress, although now that I’m 30, a mom to the most wonderful 1 year old in existence, and officially working my first “big girl” job as I like to call it, I feel I’m at least heading in the right direction. I am proud, though, to have had the opportunity to spend so many years in self-discovery. And for anyone out there who’s wondering what that somewhat vague term even means, what follows is a brief taste.

After completing my master’s degree in English Literature, with a focus on the nineteenth-century British novel – Charles Dickens is my hero, for the record – I briefly tried the whole office thing before realizing that if I were going to brave the cubicle front, it had to be ABSOLUTELY worth it. So … I quit my job, went to work at my favorite local pizza place – for barely above minimum wage, mind you – and then planned which culinary school I was going to attend. Yes, folks, I had decided to eschew the whole “doing what everyone else expected of me” thing and chose to instead pursue a budding passion for scratch cooking. No, this had very little to do with any thought of how I was eventually going to make ends meet; it had everything to do with how I was ever going to be happy. Fast-forward a couple of months, and I was living in Montpelier, Vermont, attending New England Culinary Institute – the one where Alton Brown went in case you’re interested – and gaining one of the best (and most expensive) culinary educations out there. Go big or go home, I always say … I then decided upon graduation to try my hand at farming, since let’s face it, can you really understand food if you have no idea how it’s even grown? After a couple of seasons of that, and a baby, I finally decided the cubicle thing was a challenge worth revisiting, but only if I could find a way to incorporate all of these life-altering experiences and help others experience the same journey. So, this, dear readers, is why I work at Capper’s Farmer magazine. Any questions?

My son on his very first trip to the pumpkin patch. Future farmer?