Show Notes –
Join Shannon & Christine as they talk about Physical Wellness with special guest Missy DuMars.
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#9 | Heather Fukase: Innovation vs. Tradition + All Things Rice – Women in Food
Dawn Again Tracking Wisdom Wild
Forest bathing: what it is and where to do it
#14 | Natasha Tatton: Community Focused Business + Vegan Banana Bread – Women in Food
Feminine Culinary Leadership + Watermelon Pico De Gallo – Women in Food
Journey to Wellness Pop Up with Carolyn Renee & Christine Gautreaux
Connect with Missy here:
crownhillfarm.com, spiritbizpeople.com, womeninfood.net
IG: @crownhillfarmny
Twitter: @missySDM
https://www.facebook.com/mizmissysinger
Shannon M. 0:08
Hi ladies, I am Shannon Mitchell, a black millennial business owner, the founder of shallow glow LLC, an all natural skincare company that helps you glow from head to toe. I am a champion for your daily self care, business care and intentional wellness.
Christine Gautreaux 0:21
Hey, y’all. I’m Christine Gautreaux, a white social justice advocate, and international speaker, coach, published author and dancing social worker who helps you upgrade yourself and community care.
Shannon M. 0:35
Together, we are women connected in wisdom, a podcast grounded in the eight dimensions of wellness.
Christine Gautreaux 0:39
And we like to get together every week for intentional conversations between us and special guests about how to be wise in business relationships and wellness. How do we do this thing?
Shannon M. 0:51
Ya know, it’s, it’s a good question, because there’s a lot to do. You know, I think about the difference of women now and the woman before things are similar. And some things are a lot different, you know, so what does it look like? I can I can get advice and you know, pull from stories of times before but sometimes you might be the first person going through that situation. So I love doing this with you.
Christine Gautreaux 1:15
I do to my friend. What are we talking about today, who today,
Shannon M. 1:19
we’re talking about physical wellness. And physical wellness is the ability to maintain a quality of life that allows you to thrive in your daily activities without undue fatigue or physical stress. physical wellness recognizes that our daily choices, habits and behaviors have an impact on our overall health, well being and quality of life.
Christine Gautreaux 1:44
That is true. I’m excited to talk with our guests today about physical wellness and and she has a very unique perspective and it delights me. But before we do that, I wanted to ask you like how you doing on physical wellness? Like I know you’re juggling a lot right now. And we both are with us on deadline for this book coming out and work and everything. So how’s it going for you?
Shannon M. 2:13
So I’ve been doing a really good job. And I had to get back on to my routine my morning routine for the time for myself, the start is slipping a little bit, right. So the workouts are back on. The hydration is definitely on is a different situation with the water bottle though, right? I like to bring my water bottle to work. If you work in the hospitality industry, you know, your drinks have to be in certain cups, certain places labeled a certain way. And so my water bottle would be too far. So it changes my water systems. I’ve been intentional about staying hydrated in this kitchen that was 89 degrees for the past two weeks. You know, you were talking about double triple digits in Texas earlier. So staying on that and stretching shallow glow. Just did the production day we refilled so physically I’m doing really good, huh? Well, my friend. You know, I had my teeth removed. I’ve been using my Waterpik and my electric toothbrush is charged now. So we’re on the routines. Yes.
Christine Gautreaux 3:14
Yay, yay, yay, yay.
Shannon M. 3:17
Yes. Actually, the one routine I actually am a little a few days off is the shaving routine and stuff. So you got to stay on the exfoliation in the wet. Not the wax, but because I shave, but the hydration and everything. And I’m a little off for that. But the moisture is there. So I call it a
Christine Gautreaux 3:34
Yeah, be gentle with yourself. You know, we’re not her face. I mean, that’s the thing. We’re all of these, that anybody that’s listening to us for any amount of time knows that, you know, perfection is impossible. So just giving it your
Shannon M. 3:46
best shot. So absolutely, yeah. And it’s not realistic to always sit all the points every single time you know, so definitely grace around that. What about you,
Christine Gautreaux 3:57
you know, I’m resetting I have been a little out of routine because of travel. But this week, as I said earlier, a reset and with the chiropractor walking, you know, walking early mornings, or late evenings because of the heat and stretching and interplay. And you know, Michael is to move and have fun every day and I love to dance and so that’s always fun. And you know, every time you say hydration, I think ooh, I need to drink more water so I know that’s true, but I have some really great meant growing on my patio and I want to do some infused waters and teas this week and yeah,
Shannon M. 4:35
I’ve been thinking about it. What do you infuse your water with?
Christine Gautreaux 4:39
Well, I love to infuse my water with like cucumber and mint and sometimes lemon and lime but I love a good Cucumber Mint it i It looks so pretty. And then you open your fridge and you’re just like, oh, I want to drink that. Yes, yeah. So because otherwise I get in the habit of drinking too much tea or coffee. You know I can’t Fein addiction so I I really like to make my waters pretty and I like regular water too but there’s something about opening the fridge and that pretty pitcher of water being there and and the whole thing about being able to source it out of the garden or the patio and I’m so are you about ready to bring on our guests because I really am excited to bring her on and have this conversation is we’re talking about gardens.
Shannon M. 5:26
Yes, absolutely. Yeah.
Christine Gautreaux 5:29
So let’s do it. All right, y’all. Missy Our guest today is Missy Singer DuMars. She comes from a deep tradition of entrepreneurship and business. Having grown up in a multi generational family business. She worked in entertainment lighting managing multimillion dollar projects, including Cirque de Soleil de jour. I said it wrong. Cirque du silay and Celine Dion Caesars Coliseum. How cool is that? From there, she transitioned to the holistic community and now has over 20 years experience with counseling, teaching, facilitating retreats and event planning. She supports business owners to grow their business in a way that is authentic, conscious and sustainable myths. He owns and manages crownhill farm where she grows heirloom vegetables raised his heritage poultry, and longwool sheep for naturally hand dyed yarns. I mean, this woman can do it all y’all. she educates on food issues through her farm and podcast women in food. The farm also serves as a venue for groups, events and private retreats. We are so excited to welcome Missy to our stage today.
Missy DuMars 6:42
I’m like oh my god, you’re talking about hydration? I gotta have my cup. Whoop.
Christine Gautreaux 6:45
Oh, yes.
Missy DuMars 6:48
To throw it on my whole body.
Christine Gautreaux 6:50
What do you like to as a farmer, I somebody who is Farm to Table What do you like to infuse your water with?
Missy DuMars 6:59
Well, so that’s interesting, because in the spring, April, early April, I had COVID Pretty bad. Yeah. And that actually pushed me up on my self practices a lot. And what my doctor who’s a wizard and amazing and a gift and a dear friend who’s both Western and alternative medicine had me doing was drinking my bodyweight in ounces every day with electrolytes so I’m not quite doing that much because that would be like a gallon and a half almost. But I have a half gallon mason jar and I fill it every day and put electrolyte powder organic in it and I try and get it done by the time I go to bed.
Christine Gautreaux 7:41
Well, a new needed especially so as a farmer in the yes in the summer. Yeah, and I love that for all of us really, when I think about summer and I think about electrolytes.
Missy DuMars 7:51
Yeah, and in the least put some sea salts and or, or the real salt that has all the minerals in it and some lemon juice and you’re good to go. So you don’t need to buy fancy powders. You just need lemons and salt give yourself electrolytes fast electrolytes is coconut what I mean there’s just so many ways that are not interested and that garbage so what I think is garbage in there I do I do also make I was like I don’t know if you saw my message I’m like let me in using water and I have groups come for farm tours and for dinners and things and I always do some kind of water infusion for them. And I grow purple shiso which is a herbal leaf. Wait spell that she so Shi S Oh, purple she so it grows really easily. It’s a really unusual herb you can use it for all kinds of things. But it’s fun to put in water because it’ll make sort of this grayish or bluish water but then when you add lemon juice, it turns hot pink. And so it’s always like a fun thing to do with my guests. I give them a port into their glass and they’ve given me to wedge a lemon and I’m like alright, now make lemonade and they’re like, whoa.
Christine Gautreaux 9:11
fun thing to do at a party.
Missy DuMars 9:13
I like to do that with kids too, um butterfly pea flowers do the same thing which is very much a fad right now and a lot of drinks if you see blue, like neon blue turquoise drinks. That’s butterfly pea flower which is a Southeast Asian flower. And when you
Christine Gautreaux 9:31
add links to these interfaces, so people can find them that’s
Missy DuMars 9:36
Yeah, so I do a lot of stuff but I also like to do like mint and cucumber slices is a good one or mint and lime and cucumber is a favorite or if I Basil, basil and cucumber anything right?
Christine Gautreaux 9:49
I had a ginger Limeade this last week. You know before the show I was mentioned y’all and I’ll just tell our listeners I was in Nashville and there’s this all Awesome cafe called sunny point cafe that I like to visit with them. They’re in West Asheville. And they are a farm to table and so they have the restaurant and then behind the restaurant is this gorgeous, I would guess. quarter acre maybe a half acre at the most garden huge it behind the restaurant. Yeah,
Missy DuMars 10:21
like I have a thirteen year old farm but my gardens are only about 4000 square
Christine Gautreaux 10:24
feet. Yeah, it is a huge garden. Like I mean, you it takes a minute to walk through it. And I may be exaggerating a little because you know, when it’s really packed in there, it looks way bigger than it is. But it’s several plots for sure. And it’s beautiful because they have flowers mixed in with I’m pretty sure they had the pea flower because I have a I have the picture this app that I use. And there were several things that I was like, what is that? What is that and
Missy DuMars 10:53
you can tell the pea flowers really easily because first of all, they’re vines. So they’re gonna go up somewhere. And they’re like this beautiful bright blue, purple. And I’m gonna say word, they look like a clitoris. And that’s actually their name, click Toria turn a TIA. And so it’s really easy to identify. If you know what you’re looking at.
Shannon M. 11:15
Wisdom, yes.
Christine Gautreaux 11:17
I figured we’re women here. Oh, absolutely. Well, I miss it. You said you also had an app for identification of plants and flowers that you liked.
Missy DuMars 11:28
plants and flowers and pests and bugs. It does both. It’s called seek and it’s by I naturalist. Yeah.
Christine Gautreaux 11:38
Okay, we’ll put a link to that in
Missy DuMars 11:41
it. I’m pretty good at. But I’ve used it like when I go walking at Niagara Falls, which is near me. I’m like, Oh, what’s that plant? What’s that?
Christine Gautreaux 11:50
I love that we share that. So for our listeners that don’t know, I was raised in Texas by somebody who was a horticulturist. And he loved gardening. And when he retired from teaching, he started a small organic farm. And I mean, we gardened our whole I used to joke and say that was his disciplinary strategy was to have a farm in Texas, because his garden was much larger when we lived at home than it was when we left home. And then he had years where it was a small garden. And then when he retired it got bigger again, right.
Missy DuMars 12:22
And gardening in Texas is like a whole nother thing.
Christine Gautreaux 12:25
It’s a thing, right? It’s a big thing. And he does organic gardening. And so I’m was really excited to have you on Missy because like it just delights me that you are doing this farm that you have a podcast about women in food and we wanted to have you come on on the physical wellness because of how important food is to us. Like, I think people are starting. I mean, I want your opinion on this. Like I think people are starting to realize it. But I was you know, I was watching. Have you seen the documentary gather on Netflix. Yeah, talking about the food deserts that it was it was about the indigenous tried the Apache out in Arizona, and how much of a food desert and it made me think of it when you say Gatorade because like they were basically saying, you know, a lot of the kids are having diabetes, and they are having health problems, because they had to shop out of convenience stores. And there there’s a whole movement, there’s a whole natural food movement of getting people back to the earth what what are the plants we should be eating? What is good for our body? And, you know, I was raised farm to table before that was even a term. And I didn’t realize how lucky I had it until I went to college and people tried to serve me asparagus out of a can. I was like, that’s not a spirit.
Shannon M. 13:51
I didn’t know they had his cat asparagus. Oh, oh, if it makes sense.
Christine Gautreaux 13:55
You need to know and I do not recommend it.
Missy DuMars 14:01
Well, it’s interesting you say that because I think there’s like actually a deeper level than just knowing that information. My podcast I interviewed a former friend of mine, Heather fricassee, who is Australian born but she farms in Japan. And she was talking about and she raised her kids in Japan and she was talking about this thing that fascinated me how that in the school system in Japan, the children from like kindergarten pre K, whatever. They start in the school system. They get school lunches, and the lunches actually have information and are teaching them seasonality and they’re learning how to cut things and they’re learning how like what part of Japan different foods come from and when and why and like how to fillet raw fish or like just all these things from a really early age and I was like that’s the level like has to be so part of every day experience that that’s not something you have to think about. And I think that’s where people get hung up with changing food choices is that it’s a lot of effort. When there’s something else that’s easier, you know,
Christine Gautreaux 15:13
very inconvenient. Right
Missy DuMars 15:14
and convenient. Yeah.
Christine Gautreaux 15:16
Well, I I am glad that you brought that up. Because I realized recently, I had the story in my head, that growing things was hard. And I was like, of course, I had that story in my head because my dad would plant things like 100 tomato plants, and it was my job to pick them.
Missy DuMars 15:33
He was farming in Texas, that’s just hard. Like,
Christine Gautreaux 15:37
you’re right. When you’re a kid, and you weren’t the one that planted them, but you had to go pick them like in sometimes it was your punishment to go pick them like so I was really untangling all this about it being hard. And realizing, when you do it on such a large scale, or when you do it in certain places. It may be hard, but having a little cottage garden in my house right now. It’s not It’s a joy. Like I’m starting to realize the joy of being reconnected to the earth. The joy of being able to go out and pick something that I serve to my family. And you know, in in the movie gather they were talking about food sovereignty, like us having control over where our food comes from. And I love what you were saying too about seasonality, like what’s in season? Like, I mean here in Georgia, I mean, nobody’s gonna be shocked at this, but you know, it’s the season for peaches. Yeah, right. And there’s nothing better than a fresh peach off the tree at this time of the year.
Missy DuMars 16:40
Yeah, I mean, oh my gosh, my brain exploded with so many directions. First, I want to say something about the garden piece and yeah, it being hard or easy. One of the things I try and keep in mind and I even tell people ask me what do you grow and I’m like well, I don’t grow Mother Nature grows. I I’m in service to that I’m in service to her I’m in service to the land and the plants and I tend I steward the container as best as I can. And anytime I try I get into a place where I think I’m growing that’s where it doesn’t work or it feels hard or it feels like work and when I can allow it to do I mean every seat every plant is designed to grow and provide food you know the seeds for food or provide whatever fruits or flowers or medicine that it provides and so as much as I can remember that and stay in that place. And like you said we’re not perfect I forget sometimes and I’m like production we got to do this but I try and try and keep that in mind like Mother Nature does the growing and so it shouldn’t be hard. Now I’ll kill a house plant but you’re talking about a very confined plant. I cannot grow house plants. Like if it’s not out in the garden Forget it like I have to have water the plants on the porch the hanging baskets because if Mother Nature can’t take care of it for me like out you know,
Christine Gautreaux 18:06
okay that tickles me so much and makes me feel so much better about myself Missy because I want you to tell our listeners like what you are currently harvesting because this list a lot. I just
Missy DuMars 18:17
sent it to a chef recently. Let’s say we pulled kohlrabi yesterday we’ve been harvesting 1000s of shallots and garlic today. chard is in season collards are in season. The beans string beans are starting to show and come out. Of course all the herbs terragon parsley, chives are all season long. The Edamame is almost ready to flower I think squashes and watermelons are coming up. They’re not fruiting yet, but they’re they were seeded recently. All the tomatoes and all the vines are fruiting like crazy but not read yet. Peppers are fruiting like crazy eggplants are starting to push out. Like I have to like walk through every garden in my mind. It’s like there’s so much right now that we finished and we finished how many things are you finished peas we finished scallions. We finished all the peas I said that. Peas scallions. Yeah, there’s just a whole bunch that we finished already. And we’re on to the next we finished all the lettuces already. So yeah, it’s
Christine Gautreaux 19:23
incredible.
Missy DuMars 19:25
A lot of beets, onions.
Christine Gautreaux 19:28
Oh my gosh, I wish we were closer so I can come over
Missy DuMars 19:32
closer just to hang out.
Christine Gautreaux 19:36
I mean, I get such joy out of walking through people’s gardens. It’s one of the things that I consider a self care thing like to go through and take pictures of plants or fruits and vegetables that are growing it’s it’s one of the things that brings me joy. It even brings me more joy when I didn’t have to do the work to get it
Shannon M. 20:00
I think about food. Like when you eat and you didn’t have to cook it, you didn’t have to grow it. It’s that sense of did it bring you joy, but is it good for you? That’s the question. So that’s what I love about Farm to Table.
Missy DuMars 20:11
Yeah. Oh my gosh, it’s funny too about food when someone else makes it for you like, yeah, like I had an intern one year, and I said, Do you like cucumbers? And she’s like, only if someone else cuts them for me. I won’t eat cucumbers. And I have a girlfriend who when I’m at her house, she makes the best salad like I love salad. But I never like to make it for myself.
Christine Gautreaux 20:30
Salad, do you grow soil?
Missy DuMars 20:33
I have in the past and I have like the seed packet for soil. And every year when I’m doing my planning, I think this year I’m gonna put it in. It’s kind of more of a perennial? I think. So and I don’t do a lot I do more annuals mostly. So it’s like, it feels like such a commitment to put a perennial in my garden. So I’ve commitment issues, maybe what?
Shannon M. 21:00
What is the difference? What’s the difference between you set up for renewal and
Missy DuMars 21:03
oh, so yeah, so a perennial is a plant that is there all the time, basically an annual you have to replant it every year. So a perennial will overwinter. And then it will, you know, often it will like my chives are perennial. So if I keep cutting them, they’ll keep growing. And then in winter, they kind of die off but they’re hibernating underground. And then they pop up again the next spring. And the next spring. biennials means every other year. So like parsley is kind of a biennial. And that one year, it will be beautiful and least be done. It will you’ll cut it back and it will keep its root. And then the next year it will come back but it will be very flowery and seedy and not really fee. And then the next year will be leafy again. So it it has a two year cycle. And then annuals are one year cycles. So like all your tomatoes, peppers, things like that. When they’re done fruiting, they’re done. So, yeah, so a lot of herbs are perennials.
Christine Gautreaux 21:59
Well, I love that in talking about the seasons, right? Because I think about this, when I think about business, all of us own our own businesses, we help other people with their businesses. And, you know, there’s, there’s this big push, a lot of times you see on social media, in the dominant culture, about you’ve always got to be producing, you’ve always got to be debt debt, debt debt. And I often take a deep breath, and I think about the flowers and the trees. And I think about, you know that nature doesn’t bloom every single second. Like there’s times there’s different seasons for it. There’s different times to replenish and rest and Hibernate, as you said. So would you speak to that a little missy?
Missy DuMars 22:46
Oh, my gosh, you know, let me start by saying I did not grow up around farms, I did not grow up gardening a thing and growing anything. So this is all like a new world for the past six years for me. And and I’m mostly self taught here with what I do. So I think one of the biggest shifts for me has been really deepening into understanding those cycles and shifting my perspective. Which comes to understanding the subtleties and the nuance of those seasonal cycles. Now I live somewhere where there are actually seasons haven’t always lived places that have actual seasons. But a good example would be autumn. So autumn is actually abundance that’s harvest, everything’s fruiting, the seeds are dropping. You know, most people think autumn, everything’s dying, yes, late, late, late autumn, everything then dies. But that’s after it produced, it’s like, it’s the you know, people think of summer as the big raw energy. That’s where it’s pushing a lot of energy out. But then the fruits are really coming to fruition in early autumn. And people think about Spring is the time to plant seeds. And yes, if you’re buying seeds, that is when you plant them, but in truth, a lot of plants drop their seeds and fall, right, the leaves die. The fruits, you know, rot the tomato, for example, drops off the vine, when it’s past its prime and it lands in the ground. And that means those seeds are sitting there and they’re actually fermenting in that juicy tomato on the ground, and then they then they sink into the soil, and then they’re there for the winter until it’s time to come up again. And so understanding that then shifting how I do business, shifting how I make decisions to be aligned with that is a different kind of thing to understanding that and then embracing those energetics in everything else I do. So seasonality, you know, is a little bit of a different thing. It’s also it’s an annual cycle. You know, like business, it’s like, you launch something, you get feedback, you iterate, you launch it again, you get feedback, iterate, I do that too. But it’s a year later when I can iterate because that season doesn’t come around until another year. So it’s been a lesson for me of massive slowdown In that slowdown, there’s room for observation, there’s room for noticing there’s room for receiving. And deeper understanding and deeper wisdom comes out of the land because there’s a slower, slower pace.
Christine Gautreaux 25:12
Hmm, I love that. I recently read and I’m not going to call it up, right, maybe one of you know what I’m talking about. But there’s a practice that has been coming to light recently, where they’re encouraging people to go to the same spot in nature, every day, so far smoothing? Well, it’s not the forest, the forest bathing is a part of it. But I think there’s a specific practice within it, that you go and you sit in the same spot I knew of observe, you rest and you observe, but you’re also connecting with that piece of land and the animals that live there, and the insects and the foliage and the, you know, I’m lucky enough to do that where I live because I have a labyrinth in my backyard. And the first year after I built it, I was in it every single day. And, and one day, I woke a hawk up singing, he wasn’t very happy. But it was funny to me, because it was like he was used to me being there. So he missed it there. And so I can’t remember the exact practice, I will link us to the forest bathing for our listeners, and if I come up with the exact name of what they’re talking about, but I just think about that, when you say that about there’s room to slow down. There’s room for observation. It’s natural meditation.
Missy DuMars 26:32
That’s yeah, truly. I mean, I feel like that about cooking, too. I mean, I know, culinary can seem like a fast pace. I’ve been in many professional kitchens and have many professional chef friends. And it can be very fast paced, but when I’m cooking at home, it’s my meditation. And people have been like, Oh, I’ll make breakfast. I’m like, do not touch the kitchen. I will cook breakfast. This is my morning practice. This is my meditation. You know, I have I had an intern recently asked me about like, Why do I have so many pots and pans and dishes like live a simple life and I’m like, This is my art form. This is my meditation, this is my work, this is my passion is my love. And so I’m gonna have the best tools possible to do each task. So I can enjoy it. And but it is a slowing it is a slowing down. And when I talk to people about cooking, and sometimes I teach cooking classes, one of the things I learned was, you don’t always have to cook everything with the the flame all the way on. And hot. Like some people cook everything on high, it’s like you want a really lovely fried egg cook at 50%. And just you have to wait an extra minute, but that’s okay. It’ll be cooked beautifully and perfectly. You know, it’s like just, it has that slowing down. You were talking about the observation. There’s a wonderful memoir called Don again, written by Don Eega market guard, who is also a regenerative rancher. And in California, and her Dawn, there’s two books. But Dawn, again, is her first book, and she talks a lot about her childhood, and she had the opportunity to receive like wilderness school as for some of her schooling, which was a lot and she talks a lot about sitting in a same spot outdoors and observing the world and learning and noticing. And I’m not always good at that. I mean, I have my days where it’s like I got a lot of shit to do. And I gotta get it all done. Yeah, and even when I move quickly, I try and keep my inner world peaceful and calm as much as I can my energetic, it’s like, I’ve been talking to an intern about that. That it may seem like I do a lot of things quickly. But there’s not an energy of Rush madness to it. And trying to find that place of like inner peacefulness and relax and move quickly. Like I don’t need to move my hand this low I can I can move my hands this way, but still be calmed internally and just playing with those, that kind of experience of pacing. So I can still observe and I feel like the two things I try and teach my interns more than how to garden this or take care of the animals is his observation and curiosity. You know, those seem to be the two most important things in the garden to me.
Shannon M. 29:22
So it I would say in general, right, even working with people we’ve talked on the podcast about about being like flowers. So if you give them the patience, you give them the space to grow. My question is, I think it’s great for them. Right. My question is, how do you teach curiosity?
Missy DuMars 29:43
It was really hard. I mean, Curiosity is so big to me. And it’s pretty much my top value. Curiosity and nourishment are my two top values. And I’ve thought about it a lot. I mean, I feel like curiosity is something that’s not fostered in In childhood anymore, really? I think curiosity and wonderment go hand in hand. I mean, I grew up with parents who were like, I don’t know, we’ll look it up and you have a question. Go look it up. So I think that was fostered in me. But I think I mostly just modeled curiosity, someone asked me a question. And I’ll just say, I don’t know. Let’s go find out or I’ll say I’m curious. Let’s figure this out. I ask someone a question. I might say, I’m curious, what’s this experience like for you? I, you know, so just walking in curiosity. Sometimes can can model it.
Christine Gautreaux 30:36
Hey, y’all, this is a great place to take a break. Take a deep breath, and hear from our awesome sponsors that make women connected and wisdom podcast possible. Shannon, we are so grateful that Shayla glow is the sponsor of the women connected in wisdom podcast. And I wanted to take this moment to ask you when you think about the people who use Shayla glow, where are we talking about?
Shannon M. 31:01
That’s a good question. I think about three groups really one group that’s removing hair, right, so whether you’re using laser hair removal, waxing, shaving, you got to make sure that you’re putting back what you’re taking out. The second group, I think about those with dry skin, and the problems that that might cause right, the scars, itching, burning, whatever the situation is, you definitely need all three steps, right? The exfoliation making sure you’re taking the dead skin cells off the oil, putting in the moisture, and then the shea butter with the aloe, sealing it helping you heal those things helped both groups, right. And third, for the third group is those with chronic illness. You know, the story is personally from cancer and different diseases that our population is dealing with on a daily basis throughout families as individuals. So I’m thinking about my mom and my grandmother, and those around me with the same generational ties, right, and what positive healthy habits, we can start to make sure that we’re maintaining our wellness, especially because the skin is like the cape, the exterior the shield for your immune system. So with COVID, we have to be intentional about covering ourselves. And those are the groups I think about.
Christine Gautreaux 32:14
I love it. And you know what else I love about your product? It’s all natural, handmade. And it smells great, y’all, so yay.
Shannon M. 32:23
Yes, Esthetician tested and approved. Yes. Yes. What about you? When you think about your company? What groups of people do you think about?
Christine Gautreaux 32:33
Well, you know, I work with individual coaching clients, I work in community classes and with corporate teams, and with all of them, I use a strength based embodied approach to help folks connect with themselves and access joy, reduce burnout, and build resilience. You know, especially during these times, I think we need it, I think we need all the hashtag partnership power we can get. Yes.
Missy DuMars 33:00
So one of the My favorite activity to do on the farm is watering. And we hand water everything. So I have irrigation in my two hoop houses or greenhouses. Because navigating a hose in there is really difficult. But otherwise, we hand water and I get pushback all the time about that. It’s like it takes forever. And it’s like why it’s not efficient. And it’s like this is very intentionally inefficient, because it’s efficiently fostering relationship with the garden. When you stand there and water, you notice, oh, this leaf is chewed up. Oh, there’s a bug sitting on here. Oh, this is ready to harvest Oh, this isn’t firing. And the next thing needs to be I wonder why is this happening? What? You know, what is this about? What is this telling me? And if you’re not sure? Or if you at least just observe and let me know. Then we can talk about you know, what does this mean? What do we need to do? You know, how do we change things. So for me, the watering is morning meditation, I love doing it. And so I’m happy to do it. Most mornings, once in awhile, I want a morning off, but for the most part, I love doing it. And it’s my way to like, I mean, you know, all the plants are my children. It’s like check in with each of my babies and how they’re doing and what’s going on for them.
Christine Gautreaux 34:14
I was just about to ask you that question. Do you talk to your plants?
Missy DuMars 34:17
Yes, I talked to my plants when I’m seeding and I have a glass greenhouse that’s attached to the house. And that’s where I do all the seating for stuff that starts indoors. And I often play various, like mantra and sacred music that I enjoy a various kinds, they hand sing those prayers to them. And when I’m planting into the ground, I try and remember to you know, just put my hands on the soil and talk to the plants and like if you ever see me thin a row of something like carrots or radishes where you have to you know, see them and I pretty much apologize to every single plant that I send out. It’s like oh, sorry, it’s like you work so hard. It’s it’s such a magical and funny thing you know, I look at the sees my hand and like, which one of you is gonna thrive which one of yous gonna take off? Which one isn’t. And then of those which 1am I going to choose to kill, which 1am I going to allow to, to share your fruit and then kill later? And you know, it’s like, it’s just a funny relationship to think about those things. And, you know, sometimes when I’m sitting, I’m apologizing. It’s like, you work so hard to like, break out of that shell of your seed and send roots down and then reach up. And now I’m going to just take your life. I’m so sorry. And then I wonder like, is this the seed I was looking at, you know, two months ago and thinking, Oh, well, this one survive or not? You know, it’s just so funny. So yeah, I talked to my, that was a long answer to say, yes.
Christine Gautreaux 35:39
I love that. I have a curiosity. Because I loved in your bio, that you were a part of certain to Chile, and then all these really cool things that you think oh, my gosh, that’s amazing. How did you change from that to farm like, whoa, for years, let
Missy DuMars 35:58
me say I wasn’t with cert silay. My college degree was an entertainment lighting design. And I worked for a company that would sell and then manage the installations of big lighting systems in Las Vegas when there’s new construction. So when Cirque du Soleil has built new theaters, or things like that, we would supply their, their things. And it was fun. And I burned out. I was I was just telling someone yesterday or a couple days ago, like I would work 7080 hour weeks in my 20s and have a lot of pressure and a lot of people yelling at me. And I mean, this was the career I went to school for and worked hard to build and I loved it. But I burned out and I was going through a divorce at the same time and it was just too much and so I stepped away. And in the background, I had been studying like alternative healing. I’m a Reiki Master Teacher, shamanic, healing, like all these kinds of energy healing. And so I was starting to have a really good understanding of the spiritual body and the energetic body and the emotional body. And I was like, I want to understand the physical body as it relates to all this stuff I’m learning and decided I wanted to go to massage school. And so I gave notice, my job force was finalizing the house was selling everything was falling away all at once. Long story about how I ended up in massage school, they ended up in massage school, did that for a while and then fell into like holistic business to build that and discovered I can like bring all my business experience previous back to this community of people who are helping the planet heal and be in a better place. And so I did a lot of business coaching, which I still do a lot of business coaching, and the farming. I ended up in massage school in Hawaii, on kawaii and I lived with a family that lived very off grid. That was a couple of properties down from schools who have walked to and from class every day. And you know, everybody’s kind of lives off grid and close to the land. And the 10 year old, he was 10 then he’s like a grown man now. But he was 10 then, and the day I arrived, he like picks a coconut tree and like hacks it with a machete and like Aloha welcome. And that was kind of what happened. And you know, was my first experience of pulling a carrot out of the ground and like hosing it off, and just biting into it and was so alive and so vibrant. You know, there was just I could sense the aliveness and delicious. And so then when I moved back to California and the mainland, I was starting to seek farmers markets and fresher food. But really, my most recent ex husbands are two he and I started to embrace a different wellness practice and what food we ate and really required very specifically knowing where food came from, how it was tended, how it was grown. And so he had more of the dream of having a farm and I’m like, That sounds fun and interesting. And you know, I always had like a dream of a retreat center or something like that, and maybe some kitchen or herbs or little kitchen garden but like nothing major because I didn’t think I could grow things. And we saw this place and it’s there’s a lot of magical stuff to this place. And now he’s not here anymore, and I am and I still love him blossom and he’s a huge supporter of me and what I’m creating here and yeah, I just like I knew as things were splitting up between us that this place was not done with me and I wasn’t done with it and I’m still not done with it. And I really clearly see myself as an old lady on this property with my flowing white night gown and my big wild gray hair walking through the gardens in a summer morning when it’s all quiet like that’s the image I have in my head I don’t share this with everybody so now everybody’s got it. And look are you Did you just get the deep story out? And so yeah, that’s kind of how I became a farmer. And you know, it started from a choice from my own wellness and my own Mmm food choices and, and I can’t help but share with other people and educate and teach and explain. And so
Christine Gautreaux 40:09
I think that is so beautiful missing.
Missy DuMars 40:12
Thank you that was very complex journey of my entire Oh my
Christine Gautreaux 40:15
entire life story. I love it Shannon, you look like you had a question my friend?
Shannon M. 40:20
No, no, I’m just listening because I noticed a lot and I was thinking about all of our stories and how it’s like, it’s like this is kind of like that, you know, I, I was here and then this led to this, this led to that, and I didn’t think I will be here but based on what I need it. We’re in the position that we’re in right now, right helping women take better care of themselves, for their self as individuals because we have to be okay to be in these partnerships and relationships. And it just reminds us of the stuff we talked about all the time. That’s what I was thinking about Christie.
Christine Gautreaux 40:56
I love it. One of the things I want to bring up, because I know we can talk all day. And I know, our listeners are probably like, Hey, I’m almost done with my drive, or I’m almost done with my. So we don’t want to keep you all day. But one of the things I want to be sure and tell our listeners Missy is that on your podcast, you talk to women who are in food, you talk about different things. And one of the things I love about your podcast is every podcast, people can get a downloadable printable recipe. Yeah, so tell us about that. And why, like I heard you when you said I can’t help but teach and cooking is my passion.
Missy DuMars 41:37
Yeah, well, I just feel a lot of people don’t like cooking, they see it as something to get over with. And something I’ve done with. And sometimes I feel like it’s, you know, something that’s not enjoyable. And of course, I have my days where I’m like, Uh huh, let me just order a burger, and be done with it like today feels like one of those days. Because it’s like dinner time already. And we’re here talking. But you know, and I feel like a having good tools, a few simple tools makes a huge difference. Having a knife that actually cuts things makes slicing a tomato much easier. Having a pan where everything doesn’t stick all the time and knowing how to use it makes things really easier. So you know, I feel like food is such a base thing. We have to eat, we just have to eat. And that it’s about more than nourishing our body. There’s a part of food. And sometimes I talk about a if you listen to my podcast where we talk about harvest craft, which is more than just the food, it’s tending, relationships, tending community, family, all the other crafts that are related. And so foods satiate it’s emotionally and physically and mentally. On all those levels. It’s a much more important vital part of our lives than modern American culture has allowed it to become. And I just heard a story on NPR recently, I think it was on This American Life or so I don’t remember it was. But they’re talking about how in Paris, maybe all of France, but at least Paris, there’s actually a law that you have to leave your office, you cannot eat lunch at your desk. And it’s like an hour and a half to two hour lunch break. And people think oh, that’s a very French thing, but actually has to do with some circumstances much earlier. And I don’t even want to get into that because I may not repeat it correctly. But But what it’s fostered is a culture of like, get away from your desk, enjoy a meal, enjoy togetherness here on my farm, I have interns come and go and I’ve get pushback about we eat dinner together. We almost every day, we eat dinner together. And it’s important to me and that is one hard and fast thing unless I say because I usually make dinner like okay, well I’ll do our own thing tonight or I’m going out or whatever. But most nights like family dinner having conversation, how are you? How was the day for you? What’s important to you today like that is so lost in our culture, and slipping away faster and faster. And so I don’t remember what question you asked me. But that’s that’s where I went with it. But the recipes, right? The recipes came from the whole podcast came from this idea. I had my business coaching, matching my farm to table dinners and thinking, how can I make a package of Farm to Table dinners? So people buy a package, and I don’t have to sell every dinner one at a time. And I thought let me do a series where it’s a discounted price of people buy the whole series. And I at the same time I was no it was new to the area here. And I was noticing that was the same two or three white male chefs. And the same two or three old school white male farmers who were multi generation farmers in the area who were always in the media when they needed to talk about farm to table they need to talk about a restaurant. And I’m like, how do the rest of us get hurt? Like how do I get noticed? I mean it was very egocentric, but how do I get noticed? But truly, that also led me to notice that no people of any diversity of any kind were being noticed. And so I thought, I’m gonna do a dinner of women farmers and women chefs. And we’ll pair a woman, Farmer and woman chef together for each of these dinners, and I’ll do for them, then COVID hit and so I couldn’t do that. But I had all these people lined up all these amazing women lined up. So I’m like, let’s throw it on Zoom, like everybody did in 2020. And I started doing a live zoom series, and then it started getting noticed. And the Buffalo News wrote about it. And Yelp, the Buffalo community manager for Yelp noticed and said, Hey, I want to sponsor you know, for Women’s History Month or not women’s history, that was like the 100th anniversary of the ratification of women’s right to vote that year. And I want to like co host it with you and co sponsor it. And so and then they like we love this, we’re going to do another month with you. And so it gained momentum. And I burned out a little bit. It was it was a lot. And my therapist, actually who’s also an amazing executive coach said, Hey, why don’t you make it a podcast? And I was like, Well, I know the resources on how to get help on how to make a podcast, which is how I know you, Christine.
So yeah, so that’s how we have a podcast. And so I really, each zoom call was each chef taught a cook, you know, a recipe and how to cook it from their restaurant kitchen or wherever they were. And each farmer taught a gardening thing. And so I really wanted to keep that feel. And I always broadcast it from my kitchen, my farm kitchen, and had that like cozy feel. And so it was like I still wanted every guest to share a recipe of something either seasonal or something related to what we’re talking about, or whatnot. And so it’s been super fun because because it just I get to geek out on food, which is my favorite topic with everybody and learn all these great recipes and hear amazing women’s stories and hopefully get their voices out there a little bit more than they’ve been in the past. So
Christine Gautreaux 46:56
I love that so much. I feel like I could just talk to you all day. I have one more question. And then we’re gonna we’re gonna kick it to our our wisdom and action. But here’s my question for you as a foodie, as we’re talking about physical wellness, as we’re talking about recipes, when you aren’t feeling well. What’s your go to recipe? What do you cook yourself? Or what do you what does your body crave?
Missy DuMars 47:26
Well, I’m a good Jewish girl so you can probably guess the answer is chicken soup. I always have broth in my freezer at all times. In fact, I have a chicken carcass in my fridge that is finished that is waiting to go into the the next round a pot because I have too many. I can tell when my container drawers too full that it’s time to make more broth and put it back in the freezer. So that also usually often a first I’m an egg farmer besides vegetable farmers, so very first food I will eat often like especially if my stomach’s been upset will be a plain scrambled egg. Just because it’s like a it’s gentle on the stomach. It’s easily digestible compared to most foods and it’s got a lot of nutrition, especially my eggs. So it’s a way to start to get nutrients back into my body gently. Somehow I love
Christine Gautreaux 48:15
that. But so we share something in common. So before I add Shannon, I’m just going to share with you so we have a recipe and my family were from Texas, but we do a chicken tortilla soup when people are and that is my dad’s recipe that my kids used to swear it was magic when they were feeling bad. And they would need Popeyes chicken tortilla soup when they weren’t feeling good. So Shannon, what about you when you’re not feeling good? What do you what do you make yourself?
Shannon M. 48:42
I usually think about tea actually more than food and like lemon honey tea. Now we’ve remixed it every time I make to make simple syrup even if it’s like a honey simple syrup. Right? So it’s on the lighter side. And that’s my go to
Christine Gautreaux 48:56
girl you just brought my grandma Mahoney into this room and she used to feed us. She used to feed us, honey, tea and whiskey. Like you remember the what was it called? It was a hot toddy. Did anybody else have a grandmother that did this? It was homemade cough syrup is basically
Missy DuMars 49:23
I love a tea too. I definitely it depends on what kind of not feel good. You know, a cup of tea can always save the soul and see the mind see the body I feel like you know, depending on the kind of I’ve so many teas I love tea, so depending on the mood time of day.
Shannon M. 49:40
Yeah, thanks. Yeah, definitely don’t I try not to drink chamomile. There’s something that’s more restful at the beginning of the day, right. Let’s select more of Earl grey, green tea. I’m working on my tea lists. Yeah. Oh my gosh.
Missy DuMars 49:54
One of my chefs for his farm to table dinner did a chamomile ice cream with my camera meal because my camera meals super strong, and we’re like, oh God, be careful what time of day you nosh on the leftover ice. Because it’s really good. It’s vanilla and then you get that hit of cadmium, but it’s like oh, make it a little drowsy. If you have it too early in the day It’s good right before bed. It’s like the one ice cream you can now
Shannon M. 50:21
make sounds delish. So I know we talked about food, right? We’re still talking about food, which I’m not mad about. So when you think about physical wellness, right and your wisdom and action for this week, missy, what do you think about
Missy DuMars 50:37
my wisdom and action for me? Yes. Is I play which has nothing to do with food, but play and it does have to do with Play With Your Food. I’ll just say it that way. Play With Your Food. Play. Yeah, I just want to do some light hearted play.
Christine Gautreaux 50:57
Well, you’re talking my language.
Shannon M. 51:00
What about you Christine was your wisdom and action this week?
Christine Gautreaux 51:03
Um, I think my wisdom in action this week is hashtag nourish yourself. When I think about this conversation when I think about the work you do in the world, missy. It’s about nourishing our souls and our bodies and our planet. And just Yeah, so I’m gonna say hashtag nourish ourselves.
Shannon M. 51:25
Hashtag let me see which one I want to pick. You know, I’ve been doing multiple I will say I do like Let food be your medicine. That’s what I’m working on getting back on my routine. Like I said, I finally brought my lunch back to work. I hadn’t been doing that my red cabbage and carrots and green cabbage. So that was good. So continuing on that healthy lifestyle. I don’t die. We got to be consistent. So
Christine Gautreaux 51:52
yeah, right?
Missy DuMars 51:53
Yeah. Yeah.
Christine Gautreaux 51:54
Missy, thank you so much for being here today
Missy DuMars 51:57
for having me. It was so much fun and we could talk for like three more hours.
Christine Gautreaux 52:01
Absolutely. Tell folks how they can find you and we will also put all this info in our show notes. But yeah, connect with you. What’s the best way?
Missy DuMars 52:10
The best way is actually Instagram. And my Instagram is crown Hill Farm. And why for New York? Don’t put an S in there. I don’t want more than one farm People do that all the time. crownhill Farm and why is my Instagram and crownhill Farm dot coms website spirit biz bi Z people is if you’re curious about my business coaching kind of stuff. And women in food obviously it’s the podcast which women in food dotnet is the website or whatever your favorite podcast place to listen
Christine Gautreaux 52:50
and get good recipes.
Shannon M. 52:52
Good recipes. Yeah. I’ve been looking for some new recipes. I’m gonna look into kind of recipe looking for Yes, Vegan. Vegan.
Missy DuMars 53:01
We had a vegan. Listen to the episode with Natasha. She and her her husband have a vegan bakery like sourdough bakery vegan in Whistler, Canada, and she gave us a vegan banana bread recipe. Let’s listen to Oh listen to Dr. Dr. Chef Kimberly Brock Brown. Who I love she is the first woman woman a person of color and pastry chef to be the president of the American Culinary Federation and she gave because you guys were you aren’t she gave a watermelon pico de gallo recipe. Ooh, that’s a good refreshing one since it sounds really good those are the those are the two yeah watermelon I love watermelon tomato little onions and fresh herbs a little Fetta if you do cheese it’s such a good combination but yeah and she’s a great it’s her story is a great story I adore her I mean all the all the episodes are great but those are the two I would say
Shannon M. 54:09
would be the to go for for next recipe and I want to I want to see your banana bread when you make it. Yes. Okay. Watermelon pico that guy Oh might be first.
Missy DuMars 54:21
You said I had a feeling the watermelon picker the guy Oh, but then you said you didn’t. I’m like, Oh, I gotta share the
Shannon M. 54:26
bag. No. And I love the banana bread to both of me and my partner like it. So I’m interested in both. Thank you.
Christine Gautreaux 54:32
Missy, thank you so much for being here today for this conversation and we look forward to more and listening to your podcasts and staying connected for sure for sure for sure. Thank you so much. Oh my gosh, that was yummy.
Shannon M. 54:48
Good job and I didn’t have questions you you I was like yeah, she’s right on the money. That’s exactly what I wanted to know what is what is Missy have to say to this? That’s what I was here for.
Christine Gautreaux 54:57
Right I was definitely leaning forward today. You Where the farm girl came out in me. One thing I forgot to mention, that is when I think about farming when I think about being in touch with Mother Earth, and we may have talked about this early in our podcasting career, but you know how some people will say, Oh, I don’t want to talk about the weather, I want things deeper. Right? Have you ever heard that? You’ve heard people say that? Yes, I have. Right. And I get a little offended by that, honestly. Because as a farmer’s daughter, like nothing is more important than the weather. Right? Like it affects our food, and it affects our planet and affects how how we’re doing. And it’s one of those things that you know, you want to observe and you want to pay attention to and, and even thinking about today being a full moon, right, like, the way we all interact with all of this is important. And it’s not superficial?
Shannon M. 55:55
No, no. And I think it shows the disconnect that there is, you know, we used to all have to hunt and gather if we wanted to eat now it’s Kroger or Walmart Farmers Market, where do you go to eat and you’re not worried about which tree the Ritz cracker was flying off of, you know, that’s not how it works. So it just for me, it shows the disconnect.
Christine Gautreaux 56:15
Well, in here in America, especially with our statistics of obesity, and diabetes, and health disease, it definitely plays into the physical wellness piece, it plays into the that, you know, getting back to some of those indigenous traditions, getting back to farm to table and knowing where our food comes from is important.
Shannon M. 56:36
Yeah, and I mean, even knowing what’s in it, you know, I can’t necessarily pronounce this chemical, but I know if it’s onions and garlic and leeks and kale, then, you know, there’s things that I’m eating specifically for the vitamins and the season that it’s in, because I know it’s fresh, not just for the flavor profile of it. Yeah.
Christine Gautreaux 56:56
I love this conversation, my friend. I know we’re at time. So is there any last thing you want to say? Anything you want to give a shout out to?
Shannon M. 57:06
No, I think I’m good.
Christine Gautreaux 57:09
Well, I was just thinking about the conversation I was thinking about upcoming in August. We’ve talked about alternate routes on this on the podcast before it’s a activists and artists organization I’m a part of and I’m part of the healing team on that, for that conference, and we talk about tea time and nourishment in last year, we did a whole project with recipes. I meant to mention this while Missy was on. And I was just thinking about that, because that’s rolling around at the first part of August. And it just how it all ties together. Right? It’s I’m really, really grateful. So oh, I also did want to give a shout out, um, Carolyn Renee, who was I think she was one of our guests in either season one or season two, she and I are going to do a journey to wellness pop up next weekend. So I’m going to put a tag to that in our show notes in case people are local and are interested they can pop in and and have a couple of hours of wellness modalities with us. But that
Shannon M. 58:11
sounds amazing. Yeah.
Christine Gautreaux 58:12
I appreciate you, my friend. I am so grateful to have these conversations and to continue on this road to wellness with you.
Shannon M. 58:21
Yes, me too. Thank you so much, ladies for listening in. We’ll see you next week for episode 76. In the meantime, don’t forget be well be wise and the whole we’ll see you later
Unknown Speaker 58:41
thanks for listening. This has been the women connected and wisdom podcast on air live on Wednesdays at 5 pm Eastern via Facebook and YouTube. Be sure to like share and subscribe be part of the conversation and get connected at women connected in wisdom.com.
