Issue link: https://cp.revolio.com/i/1364104
Page 8 | Abby's Magazine | www.AbbysMag.com ABBY'S SAVED MY LIFE That's a refrain, if you hang around Abby's Health and Nutrition or are around employees and customers long enough, you will hear quite often. In 2012 I had sold my business and while I considered only hunting, fishing and traveling in my golden years, there was a nagging question in my mind about my next assignment. Darlene and I had been loyal customers of Abby's for probably 15 years when Darlene, as a result of our "empty nest", Darlene decided to go back to work and joined Abby's staff. Back then, she would come home with these incredible stories of restored health and miraculous healings related to consultations and people changing the way they viewed their health. Quite frankly, I wasn't ready to "drink the Kool-Aid!" Abby Sayler had heard through Darlene of my exploits growing my own organic food for my family for 30 years and asked if I could write some articles on the subject for her magazine. Having read my articles, in early 2014, Abby unexpectedly ask Darlene and me over for dinner. Over dinner, she very specifically shared her vision for creating a community farm whereby families would learn and be able to grow their own healthy food and live a more sustainable lifestyle. Interestingly, in her very early years learning and investigating all things about health, she herself volunteered at an organic community farm. So her tacit understanding of the health benefits of being outdoors, working with your hands and getting dirty was obvious to me. In 2014 I joined Abby's and we began the task of making her dream and that vision, which would become her legacy, a reality. In many ways I could say that Abby's "saved my own life" but clearly not in the dramatic fashion I've heard from so many customers and employees. Inevitably, because of my initial skepticism, when someone would emphatically proclaim that Abby (or Abby's) saved their life, I would ABBY'S SAVED MY LIFE always say "really... tell me the story". Suffice to say, there were hundreds of the most sincere, articulate stories of miraculous results from people's lives who were changed forever. The "I was given 6 months to live by my doctor(s) with no hope... but you can try the holistic approach" was a common theme. Many of them were specifically sent by their doctors to Abby's, because with that type of results, word usually gets out. Clearly not everyone had those same results and Abby's consulting staff's biggest frustration was lamenting over customers that simply chose not to carry out whatever protocols that in their view would have had a positive outcome. I say all of this to also point out that Abby's has changed lives... so that others can change lives! The farm recently received a large donation from a delightful couple that has been benefactors to the farm for the last several years. They live most of the year in another state but have a home here and are frequent Abby's customers. It seems their story included some intense health issues of which Abby's played a major role in improving. While they have never been to the farm and have only heard and read about our progress, they love supporting Abby's legacy of health in our community. They generally always want to know what projects are upcoming at the farm so that they can know how their year- end gift might be used and I was actually excited to tell them about two major projects that have been approved by the advisory board. Additionally, we have an intern from USF that started work at the Farm in January, to complete R&D plans on these exciting additions to the farm: 1. A state of the art "animal farm" that may include ponies, calves, goats, sheep, pigs, guinea pigs and llamas. This will be a wonderful addition for our volunteer