Lunch with Rosalie - Shelby, Nebraska by Diane

Wednesday, August 22nd.

Today found us in Columbus and Shelby, Nebraska, just over an hour from Lincoln, visiting Rosalie, Marge, Lori and Diane. Our host, Laura Krebsbach, took us to Rosalie’s single-story home, bordered with a beautiful flower garden and a colorful welcome sign.

We thought we were visiting Rosalie and her friends, who range from their 40’s to 70, thinking we’d be talking about the history of pies, how to make a good crust, and other such baking treats. But were we in for an eye opener!

Not long after we arrived, the conversation turned to the industrial farming operations that were in the area or were being built in the area. In one area, there are dairy, cattle, hog and chicken factory farms. The water (people drink well water there – it’s not piped in) is polluted, the air smells so bad some days that residents can’t go outside, people have health problems, and on and on. It’s so bad sometimes, that the children at school can’t go out to play and people can’t hang out their clothes.

Even though Sustainable Table and this tour focuses on the positive side of food and eating local, we thought it was important for you to get a little background in what’s happening with our industrial food system and especially what’s happening in Shelby, Nebraska, so you can have another perspective on what’s happening out there. And, fortunately, we have Lauren from Food and Water Watch on the bus right now. She focuses on problems with industrial food, so she’ll be posting soon about her experience in Shelby with what we saw and heard.

I’m going to focus on the food. When we got back from our tour, Rosalie served us an amazing meal, with contributions from her friends. We had homemade rolls that Diane (the other Diane) made, overflowing with egg salad and deep red tomatoes, Rosalie’s coleslaw with ingredients from her garden (which had an amazing taste and texture!), cucumber salad, watermelon and cantaloupe (also from their garden – actually, all the vegetables at lunch were straight from Rosalie’s garden) and, we can’t forget, pie! Lori brought butterscotch, lemon and coconut pie, along with a banana nut cake. To top all that off, Marge made a mint chocolate chip treat with egg whites that melted in your mouth. Oh, and how could I almost forget? We also had Renza – it’s a German pie-like or calzone-like meal-in-one basically. You make dough and add in hamburger and cabbage, season a little, and pop in the oven.

We also got to meet some of Rosalie’s family, as well as friends, which was so nice to be a part of. All of our events have been in public places, or on farms as part of a tour, so it was so nice to be invited into someone’s beautiful home to share stories and good food, and be part of a family-type community for a short time. And our lunch there was proof that you can eat very well out of your back garden. Thanks, Rosalie – for your hospitality and for lunch!



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