| FREE | VOL 1 NO 1 | INDIEFITMAGAZINE.COM
, y t i C s a s n a K O L L HE ! T I F E I D N WE ARE I FEATURE
KC SMOKE BURNS COMPETITION INDIE EATS
THE BITE REVIEW CALENDAR
RACES RIDES WORKOUTS
•1
OCTOBER 2015 VOL 1 NO 1 Indie Fit Publisher
Christina Frazier
Managing Editor
Dr. G.
Copy Editor
100% RAW COLD PRESSED JUICE www.SimpleScienceJuices.com
Ben Asher
Contributing Writers
Christina Frazier, Kaitlyn Dewell, Dave Greenbaum, Japhi Westerfield, Dr. G
8
Art and Production Design
“NOT YOUR MOTHER’S KC SMOKE MAMMOGRAM PARTY”.
Photography
Organizations team up to take on breast cancer in Wyandotte County. By Christina Frazier
Ashley Lane, Christina Frazier, Rachel Krause Zach Bauman
Advertising
Aaron Wright, Christina Frazier Circulation Director
Dr. G
The Voice of the new Kansas City
8126 FLOYD ST. Overland Park, KS 66209
(913-808-5509)
“We Deliver!”
SIMPLESCIENCEJUICES.COM
Hip, healthy, happy, fit: Indie Fit Magazine is the Kansas City/Lawrence area’s first alt monthly dedicated to the health and fitness lifestyle, with an indie twist. Through engaging narratives that uncover the story behind the story, Indie Fit takes a fun, personal, and sometimes edgy look at local health and fitness and serves a new kind of community focused on maximizing health and performance through local, independent resources. We focus on lifestyle, food, motion, community, calendar. Copyright
The contents of Indie Fit Magazine are Copyright 2015 by Indie Fit, LLC. No portion may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means without the express written permission of the publisher of Indie Fit.
ON THE COVER
PREVIEW EDITION SPRING 2015 VO1 1 NO 0
FEATURE
KC SMOKE BURNS COMPETITION INDIE EATS
EGG HUNTING CALENDAR
2•
Zach Bauman ZACH BAUMAN
GUIDE TO FARMERS MARKETS
BOARD BASICS
15
The low-down on how to contribute your time and talents to an area board of directors.” By Dave Greenbaum
CONTENTS 3 We are Indie Fit 4 KC Smoke 7 Indie Fit Confidential 8 Not Your Mother’s Mammogram Party 10 Indie Eats 11 Jake and the Bean Stalk 15 Board Basics 16 The Vegg Scramble 17 Strength Training & Stretches 18 Indie Fit Calendar Distribution
Indie Fit distributes 15,000 copies each month and is available free throughout the Greater Kansas City and Lawrence areas. Readers are limited to one free copy, additional copies may be purchased for $5.00 each plus postage. Indie Fit may only be distributed by Indie Fit’s authorized distributors. No person, without permission in writing from Indie Fit, may take more than one copy. Mail subscriptions: $20.00 per year. Make check payable to Tallgrass Labs, LLC. Disclaimer
The opinions expressed are those of the authors. The articles and content of Indie Fit are not meant to represent any form of medical care. Contact
Christina Frazier
christinaf@indiefitmagazine.com, 913.908.0542
WELCOME TO Hello Kansas City, nice to meet you! We are Indie Fit, a new alt-press newspaper that starting this month you can find all over Kansas City and Lawrence and in the near future at indiefitmagazine.com and on our Indie Fit mobile apps. KANSAS CITY IS UNDERGOING A SEISMIC CULTURAL SHIFT
that’s almost as profound as the fall of the Pendergast machine. The KC Power and Light District, Jazz District, and Crossroads Arts Districts have spurred a downtown revival. Farmers markets, urban agriculture, and a robust farm-totable movement have proliferated across the metro. People from California, Austin, Boulder, New England, and other hipper but pricier locales are taking a detour from skyhigh house payments and rents and moving to Kansas City to create a lifestyle that allows more time for friends and family and a little more pocket change. Inspired in part by these transplants, new restaurants have launched that feature healthier faire, locally grown non-GMO vegetables, artisanal beers and local wines, and sustainable organic meats. Kansas City has one of the best bike trail networks in America. Per capita, we have more runners and bikers and more finishers of local races than any other city in the prairie belt. Whether you’re new to the area or a lifer inspired by these trends, there’s no doubt that a hip, alternative vibe of sustainability, community, healthy living, “life hacking”, and fitness is springing up everywhere you look - the whole metro area is going Indie Fit! We launched this paper to serve as a voice for this new Kansas City. I was inspired to create Indie Fit for personal reasons. Last January I found out I’d spent most of my adult life with a chronic, undiagnosed illness. For more than a decade the doctors all told me I was perfectly fine, so for years I pushed myself to keep trying new diets and exercise programs to maximize my exercise performance, but also just so
indiefitmagazine.com -
I could feel better and deal with my unexplained weight gain and fatigue. Simply choosing foods with the “Smart Choice” label wasn’t enough to make me healthy; I had to pursue a deeper understanding of what was going on with my body. I’ve met hundreds of other people along the way with their own stories to tell. Sharing this collective, hard-earned, non-conventional, DIY wisdom is the mission of Indie Fit. After all of the lemons life has tossed our way, it’s time to make sugar-free organic lemonade and pass the punchbowl around! So if the fork is mightier than the pen or the sword, why another newspaper? Kansas City has several weekly entertainment publications and a few sports and healthoriented monthlies. What if you’ve moved on in your life, graduated from the party scene, or at least the nightly party scene? Maybe your social life has shifted from the bars and clubs to Saturday morning 5ks, farmers markets close enough to bike to, community gardens, wine clubs, and neighborhood potlucks. That’s where Indie Fit comes in. We’ll feature Kansas City’s most comprehensive calendar of local events geared towards fitness, health, and sustainability – local farmers markets, craft brew festivals, local happenings at vineyards, farm-to-table dinners, competitive fitness and weight-lifting competitions, running events, bike races, crazy canoe sprints along the
Kaw and Muddy Mo, and much more. We want Indie Fit to connect you to the vast talent and intellect here in KC and to bring you engaging narratives that uncover the story behind the story. We’ll employ thoughtful storytelling and good old fashioned journalism to take a fun, personal, and sometimes edgy look at the latest information on food, health, and fitness from a local perspective. For example in this issue we feature Kansas City’s elite running squad, the “KC Smoke,” an inspiring gang of speedsters shaking up the local running scene and helping everybody – even if you’re not fast – take their game to a new level. We have an in-depth piece about a fascinating new cooperative farm that hopes to spark a culinary “dry bean” culture in northeast Kansas. October is breast cancer awareness month, and we’ll tell you about an organization called “Surviving the Odds” that’s helping vulnerable populations in Wyandotte County get early screenings. So there you have it. We are Indie Fit. We hope you’ll pick up our paper each month and tell us what we can do to help in your own quest to live a fitter, happier, and more meaningful life right here in Kansas City.
indiefitmagazine - In our mailbox: feedback@indiefitmagazine.com - in Print: Everywhere!
•3
BY DR. G |
NOT JUST THE FAST GUYS WHO SHOW UP AND WIN 4•
ZACH BAUMAN
P ARKVILLE NATIVE JERAMEY JORDAN IS IMPATIENT. He started working at Pro Athlete, Inc., the world’s largest Internet retailer of baseball bats, in high school and bought his first house at age 19. He couldn’t shake the thought that an idle four years hitting the books would amount to nothing more than an expensive pit stop, so after graduation Jordan put college on hold, worked ferocious hours at Pro Athlete, and on weekends turned his house into a house party.
The Freshmen 15, or in Jordan’s case the Freshmen 35, isn’t just for college kids. Decent paychecks, rivers of beer, and his hard working lifestyle brought success - and a weight problem. Jordan wrestled and pumped iron in high school, but never hung out with the track and cross country guys. Now he had to do something to lose weight, so he began running, took a breather from the house parties, and started logging serious road miles. Eventually he entered his first half marathon. Jordan was hooked. That’s when he noticed what every observant weekend road racer knows, that each race is really two races, one for the people who line up within 25 feet of the starting line and one for everybody else. He also “pretty much figured that the guys who were going to win wore a singlet with the words ‘KC Smoke.’” So Jordan read everything he could on the Internet about running, got help from local coach Eladio Valdez, and focused in on a singular goal – to earn his own KC Smoke singlet. This would take a “Level B” qualifying time in a certified race longer than 800 meters. He had his work cut out for him. Kansas City is a running town, no doubt about it. We have, per capita, more race finishers than any major city in the Midwest. Hospital Hill is one of the oldest, toughest half marathons in the nation (“Broadway” may be a place where the neon lights are bright, but for generations of KC runners it’s also the hill where your quads and calves once screamed out “Enough Already!”). 10 months a year runners can pick from a diverse menu of 5ks, road relays, half marathons, trail races, 100 mile ultras, mud runs, color runs (ambulating tie-die parties inspired by the Hindu Holi Festival with volunteers who launch paint and glitter bombs at participants), cancer fund raisers, and even one or two beer miles (combined drinking/running races that take place on a track and involve chugging a cheap beer at the beginning of each lap. Puke and you’re disqualified). Just as great music towns overflow with mutton-chopped guitarists, wicked female drummers, and slackers who fill the clubs, they also usually have a great record label (like Seattle and Sub Pop). So it is with great running towns, but instead of a record label, great running towns have an elite training group, a tribe of top
caliber speedsters who work parttime at running stores, coach middle school cross-country, get people psyched up about weird shoes like Vibrams and Hokas, and serve as local rock stars to the thousands of people lining up at weekend races. Portland has Alberto Salazar’s Nike Oregon Project, Mammoth Lakes has Team USA California group, Colorado has a half dozen colorfully named teams based in hipster mountain hamlets.
Smoke director is quick to point out that, although the Smoke hopes to send athletes to the Olympic Trials, “we are not a true elite team – we’re one notch below that. All of our runners are selfcoached, or work with their college coach. The girls and guys on the team are there because they want to keep their competitive running dream alive.” It’s a powerful bond. Marathon running is incredibly popular – almost 500,000 people finished a US Marathon last year – but it can be hard to make ends meet if you are on the elite end of the sport. All but a handful of
ALL BUT A HANDFUL OF PROFESSIONAL DISTANCE RUNNERS IN THE US AREN’T MUCH BETTER OFF THAN BASS PLAYERS IN ALT. COUNTRY BANDS WHO HAVE TO TRAVEL AROUND IN VANS AND LIVE OFF MERCHSALES. THAT’S WHERE THE SMOKE COMES IN. Our closest equivalent is the Kansas City Smoke. Officially certified an elite development team by USA Track and Field, the Smoke is a group of 30 or so men and women who have qualified at either Elite, A Standard, or B Standard levels. It also reflects in many ways how Kansas City matches up against other running towns. There’s no really good metric for measuring a city’s running mojo. Linear miles of paved trails and Jerry Brownian pedestrian laws don’t work, nor does the gross domestic product of local running stores. You might think counting Olympians would be incisive, but the scarcity of Olympic spots - at most 3 for men and 3 for women in each of the 5 distance events longer than 800 meters - skews the story; the top American running town by that standard would be Elkhart, Kansas which has produced 2 Olympic medalists. It might be better to focus on the number of Olympic trials qualifiers a city can produce since every four years hundreds of very fast runners battle it out for the three spots in each distance event. Using this metric, Kansas City’s running capital might be growing. The Smoke launched 8 years ago with the goal of developing runners for the Olympic trials. If Kansas City ever makes it into the top echelon of running towns, Randy Wasinger will deserve part of the credit. The KC
professional distance runners in the US aren’t much better off than bass players in alt.country bands who have to travel around in vans and live off merch sales. That’s where the Smoke comes in. After taking over as director 2 years ago, Wasinger polished the team’s operational strategy and landed a few key sponsorships. The money is used to defray costs for Elite and A Standard runners when they travel to races like the USA Track and Field Nationals. At meets and big races across America, people in running circles are beginning to notice the Smoke. Wasinger said “If you ask about Kansas City, people know we have a great running scene. The Smoke is about development. When a runner gets fast, we’re happy if he can graduate to some of the more elite programs. But Kansas City has a great reputation.” Most of the Smoke runners live in the metro, but the team also draws from nearby towns. At least twice a week, Joe Moore and Kory Cool train together on the gravel roads outside Manhattan, Kansas. Moore, who grew up on a farm in Green, Kansas, population 128, is a mostly full-time runner. Little Apple native Cool coaches at Manhattan High. On their long runs, Cool said they have different strategies for dealing with rural dogs who won’t take no for an answer – Cool hurls rocks while Moore uses a back-off-now-dog voice that sounds a little like Hulk Hogan when
he points his finger and shouts “You!” but without the scarf. Last year, Cool trained for the Ft. Collins marathon, a race that starts at 6500 feet and drops downhill into the city. Two weeks before the race he entered the Abilene marathon, really just to get in a long pre-race training run. He won. The next weekend, again for training, he entered the Garmin Marathon in Olathe. He won that too. On the third consecutive weekend, Cool took first place in the Ft. Collins race, finishing 5 minutes faster than the second place runner. His times for the three respective marathons: 2:36, 2:35, and 2:34. But even a 2:30 marathon and a trifecta of wins isn’t enough to make the 2016 Olympic Trials. Joe Moore, Cool’s running buddy, has already qualified with an insanely fast 1:03 finish at the Houston Half Marathon last year. Moore finished 56th in the 2012 Olympic trials marathon. His marathon PR is 2:19. Moore is laid back about his accomplishments and says he’s “still trying to figure out the marathon.” 2:19 is in the top 1% of the top 1% of marathon times, but still a few minutes off what it will take to make the Olympic team. This raises the general issue of goals in running. Besides the personal goal to get faster, what shared standards do runners have? Until 1970, making the Olympic team was the only goal for marathon runners. Then the Boston Marathon instituted qualifying times and became a new milestone for fast runners too slow for the Olympics. Since then, the Olympic trials has become an end in itself. Every year the list of new goals worth pursing gets longer. Smoke member Aaron Davidson, who is only 3 minutes shy of a 2016 Olympic marathon trials qualifying time (using the half marathon option), said, “We’re really blue collar runners. We work full time and find time to train on the side. To really try to make the trials, I’d have to quit my job, hire massage therapists, and work with a coach. But another goal I can try for is the elite gate of the Chicago marathon. Or a top finish at USA track and field. If I didn’t have the benefits the Smoke offers, I wouldn’t be able to spend $400 to travel to race. We just had our first kid. This helps me feel like I’m still in
Continued on P.6
•5
Contribute! ARE YOU A KC FITNESS SUPER-CITIZEN OR A BONAFIDE LOCALVORE?
DOES YOUR PROSE SIZZLE?
THEN WRITE FOR US. Email georgef@indiefitmagazine. com with a brief email introduction and samples of your work.
6•
Continued from P.5 the game.” A Smoke veteran since the early days, Davidson said, “We’re trying to find more runners who can make our B standards who we can develop to work their way up to the A group and go to nationals. We’re really a development team.” To attract B Standard runners, the Smoke is getting involved in the community. They help at Tuesday night track sessions organized by the Kansas City Track Club, their primary sponsor. Davidson spoke at the “Running on Solid Ground” series. They volunteer at local races. They’re trying to be more than just the fast guys who show up and win. This benefits runners like Jeramey Jordan. After months of effort, he finally cracked the B Standard and earned his singlet by running a 4:46 mile at the Kansas City Corporate Challenge, representing Pro Athlete, Inc. where he’s now Facilities Manager. He regularly joins the faster guys for workouts. “These turn out to be mini races for me, just to see if I can keep up. But I’m getting faster. I’ve run the Boston Marathon three times, and my marathon’s down to 2:52 (he finished an hour before the bombs exploded at the 2013 race, barely missing the mayhem at the finish line)”. He’s done USA Nationals, and even pitched in and competed in the steeple chase (without knowing how to hurdle) and race walk (without knowing how to race walk –
but who the heck knows how to race walk?). Jeramey Jordan is impatient though, he’s not satisfied to just chase the fast guys. He’s run 11 marathons and 26 half marathons since 2010. One race at a time, he keeps chipping away at the gap between his current PR and the A Standard qualifying time. Jordan said, “The running community in KC is getting huge. You see a thousand people at every race, and there are six races every weekend. People get together after the races, they get brunch, or go to one of the cool coffee shops. The running scene in Kansas City is starting to really pick up. Hopefully more people will join the Smoke and get faster.” Nurturing its B Standard symbolizes what the Smoke does for Kansas City – it’s a trickle down thing. More B standard runners will help the Smoke support more elite runners. More elite runners will help drive participation in big races. Big races will fill up local restaurants and motivate those restaurants to offer healthier fare – and a better IPA selection. All of this will give city officials justification for building new running trails and promoting Kansas City’s mojo as a running town that’s starting to blur the difference between runners who line up within 25 feet of the starting line and everybody else. To find out more about the Kansas City Smoke’s B Standard qualifying times, visit their website: http:// www.kansascitysmoke.org. • E-mail feedback@indiefitmagazine.com •
Take US Home $3 FOR A 30 MINUTE RIDE
ROCKIN’ RUNNER
Every Kid’s Favorite ‘Cool Teacher’ & Rock Star of Bonner
Ride to and from to stations at Jazz District l Plaza l Brookside l Waldo l Union Hill l Crown Center l Union Station l Westport l Downtown WWW.
.COM
ANNUAL MEMBERSHIPS AVAILABLE ONLINE
FULL NAME Brandon Gerken
NICKNAME Catfish
Born and Bred
Bonner Springs, Kansas. Current Digs
Bonner. It’s a cool small town close to the city. You can get to anywhere in KC, Overland Park or Lawrence in less than 30 minutes. It’s also a river town, so we know where to send hotheads to cool off. What’s up with Catfish?
In high school, one of my friends always was saying “Slow down catfish!” to me. He thought my hat was a catfish hat, but it wasn’t. Everybody had nicknames, so when I hear Catfish these days, I look around for somebody from Bonner. Day Job
Visual Arts Instructor, Valley Park Elementary School, Blue Valley School District. Side Project
Guitar and vocals for Lost Wax, one of KC’s top party bands (they played at the MLB All-Star Game at the K in 2012). Before that BrownTown, a Kansas City Pitch Music Award nominated band that forged its way through the Indie music jungle of the early 2000s with a blend of FunkRopHipHunk. “Lost Wax is booked every weekend pretty much through November.” Besides parties and corporate events, Lost Wax is a regular at O’Dowds on the Plaza. Dietary
A vegetarian for 10 years, Brandon gave up meat when he was traveling with Browntown. “We were eating a lot of drivethrough and, even though I’ve always had a runner’s frame, my gut didn’t give a damn. I’d thought vegetarians were really cool and I liked the whole counter-culture vibe. I could respect that. So that became my weight loss strategy” The drive-through cuisine of BrownTown’s haunts wasn’t veggie-friendly, so giving up meat meant learning how to cook and pack his food for the road. It paid dividends at home too. His wife Nicole was changing careers from advertising professional to personal trainer and also trying to eat less meat. Once Brandon made the change, she did too, and now 2/3 of their household is on the veggie bandwagon. Their 4-year old son Gavin is the only carnivore in the house. Favorite Veggie Dish
Kaw Valley Bonner Burrito. triple-size corn tortilla, pinto beans, avocado, steamed chard, his mother’s secret habanero
salsa, and red pickled onions. Hold the catfish, duh. When life gives you lemons
By age 28, Brandon had serious back problems and underwent two surgeries for a hemorrhaged disc and a static nerve problem. Make limoncello
To strengthen his back after surgery Brandon decided to embrace his natural runner’s build and actually run. It wasn’t easy at first; it took weeks to recover from the final surgery and his back hurt when he ran. He stuck with it though and worked on his form with strengthening exercises. Eventually he built up to running half marathons and entered his first Kansas City Marathon in 2012. His wife and mother-in-law are also marathon runners and now the October marathon serves as an annual goal to focus his training. He starts in the spring with shorter distances and works up to more serious mileage and 5 days per week of running. Training Tip
“If you’re a runner, you know when you feel bouncy on your feet it’s gonna be a good run. I try to listen to that and go farther when I’m feeling it, but back off when I’m not feeling as bouncy.” Keep it clean
Brandon and Nicole both do periodic cleanses, basically because they just like the way it makes them feel. Twice a year they cut out all wheat, dairy products, and nightshade vegetables (potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers) from their diet and stick to the plan for up to a month. “Even after we’re done it helps us eat clean for weeks after.” • E-mail feedback@indiefitmagazine.com •
•7
S ’ R E H T O M R U O Y T NO
M A R G O M MAM
Y T R A P en from m o w p l e up to h ed. m a e t screen ations z t i e n g a g y r O e Count t t o d n a Wy R FRAZIE ISTINA BY CHR
8 • ••
|
ZIER
INA FRA
CHRIST
THE SLIDING DOORS AT JOHNSON COUNTY IMAGING Center in Overland Park
were open, and a welcome late-August breeze provided some respite for volunteers who straightened up brochure tables, primped swag bags, and arranged trays of breakfast pastries. Two Magic 107.3 FM DJs spun tunes while massage therapists from Head to Toe Salon set up their chairs. A “party bus” would soon arrive with thirty women from Wyandotte County who were coming for free breast cancer screenings made possible by a group effort from Team Inspired, Art Bra KC, and Surviving the Odds. The bus was running late, but the “YES I AM!!! Mammogram Party” would soon be underway. According to the Susan G. Komen organization, Wyandotte County, Kansas, has one of the highest percentages of women diagnosed with late-stage breast cancer both in Kansas and at the national level. For years, Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, have ranked among the state’s least healthy places to live. The Office on Women’s Health - part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (womenshealth. gov) - notes that African American women are the most likely to die from breast cancer. Lack of early detection is the primary reason. Triple-negative breast cancer, a particularly vexing form off the illness, is most common among AfricanAmericans, Hispanics, and premenopausal women of all ethnicities.
According to the John Hopkins University, triple-negative breast cancer is a diagnostic categorization for cancers whose cells test negative for estrogen (ER), progesterone (PR), and human epidermal growth factor (HER). While rare, this aggressive form of the disease requires a specific treatment regimen different than for other breast cancers. Although doctors should know to check for these factors, women should ask specifically for screening if there is any doubt. When the bus finally pulled up, Consuelo Ross led her team of volunteers, ushering women through the door, greeting strangers with a warmth and competence other people reserve for their family members. If every mammogram screening was like this, trust me, women would look forward to them. Ross is CEO of Surviving the Odds, a foundation that helps women of color navigate the complex world of breast cancer. The organization signs up groups to host “Mammogram Parties,” outreach gatherings where up to 32 women can take the party bus to Johnson County Imaging Center for cancer screening. This time the local host was Centennial United Methodist Church, whose First Lady Kimiko Black Gilmore directs Team Inspired’s annual 5K walk/ run, an event held in memory of Darrell Sublett, a church member who died of triplenegative breast cancer. You don’t have to belong to the host group or even ride the bus to receive services. Denise Dillard gets her mammogram on a regular basis, but decided to show support for her Wyandotte County neighbors by joining the party and getting her test done at Johnson County Imaging Center rather than at her doctor’s office. Dillard is a tall beauty with a platinum close-cropped natural. She doesn’t have a strong family history of cancer, but neither do 80 percent of women who get the disease. A horrific 2012 motorcycle accident left her with metal pins and plates in her lower body and a new perspective on life that emphasized “paying it forward.” Told she would never walk or ride again, she beat the odds. She was along for the ride this Saturday to help show other
women that they can too. The bus concept traces its origins to an alliance between Sharon Butler Payne and Consuelo Ross. Payne is the founder and chairperson of Art Bra KC, which raises funds for local breast cancer nonprofits by auctioning off themed bras created by local artists. In 2014, the Susan G. Komen Foundation contacted Payne directly to alert her to a report on Wyandotte County’s alarmingly high rates of late stage breast cancer. She immediately refocused Art Bra KC on efforts to help out. Ross had already been working in the county for several years with Surviving the Odds. The two organizations joined forces to found the Wyandotte County Task Force. Juxtaposed against Wyandotte County’s perpetually low health rankings, its wealthy and healthier neighbor Johnson County is a reminder that living on the wrong side of I-35 has ramifications for health and longevity. Beyond issues of poverty, race, income disparity, and high rates of the uninsured, there are simply fewer hospitals and clinics in Wyandotte County and the people most in need, even if they can get off work or arrange child care, often have no dependable way to travel to care sites. Ross and Payne decided to focus their efforts on this proximity to services problem. Ross decided they should “take the women out of the place with the least access to health care and bring them to the place with the greatest access to health care.” Johnson County Imaging Center volunteered to donate their services. Payne proposed that Art Bra KC fund a party bus as the means of transportation, and an annual event was born. Ross found her calling to create Surviving the Odds after her mother died at 42 from breast cancer. Even with all she learned caring for her mother during her illness, she said she “didn’t get tested for breast cancer for a long time after my mother died.” She can’t say why she didn’t make early detection a priority. One day she found a lump on her breast in the shower. After being diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer, Ross
IF EVERY MAMMOGRAM SCREENING WAS LIKE THIS, TRUST ME, WOMEN WOULD LOOK FORWARD TO THEM”
suspected her mother may have had it too, because she died so young. Drawing on her own experience, Ross decided that a social event might be just the kind of thing to help inspire women to overcome their fear and ambivalence about early testing. She believed that being a “queen for a day” could be more than just superficial fun; it could teach at-risk women who faced serious challenges that their lives were important and worth saving. The majority of women at the party were African-American, but several were white and at least one was Filipina. Every half hour, DJ’s raffled prizes while women in the audience testified about their experience or provided information on services such as the Sarah Cannon Cancer Center Nurse Navigator program at Research Hospital. Volunteers added the women who attended to a list so they could be reminded to get their mammogram again next year. TOP: GERALYN MENSHEW AND CONSUELO ROSS GREET The staff at Johnson County Imaging AN INCOMING GUEST, MIDDLE: JACKIE MICHAELS GIVES Center donates one Saturday a month for INSTRUCTIONS TO WAITING GUESTS, BELOW: WOMEN these parties. The center uses a state- EXITING THE PARTY BUS politics set aside to take on breast cancer. It of-the-art three-dimensional imaging technique for mammograms that starts showed me that one Saturday each month, at the top of the breast and curves along people all over Kansas City are working the surface, which some consider a better together to prove that black women’s lives diagnostic tool. The center can also provide in Wyandotte County matter to us all, one mammogram at a time. the more traditional two-dimensional scans. The event reminded me of the love and respect that people can feel for each other; Inspired and want to get involved? To host a mammogram party visit www. women helping women beat the odds against a common foe; the staff, the participants, stofoundation.org and choose the “YES I AM” the volunteers all making an impact in the tab. community; the dividing lines of Wyandotte For more information on Art Bra KC visit and Johnson Counties, of labels, status, and artbrakc.com.
•9
THE BITE
KOREAN MEETS MEXICAN AT THE CITY MARKET The Bite, a small sandwich shop nestled between Farm to Table and Taste of Brazil tucked in the northwest corner of KC’s City Market, serves a fusion of world cuisine with a Mexican flair designed by chef and owner Carlos Mortera. Like most of its adjacent peers, the Bite has a food truck vibe. The menu and seating are limited, but that’s fine by me, I like to make a regular grub crawl out of my City Market outings, patching a meal together from multiple venues. On a recent visit that started at Quay Coffee and ended with a decadent detour from my diet at Beignet, I sat in one of the small two-person tables and admired their selection of artsy skulls and wacky décor that mirrors the sweet, savory, and spicy weirdness of the menu. Before Mortera started the Bite, the space housed a series of mini-restaurants including versions of Foodo, Nabil’s, the Grille on Broadway, and Mr. Good Chicken. I was intrigued by the promise of Korea meets Mexico – a potentially rife combination in my opinion - but balance wins out at the Bite. The menu has three basic items: sandwiches, tamales, and sides. I’m a mushroom fan, so I ordered “The Toadstool,” a potent layering of mushrooms, red onions, and a savory sauce stuffed into a sliced bolillo (a Mexican hoagie roll). Crusty and chewy, it didn’t turn to mush with the sauce and fillings. My dining companion ordered the “Kickin’ Chicken,”
a straight-out-of Mexico City dish loaded with slow-cooked chicken carnitas and queso fresco - until it’s plated up and slathered in Korean BBQ sauce and sriracha crema. Other sandwiches feature pork, chicken, crab and a few vegetarian options. Everything is heavy on the eclectic. Next time I return I want to try the “El-Vez,” a far-out combination of peanut butter; prosciutto, banana, and Nutella(!). The sandwiches and tamales are pretty darn filling, but that didn’t stop us from trying a few side dishes, especially the “Patatas Bravas”: quartered potatoes topped with chipotle mayo and garlic oil alongside fresh cilantro and – I’m going to have to revoke your Yelp Visa card if you don’t know what’s coming next – kimchi! This kimchi is mild enough that it blends in nicely with the potatoes, providing a crunchy tang at the finish. I also tried both the maduros (fried plantains topped with queso fresco) and the “Bite Greens.” The drink selection is limited to bottled and canned pop; they have San Pellegrino, Mexican Coke and a selection of Jarritos that includes pineapple and tamarind. I was in the mood for an iced tea, so since this is the city market I popped out and returned 3 minutes later with my drink. A jug of té helado con limón would be a welcome addition in my opinion. The Bite is a lunch place and closes at 4 p.m. most days. They run out of items sometimes, so be prepared to come up
THE “EL-VEZ” IS A FAR-OUT COMBINATION OF PEANUT BUTTER, PROSCIUTTO, BANANA, AND NUTELLA with a second choice or have a menu on hand when placing a carry-out order. It’s not hard to stick to a healthy plan at the Bite. Glutenfree options include plain corn tamales and corn tamales with spinach and black beans. Both are topped with mole, queso fresco, sriracha crema, pickled onions and a side of sesame slaw. You can add other meats or veggies. I tried the crunchy smoked tofu, but pretty much all the sandwich fillings are available on the tamales as well. Both kinds of tamales can be prepared vegetarian or vegan, and there are several vegetarian sandwiches. Meat items are clearly marked and the kitchen is happy to remove dairy from almost everything on the menu. Overall the Bite is a tasteful flavor-fest that fits in nicely with the eclectic buzz of the City Market, and healthconscious diners will find options even though the menu, and space, are small. • E-mail feedback@indiefitmagazine.com •
The Bite
23 E 3rd St. KCMO 64106 | M-F 10:30 - 4 Weekends 9:30 - 4 | 816.503.6059 10 •
BY dave greenbaum
JAKE AND THE
BEANSTALK Sacred Sun Cooperative Farm building KC area “dry bean culture”
BY JAPHI WESTERFIELD |
CHRISTINA FRAZIER THE JOHANNES FAMILY AT SACRED SUN COOPERATIVE FARM
IN ALL SERIOUSNESS, I EAT A LOT OF BEANS. ONE CHRISTMAS MY
sister bought me a set of bean-themed kitchen storage containers – for a gag– and I’ve used them with a straight face for years. When a guy heard my wife talking about how many times a week I slow-cooked beans he told her he was amazed I hadn’t bought a pressure cooker, so the next week she gave me an Emeril T-fall 6-Quart electric model that is by far my most treasured kitchen gizmo – I even take it on vacations. Beans are an easy source of protein when I’m on a vegetarian kick, high in fiber, they come in handy for Rick Bayless recipes, but more than anything, I just like them. I’m on the bean team. My wife, though, is not, so one night when she looked down at my frijoles and said, “If I’m ever going to get into those, I think I need to find a really good bean,” I was initially at a loss. As she twirled some idealized bean around in her mind like a free-range rotisserie chicken, I realized that, quite frankly, other than for the coffee variety, the only thing I’d ever shopped for in a dry bean was price; I liked my beans cheap, in bulk or pre-packaged 2 pound bags that I dumped into plastic Stikko wafer-stick jars (now you know my guilty pleasure). Raising an eyebrow when she noticed my complete cluelessness,
• 11
JOHANNES HAS JUST FINISHED HIS FIRST YEAR AT SACRED SUN
JOHANNES DIDN’T WANT TO GROW VERTICAL GARDENS IN WESTPORT; HE HAD THE POTENTIAL TO BECOME ORGANIC FARMING’S “TRIPLE THREAT.” she suggested, “Maybe something locally grown.” With one (big) exception I’d never heard of dry bean farming around Kansas City. Green beans were one thing; everybody’s grandmother grew them, the ones that flossed your teeth for you if you didn’t string each pod prior to dumping them into the crockpot with a chunk of bacon and a bag of brown sugar to ease their day-long simmer into evisceration. That big exception of course is soybeans. According to stats that the US Department of Agriculture carefully harvests each year, Kansas hovers around 10th in annual soybean production. But soybeans are grown as an oil crop (the meal is used to feed pigs). I wanted culinary beans I could stoke the Emeril with. I checked with a couple of local health food stores but didn’t have any luck. After I’d forgotten about it, I overheard some people at Bad Seed Farmers Market talking about
12 •
local beans. They told me to drive up to Lawrence and look for Sacred Sun Cooperative Farm at the Saturday farmers market there. A few weeks later I did, and I would find not only that perfect local bean my wife wanted, but also learn about the fascinating reinvigoration of a family farming tradition that traces its roots to the 1850s on a plot of land near the Kickapoo Indian Reservation and a remarkable new cooperative agricultural experiment 50 miles northwest of Kanas City that blends the latest organic non-GMO urban farming techniques with foodie culture, indie music, and traditional Kansas row cropping.
As a farmer, thirty-something Jake Johannes defies easy categorization. What’s certain is that, for now at least, he’s the only culinary dry bean farmer in northeast Kansas. Even when he lived thousands of miles away, the bean culture
of northeast Kansas was never far from his mind. “After I graduated from college and worked for a little while, I left for Japan where I went to teach high school students and study Japanese timber farming. My dad had been farming soybeans almost his entire life near the town of 50 people where I grew up. In Japan I ate soy products on a daily basis, fermented soy, but also a lot of tofu and unfermented soy. I think it gets a bad rap, because of GMO soybeans. But it was really good for my health,” Johannes told me. Back from Japan, Johannes, who graduated from KU with an architecture degree in the early 2000s, got a job with an architecture firm in Kansas City. But in 2008 everything changed. The economy crashed, he lost his job, and nobody was hiring freshly minted architects. Beans were back on the plate for Johannes, this time literally, as in rice and beans for dinner every night. Johannes had a solid fallback though, a 150 year tradition of farming, something his family had done in Kansas since the days of abolitionists and border ruffians. But he knew to make an impact, it wasn’t enough to just move back to the land. He needed to add to his agricultural pedigree, not in the fields alongside his father or in an ag program at K-State, but right there in the city where he had been laid off. The business of agriculture has been
changing for years. Today Americans plant roughly the same acreage as a half century ago, but farms are bigger (the average family farm was 733 acres in 2015) and a growing percentage are corporate owned. 4H, Future Farmers of America and the Grange (the once radical farm “fraternity” otherwise known as the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry) have long been declining. But go to any health-food store and browse the magazines at the checkout aisles. A new kind of farming with a new kind of farmer has taken root. This new farm is inspired in equal parts by Palo Alto startup culture, “Goin’ Up the Country” indie social collectivism, and foodie cravings for organic non-GMO crops grown within a 50 mile radius of the whoever’s holding the fork. The business model involves eliminating the middle man and going direct to market, which reduces the number of acres you need to plant and creates a potential job market for local cultivators willing to get out in the fields and sweat. Johannes found the perfect way bolster his farming IQ. “I got an internship with the Growing Growers program through Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture (now called Cultivate Kansas City). Katherine Kelly hired me, and in one year I learned a lot about the vegetable side of the business.” But Johannes didn’t want to grow vertical gardens in Westport; he had the potential to become organic farming’s “triple threat.” He’d row cropped since childhood and now he knew small-scale urban vegetable farming. Add to that the business side - the ability to direct-market everything to the end user: farmers markets, coops, restaurants, and local food manufacturers - and Johannes was ready to make good on a dream he’d had since high school. He told me that studying engineering and architecture, teaching in Japan, and now wading into the world of urban farming was always about “bringing some set of skills back to that rural community where I grew up, to enliven it, to give back,” as he put it. So in 2010, he moved back in with his parents and worked with his father to convert their traditional grain and soybean operation to organic. It wasn’t an easy decision and took 5 years to complete. He said, “Going back home, it was like going to graduate school for agriculture. I learned so much from my father in the time I got to work with him. It was the kind of information I couldn’t have picked up at any other farm in the area because he was doing large acreage row crops.” His father, skeptical at first, is a believer now that they’re on the other side and fully certified. Last season when neighbors in
SACRED SUN IS A HIPSTER FARM. 40 ACRES AND THEY’RE COOL. Brown County were farming four times the acreage and getting $3 per bushel for corn, Johannes’ corn was food grade quality, which allowed them to drive to Indiana and sell it for $14 per bushel. They were working smarter, not harder. As Johannes said, “It’s like farming four times as much land, and our inputs are less, we’re not spraying, we’re using mechanical cultivation to take care of weeds. We don’t get the yields our neighbors do, we make up for it in profit since we’re a niche product now.” But he wasn’t finished with his experiment. His ultimate goal went beyond the revitalization of his family’s Brown County farm – he was interested in what the future of Johannes farming in Kansas could be, how he could build on his heritage and start his own family tradition. So in 2014, with his wife Jessica and their friends Jen and Jim Martin and their children, the two families founded Sacred Sun Cooperative Farm on 40 acres northeast of the small town of Perry, Kansas. Perry was once a bustling railroad town with an ancient elm tree in the town park that locals named the “tree of knowledge.” Johannes brought his own knowledge and community vision
to the Perry region, one that looked back to the days when families lived together in close-knit agricultural enclaves. He wanted to revive what his grandparents and greatgrandparents did: grow everything a small family would need to survive winter.
Sacred Sun is a hipster farm. 40 acres and they’re cool. The farm is cooperative in the sense that both families – the Martins and Johannes - share the costs, labor, and profits of the farm. They employ a “whole diet” CSA farm model (CSA stands for community supported agriculture). Members pay a monthly fee to become shareholders, but unlike shares of stock, the farm pays dividends in produce via a weekly supply of whatever crops are in season. Of the Martins Johannes told me, “They moved to the land with us. We farm together, we share the costs together, I feel like we are a true coop. We share the profits. They’re incredible, we couldn’t do any of this without them. Eventually, it’s a goal of ours to hopefully bring more families here and establish a community out in the country, centered around agriculture.” They also share heroics when nature raises hell in the middle of the night. Jim Martin said that in May it rained at the farm 29 out of 31 days. Their land extends mostly down the south-facing slope of a gentle hill. He said that late in the month, around 2 a.m. he and Johannes had to go out in the middle of a severe thunderstorm
to dig a retaining ditch around their fields. More than 10,000 acres of water ran down that hill during the month. That’s some serious bonding male bonding, Kansas style. Towards the community side the farm hosts potlucks for friends who drive up from Kansas City and Lawrence to help with large projects. When they first moved in, all the outbuildings were crammed with 10 to 15 years of trash. They filled up a roll-off dumpster, hooked up the amplifiers (many of their friends are musicians), and cooked food at the end of the day. Johannes might have moved his family
to a new farm and started working towards his vision of cultivating everything on the table at Thanksgiving dinner – but he still couldn’t stop thinking about beans (remember, this is a story about beans). Because of soybeans, he knew a culinary dry bean culture in Kansas was possible. Some Western Kansas operations planted pinto beans. The Kanza and Osage tribes cultivated dry beans, as did Johannes’ childhood neighbors the Kickapoo, whose generational seed collections were so sacred that only select members of the tribe were allowed to see them. He also knew that local veggie-burger producer
• 13
JIM AND JENN MARTIN
14 •
Hillary’s Eat-Well was actively looking for local farms to grow adzuki beans for their products. So the first full year of operations at Sacred Sun included a stab at dry bean farming (the beans were actually grown up in Brown County – next year they plan to grow beans at the Perry location). Johannes decided to start out with black-eyed peas and black beans, but immediately ran into a roadblock. He couldn’t find enough seed. In a state dominated by five crops, planting enough edible beans to harvest wasn’t as simple as driving down to the seed store and placing an order. But unlike many vegetables and fruits, beans themselves are seeds, so Johannes worked out a deal with the Community Mercantile in nearby Lawrence to buy 200 pounds of organic
black-eyed peas and black beans for seed stock. He planted them. They came up. A bean’s a bean right? Well maybe, Johannes wasn’t completely sure the equipment he used for soybeans would work for his new culinary cultivars. When it was time to harvest he even switched from his old John Deere 8820 combine to an International 1666 which has a gentler threshing mechanism. The black beans were a success, but the black-eyed peas presented a problem at harvest. “The plants they grow on are viney and the pods are fibrous, so when they went through the combine they didn’t get shredded up and pulverized and ended up coming out as these giant balls of vine. You can’t disc them into the ground. I had to go out with a pitchfork and manually remove them from the fields. I found out that even though we can grow a lot of these beans here, a missing part of the equation is how they are harvested.” That’s how my wife’s perfect bean was grown. Sacred Sun marketed many of those first year’s beans to local restaurants across northeast Kansas and western Missouri, but a few choice 5-lb bags were saved for the Saturday Lawrence Farmers Market, and I snagged one with my daughter on a sweltering August morning. When I showed my wife she was impressed. “You really did find a local bean.” That night we ate perhaps some of the first completely local Kaw Valley bean burritos ever made – authentic down to the local corn tortillas my daughter pressed out in our tortilla press, some low-heat jalapenos out of the garden, and the Sacred Sun black beans. My wife’s still not on the bean team, but she’s interested in the other products Sacred Sun brings to local markets. I loved the beans, but I also loved the story of Sacred Sun and Johannes, just one of many stories of sustainable agriculture taking root on the rich alluvium of the Kansas and Missouri River valleys and the vacant lots and garden plots of urban Kansas City. Jake Johannes can’t really be called a pioneer – he’s a son of the pioneers after all – but he embodies the spirit of the new Kansas City, a city which was founded in a large part by farmers. In October you can find Sacred Sun at the Saturday Downtown Farmers Market, 900 block of New Hampshire Street, 8 am - noon and the Thursday Cotton’s Farmers Market, 1832 Massachusetts Street, 4 pm – 6:30 pm, both in Lawrence, Kansas. You can also find them on Facebook: http:// www.facebook.com/sacredsunfarm. E-mail feedback@indiefitmagazine.com
BOARD BASICS Serving on a local board can have myriad benefits
AFTER YOU’VE FINISHED YOUR WORKOUT AT THE END OF A BUSY
workday, the last thing you’re thinking about is another meeting. For many Kansas Citians though, that extra meeting can be the most important and fulfilling part of their day because they serve on a local board of directors and gladly volunteer their time. Board service isn’t just a resume builder; members can make a real impact providing oversight and direction. Recent news out of Lawrence shows the importance of board action. When Jeremy Farmer, executive director of local food bank Just Food (who also happened to be the city’s mayor) resigned over alleged financial mismanagement, the actions of board members were an important part of the story. On the right board, your time can benefit a cause you believe in, which can be as valuable as the paycheck you get from your day job.
BY DAVE GREENHAM
HOW TO JOIN A BOARD
I know when I was first approached to join a board after college I thought I was way too young and inexperienced to help lead an organization. I had bills to pay, so volunteering wasn’t in the budget. Taly Friedman felt the same way after she graduated from KU. She’s currently Director of Volunteer Engagement at Jewish Family Services of Greater Kansas City (jfskc. org). Friedman was involved in KU Hillel in college. She realized she could offer her perspective as a fresh college graduate to her fellow board members. If you’re new to a community, serving on a board is a great way to meet people with common interests, but the people you meet might go beyond city limits. Callahan Creek’s Director of Emerging Media Ben Smith served on the board of a nationwide group, the Social Media Club (www.socialmediaclub.org). With over 350 chapters, many overseas, Smith worked with people not just from the United States, but also Europe and the Middle East, and it led to travel opportunities and new friendships in multiple countries. Religious institutions, universities, professional organizations, cause-based groups, and government entities all operate with boards of directors. Katy Ibsen Carroll is General Manager of Sunflower Publishing, a division of the World Company in Lawrence, Kansas. Carroll chairs the Lawrence Humane Society’s board of directors (lawrencehumane.org). Her love of animals made working with the board a natural fit. James New was already a volunteer trainer at Connecting for Good (www.connectingforgood.com), a KC-based organization that helps bridge the digital divide. He has a background in IT, so he wanted to help the organization on a more strategic level by joining their board. Brendon Allen, a software engineering director at a broadband technology company lost part of his leg due to Osteosarcoma and wears a prosthetic below his knee. He joined the board of the Steps of Faith Foundation (www. stepsoffaithfoundation.org) which works to provide financial support to amputees because he realized “the difference that lack of access to even basic prosthetics could make on the quality of life of amputees.” As you might imagine, boards come in all shapes,
sizes, and commitments. They might meet yearly and have dozens of members. Other boards may meet on a monthly basis. I currently serve on the LGBT board of Miami University of Ohio. We meet monthly over the phone and yearly for a retreat. Like Friedman, I love staying connected to my alma mater. Most boards will give you an idea of how much time and money they expect from you.
WHY JOIN A BOARD?
When you join a board, you’ll meet people. Carroll loves the connections she made at the Lawrence Humane Society: “I love popping into the shelter and talking to the team members about what shenanigans happened with a funny dog, to see how we are fighting for animals who can’t speak, or to see a family working with one of our adoption counselors--it’s an awesome feeling felt with awesome people.” Serving on a board also can help you develop new professional skills. Ben Smith helped Social Media Club navigate through an important leadership transition. Friedman mentioned that her board service allows her to “meet people of all ages and backgrounds and helped me expand my professional network. “ Carroll learned how to be a better manager by working alongside her team members. Boards make decisions about human resources, finances and advertising. If you’ve just graduated, or if you’re out of work, board service can help build up your portfolio and gain experience that will help you get a job. To a potential employer it means you didn’t just sit around all summer watching the Royals! All of the board members I spoke said the most valuable aspect of their service though was the satisfaction of giving back to their communities. Smith said that serving on a board “is a chance to ‘do.’ Joining the right board is a unique opportunity to make an impact and leave a legacy.” I know with my membership on Miami University’s LGBT board, I help make the school a safer place for students of all backgrounds.
WHAT A NON-PROFIT WANTS FROM YOU
I’ve heard this said many ways, but most boards want one or more of the three T’s: treasure, time and talent. Treasure. That means you write a check. If your check is big enough, you get a seat on the board. Even if you’re not
a walking endowment association, many boards request a small donation to show support. Friedman was concerned that she couldn’t make the larger contribution that other board members could make, but she was able to contribute in other ways. Many boards though won’t ask any money of you if you aren’t able to afford it. Time. That means you provide free labor. Some nonprofits get much of their legwork from the sweat equity of their board members. Smith’s membership on the Social Media Club’s board required a time commitment that was critical in helping the group continue to grow. Talent. That means you have something unique to contribute. Don’t think your skill isn’t valuable. In my case, I fix computers. You might be a graphic artist or a financial wiz. The Lawrence Humane Society needed help with public relations and marketing and asked Carroll to share her talents. New already had a background in IT, so he was able to share those skills with Connecting for Good.
HOW TO FIND THE RIGHT BOARD
Start by identifying organizations you’d be interested in. Go to a few events to get a feel for the group. You might go to a rally or just walk a few dogs. Once you find one you like, join a committee or a sub-committee first. Get a feel for how the organization runs. What’s the best way to see how functional a board is? Read the minutes. Most minutes will be publically available or published on the organization’s website. Once you’re ready, let a few board members know that you’re interested and that you’d like a chance to serve when a new opening pops up. Larger groups may have general elections for board members, but smaller ones usually vote as a board.
GIVE IT A TRY
The Kansas City area has much to offer in the way of board involvement as the experiences of Carroll, New, and Friedman show. Smith and Allen took their causes to a national and international level. Whatever groups you decide to get involved with, don’t wait until the end of your career to get started. Now’s the time in your life to make a difference and make the world a better place. Instead of going home at night frustrated about your day at work, you’ll go to sleep knowing that your labor changed lives. • 15
by kaitlyn dewell
CONFESSIONS OF AN EGG-LOVING VEGAN:
THE “VEGG” SCRAMBLE IN THE EVERE V O LV I N G WORLD THAT IS YOUR LOCAL GROCERY STORE,
1 16 •
2
3
there are more options than ever to amp up your nutrition with products and ingredients that emphasis the word “free”. Not free as in price of course, but gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, you can take the equation “x”free=dinner and substitute for x (oh those painful memories of algebra) and somebody’s surely marketing it in Whole Foods or the Hy-Vee health section. Vegan diets are implicitly egg-free of course, so how do you handle the hanker for a Denver, er, Veggie Omelet, when only the sensual taste and texture of real chicken eggs will do? There is a “free” for that. Rocky Shepheard, founder of The Vegg, a Pennsylvania-based startup, invented a “vegan egg yolk” that’s the heart of an entire line of egg substitutes (all available online, see details below). Products range from a vegan baking mix to a promising French toast formula to his original “Vegg” yolk. Yep you heard right, that’s “Vegg yolk.” “What’s unique about these products is that they all taste like egg,” Shepheard said. “There are a lot of egg replacers out there, but we’re the only ones that actually taste like an egg.” Tasting like egg seemed more prerequisite than unique quality to me, but as
4
a vegan egg newbie it definitely inspired me to stick to the Vegg at first and try the dubious “non-egg-tasting egg replacers” at some tobe-determined date. Shepheard’s newest addition to the vegan egg family is the Vegg Scramble. We tried it out at Indie Fit on a late lazy Sunday morning that screamed all-you-can-eat Brunch! But we’re tough like that, we stayed home and cooked. Like all ‘Vegg’ products, the scramble starts as a powder that you whisk together with unsweetened soy milk and then simmer for 10 minutes in a pan over medium to low heat until curds form. Stir up the curds, wait a few more minutes to reduce, and you’re left with soft, light-yellow, scrambled “eggs,” which can be microwaved an additional two to three minutes for a firmer texture. OK, I was still a little groggy, but after I whisked in a dash of tabasco and some pepper, my taste buds told me “egg.” The Vegg Scramble weighs in at 12 grams of protein – about what you’d expect in two chicken eggs. It’s completely cholesterolfree (that’s one of the reason’s you’re eating vegan eggs right?), fat-free, loaded with a healthy swirl of amino acids, and since no chickens were involved in the making of the Vegg, Shepheard assures us his products are cruelty-free. “The mission of The Vegg is to provide plant-based egg texture and flavor without the cruelty,” he said. “Hopefully, it will catch on to the non-vegan audience for one reason or another to show that any kind of taste and texture is possible without cruelty to animals.” To learn more about the Vegg visit www. thevegg.com and order from the Vegg shop. Now back to bed… Email feedback@indiefitmagazine.com and tell us what you think about the Vegg.
5
FIT academy
STRENGTH TRAINING & STRETCHES FOR
RUNNERS
Follow up October Races with focus on flexibility & strength OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER ARE PEAK RACE MONTHS AROUND KANSAS CITY. In the afterglow, strength
training can be a great way to rebalance things after several months of working toward your fall goals. Personal trainer Michael Matthews of Underground Lab Fitness Studio in Lawrence told Indie Fit that strength training is a lot more important than most runners think. “If your training only focuses on the aerobic side, you’ll wind BY INDIE FIT STAFF |
up with imbalances and injuries. The biggest issues I see with runners is general tightness or joint problems. Stretching, foam rolling, and strength training can help, and of the three, strength training is most often overlooked.”So, runners to your marks. Add some of these moves in October to help prevent injuries, improve your body composition, increase flexibility, and lower your body fat (strength training is good for that). For each exercise do 12-15 reps, 3 sets, 1 minute rest between sets.
INDIE FIT STAFF | WORKOUT BY: MICHAEL MATTHEWS, UNDERGROUND LAB
SPLIT SQUAT
Helps increase flexibility in your hips and ankles and really focuses on imbalances. Ease into this one. Stop if you feel any instability or pain in your knee.
Back straight, eyes looking forward, legs apart.
1.
Slowly lower into the squat position. Allow your back leg to hyperextend as you drop.
At the bottom, you’ll lunge down past the 90 degree angle. Go easy at first until you get the hang of it!
• 17
HEEL ELEVATED SQUATS For people with tight hips and ankles, elevated squats help with knee stability, power, and range of motion. Always keep your back straight as you squat!
Start with hips shoulder-width apart
1.
2.
HIP FLEXOR STRETCHES Back flat against the wall
1.
2.
Lift leg slightly and, without touching the ground, pulse upwards.
18 •
Squat down, keep your back straight and arms out as you descend.
3.
Strengthening hip flexors reduces your risk of injury by aligning your hips and pelvis. If you have issues with your knees, stretch those hip flexors!
3.
Back flat against the wall
4.
Lift and bend your leg so that it ends up crossed over your straight leg. Return to start position.
FRIDAY OCTOBER 2 HEALTH.EVENTS Living in Vitality (LIV) Empowering Women for Life Overland Park Convention Center Overland Park, KS 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. www.shawneemission. org/classes-andevents/liv-living-invitality
SATURDAY OCTOBER 3
RUNNING.EVENTS Natalie’s A.R.T. 5k Run and Walk 5k, Kid’s Dash, Pancake Breakfast Overland Park, KS 7200 W 132nd Street, 7:45 a.m. register.chronotrack. com/r/14238 Blue Springs 1/2 marathon and 5K Blue Springs YMCA 1300 SE Adams Dairy Parkway Blue Springs, MO 7:30 a.m.
Muddy Udder Five Mile Pasture Run Queen of Holy Rosary School 22705 Metcalf Ave Bucyrus, KS 8 a.m. www.muddyudder.com Body. Mind. Character. 5k Barstow School 11511 State Line Road Kansas City, MO 8 a.m.
A GUIDE TO:
FARMERS MARKETS HARVEST IS UPON US, but if your radishes
didn’t rise or your lettuce let you down, don’t worry, Kansas City’s farmer’s market scene is burgeoning, and October is still a great month for home grown goods. Grab your produce sack and small bills and get ready to mingle with neighbors – or meet neighbors you never knew you had. There’s probably a farmers market close enough to bike to.
10.17.15 - 26.2 WADDELL & REED KANSAS CITY MARATHON SATURDAY OCTOBER 17
MARATHON (26.2 MILES) HALF MARATHON (13.1 MILES) MARATHON RELAY (TEAMS OF 3 – 5)
5K START AND FINISH AT WASHTINGTON SQUARE PARK (NORTH OF CROWN CENTER), NEAR THE CORNER OF 22ND STREET AND GRAND.
BIKING.EVENTS Octoginta 30-mile Tour de County Ride Lawrence, KS 7 a.m. www.lbc-cycling.com/ rides/octoginta.html
Wyco’s Revenge Mountain Bike Races Wyandotte County Lake Kansas City, Kansas 6 pm http://wycosrevenge. blogspot.com Flint Hills Trail Family Fall Ride 1000 Main St. Osawatomie, KS
KANSAS CITY’S MARATHON STARTED BACK IN 1979 AS “MACY’S Marathon” (why Macy’s? before ditching us for Ohio the department store chain used to be headquartered in downtown KC). This year more than 2000 runners will undulate the hilly course and pray for cool temperatures. Feeling zippy? The KC Marathon is an officially sanctioned Boston qualifier course.
SUNDAY OCTOBER 4
RUNNING.EVENTS Run for LITTLE Hearts 10K/5K/1M Unity Village, MO, 8:00 am
Panera Break Diabetes Dash 5k/10k Town Center Panera 11751 Nall Ave Leawood, KS 66211 7:30 a.m. www. diabetesdashforlife.com Path to Parenthood 5k Run/Walk Waterfall Park 4501 S. Bass Pro Drive Independence, MO
8 a.m. www.kcinfertility.org
7th Annual Pink Laundry Run 220 SE Green Street Lees Summit, MO 8 a.m. www.pinklaundry.org BIKING.EVENTS
Octoginta 40 and 80-mile Bike Ride Lawrence, KS 7 a.m. www.lbc-cycling.com/ rides/octoginta.html
RUNNING.EVENTS Running with the Angels Chad Rogers
Kansas City Organics
Kansas City, MO Minor Park, Saturday 8 a.m. – noon Badseed Farmers Market
Kansas City, MO 1909 McGee Street, Friday Nights, 4 – 9 p.m. City Market
Saturday & Sunday, 7 a.m. – 3 p.m. Kansas City, MO Brookside Farmer’s Market
Kansas City, MO Border Star Montessori, Saturday 8 a.m. – 1 p.m. Merriam Farmer’s Market
Merriam, KS Merriam Marketplace, Saturday 7 a.m. – 1 p.m. Olathe Farmers Market
Downtown, Saturday 8:00 a.m. - sellout. Overland Park Farmers Market
7950 Marty, Saturday 6:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. Parkville Farmers Market
English Landing Park, Saturday 7 a.m. - noon. Blue Springs Farmers’ Market
Blue Springs, MO 11th and Main Streets, Saturday 7 a.m. – noon Drumm Farmer’s Market
Independence, MO 3210 Lee’s Summit Road, Saturday 8 a.m. – noon Lawrence Farmer’s Market
Lawrence, KS, Saturday 7 – 11 a.m. Cottin’s Farmers Market
Lawrence, KS, Thursdays 4 – 6:30 p.m. 1832 Mass. St.
• 19
DAILY FIX
MONDAY
TUESDAY
THURSDAY
KCTC Cass County Intervals
Red Dog Days Community Workout
Red Dog Days Community Workout
KCTC Northland Runners
KCTC Northland Runners
Hills and Intervals Harrisonville, MO 5:30 p.m. https://www. facebook.com/groups/ kctcharrisonvillerunning KCTC Brookside Run Trolley Track Run all Paces Brookside Bar and Grill Kansas City, MO 6 p.m.
KCTC Ward Parkway Run
Meet at Gary Gribbles Ward Parkway Center 8600 Ward Parkway Kansas City, MO 5:45 p.m.
Mud Babe Monday Run Shawnee Mission Park Marina Parking Lot 7900 Renner Road Shawnee, KS 6 p.m.
KCMBC Heritage Park Bike Ride
Heritage Park 16050 Pflumm Road Olathe, KS Parking lot N side of lake 6:30 p.m.
20 •
South Park Lawrence, KS 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Macken Park, west side Kansas City, MO 5:30 p.m. http://kctrack.org/ northland-runners KCTC Tuesday Intervals Shawnee Mission East High School Until end of October Prairie Village, KS 5:30 p.m.
KCMBC Brewery Bike Ride 75th Street Brewery 75th & Wornall Kansas City, MO 6:30 p.m.
WEDNESDAY Liberty Run Rock and Run 110 Kansas St. Liberty, MO 6 p.m.
KCMBC Coach’s Bike Ride 135th & Antioch Overland Park, KS 6:30 p.m.
South Park Lawrence, KS 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Macken Park, west side Kansas City, MO 5:30 p.m. http://kctrack.org/ northland-runners KCTC Ward Parkway Run Meet at Gary Gribbles Ward Parkway Center 8600 Ward Parkway Kansas City, MO 6 p.m.
KCMBC Brookside Weekly Bike Ride
The Roasterie Parking Lot North of 63rd Kansas City, MO 6:30 p.m.
Red Dog Days Community Workout Lawrence High School Track Lawrence, KS 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.
KCMBC Hen House Bike Ride 69th & Mission 8 a.m.
SATURDAY Red Dog Day’s Fun Run
Kizer Cummings NE Corner of 9th and Vermont Lawrence, KS 7 a.m. or 7:45 a.m.
KCTC Saturday Morning Run at the Plaza
Open to all runners, also beginner’s class Aixois 55th St. and Brookside Blvd Kansas City, MO 7 a.m.
KCTC Saturday Morning Run Lee’s Summit 3390 SW Fascination Dr. Lee’s Summit, MO 7 a.m.
Saturday Morning Liberty Run
Liberty Golds 8620 North Ditzler Avenue Liberty, MO 8 a.m.
KCMBC Bikesource Group Bike Ride
95th & Mission Leawood, KS 8:30 a.m.
SUNDAY KCTC Northland Runners
Macken Park, west side Kansas City, MO 8 a.m. http://kctrack.org/northlandrunners
Is your event IndieFit? Tell us about it: feedback@ indiefitmagazine.com
Memorial Run 10k/5k Run/Walk Pleasant Valley, MO 8 am www.active.com/ pleasant-valley-mo/ running/distancerunning-races/ running-with-the-angelschad-rogers-memorialrun-2015 Mustache Dash 5k Run/Walk Lil’ Shavers Kid Run Park Place 116th and Nall 8 am www.mustachedash5k. com
SUNDAY OCTOBER 11
RUNNING.EVENTS Missouri Race Series Lee’s Longview Lake 11101 Raytown Lees Summit, MO 8:00 a.m. JCCC Lace Up for Learning Johnson County Community College 12345 College 8:00 am www.jccc.edu/laceup5k
5th annual Bill Cross 5K for BackSnacks Zona Rosa 8640 N Dixson Ave. Kansas City, MO 8:00 am www.feednorthlandkids. org
SATURDAY OCTOBER 17
RUNNING.EVENTS Great Pumpkin Run 5k Trail Run, Corn Maze, & Pumpkin Carry
Johnson Farms Plants & Pumpkins Belton, MO 9 am www. thegreatpumpkinrun. com/cities/ kansascity/
Waddell & Reed Kansas City Marathon with Ivy Funds 26.2, 13.1, Team Relay, 5K Washington Square Park Grand and Pershing Kansas City, MO 7:00 am kcmarathon.org
SUNDAY OCTOBER 18
RUNNING.EVENTS 5K Wedding Run 220 SE Green Street Lee’s Summit, MO 64063 www.5kweddingrun. com
FRIDAY OCTOBER 23
RUNNING.EVENTS Hippie Glow Run 5K Arrowhead Stadium 1 Arrowhead Drive 6:00 pm www.hippierun.com
SATURDAY OCTOBER 24
SUSTAINABILITY. EVENTS Mother Earth News Fair Kansas Expo Center Topeka, KS 9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. www. motherearthnewsfair. com/kansas
INDIE FIT SPOTLIGHT
2015 JAGGER BIKE RACE
ATONE FOR YOUR CANDY BINGE IN ADVANCE. The 2015 Jagger (“Just another gravel grinder race”) is a mountain bike race through the eastern Flint Hills. Race organizers warn that this hilly grinder feels more like a century than a measly 40 miler. Entry fees go to support an Eskridge rider who was hurt in a bicycle accident. Departs from downtown Eskridge, Kansas on Saturday October 31st at 11 am. For more info search for “Jagger Gravel Grinder” on Facebook.
RUNNING.EVENTS Monster Dash 5K Run/Walk Bodies Holiday Race City Market 3rd and Walnut Series Kansas City, MO Halloween Hustle 7:00 pm Unity Village www.kcmonsterdash. Lee’s Summit, MO com Belton, MO 8 am bodieshealthandfitness. Bone Bash & Dash 5K Run/Walk com/races/halloweenMeritex hustle-5k-10k-bodiesUNDERGROUND holiday-run Executive Park 17501 W. 98th Street 6:00 pm
www. bonebashanddash.org
Kansas Expo Center Topeka, KS 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. www. motherearthnewsfair. com/kansas
Overrun Ovarian Cancer Southcreek Office The I Am Second Park 7200 W 132nd St. Run Overland 5K/ 10K/ Fun Run 8:30 am Arrowhead Stadium www. 8:00 am www.theiamsecondrun. RUNNING.EVENTS overrunovariancancer. com com Bison 50 SUSTAINABILITY. Relay from Topeka to SATURDAY OCTOBER 31 EVENTS Lawrence Topeka, KS Mother Earth News 7:15 am RUNNING.EVENTS Fair www.bison50.com
• 21
Safehome Halloween 5K SouthCreek Office Park 132nd and Metcalf Overland Park, Kansas 8:00 am www.safehome-ks.org
Running Dead KC Kansas City Renaissance Festival 628 N 126th St. Bonner Springs, KS www.runningdeadkc. com
HOLIDAY. EVENTS
Halloween Haunted Maze Gage Center 1101 NW Jefferson Blue Springs, MO www.gagecenter.com
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 1 RUNNING. EVENTS
INDIE FIT HARVEST
PUMPKIN PATCHES IMAGINE YOURSELF LOST AND ALONE SOMEWHERE OUT IN A FIELD AT NIGHT
covered in Missouri mud and corn husks. Not every establishment in our Pumpkin Patch features a haunted maze, but walking through corn fields the week before Halloween is a great way to connect with your inner Blair Witch Project and get dibs on a decent locally grown pumpkin. PENDLETON’S COUNTRY MARKET 1446 East 1850 Road Lawrence, KS Pick-Your-Own Pumpkins
SCHAAKE’S PUMPKIN PATCH 1791 North 1500 Road Pumpkins and Free Hay Rides Lawrence, KS
22 •
DEANNA ROSE CHILDREN’S FARMSTEAD 13800 Switzer Overland Park, KS Pumpkins, corn maze, straw maze HICKORY CREEK RANCH PUMPKIN PATCH 20220 South Lackman Road Spring Hill, KS You-Pick-Pumpkin’s, Hay Rides
KC PUMPKIN PATCH AND CORN MAZE 29755 W. 191 Street Gardner, KS Pumpkins and Corn Maze
KC PUMPKIN PATCH 13875 S. Gardner Road Olathe, KS Pumpkins, Goat Walk, Zip Line, Gourd Gun SHUCK’S CORN MAZE AND PUMPKIN PATCH 291 Hwy and 203rd St Pleasant Hill, MO LIBERTY CORN MAZE 17607 NE 52nd St Liberty, MO
Cliff Hanger 5k & 10k 4600 Gladstone Blvd Kansas City, MO 8 am www.cliffhangerrun. com
Kansas Half Marathon 13.1 & 5K Lawrence, Kansas 7:30 am http://www. kansashalfmarathon. com
Seize the Day 5k Run/Walk Benefiting Epilepsy Corporate Woods 9401 Indian Creek Parkway Overland Park, KS 8:00 am www.efmk.org
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 7 RUNNING.EVENTS Grandview Turkey Day 5k 13500 Byars Rd, Grandview MO 8:30 am Team RWB KC 5k Washington Square Park Kansas City, MO 9:00 am www.teamrwb5k.com
Turkey Trot 5k Historic Downtown Lee’s Summit Lee’s Summit, MO
9:00 am www.olpturkeytrot.com
SATURDAY NOVEMB4 RUNNING.EVENTS
Longview Half Marathon Longview Lake 11101 Raytown Road, Kansas 8:00 am www.longviewhalf.com
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 15 RUNNING.EVENTS MFCAA’s Fun Run for Adoption 5k Zona Rosa, Kansas City, MO 9:00 am
www.mfcaa.org/events
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 21
RUNNING.EVENTS Bodies Holiday Races Waterfall Park @Bass Pro Shop Independence, MO 8:00 am www.bodieshealthandfitness. com Girls on the Run 5K Arrowhead Stadium One Arrowhead Drive Kansas City, MO 10:00 am www.gotrkc.org
9TH ANNUAL KANSAS-BUILT ENVIRONMENTAL OUTDOORS SUMMIT OCTOBER 13 – 15 OVERLAND PARK DOUBLE TREE 10100 COLLEGE BLVD OVERLAND PARK, KS WWW.KANSASBEOS.ORG
WHAT IS A “BUILT ENVIRONMENT” WE WONDERED? The “BEOS” explores how the structural artifacts of civilization can be tweaked to make everybody healthier and happier. For community organizers, trail proponents, waking and biking advocates, local food producers and urban farmers, and closet woodsy types who moonlight as city dwellers.
• 23
24 •