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Author: admin

They Paved Paradise

“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” That line has been rattling around in my head for years. I used to think it was about asphalt. I used to think it was a song about a woman looking at a lot where a garden used to be, shaking her head, feeling nostalgic. But […]

What are we, exactly?

BS Weekly #13 That’s the question I keep circling after Mount Vernon. Are we a specialty crop, or are we bait for big ag? Because those are two very different futures, and American elderberry is standing right at the fork. This June the national elderberry community gathered in Mount Vernon, Missouri. The Heartland American Elderberry […]

Slaying the Cyclops

How the Twelve-Eyed Toad Sees What One Eye Cannot A working treatise by Bevin Brooks The Cyclops had one eye. One eye sees flat… no depth, no distance, no second opinion. And that’s every one of us if we’re honest. Every founder, every farmer alone with the thing they know, looking from the one spot […]

Elderberry Curious?

One elderberry plant. One hunch. The hunch was that this plant… American elderberry (Sambucus canadensis, also classified by some authorities as Sambucus nigra subsp. canadensis)… was going to matter. Not just to my humble farm. Not just to my health. To my region. To the way we feed people. To the soil we leave behind. […]

Heartland American Elderberry Collaborative: Rooted in Real Farms

Across America’s heartland, farmers are searching for ways to build healthier soils, strengthen their operations, and leave a lasting legacy for future generations. The Heartland American Elderberry Collaborative was created to support that vision by helping growers discover the remarkable potential of elderberries as a regenerative crop. Elderberries offer more than a harvest. Their deep […]

The Dark Berry

BS Weekly #13 The color is not a coincidence. The dark, almost-black purple of elderberry is not just a visual marker of ripeness. It is a signal of bioactive density. The anthocyanin molecule responsible for that color… cyanidin-3-glucoside, or C3G… is pH-responsive, meaning its molecular structure physically shifts depending on the acidity of its environment […]

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap… American Heartland Elderberry Collaborative Hits the Road

Farmer Mickey Gallagher, the “Johnny Elderberry Seed” of KC Farmyard, joined by Bevin Brooks of LIONBERRY, are the co-chairs of the American Heartland Elderberry Collaborative… AHECo. They have been touring member farms of their AgriCluster and helping to cultivate the American elderberry across Kansas and Missouri. This week the co-chairs visited Jeremy Fyler of Fyler […]

LionBerry Regenerative™ to Pour at Stems

Overland Park Arboretum & Botanical Gardens • May 16, 2026 LionBerry Regenerative™ will be featured at Stems: A Garden Soirée — A Cause to Celebrate, the signature fundraiser supporting the Arts & Recreation Foundation of Overland Park and the Overland Park Arboretum & Botanical Gardens. Guests will enjoy an all-inclusive evening of food, botanical beverages, […]

Lit From Within: An Upcycled LIONBERRY Bottle

There’s a six-foot bottle of LIONBERRY REGENERATIVE HYDRATION on its way to Kansas from Canada. It used to be a water heater. Dave — the artist behind Theeupcycler Metal Art, based in Wetaskiwin, Alberta — takes things the world throws away and gives them a second life. Old water heaters. Car parts. Scrap steel. With […]

METABOLIC RECOVERY – The Next Phase of the GLP-1 Conversation: Metabolic Recovery

For the last two years, we’ve been talking about GLP-1 drugs. Ozempic. Wegovy. Zepbound. They work. They reduce appetite, improve blood sugar regulation, and are reshaping metabolic health at scale. This is one of the most significant shifts we’ve seen in decades (Wilding et al., 2021). But a quieter question is starting to emerge: What […]

Fortifying the Heartland: My Christmas Wish for Hy-Vee.

Lionberry 's Weekly Delusion and Re-illusion Update.

This week’s delusion is pretending our grocery stores don’t have a weak point.

This week’s re-illusion is remembering that strength comes from building on what already works, not acting like we’re starting from scratch.

Hy-Vee does a really good job bringing in local barbecue sauces, jams, honey, and other value-added foods from the Heartland.

We’re not starting from zero.

But we are starting from small.

So I handed Santa a LionBerry and gave him my Christmas list:

A fortified Hy-Vee — one that expands the Heartland section that already exists into a full, accessible, stocked-every-day aisle for local foods.

Not to replace the global or national imports like Florida oranges, California almonds, Mexico avocados, pineapple juice from Thailand, or coastal produce —

but to stand beside them, so the region isn’t left vulnerable the next time anything shakes the system:

  • fuel shortages
  • war
  • trucking strikes
  • geopolitics
  • water shortages
  • drought or dust-bowl conditions
  • port disruptions
  • cyber hits
  • natural disasters

Any one of these can break a supply chain.

A fortified regional shelf — built from the farms around Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska — keeps us fed.

The World Cup is coming to Kansas City.

Soccer tourists from Germany, Brazil, Japan, everywhere — living in Airbnbs for three to six weeks, shopping at Hy-Vee for everything from breakfast to body soap.

If we went to Germany, we’d want Wienerschnitzel.

If we went to Brazil, we’d want feijoada.

If we went to Japan, we’d want ramen or sushi that actually tastes like Japan.

So when they come to the Heartland, they don’t want a New York hot dog or a California cheeseburger.

They want us — the real Midwest.

What do we grow and make here?

  • local barbecue sauces
  • local fruit like blueberries
  • corn tortillas, tomato sauces, and beans
  • wheat pastas and breads
  • value-added soaps made from beef tallow
  • local meat, dairy, and eggs
  • elderberry drinks

And soccer tourists staying in AirBnB’s need actual essentials:

  • dish soap
  • cleaning agents
  • body soap and hygiene products
  • breakfast foods
  • snacks
  • drinks
  • basics
  • dinners

This is exactly why a stronger Heartland aisle matters — not just for crisis, but for culture, tourism, and everyday life.

This week’s delusion is pretending our grocery stores don’t have a weak point.
This week’s re-illusion is remembering that strength comes from building on what already works, not acting like we’re starting from scratch.

Hy-Vee does a really good job bringing in local barbecue sauces, jams, honey, and other value-added foods from the Heartland.
We’re not starting from zero.
But we are starting from small.

So I handed Santa a LionBerry and gave him my Christmas list:

A fortified Hy-Vee — one that expands the Heartland section that already exists into a full, accessible, stocked-every-day aisle for local foods.

Not to replace the global or national imports like Florida oranges, California almonds, Mexico avocados, pineapple juice from Thailand, or coastal produce —
but to stand beside them, so the region isn’t left vulnerable the next time anything shakes the system:

  • fuel shortages
  • war
  • trucking strikes
  • geopolitics
  • water shortages
  • drought or dust-bowl conditions
  • port disruptions
  • cyber hits
  • natural disasters

Any one of these can break a supply chain.
A fortified regional shelf — built from the farms around Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska — keeps us fed.

The World Cup is coming to Kansas City.
Soccer tourists from Germany, Brazil, Japan, everywhere — living in Airbnbs for three to six weeks, shopping at Hy-Vee for everything from breakfast to body soap.

If we went to Germany, we’d want Wienerschnitzel.
If we went to Brazil, we’d want feijoada.
If we went to Japan, we’d want ramen or sushi that actually tastes like Japan.

So when they come to the Heartland, they don’t want a New York hot dog or a California cheeseburger.
They want us — the real Midwest.

What do we grow and make here?

  • local barbecue sauces
  • local fruit like blueberries
  • corn tortillas, tomato sauces, and beans
  • wheat pastas and breads
  • value-added soaps made from beef tallow
  • local meat, dairy, and eggs
  • elderberry drinks

And soccer tourists staying in Airbnbs need actual essentials:

  • dish soap
  • cleaning agents
  • body soap and hygiene products
  • breakfast foods
  • snacks
  • drinks
  • basics
  • dinners

This is exactly why a stronger Heartland aisle matters — not just for crisis, but for culture, tourism, and everyday life.

A shared warehouse, a shared distributor, and a unified block of local makers would let regional foods move with the same efficiency as national brands — while staying rooted right here.

Tourists will buy it.
Locals will keep it.
And if anything ever shakes the world, a fortified Hy-Vee keeps the Heartland standing.

That’s what I told Santa.
That’s my wish this year.
And that’s exactly what LionBerry is built to help do — bottle by bottle, aisle by aisle.