Good-Natured Nutrition
Good-Natured Nutrition
One of the most important parts of our day-to-day work is the ability to lift other local businesses along the way. Here are just a few of the ways we incorporate them:
Ingredients
Marketing
We are also part of the Elder Farms Collective which includes 20-plus farms we buy additional elderberry from if we run through all our supplies producing products for you.
Most weeks, you can find us at local farmers markets and festivals, primarily the Lenexa Farmers Market which we call home.
We MUST support LOCAL SMALL BUSINESS because of the Multiplier Effect. That means that money spent at a local business circulates repeatedly within the community, generating additional income and jobs for other local businesses, thus having a greater overall impact on the local economy compared to spending at a large chain store where profits may leave the area.
If you buy elderberry at a big chain it’s sourced overseas and big chain profits leave the area. This is the AMERICAN ELDERBERRY native plant to Kansas and Nebraska. Support local farm businesses and our local food networks become stronger and local means we can prevent supply chain disruptions.
It’s cold and flu season! We have LIONBERRY!
LIONBERRY by Mama Pajama Elderberry SIPS a local farm and business will be there, along with MANY, MANY awesome local businesses!!!
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:
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?
And soccer tourists staying in AirBnB’s need actual essentials:
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:
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?
And soccer tourists staying in Airbnbs need actual essentials:
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.