I received my first CSA (Community Shared Agriculture) share of the season last week. As I was washing some pea shoots to put in a salad, it was as if the little sprouts started to speak to me.

I heard no voice; we didn’t have a conversation. (I’m not going to pronounce myself the “Salad Whisperer” or anything like that.) It was very subtle—an insight, nothing more.

I felt the pea shoots ask me to put them on an omelet.

It sounded tasty enough, so—instead of making a salad—I made an omelet with pea shoots on top.

The warmth of the egg heated the sprouts just enough to release a scent and flavor that was exquisite. I smiled when I realized I’d just let this vegetable suggest how it would like to be eaten. Suffice it to say, it was one of the most delightful meals I’ve ever had!

I’ve had pea shoots before, but I usually get them from the grocery store. These sprouts were straight from the farm, and they were an entirely different experience. Not only were they lively enough to have their own opinion about how to be served, but they were much more flavorful. Profoundly more flavorful. They tasted fresh and they tasted like spring.

They also tasted like joy.

And why wouldn’t they? They were organically grown by a dear friend of mine on a beautiful plot of land. I know they were cultivated and harvested with love. They were taken from the earth just that morning and traveled a mere 10 miles from farm to table.

They were not sprayed with pesticides, nor harvested as babes and left to ripen as orphans in the back of a tractor trailer. These shoots never saw the inside of a truck! They were never subjected to the fluorescent lights and the madness of a grocery store.

These tender little sprouts had lived a simple and healthy life, much like the one I hope to lead.

If there were a culinary variation on the Golden Rule, it would be something like this:

Eat food that has been treated as you would treat yourself.

Or, better yet:

Eat food that has been treated better than you treat yourself—for it will inspire you to treat yourself the same way!

Caitlin Heather Vincek is an embodied therapist, certified in Phoenix Rising yoga therapy. In her life and work, Caitlin is committed to noticing what’s happening now and to supporting others on their journey to awareness and healing. Caitlin is a dancer, writer and embodied spirit.  She is a linguist of the body and mind and a student of women’s ceremonial arts and spirituality. She lives in Boulder, CO. For more info on Caitlin’s work, visit radiantinside.com.

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Ed: Dejah Beauchamp/Kate Bartolotta