From Field To Table is a lifestyle/documentary of my journey into becoming more responsible with where my food comes from. My goal is to hunt, grow, forage, and source as much food as I can with my own hands or from people in my local network. Knowing that what I am feeding my family was grown/harvested humanely and properly is a huge factor in this lifestyle. I know the venison in my freezer was not raised in a barn force feed hormones. I know the duck in my cast iron migrated from somewhere up North vs hatched in a cage and never saw the light of the sun. I'm watching my fruits and vegetables grow from seed and teaching my boys when to pick them for peak flavors. Is it a perfect system, no. Are we exclusively eating this way, no. Would I like both answers to be yes, absolutely! We are doing the best we can and trying to document the learning curves along the way. 

A bit more about myself and where I came from. I was born and raised in Central Indiana, my father grew up on a farm, taught biology, grew a massive garden every year, and raised me to love and appreciate the outdoors. He did take me shooting a few times, but never hunting. It wasn’t until college that my best friend Josh introduced me to goose hunting. One trip out to a cornfield, one flock of geese dropping in on us, and I was hooked.

Since then I’ve become a generalist hunter who loves it all and isn’t afraid to give another avenue a go. I’m hooked on white-tails & ducks, but will chase just about anything I can put on my table! 

I started my garden when my wife and I bought our first house, just under 50 square feet it’s not nearly enough and we have big dreams of purchasing land, starting a homestead that will house chickens, bees, and goats, a massive garden upgrade and hopefully some whitetail & duck habitat. This is the right place to keep tabs on what I am up to and maybe some decent tips on how to get things up and running yourself should you have the desire.

Okayest Cook was born out of a desire to take the From Field To Table concept full circle and learn to get better in the kitchen. I partnered with Okayest Hunter, joined their podcast network and hit the ground running. Initial episodes were myself and 3 buddies having self discovery conversations about preferences and various topics and has expanded into connecting with local chefs, internet personalities we adore and real people doing cool things with their food. 

Our 4 pillars are Commensality, Education, Nutrition and the Hunter-gatherer mindset. 

Commensality is a word I found doing a reverse search for a word that means 'the act of eating together'. Sharing meals is a big part of our why, whether that is a face to face lunch or a metaphysical meal through space and time. My fancy way of connecting with recipe authors and remembering family members who gave us amazing recipes but are no longer with us. 

Education simply refers to the endless pursuit of improving. Reading recipe books, chatting with professionals, trial and error. Never stop learning.

Nutrition should be a massive influence on all of us. Its why we eat. Knowing what we are putting into our bodies is critical to maximizing our output. Whether we are into body building or simply want to stay mobile and keep up with our kids, we need to be aware of what we are eating. 

The Hunter - Gatherer Mindset is the best I could come up with when thinking about where our food comes from. EAT REAL FOOD is a catchphrase Caitlin Green used in Episode 22 and we embraced it full force. I do hunt for some of my protein, I have a small garden and I like to forage with my limited knowledge on the topic, but ultimately it simply refers to finding and consuming food that hasn't been altered to a point where its nutritional value isn't worth the negative impacts its having on your body. 

Dive into the culinary world with us, learn along side us or jump on an episode and share your knowledge with the community!