WKXL - New Hampshire Talk Radio
Artful Living with CrowsFeat Farm
[MUSIC PLAYING] Good morning, everybody. Jean, call me or hear your host for "Artful Living" here on WKX, on New Hampshire, talkradio.com. That's WKXL1450AM, 103.9 FM Conquered, and 101.9 FM in Madchester. Well, it's a little rainy today, but that's OK. We sort of need a good raining now and then. And we have a wonderful guest for you today, though, that will certainly be a good part of your day here on "Artful Living." And shout out to Avilock Farm Music Institute, who is the sponsor here at WKXL, New Hampshire, talkradio.com. Remember, they're wonderful concerts every weekend. And if you go online, Avilock Farm, musicinstitute.com, you will find a number of events that even happen during the week. So something for everything at Bosque in New Hampshire, we've been to a couple of their events. I could tell you first rate stuff going on there. So Avilock Farm Museum, thank you for supporting "Artful Living" here on WKXL. So here we go. Today, we have another really unique opportunity for folks to find out about. Something that's happening at a place in Kensington, New Hampshire, called Crow's Feet Farm. And we have a couple of guests here, which have a kind of funny story here that we'll get to as we go through. But Karen, what's your last name? Parker Feld. Parker Feld. Karen Parker Feld. There you go. And Karen is the owner of Crow's Feet Farm, which is what it says, Cultivating Community. Tell our listeners a little bit about your farm. So we live on a parcel in Kensington, which is a very small rural community in Southeast New Hampshire. And it was an old potato farm for generations and went out of use as a farm back in the Great Depression, I would say. And we decided a few years ago, my husband, Peter and I, to turn it back into a working farm, because it's a beautiful place. And we're surrounded by a wonderful community. And we thought that one way to sustain its beauty and function is to bring people together to kind of re-learn the art of farming and the art of community and supporting each other. So we've been on that journey now for about five years. It's been very challenging, also very exciting. And it feels like the element of community and the success of the farm is really starting to gain traction. Yes. Well, you know what? We are seeing more and more now with neat ideas coming from our local farms here in New Hampshire. Ways to make some innovative stuff happen, bring people in. And it's always a good thing when we see that happen. So Karen, how long have you had Crow's Feet Farm? Well, I've been living in Kensington for 14 years. And we developed the idea for the farm about 2019. We grew quite a bit of food in 2020, but with COVID, we just distributed it all to the food bank. But another thing we did in 2020 is to start a concert series. As I'm sure everybody can remember, so many things were closed, but it was a catastrophe for musicians, especially. The festivals were shut down. A lot of weddings were postponed or downsized. The bars were closed. And there was very, very few opportunities for musicians to bring their art to the community. And we have a big open pasture, and we thought, well, why not just let them come and make music here? We were very naive about what's required to create a good music venue. But we worked really hard, and we had a concert every weekend through the summer of 2020. And a lot of people were very appreciative and said that made a much better summer for them. So that's how we started the concert series. But that summer, someone said, where's your CSA? I want to buy some food. Isn't that good, huh? So we said, well, we better start really growing food. And then we came up with the idea of the cooperative the year later, and the rest, as they say, is history. Yeah, it just kind of kept growing on its own. It's always a good thing, because once a good idea is flourishing, you know, going along well, it brings other good ideas. And good people. And good people, absolutely, which brings me to another gal who's with us today, Kimberly Opelt. And kind of funny, because when I was going through, I saw your listening for the concert that you had on August 11. And we'll talk a little bit about that unless next segment. But my eye caught that Kimberly Opelt was going to be singing. And Kimberly was a student of mine many, many years ago. And to see that she's still singing and she's in the area, I thought that was really great, and started to look a little bit further at Crow's Feet Farm. So Kimberly, welcome and thank you for joining us. Thank you, Jay, and I'm so excited to be here. Yes, it's been a few years, haven't it? It's been a minute, as they say. It's been a minute. And so I understand that you performed at the concert on August 11. What is the connection that you have with Crow's Feet Farm? So Karen and I met around the time that you and I met, and actually, gosh, 2000-- I don't know what you're going to say. [LAUGHTER] But Karen had started a group called Journey Song. And Journey Song was a group of volunteers that would sing for hospice and nursing home patients. So we got together, and we started our Journey Song together, and it was really special. There weren't many of us. How many Karen at the start? Initially, just five of us. But it ended up being a group of 40 people. Wow. How long did you have it? Oh, it's still running. We started in 2008. Kimberly was our music director. I was the organizer and a wannabe singer. And so I learned how to sing, in part, through Kimberly's help. And there was an article published about our little group in Seacoast Online. And that brought in a lot of new volunteers and people with musical experience. And then it really took off after that. Awesome. And I turned it over to our board of trustees and a successor president back in 2011. And they're-- Great. It's been running successfully ever since. Yes, very nice. Another good idea, right? Oh, it's great. Good people, good ideas. Really wonderful people in that group. So that was the connection that you started. That was the connection. And we remained friends. Karen was a big supporter of my singing. And I had a concert. And Karen-- oh, it makes me emotional. When I talk about it, Karen was so wonderful. And it was a fundraising concert so that I could go to New York and pursue singing. And at the concert, Karen said, Kimberly works with a journey song. And she was so wonderful. And she said that I will double. I will match any donations made. And it really got me to New York. I don't think I would have found my teachers in New York and if that weren't for Karen. We all need help sometimes. Yeah, it was really wonderful. Awesome. So you had told me on the phone that your, I guess, your husband is a cellist. Yeah, he's an amazing cellist. We actually met at a bar because he was playing Bach at an open mic. Oh, my goodness. And I was like, who is this guy playing cello at a bar? And that was it. And then we dated and never stopped dating. And he's just amazing. So we met in Philly and we moved to Columbus, Ohio. He had a job with the orchestra there. And then he auditioned for the St. Well, it's not St. Pete. It's the Florida Orchestra, which is based in St. Pete, Florida. Florida symphony. The Florida Orchestra. The Florida orchestra. And he's now the principal cellist of the Florida Orchestra. Wonderful. So we're kind of snowbirds. Yeah, oh, good. That's always fun. It's perfect. Yes. So wait, so do you stay at the farm? Now we do. Yeah, over the summer we've been working and, you know, sure, doing what we can. Isn't that nice? Good. It's kind of fun, I guess, to bring it all together, huh? It's incredible. Because I have such a deep love of music. So how did they cultivate? Sometimes I think I should have been a musician myself. What I know is that when I was very young, like in early elementary school, I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. And they had a field trip to hear the Cleveland Orchestra. And all the other children were horsing around and sending spitballs and things like that. I sank into the chair. It was like a velveteen chair. And the music started, and I was transported. It was so memorable. And I don't have a good memory of my childhood. There's only a few events that are really clear to me, but that was one of them. And Kimberly is very modest about her talent, but her voice is spectacular. And every time I hear it, I want to do everything I can to support her. And so for her, Nioni to have created this musical partnership is just really special. And they become dear friends. And she also has some farming in her background. And Nioni also knows how to fix machines. So it's perfect. Mamma Mia, perfect. It all works. OK, that's really interesting stuff. So August 11th, you had concert. Tony Sicoria, you said. Sicoria. Sicoria. Sicoria. I think that's how he pronounces it. Sicoria, yeah. I'm thinking Italian, but you know what? There it goes. It probably is. No, it's OK, Sicoria. And I really thought his story was quite unique. I mean, what a cool story. So much so that about a week ago, I guess it was a week ago, I did a story highlighting his story here at Artful Living because I thought it was just amazing. How do you see this concert fitting in with your-- oh, we hear bump music. So when we come back, we're going to ask a little bit about how that concert fits in with Crow's Feet Farm. So you stay right where you are. We're going to take a break here. WKXL New HampshireTalkRadio.com, Artful Living. Jane Cormier, your host. WKXL1450AM 103.9 FM Concord and 101.9 FM in Manchester. Stay right there. We're coming right back. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome back. Jane Cormier, your host here on Artful Living. Here on WKXL New HampshireTalkRadio.com. And if you are just joining us here on Artful Living, this segment's kind of fun. We have a wonderful farm right here called Crow's Feet, and that's F-E-A-T Farm in Kensington. And in the last segment, we were talking with Karen and Kimberly regarding the farm and how it started and how they met. But at the break for the last segment, I did bring up the fact that they had a concert on the 11th with a pianist, Tony Secoria. Secoria, excuse me. I have his name wrong in my head. Gonna get that accent right. Secoria. And if you're a listener to the program about a week ago, maybe a week and a half, we talked a little bit about his story. For those that might not know, Karen, why don't you tell us a little bit about Tony's story? Well, back in the fall of 2020, I came across an interview with Tony that was published on Vice Magazine. And it was a quite a remarkable interview because in addition to Tony describing his experience, which I'll tell you about in a second, it was interspersed with segments from the piece of music that was performed on August 11th, the lightning sonata. And the music absolutely grabbed me. And it made me listen even more closely to the remarkable adventure that Tony had. He was struck by lightning in 1994. He came back from a near-death experience, which he describes in that interview, and developed an obsession with classical piano. And this was a man who had never been especially interested in music by his own account. He is an orthopedic surgeon, a very successful one. Growing up, he didn't study music. He sort of like pop music, like most of us. But there was no obvious explanation for why he suddenly felt the urgent need to listen to Chopin and WC, other classical pianists. And so he went and he started purchasing CDs and listening to music, and then he realized, "Well, I really need to learn how to play." And for a person in their 40s to develop an aptitude and skill in classical piano is practically unheard of. But as he describes in the interview, while he was developing his skill at the piano, he had a dream one night in which he saw somebody playing on a stage and was captivated by the music and then realized it was him on the stage. And this was his music. And then he not only had to learn how to play the piano, he had to learn how to write music and compose music. And he went on a two-decade journey to bring this music to the world. And in fact, as Tony explained to me, he thinks the reason he came back to life was so that he could bring this music to the world. He called that piece "The Lightning Sonata." He was later instructed by his teacher that it does not meet the qualifications of a sonata. So he renamed it "Fantasia" on the Lightning Sonata, something like that. OK, there you go. But anyway, it was a remarkable story, and I just fell in love with the music. And it made me want to find Tony and to find another artist who could also perform that gorgeous piece of music. So that was the journey that I began in 2020. And it came to fruition on August 11th at the concert that Kimberly and Yoni are performing at. So they're a partner, actually, in introducing me to the pianist Asya Karepinova, who is going to perform Tony's music. Yes. So she has played-- she played the Lightning Sonata or the Fantasia on the Lightning Sonata, correct? This will be the first time that the music has been performed by someone other than Tony in front of a live audience. Right, right. So really, really, very cool when you stop to think about it. So what did you perform, Kimberly, on the concert? So I performed some 4A songs and some Schubert. I chose pieces that were inspired by music-- or not by music, I'm sorry, by nature. Nature. Because it's such a beautiful location where Karen has the concerts. I'm sure. I'm sure there is just-- there's an ambiance that you have that's very singular in a beautiful outdoor space when we have music. And it's very different. It is very different. I usually sing very emotional kind of dark pieces by Kurt Vile. And I just didn't think this would be the venue. So it's just light and pleasant music. Yeah, beautiful music in a beautiful place. Absolutely. So Tony attended the concert. Did he play it all? Tony used the opportunity to share with the audience how the music came about and his experience of hearing. ASEAN performed the music. And I think that was what made the concert so special to everybody in attendance. And as Kimberly said, nature has a light and festive atmosphere of its own. But the lightning sonata is also very passionate and turbulent, as you can imagine. So it's kind of bringing both the light and dark elements of nature together through the program that they performed on that date. And the audience was very excited to hear it. I can't imagine that anything else would happen. So when we played the program, when we did our program a couple weeks or a week and a half ago, I went online. And I found the interview, or one of the interviews, I guess, that Tony gave. And then we interspersed it with a little bit of him playing different pieces. Most of it, I think, was the lightning sonata. But his story is just so cool. I mean, anybody that's interested in hearing what it might be like to go through a near-death experience and come out the other side with a different set of-- what is the word? I mean, his whole life was medical and musical-- not musical, scientific. And it turned musical when he came out to the other side. Pretty cool. Well, and he's still a practicing physician. He was a very successful orthopedic surgeon. So he married his musical development with his ongoing work in caring for people. And Oliver Sacks wrote a chapter of his book, Music Ophelia, all about Tony. And in that chapter, he describes it. This is the only example of that phenomenon that he's ever come across. And Sacks is a famous neurologist. And most of his books describe interesting case studies of neurological phenomena. And Music Ophelia is all about interesting neurological phenomena related to music. Oh, cool. And he said there was never a case like Tony's. He's never heard of it. And he comes up with a somewhat biological/mechanical explanation. And Tony really appreciates. They had a deep friendship after they met that lasted many years. And Tony explained to me that he really appreciates Oliver Sacks. However, his own perception is that this was also a deeply spiritual experience. Yes. Yeah. I can't imagine one would go through then and not come out the other side feeling that. How that felt when he did pass away. And how he tells him in the interview, he talks about what he was doing. He was seeing other people. But they weren't seeing him. But he said that there was such peace for part of that experience that was not of this Earth, that was otherworldly. He wasn't quite ready to come back when he did it. Heard a lot. And he thought there is a reason that I had to come back. Yeah, of course. Of course. That's bigger than us, for sure. So I see here on your website, which is crow's feet. And that's F-E-A-T, farm.org, that you have lawn concerts. And you have six, I guess, scheduled in the summer. How many have you had, and how many are coming up? This was the third concert. We have three more coming up every other Sunday from June through the middle of September. Beautiful, beautiful. And so tell us a little bit, what do we expect to have on these concerts? Well, the concerts, as you indicated, are held outdoors. They're under a band shell tent. And they're on a little natural hill, so it creates an amphitheater feeling. Off in the distance, you'll see our chickens, our cows. And the cows are roaming around there on the other side of the farm now. They love the music, don't they? They do. In fact, one of our musicians said she wanted to go over and play the drums for the cows, because her understanding is that they really do enjoy music. Well, I've performed outdoors before in a farm setting. I'll never forget it five, six years ago, I guess. And there was a whole corral, you know, like a portion of the land that was for the animals. And during the singing, every single one of them came over to the fence and stayed there, like they were listening to the music. And when I went over, I went over afterward. And it was pretty cool. I stood there for a bit, you know, a few minutes, we all talked about it, we laughed about it. And then started singing again, and you know what? They started coming even closer. Cows, I'm like, who would have thought, right? It's pretty cool. Cows are very personable. And so are turkeys. Turkeys are one of the friendliest animals you'll ever meet. Really? Yes, surprisingly. I thought they were kind of nasty. Nope. Wow, not at all. That's not good. Turkeys should be nasty, so we can't eat them. That's right, it's a important thing to know. All right, artful living here, Jane. Call me or your host. We're going to come back on the other side and talk with Karen and talk with Kimberly. And we'll find out more about Crow's Feet Farm. WKXL 1450 AM 103.9 FM Concord. And of course, our new signal 101.9 in Manchester. All right, stay right where you are. We're coming right back, and we're going to have some more fun conversation. [MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome back. You are with artful living here on WKXL New Hampshire Talk Radio.com. Jane, call me or your host here. Listen, I want to remind everybody that if you ever wanted to check out an artful living segment that has already aired, you could go online and find the whole library of all of our promoting all of our programs that we offer here in WKXL, they're all available on the website. And we're going to be making some more cool programming. We're all about trying to have artful living being a program on beautiful things, nice things, things that heighten and make our living a little bit better, little bit at a time, little conversation at a time. And we also are going to be coming up with a health and beauty wellness program that will be starting in September. And that will have community hosts that are going to talk about their experiences and their businesses with regard to health and wellness and beauty and all that fun stuff. Fashion, we have someone coming in. It has a really cool store here in Concord. So yeah, you know what, artful living is always open to hearing any ideas if you would like to come in and sort of shoot an idea for a program. We're happy to hear you. So New HampshireTalkRadio.com, you can email us or give us a call. So if you're just joining us, we have Crow's Feet Farm from Kensington, New Hampshire. Crow's F-E-A-T Farm.com.org, excuse me. And we are talking about their summer concert series. They do six concerts in the summer. We've discussed the one, the most recent concert, August 11. But they have three more left on Sundays. And these concerts are from three to five. Kimberly, are you going to be performing at the other concerts? No, I'm not. Oh, no, I'll be working. Really? Maybe I'll be part of cooking the luncheon that Karen provides. All right, well, let's talk a little bit about that. So what comes with this concert? I'm on site here and I know, but I want you to tell our listeners. Sure, I mean, it's really Karen's brainchild. But I think it's great. The idea is that we showcase the food that we've been growing all summer. And so Karen has also built a lovely store that I think will be open on Sundays as well. Cool. So Karen has all these wonderful preserves that she helps, let's see, is it Alicia? She's partnered with. So Alicia Crowe. Alicia Crowe. Ah, OK. So I don't know what's going to be ready at the time of the next concert. But it'll be fresh and it'll be delicious. Sure, I am sure. So you have a gourmet lunch that you offer before the concert. So I have always pushing-- in fact, I'm pushing Avalon as well. Because they are doing their music series through the summer, spring/summer fall. And I think that food enhances every experience that you could put somebody in, especially music and performance. So the gourmet lunch, have you done that before, Karen? Yes, we've been doing that for the last two summers. And just to give you a flavor of what we served on August 11, we were pairing the food of the season, the freshest food, and also with our musicians. Kimberly and Yoni are both vegetarians, mostly vegan. And so I wanted to prepare something that would appeal to a wide audience, but especially people who don't have a meat as a big part of their diet. So we had bruschetta, blistered shishito peppers, a salad with cabbage, brussel sprouts, was charred with a tangy vinaigrette, moussaka made with eggplant potatoes, and eggplant potatoes, and zucchini, and sweet potato pie with vanilla cream. Holy moly, that sounds like a really hard-- I feel like I missed one. It's five courses. Anyway, it's a lot of food, and it's very fresh food. And it's an adventure to pull it off while we're also preparing for the concert, but people seem to enjoy it. I can't imagine. I'm hoping that I'm going to be able to join you on Sunday. Is there a way to get tickets to this? Do we just show up? How do you do that? So for people who would like to participate in the lunch, we do advise to purchase tickets ahead of time, because it's a limited seating. I know more than 25 people, and you can get them through the PortsmouthNew Hampshire.com website. There's also a link on our website if you go to crowsfeedfarm.org and look under lawn concerts, you can find tickets to the concerts and to the picnics. For the concerts, you can also come and just pay at the door. Sure, OK. So I want everybody to know that this is like crazy reasonable as well, right? So your general admission for your concerts is 20, and your Kensington residents are 10. And yeah, you're saying, same at prices last three years, no inflation here. So one would assume that because you're having this great gourmet lunch, that that's not going to be included, correct? Correct. So we can do that online. That's correct. Awesome, awesome. All right, so everybody crowsfeedfeatfarm.org. And I think that your amphitheater and your whole concert and your gourmet luncher, just great ideas. Just really enhancing everything. And as someone that loves music and loves food, I can't imagine a better coupling. And I love farming. You love farming. This is all works. Well, before I met Karen, I was farming. I was farming at Tuttle's Red Barn in Dover. Really? It was the oldest family-run farm in the country. So when you say I was farming, tell that-- listen to this. What does that mean? So my summers between college are junior and senior year, I needed a job. So I wanted to work in the garden center, but they were full. So they said, the field crew needs some workers. OK, so I went out to the field, and I didn't want to leave. It was really wonderful work. I found it very therapeutic at the time. And just a little bit different than music at the time. I thought music was a little too superficial. Because as an opera singer, you have to present yourself a certain way. And there's just a lot of fluff. Yeah, I found. And I really enjoyed just how basic farming is, what you see is what you get. And to me, it was like, this is what people need. They need food. And then, as I became mentally healthier, I realized, you know what? People also need music. And I came to terms with that music isn't the superficial thing in life. And they got to say where I was at that point in my life. I thought no one needs opera. But I really felt that way. But then, I kind of went on my own spiritual journey. And through journey song, singing for hospice people. And I really realized singing is essential just like farming. So it's like my worlds have really come together. We put them together. And it's very interesting, Kimberly. Nice story. Crow's Feet Farm offers all kinds of stuff. When you go online here, we can see your offerings here. So you have something saying our farming practice. What does that mean? It basically describes the way we grow food. People are generally familiar with, you know, industrial farming, organic farming. Our farming practice involves a concept known as permaculture, which is short for permanent agriculture. And it basically means you're not moving the soil. So we plant, we move the crops around from year to year. We rotate from this bed to that bed. But we do our best to leave the soil alone, because a healthy soil is one that's teeming with microorganisms and decomposing matter, which create incredible nutrients for the plants that are grown there. And you don't need to use chemicals. We use no chemicals. You don't need to use fertilizer, because the soil becomes so enriched that it provides a lot of sustenance to the food. And the more nutrients, obviously, the healthier it is for the people who eat the food. And permaculture involves some other related concepts associated with how we interact in community, how we support the natural habitat in general. But it's a community farm in the sense that we are working to bring farmers together in the first instance to share the effort, to sport each other, and then use that as the basis for a bigger conversation with the wider community. Pretty interesting. Have you always wanted to do farming in your life? Well, when Kimberly was talking-- first of all, that was incredibly moving. Thank you, Kimberly. I had a different career before that I also considered to be a little superficial. And although it was very intellectually challenging, I ultimately decided that it wasn't my ultimate or final life's purpose to manage investments. This is a large investment for us, but the purpose is to invest in our community. But there is a connection, if you go back in time to my younger days, I earned a PhD in economics, but with a focus on agricultural economics. And my degree is actually in an institution called the Food Research Institute, which makes it sound like we were investigating cooking recipes and things like that. But it was actually studying farming practices around the world and the development of improved varieties of food and how to make them successful. Right, and look where it drove you all that information, right? That's really-- Nothing is for nothing in this world. There's nothing that you can do that leads you to a dead end, I believe, anyway. All right, WKXL, Jane Cormier here. We're going to take a little break, artful living. New HampshireTalkRadio.com. Stay right there and come up on the other side, because we're going to finish this out with a great segment. [MUSIC PLAYING] Hello there, Jane Cormier here, your host, artful living. WKXL 1450 AM, 103.9 FM Concord, and 101.9 FM in Manchester. We thank you for joining us today. We're speaking with Karen, and we're speaking with Kimberly. And they're from the Crows Feet Farm, right in Kensington. And they just finished up a pretty cool concert on August 11. And we're discussing what's offered at Crows Feet Farm for folks and for them to understand what you're doing out there in this beautiful community. And not only do you have a little store, I guess what does your store have that we could go out and shop? Well, we just finished our farm store after four years of planning and work, so it's brand new. It's not fully stocked yet, but we have all the produce from the farm, all the fresh produce. We have a lot of preserved foods. We will have prepared foods, fresh prepared foods, and some frozen prepared foods, as well as beverages and snacks for the concert that go along with our picnic lunch. But our ultimate goal is to bring in produce and products from all the local farmers to supplement what we have and to have just a beautiful cornucopia of fresh and preserved foods. Awesome, and of course, you have things like eggs and chicken. Whole chickens, we sell eggs. We sell pretty much every kind of vegetable. We're adding more fruits. We'll have a lot of strawberries next year, blueberries, blackberries. And I mentioned permaculture and how we treat the soil. But another big aspect of that is developing perennial crops and foods, like fruits and nut trees and building a canopy of plants that work with nature's own rhythms rather than trying to dominate and fight and change the natural processes. So over time, we'll have a lot more tree fruits and nuts. And we're growing-- Can you grow tree nuts trees here? We can, actually. We have almonds and hazelnuts. I didn't know you could do them in the wild nuts, chestnuts, all those. Oh, sally. And we have-- in the fruit department, we have apples, peaches, pears, persimmons, papa. There's a lot of peas in our orchard. Papa is a type of-- it's a native New England fruit, but it tastes like a banana and quince. I can't even bring a bit of it. Very few people have kiwi berries, which tastes just like kiwis, but they're the size of a grape and they don't need to be peeled. And I understand that those berries are like the berry of the future, kiwi berries. Yes, yes. We actually learned about it through the University of New Hampshire's extension program. Yeah, I have a friend who has a farm and they invest in heavily to put those plants in this summer. And why is it the future? I wasn't aware of it. Kiwi berries for them. Evidently, they're just like the berry that's happening right now. Well, they're very prolific. We actually planted them probably five or six years ago, but we've been so busy developing our farm that we never got them trellis. And it's been on our list for the last two years. We need to build the trellis because they produce a huge volume of fruit and they're very heavy. And so they won't actually produce the fruit until they've established themselves on the trellis. Right, right. Hopefully we'll get that done while Kimberly and Janie are here for the rest of the summer. Isn't that cool? Very cool. All right, so very interesting here that we're hearing your stories. You both gave-- you're both very smart ladies. There is no doubt about that. But you both used a term when we were talking about how things felt superficial, which is interesting word. I don't think that in all the conversations that we've had here. And that makes me wonder why you chose that word. So let's talk about that a little bit. Your PhD in economics, right? I suppose on the, quote, superficial level can seem like that. But look at the depth of knowledge that you learned about that brought you to where you are. So it really wasn't superficial at all, right? Well, that is very well said, because that is how I came to terms with the life path that I had. I had to go through that education and experience in order to understand the world and myself well enough to know how I should be spending the last 20 years of my life. And it did afford me opportunities that don't come along to every person to create a farm. I guess I could say that the application of economics knowledge in the world has not fulfilled the potential of that discipline, which is a fascinating discipline. And it has not brought the benefits to the average person in society that it ought to have done. So I felt that it was not only my duty, but my privilege to make something more useful out of the training that I received. And you know what? I think that even if you hadn't maybe done the farm, if your soul and heart was in the financial world, it would have been a good thing, because that-- you were following what your heart was telling you, right? So you weren't meant to do that. And you were meant to do something else, but there was enough of a connection. Same thing for you, Kimberly, when you were talking about the music and how the business can feel superficial, which I suppose can be true, but it sounds like you just needed to find the niche that spoke to you with your music. That's true. I had to come to terms with the fact that actually people need music. And I thought of it as that I was like the milkman. You know, you need-- it's your job to give people what they need, right? And I didn't know it at the time. And I had to go-- you know, I had to step away from music for a few years, do something different. And it was really singing for dying people that it really-- it made it obvious that music is essential just like a vegetable. Absolutely. And people don't understand. And I think arts in general are all arts that are creative for the spirit and that connection with the godhead and the spirit that's part of the journey. And I do recall that when I was singing in Europe by myself, you know, last of a big family, and it was a lonely life, for sure. And mind you, this is way before you could text or do anything like we can do today. I went through the thing, you know, what-- I'm not really helping anybody big deal. I'm singing opera over in Vienna. But the truth was is that there were people in that part, right? That were moved. And it was OK that that was how that was working at that time. You know, go now 65 years old. And I'm teaching quite a bit. And the manifestation of what that music means might have changed a little bit in regard to how it's being implemented. But it's all music. And it's all connection. And you feed your soul. You just have-- and you feed other souls. And that's where it is. You have to find where your soul is truly clicked in. And then your journey is to make sure you do it. And how sad it is that we don't see that journey necessarily everywhere when you live in this world and you see other people with choices. They're not necessarily finding their soul journey, I think. I wanted to add something when we were speaking earlier about Tony's journey that someone asked me-- actually, ASEAN, the pianist who performed on the 11th, asked me, what is it, Karen, that made you want to do this so badly? Because it took a long time to find Tony, and then to find ASEAN. And I said, well, first of all, I love the music. But I wanted Tony to hear someone perform his composition, you know, a master. Because that could make it even more real to him, what he had created. Or what, in his mind, he didn't create it. It came to him, almost like in a dream. But when the three of us met back in November, ASEAN said, well, I didn't really practice this yet. But let me just run through the second movement. And the sound of that performance was so incredible and the look on Tony's face when he heard her first perform his music. And he said, I already see that you've done more with this than I could have ever done. Aww, isn't that nice, huh? Interesting. Yeah, you know what, the story about greatness that you can read if you're a student of history of especially music, all of the great composers. Almost all of the great composers, I say. From the Renaissance period, certainly, all the way through the Romantic period, all say that the music came to them. They were the vessel, right? But the music wasn't theirs. It came to them. And I think that that's what Tony is talking about. And was seeing someone else of a high level play that music probably really was quite profound for him. And Asia herself is not just an expert pianist. World renowned, in fact. She travels all over the world performing. And she's a master in her area of classical piano. But she's also a composer. And one of the aspects of this that fascinated me was the possibility of two composers interacting so that she could help bring out the story of how the music came about. And she herself was very moved by the experience of meeting Tony and having the opportunity to bring her own interpretation and spiritual journey to the music. Just a great story, a great story. So we thank you, Karen, Parker Feld and Kimberly O'Pelt for being with Artful Living today. We wish all the best. And let's stay in touch because you know we love to promote community happenings, especially on the musical and artistic sides. So that's a great thing. crowsfeetfarm.org, and that's F-E-A-T. Jane Cormier signing off here on Artful Living. New HampshireTalkRadio.com. We thank you for joining us today. And we will see you next time real soon. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] (upbeat music)