Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1515764
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2024 | maconmagazine.com 101 To learn more, visit georgiaboucheriefestivals.com and stagvetsinc. org/comfort-farms. If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is accessible and immediate. Reach out to the 988 Lifeline by calling or texting 988, or connect online at 988lifeline.org for compassionate, confidential support. In a portmanteau of "family" and "Comfort Farms," regular attendees refer to the group as a "farmily," and you can see why. There even are farmily t-shirts for sale at the merch tent. The idea expresses the sense of togetherness they feel each year. Knowing Jon grows heirloom okra from his mother's Liberian homeland, Samatha recalls seeing okra for the first time at a market in Mexico City. She immediately texted Jon to see if this okra was an ingredient she should explore for Boucherie. Earlier in the week, we had spoken with Ben Hampton and Mike Behmoiras at Satterfield's Barbecue about Boucherie's origins. Ben laughed, saying, "That second year, we were out there dispatching animals and hanging them from trees. It rained cats and dogs, too. We had no roof, nothing. But that is part of it. Adapt and overcome. We made it work." Mike Behmoiras recalled, "I met Jon at another Boucherie. He came out and said he was looking for volunteers to do an event benefiting veterans, and I was in. It was a totally different event back then, but the heart of it hasn't changed." As dark sets in, a group surrounds Chelsia Ogletree of Her Majesty Kitchen in Forsyth, holding flashlights above her as she immersion blends a vat of steaming sauce. It's Chelsia's birthday. Rather than celebrating somewhere comfortable, out of the cold, she and her family come each year to Boucherie. "My daughter asked me this morning what time we were going to my birthday party," she chuckles. To spend her birthday bundled against the frigid wind, sometimes in the rain, cooking late into the evening and early in the morning, when she cooks all day for a living, seems a surprising choice. But it's how she centers herself for the next year of life, she says. "Jon has seen the vision for what this farm means for men and women who have served, and not just in the military. When you serve the people as a chef, you're giving so much of yourself. And to open up the gates of this farm and welcome all of these creatives, to raise money, to be able to rehab and restore people's mindsets, energies, and spirits with food and farming ... the Jacksons give so much of themselves and their family on this farm. They travel and research and bring it back so that they can then encourage others and impart their knowledge. You know, it's a love thing." NOBODY IS GOING THROUGH IT ALONE Saturday night winds down, and we feel these chefs must be right – Boucherie is a love thing, a way to adapt, connect, and overcome. Farm workers, chefs, and veterans grapple with high rates of isolation and mental health disorders, and represent some of the nation's most devastating occurrences of suicide among the hundreds of professional categories examined, reported the CDC in 2020. This Boucherie and this farm are reminders that there is a port in the storm for them. A place where it's okay to let your guard down and be vulnerable, to seek help. To learn and be curious. A place where you don't need an ego to be respected. A place where you can look around and know that nobody is going through it alone. As the bonfire rages on, we catch up with Ivan, the vet whose boss flew him out here. "I didn't want to come," he tells us, shaking his head. "But this is exactly what I needed. It takes being around other people who can relate, who have been through something similar. To meet guys like Jon who have not only survived but came out the other side of it thriving." He trails off, looking at the fire. "What he's built, why he's built it. I'm truly inspired. I will carry this flame home with me." Ivan trails off, looking at the fire. "What [Jon's] built, why he's built it. I'm truly inspired. I will carry this flame home with me." BELOW A group reflects on the day and stays warm by the bonfire before returning Sunday morning for the final events of this year's Boucherie.