Recipes from Homestead Heritage Communities around the World Sarah Wieboldt is the oldest of seven children and began helping her mom, Monica, to prepare meals for the family at a young age. In 2022, Sarah and Monica worked on developing an academic project that would sum up Sarah’s homeschooled education in her final year of high school. At the time, their family was living in a small rural community in Northern Idaho. Sister communities to theirs had sprung up in different parts of the United States and the world bringing, among other things, culinary influences Sarah and her mom had not previously explored. An idea sprang to life. Creating a full-color, multi-community cookbook/coffee table picture book would be a wonderful chance to not only explore each of these region’s food and culture but could present an opportunity to meet the fascinating people now a part of their lives. Sarah and Monica began planning by contacting old friends in some of these communities and reaching out to people in other communities whom they had never met. The response was overwhelmingly positive. More recipes and meal ideas poured in than they could handle. Sarah and her family “dove in head-first,” you might say, and in January of 2023, invited friends over for their first test of the Sorghum Glazed Chicken recipe developed in the Waco, Texas community. Over the course of the next eight months, they prepared and served each meal they prepared to friends and extended family, asking for feedback and criticism along the way. In September of 2023, Sarah presented her first draft of the "Together... We Eat" to an assembly of several hundred parents and students gathered for the high school graduation ceremony. Again, the response was overwhelmingly positive, and she was encouraged to take the book all the way to publication. With the support of friends and family members in the community, she re-worked the book into a reproducible format, had it printed and introduced it to the general public at the annual Homestead Fair in November of 2023. We trust you will appreciate getting to know a little bit about each of the Homestead Heritage Communities worldwide through the pages of this cookbook, and hopefully, you will also enjoy preparing and tasting the meal recipes contained in it!
