OUR STORY

Our. Story. Two very short words with so much meaning behind them. There was a time when my health put me in the depths of the ocean. Feeling like I was drowning, but not knowing what was keeping me from coming up for a desperate breath. Justin, who ended up being my lifeguard wanted to save me…he kept trying to throw me one life preserver after another, but it would never reach me. After many failed attempts, he went out of his comfort zone an grabbed something unconventional. He threw me a new kind of a life preserver; one that was hardly heard of. One that was seen by others as futile. It was the life preserver of Functional Medicine. It reached me and slowly, ever so carefully Justin pulled me up. This was not all done by himself, you see, this life guard came with many other people.

Spending years sitting on the ocean floor, all the while Justin was on a life boat trying to pull me out, taught us things we never thought possible. All the experiences and knowledge gained brought us to you. Thus this left us arriving on this ship of faith, Blue Acres Market. Once we both finally arrived on the life boat we could feel it pulling us. We both tried steering it in a different directions but to no avail. Then we both knew that God had different plans. Instead of fighting the current, we let it take us, with God holding the helm. We knew He wanted us to share all of our experiences and knowledge to help others that were sinking. Maybe some of you never made it all the way to the bottom. Maybe some of you are just trying to keep from falling in. Either way — we are here.

on this health journey together

As parents to five children, we knew Blue Acres Market would be a journey for all of us. Everyone in some way, great or small, plays a part. We love growing our own food, raising a few animals and trying new things together. Justin and I take every opportunity to teach our children about what health is. Physical health. Emotional Health. Spiritual Health. The comical thing is that they end up teaching us just as much! That has been the same theme with Blue Acres Market. We teach our clients about health, but in the end we learn just as much from them. So truly, we are all on this health journey together. We all have a part.

JODIE’S JOURNEY

Hi there and welcome! My name is Jodie Metzger, mother of five wonderful children and, wife of one amazing husband.

The path to Blue Acres Market has been dotted with so many experiences that when I stop to ponder where I have come from to where I am now, I am in awe! I lived for diet soda, cold cereal and homemade white bread.  I believed medicines were the cure for ALL things. Now, my life is filled with whole foods, eggs, bacon, homemade Keto Bread and, of course, coffee.

But before I found the freedom of good health and abundant living, I wandered through years of physical pain, poor health – and the anguish that accompanied it all.

To make a really long story short, it started with Lyme’s disease, severe weight gain, PCOS, infertility, miscarriages, chronic constipation, gallstones, hypothyroidism, autoimmune disorders, sphincter of ode dysfunction, depression, anxiety, chronic urinary infections, leaky gut syndrome, fibromyalgia, and SIBO.

I spent a lot time going from one specialist to another, only to be turned away with more prescriptions that my body could not tolerate. So many times I remember asking myself, “Could all these things be triggered by one specific thing?” The answer was YES! The trigger was food. My unhealthy food choices were causing my body to be chronically inflamed.

Because everyone’s body is unique, I went through a series of diets to see what would heal and calm my fiery body. I tried an array of diets including the anti-inflammatory, gluten free, AIP, SCD, paleo, whole 30 and keto. This transition from diet to diet was not easy. 

This is what brought me here today — to you. My hope is that my passions can be a part of your life.  My passion for traditions brought me to create or find grain-free and refined sugar-free recipes that you could use to carry on your family traditions — whether it be Saturday morning waffles, Grandma’s sour cream coffee cake, or your favorite chocolate chip cookies.  

I want my passion of baking to help you on your journey, no matter where you are.  I want to show you that you don’t have to endure a tasteless palette to be healthy.   I don’t want you to suffer through flopped, flavorless recipes.  I want you to know that you are not alone.  I am here for you, sharing my experiences, sharing my creations, and sharing my love!  Together, let’s be the best we can be, one bite at a time!

JUSTIN’S JOURNEY

Hi, I am Justin Metzger, co-founder of Blue Acres Market. A Husband to the most amazing woman in the world.  She has helped me see what health really means and what is missing from our standard healthcare practices and made me understand that 7-up is not at treatment for the stomach flu. I also have five wonderful children, who already have a great understanding about health and nutrition and are eagerly joining us on this venture.

I received my healthcare training as a doctor of pharmacy and was a believer in a “pill for every ill.” I now fill my time taking nutritional classes .

So, life has it twists and turns, that is how I would describe my understanding of health and wellness. I spent years watching my wife suffer while going from practitioner to practitioner, emergency room to emergency room, pill after pill, and test after test. She would scourge the internet for answers that she was not getting from standard western medicine.  One night she came to me in tears and showed me an online article that showed a functional medicine provider that she wanted to see.  The word functional medicine meant nothing to me as I had never heard of that practice before, but that specific functional medicine physician just happened to be a well-respected provider where I worked.  She helped unlock the door to understanding the whole patient.  From that point I helped my wife take control of her health, by understanding what creates health from conception to today and how those factors influence our outcomes.

I also have come to understand the great importance of taking care of one’s mind, body, and soul.  There is nothing better than heading out to our Water Tower Farms on a calm Saturday morning to see the lambs bounding through the pasture, the ducklings following momma to the water hole, watching the kids bottle feeding calves, picking a few weeds from the multiple gardens, and eating a few ripe berries. We, as a family, all love working outside together and of course, playing outside together.

One thing that has hit home, far too close, is that these simple moments in life cannot be enjoyed if one does not feel well. That is why we are here today. It’s our passion to help guide you to feeling the best by being a resource to you, to help reverse or even prevent the diseases that are so rampart in our day and time, so you too can enjoy all of life’s simple pleasures!