About Karen

Roots in the Garden

I grew up on a continually growing very large farm with a big family of seven children in Southern Alberta.  This is where I learned the marvelous (natural) creation laws of planting seeds, nurturing their growth and then the work and joy of the harvest. I helped plant a vastgarden of vegetables, nurture the young plants to reach harvest, and then to taste their fantastic flavors throughout the entire year until the cycle began again.  I didn’t always love the hours of preparing vegetable and fruit for canning or freezing but sure did enjoy these throughout the year in our school lunches and at meals. I also gathered and cleaned eggs for ourselves and to sell for my allowance. I loved when we’d invite friends to come over for a corn roast where we’d wet the freshly picked corn and toss it into the large fire pit to cook. Everyone brought something (potluck) and all ages had a great time together. This community of farming people had many gatherings from picnics to church suppers where so many participated and all brought their best recipes and mostly just enjoyed being together.  

Food as Medicine, Before I Had Words for It

I didn’t realize the health benefits from the garden when growing up, nor of the many delicious beef and chicken meals from our own raised beef and truly free grazing chickens. These formative years prepared me for a heart towards food as medicine, and for a desire to empower others to grab hold of this also.  

For some reason when I was finishing high school, contemplating what would be next, the only three main “jobs” of major focus in my scope at that point of life, were nursing, teaching and secretarial. I wanted to be like Florence Nightingale!! So, I went to the University of Alberta School of Nursing, Edmonton, Alberta for two years, where I met my husband, Erik Cragg, who was in dental school there and a friend of my brothers as well. After he graduated, we married and set off across the country from Alberta to Nova Scotia, “our” first military posting. We had three amazing sons and we all journeyed together throughout his military career, travelling from coast to coast (Halifax, NS to Vancouver Island,) in Canada, followed by two years at Fort Benning, GA while Erik took post-graduate studies, then to the dental school in Ontario, and off to three years in Germany, returning to Ontario again until he retired from his military career and we felt our next direction was to move to Cape Cod, MA. I worked in several offices for a non-profit for some time, yet there was a dream I began to realize was still in my heart – to help people with their health in every area of their lives.

A Life Shaped by Movement and Loss

I also came to see that traumas in my life were forming my life’s purpose.  Early childhood trauma set chaos into my thinking and emotions, though somewhat “rescued” by affirming circumstances I wouldn’t have ever dreamed possible for me, such as being chosen as a band queen.  This meant beautiful dresses (the whole deal) which my mother was so gifted at finding, and riding in a convertible down the city street behind the band: and, helped with math by a brother who is brilliant at it, which enabled me to get into nursing school.  I was also nurtured by wonderful leaders in our church program for girls called CGIT (Canadian Girls in Training) and I loved going to the Rocky Mountains where there was a Summer Camp program. I went for a wonderful week each summer, and in my final year of High School, I was surprisingly selected as the president of this organization for the province of Alberta for a year.  The opportunity took me beyond myself and my smaller town group to meet many young women throughout the province and to experience speaking at different events.

After marriage, travelling to new places throughout “our” military career meant finding a new home, church, schools, and such, helping our children in each place to feel secure and all of us developing new friendships. These experiences were also full of good memories as well as working through the harder obstacles.  Marriage usually has its traumas along the years which we’ve had and by the Grace of God worked through, and we continue to grow!

One of the toughest times of my life has been the loss of our youngest son.  During his thriving career in the hockey world working with youth in Canada and the US, he was hit with a serious brain cancer.  We fought with and for him for nearly three years before he went home to Jesus.  It was heart wrenching, yet full of hope and we had amazing support from our family and friends in our church community.  The Lord was very close to us daily and which he grew to experience more for himself as well.  I could hardly believe the reality when he actually left.  The Lord gave me a way to help the pain that is so deep it’s hard to explain where it comes from: thanking God that He gave him to us for a time, getting outside into nature a lot, learning to let go of the why’s and what if’s and coming to peace that the mystery is okay.  I heard a beautiful tender healing Word inside that penetrated my mother heart when He said, “He’s tucked in!” It was painful to see our other two sons and my husband all suffering. God was and continues to be so good to us as we’ve journeyed through this and move onward.  I’m learning still how traumas and their effects can definitely be healed and we can continue to grow.  Joy can be real again.

Finding My Calling in Functional Nutrition

After some time, I thought I’d go back to nursing so went to the community college on Cape Cod and took one semester.  That gave me the courage and more confidence that I could still learn! However, I didn’t feel nursing was where I should focus, and a friend mentioned how I was always interested in nutrition.  She was right! I found the course I wanted and graduated as a Functional Nutritionist and then completed the Functional Nutrition, Lifestyle Practitioner courseas well since Lifestyle is what determines so much of our health and wholeness in every area.Though it’s simple things and little financial cost, it’s still challenging.  

Besides loving working with people, I have my nose in books and newsletters, often taking on-line classes from some of the current experts for their research and knowledge, it’s very motivational.  I absolutely love and need nature, and music, and art and all things that are beautiful.