About the Authors: A look at the voices of Vegetarian Life

Patrick Frink

Patrick Frink might be an expert on organic farming, but he sure isn’t a veteran. When heart disease knocked on his door in 1995, Patrick had to make a change in his life. In order to save his heart and stay around for his children and grandchildren, he gave up meat and took on a new lifestyle for health. The result? A farmer who believes deeply in the organic power of the earth we live on.

Patrick’s upbringing on a ranch in Texas started him off right with a love for farming. He was never very interested in cattle or the process of attaining meat; most of his time was spent working the alfalfa fields where he could spend hours imagining all the uses for such a plant. Though his family did, in fact, raise cattle for butcher, he was never forced to be involved in the process. His expertise began to form in the world of plant and soil sciences. Patrick spent many years raising pigs and farming land in Texas, and eventually moved to Ritzville, Washington to work with fertilizers with his wife and young children. They made a home for themselves in Ritzville, thriving within the community and watching their kids grow.
In 1995, at the age of 50, Patrick Frink was hospitalized for a health scare related to clogged arteries. Though he did not suffer from a heart attack, Patrick realized that he must change his diet and lifestyle if he wanted to live. With the support of his family and business partners, Patrick began a transformation within his company and personal life, in which he embraced an organic, vegetarian lifestyle. Ten years later, Patrick’s business is strong, and so is his heart!

After becoming enlightened to wonders of organic living, Patrick decided that it was necessary to share his information and knowledge with anyone out there who might be looking for the answers. Vegetarian Life is many years of life and research from the Frink Family and trusted friends. With his newfound health and the many years ahead of him, Patrick hopes to share his experiences with new vegetarians every single day.

Janelle

A vegetarian from Pullman, Washington, Janelle spends much of her time cultivating and basking in the organic lifestyle. At the age of 15 she decided to convert to vegetarianism after a bout of food poisoning brought on by a barbecue chicken sandwich. She recalls that, growing up in Pullman, it was almost unheard of to be a vegetarian. Her parents were cattle farmers whose lifestyles revolved around raising game for sustenance. So, when she decided to abstain from eating meat, her family thought she was crazy and needless to say was less than supportive. Of course, her transformation did not take place overnight. The choice meant that shopping for her would encompass becoming familiar with a whole new realm of foods and moreover, aisles of the grocery store. But today her outlook on being a vegetarian remains unwavering. “You just can’t put a price on the vitality you feel when you don’t eat meat,” she claims. Originally having converted to vegetarianism for health reasons, she is now a strong believer in the moral indications of not eating meat as well. An eternal lover of animals, Janelle says she not only feels healthier physically, but also feels a greater sense of ethical contentment.

Janelle began working with Patrick Frink in 2006 when she was 26. Frink was a friend of Janelle’s family for years, and introduced Janelle to the vegetarian lifestyle. He had learned of her dissatisfaction with her diet after her brief sickness, and wanted to present her with an alternative. She not only decided to become a vegetarian, but crop science with an emphasis on organic farming in college. In 2006, Frink hired Janelle to help with his site, recognizing her accomplishments and potential to carry on the vegetarian ideals they both consider to be so important.

In her spare time, Janelle rock climbs, kayaks, and loves to surf with her dog, Ruff, who rides on the tip of her surfboard. She keeps an organic vegetable garden in her backyard and lives with her fiancé, Rick, who, since meeting her, has adopted a vegetarian lifestyle much like Janelle’s.

Stella

Stella was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to parents that hated farming. When all of the other kids in nearby houses were joining 4h and FFA, Stella was forced to see operas, musicals and take piano lessons. Their small house didn’t even have a yard for gardening!

By her freshman year of high school, Stella had become incredibly dedicated to singing, and was very interested in becoming an opera singer. That year, however, Stella met another young lady named Sheila who would end up being a lifelong friend. Sheila lived outside of town, on a gigantic dairy farm with an even bigger garden. Sheila’s mom spent most of the summer tending to the rows, picking weeds and talking to the plants, and her Dad and two brothers milked cows morning and night. The environment of the farm, the lifestyle lead by Sheila and her family, made Stella start to think about what she really wanted to do with her life. She really loved singing and wanted to study opera, but she felt free in the tall grass and cornrows of the farm. She also loved the connection that Sheila’s family had to one another through working together! Soon enough, Stella was helping Sheila and her family on the farm nearly every day, and her future seemed to change before her eyes.

Stella continued on to purse her degree in education from Iowa State University. During her years at college, she continued to work on her voice, but realized opera wasn’t right for her. She worked with a few college agriculture programs and spent extra time in the school farm taking care of baby cows and sheep, developing a close relationship with animals that she hadn’t had before. By the time she graduated from the Education program, she’d become a vegetarian and took a job teaching Agricultural Science at a little high school in Minnesota. It was there where she met her husband and soil scientist Glen, who taught her more about organic gardening and the importance of living a sustainable life. Glen and Stella were married in 1989, and soon after, relocated to Washington, where Glen was offered a great new job working with organic fertilizers.
The couple has lived happily in the Northwest ever since, expanding their family to four with daughter Delores, 15, and son Bernhard, 13. Stella spends the fall educating mentally challenged children about farming, animals and vegetables, and the spring and summer tending to, reaping and selling fruits and vegetables from her large garden. The family enjoys spending free time hiking, riding horses, and visiting the coast as often as possible.

Stella truly enjoys writing for the Vegetarian Life and bringing facts and support to those struggling with taking the challenge of a life without meat! She hopes her experiences and knowledge will educate and bring forth generations of happy, vegetarian, animal-loving gardeners and farmers!

Elizabeth Michaud

Elizabeth Michaud is 32 years old and has been a vegetarian since she was 12. Growing up in rural Maine, she was always surrounded by wildlife, and developed a love of animals early on. After befriending several of the cows on her neighbor’s farm, Elizabeth made the decision that she could no longer in good conscience consume animal products.

In 1993, Elizabeth moved across the country to Pullman,Washington to attend Washington State University and study journalism at the prestigious Edward R. Murrow School of Communication. After graduation in 1997, she moved from campus in Pullman to nearby Davenport, where she met two newlywed neighbors by the names of Christopher and Jennifer Frink. Christopher introduced Elizabeth not only to her future husband, Sam, but to his own family, the founders of Frink Fertilizers, a company which manufactures fertilizers for organic gardens. Elizabeth easily clicked with the vegetarian Frink’s, and was soon hired to work in the PR/Marketing department of Frink Fertilizers. Today, she is excited to help launch Vegetarian Life, the Frink family’s first organic vegetarian website. Elizabeth will be putting her journalism degree to good use by presenting readers with weekly news and information about the benefits of eating an organic vegetarian diet.

Happily married for over five years, Elizabeth and her husband Sam still reside in beautiful Davenport Washington with their two dogs. In her free time, Elizabeth enjoys gardening (organically, of course!), reading, writing, hiking, bicycling and traveling around the country and the world.