Signs of Life

Signs can point us in many directions. Lately, my oldest son who is pushing 15 has been paying much more attention to signs. I think it has something to do with the fact that driving a car is a possibility in the near, rather than the far, future. At any rate, he takes great delight in reading road signs out loud. Some of the messages make little sense out of context to a young person who’s never read a driver’s manual. But they’ve brought a bit of humor to our daily travels and even inspired a little deep thinking.

Driving to school yesterday (Yes – we missed the bus on the first day! Doesn’t bode well for the new school year.), we passed a farm with a sign that all of my children find hilarious that says – “GOATS, SHEEP, LAMBS, KIDS 4 SALE”. Driving to a friend’s house over the weekend, Brady announced, “WATCH CHILDREN.” Then he stifled a giggle and looked around. “Where?” he asked. When we turned the corner, there was another sign. “WATCH CHILDREN!” he yelled to me as if I hadn’t done it the first time. By now I was laughing too.

Once as we were driving on a particularly narrow and winding road, we came to a sign that said, “DO NOT PASS”. As we passed the sign, Brady yelped, “But you’re not supposed to pass!” Another time driving with my husband through a construction zone, he announced, “BE PREPARED TO STOP,” My husband mused, “That seems like a good way to go about life.” Profound thoughts for an early Sunday morning.

In Australia, instead of saying, “YIELD,” my daughter informs me that the signs say “GIVE WAY” which seems like a much nicer way of putting it. Our house is backwards and requires that all guests drive around to the back of the house (to get to the front of the house). This creates a blind spot of sorts and cars can surprise my children when they are shooting hoops or playing four square in the drive. For years we had a sign posted that said, “DEAR CHILDREN AT PLAY”, just in case the UPS man doubted that our children were important to us as he backed up the driveway at 30 mph.

When I worried that one of our cats might get hit because they frequently play chicken with the cars ascending our hill, my then-six-year-old daughter found a board and painted a picture of a cat on it and carefully lettered, “BE CAREFUL OF CATS”. I think it’s all in how you ask. People always drove slowly up the drive after that (with a smile on their faces).

This summer I’ve taken two road trips which required full days of driving with a car full of kids (and no husband!). I’m happy to say we all survived and have reached a new milestone in maturity. Of course the number of devices plugged in at any given moment nearly drained the battery. But we do what we have to do, don’t we? Besides reading a lot of signs, it also gave me time to think and filled me with ideas for blogs, essays, experiments, and plans. I apologize for the summer of few posts and promise to get back to posting regularly this fall. If there’s a topic you’d like me to explore, please let me know. I’m happy to be given some direction. All I need is a sign.

Top Ten Reasons We Can

I had a hot date with my hubby last night. It got pretty steamy and altogether messy. We canned tomatoes until the wee hours. It’s that time of year. Twenty pints of pizza sauce and nine quarts of tomato sauce. And still the tomatoes keep coming.

We’re taking a break and moving on to peaches today. Bought a huge bushel of seconds peaches ready and ripe. This weekend’s date will involve skinning the luscious beauties and squeezing the pits out of them before we cook them in to peachsauce (just like applesauce only peaches and no sugar!), peach Barbeque sauce, and maybe some peach jam or syrup. It will definitely get sticky.

Canning can be a solitary endeavor, but it’s much more fun with company and music (and some wine). Sometimes when I’m elbow deep in the mess I wonder why we do this. It would be so much easier to buy tomato sauce at the store. And even if the price of organic tomato sauce can be dear, I’m fairly sure my time is worth just as much.

Inspired by my son's excellent blog, How To Kill Your Characters, (It’s all manner of musings on Dungeons and Dragons on the surface, but underneath it’s pretty philosophical and just plain good writing. He puts me to shame.) which is filled with Top Ten Lists, I present:

The Top Ten Reasons why I can each summer:


1 Popping the lid off a jar of tomato sauce in the dead of winter returns summer if only for a meal. All the flavors of five different heirloom tomatoes in one jar is divine. No can from the store, no matter how exclusive and expensive the brand, can compare.


2 My youngest child considers homemade peachsauce such a special treat, he opts for it over all manner of junk food.


3 Instead of empty calories and chemicals in store bought pancake syrup, we slop on homemade blueberry syrup any time of year not just special occasions.


4 Once you grow accustomed to homemade applesauce it’s pretty much impossible to eat that mealy mush they sell at the grocery store.


5  I feel connected to my mother and grandmother and all the women before them as I “put up” healthy, homegrown food for my family.


6 I can’t stand to waste anything. And I can’t stick to one kind of tomato or cucumber. How else could I keep from throwing all the extras on the compost pile?


7 I like cherries, blueberries, and peaches too much to eat them only a few weeks a year and I can’t bring myself to buy (or pay the price for) produce shipped from the other side of the globe in the dead of winter.


8 It may consume my time in the summer, but it saves me time in shopping trips to the store the rest of the year. We always have sauces, fruits, veggies, and jams on hand year round.


9 I get incredible nerdy satisfaction from hearing the jar lids “pop”, writing the contents on the lids, and lining them up neatly on the shelf.


10 It’s one tiny step I can take toward living more self-sufficiently. If I had my way we’d live off the grid on the side of mountain, but thankfully (for my kids at least), I married a man who enjoys the marvels of modern conveniences. Although he makes a damn fine lumberjack, I must say.

I hope you’re inspired to get canning yourself! If you need some tips or ideas check out some previous posts

Canning foibles, canning basics, canning tomatoes, applesauce , more canning ideas

Or locate a copy of the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving – it will tell you everything you need to can anything. Canning isn’t rocket science, I promise. You can do this!

A Fish Story

Standing in front of the fish cooler at the grocery store, I found myself stumped as to what kind of fish would be best for my family’s health and the planet’s. I don’t buy fish that often. I’ll confess that I don’t like fish. I realize it’s the uber-healthy protein, but I physically gag at the smell and can’t bring myself to eat it. I hold my parents partially responsible for this quirk because as a child we spent two weeks each year fishing in Nags Head and the rest of the year fighting over how much of that fish I had to choke down in order to earn dessert or at least be excused from the table. As a parent, I can’t be angry because heaven knows I’m giving my own kids their share of hang ups, but I do wish I could eat fish.


Shellfish are another story entirely. Shrimp is my all-time favorite food, but I rarely get to cook it because my hubby is allergic. Seems like some kind of divine punishment for my fish problem. His allergy developed after I’d already married him, otherwise it might have been a negotiating chip (just kidding honey). We have worked out a compromise since my boys love fish and my daughter is repelled by it. A few times a month we have “fish” for dinner. Nick cooks the fish for the boys and I steam the shrimp for the girls (my daughter won’t eat it any other way).

A Time cover article recently highlighted the problem of unsustainable fishing. We are catching and eating (or wasting) more than is being replenished and like so many other precious resources on this earth, we are in danger of destroying our fish supply. In response to this threat, a new type of “fishing” has developed in the form of “aquaculture” but for all its promises, much like big agribusiness it creates even bigger problems than it solves.

- It takes two pounds or more of “fish” to make one pound of fish. Fish eat other fish, and when they are raised altogether on "farms" their food must be made by catching other fish. Seems like simple math will tell you this isn’t “sustainable” in the long run.

-          When large numbers of fish are raised in concentrated areas, disease is always a threat. To counter this fish “farmers” treat their fish with antibiotics just like cow and chicken farmers do. The excess antibiotics and other drugs are released into the water and affect aquatic life and water supply.

- Farmed fish are treated with drugs not necessary for wild fish. For example, farmed salmon must be injected with a dye to give them that pretty pink color because unlike their wild cousins, they don’t consume krill to give them a natural pink color. (the dye used for this – canthaxanthin – has been shown to adversely effect sight when consumed in large quantities.)

- Fish farms pollute the oceans. The vast quantities of waste – both from the fish and the uneaten food – fill the ocean floor and affect the life around them. I know it only takes about a week of our little beta fish’s leftover fish food (and poop) to contaminate our tank (the fish farmer is generous with his servings and the cleaning service is intermittent at best), so imagine what hundreds of thousands of salmon are capable of.

- Fish farms endanger the sea life around them. Other creatures get caught in the nets. Farmed fish escape and compete with the native fish for food and also spread disease.

- Did you know that fish can get lice? Fish can get lice just like any large number of living beings crammed in to too small space! Treating this lice introduces pesticides to the water supply and exposes other water life to lice. A few years back we had a lice outbreak amongst our children - the work and poison necessary to eradicate it from two heads nearly leveled me. I can't imagine 100,000 lice infested fish. Ick.

- Farmed fish aren’t as good for you as wild fish (according to FDA studies). Wild salmon have 20% higher protein and 20% lower fat content than farm-raised salmon

- Just like small farmers, small fishing operations are losing their livelihood to larger scale fish farms.

Of course wild-caught fish can have their share of problems.

- Because they must be harvested far and wide, they cost more.

- The availability of any species is inconsistent. If you’ve ever gone fishing, you know this personally.

- The number of fish is diminishing. If we keep fishing like we are, major populations of fish will be extinct by the mid-century.

- Many conventional fisherman harm the ocean inhabitants and the reefs with their nets and boats.

- Lots of fish, called “by-catch”, are inadventently caught and then thrown out because they aren’t the sought-after species (25% of each catch is by-catch).

- Many larger ocean fish are filled with mercury.

So this leads to the question – is there such a thing as sustainable aquaculture? The industry is still so new that lots of mistakes are being made as we figure this out. There are some “organic” fisheries trying to do the right thing, but not everyone knows what the right thing is.

Vegetarian fish are being cultivated. One very sustainable fish hails from Austrailia, the barramundi (nick-named “sustainable sea bass”), are vegetarian and seem to do well growing in fish farms. But most people have never heard of this fish. Marketing will be necessary to convince people that a nice poached barramundi is a gourmet meal. Tilapia is another species that is adaptable to sustainable fish farming and somewhat wider known. So if you’re going to choke down some fish and these issues are nagging at your conscience, look for these two.

You can also get a little guidance from the Marine Stewardship Council, a nonprofit, global organization that certifies seafood as sustainable. Through careful investigation, they determine which suppliers are practicing sustainable aquaculture or fishing and mark their products accordingly (with a bright blue “fish forever” seal from the MSC). MSC has produced a video about sustainable fishing.

As far as the toxins, the only way to avoid them is to steer clear of the long-living, carnivorous ocean-caught fish like salmon, tuna, swordfish, and shark.

There are several guides for making choices about which fish to buy. Monterray Bay Aquarium has an exhaustive guide that is modified for areas all over the US.
Eartheasy.com also has a helpful general guide for choosing sustainable fish. If you buy and eat a lot of fish, you might want to make a copy of their handy little chart to keep in your wallet.

So now you see why I was stumped. When I started to read about all this I was overwhelmed by all the issues that are as deep and wide as the ocean. I still can’t determine if farm-raised or wild-caught shrimp is best. (suppose it depends on how they were farm raised) I’m guessing that as these issues gain traction, the fishing industry will find its footing and educate us all (in the name of profit)– we’ll just have to be sure we understand what they’re talking about before the fish stop biting.

Us Versus The Ants; No More Mr. Nice Guy

We’ve been invaded. There are teeny-tiny ants all over my counters and running up and down the cabinets and walls in my kitchen. Now, I’m not afraid of bugs. I lived on the Eastern Shore and I understand what a serious bug problem is, but this has gotten out of hand. In the beginning there were only a handful and I merrily squished them with my pinky finger (told you I’m not freaked out by bugs). But either my careless murders were reported back to the starship and reinforcements have been sent in, or word got out that we have crummy counters. Either way, we have been swarmed by these tiny ants that seem to be in hurry to get somewhere at all times.


This morning I watched them as they scurried over the counter, up the walls, across the cabinets and along the backsplash. They aren’t carrying anything. They aren’t even really stopping to inspect the chunk of hard pretzel that lies ignored on the counter (don’t worry, Mom’ll get that!). So what is there point? And besides the obvious – oh-ants-are-disgusting – are they harming anyone?

I looked on the internet. The consensus seems to be that ants aren’t really going to hurt you, they’re just yucky. Sure they carry a few germs around on their itty-bitty feet, but not any more than you are exposed to floating in the air. One writer even pointed out that ants can be a good thing – cleaning up crumbs you miss. Hmm. I liked that idea until I arrived back in the kitchen to see them coating my cutting board. Enough.

A recent guest to our house advised we go to “the Depot” and buy some serious poison. He even told us what kind worked best and explained that all you need to do is spray the entire outside bottom edge of your house. Right. Ring my house in industrial poison. Got it.

Back to the internet for some green guidance. Once armed, I set to work on the kitchen and by the time the kids were up things looked a little different on the counter. Granted there were still a few ants stumbling around in confused circles (all their regular trade routes had been cluttered with baking soda, chalk, vinegar, and/or lemons. So we’ll see what happens. I’m fairly pleased with the results so far.

As I fixed my lunch, I occasionally grabbed the vinegar spray bottle (my regular house cleaner) to douse unsuspecting ants. My oldest son watched me and chuckled when I told him I’d just firebombed the happy little ant with acid. Lately he’s in to reading horror, so this is right up his ally. I’m going to put him on the job soon.

Thinking about what our well-meaning friend had said about the outer edges of the house, I did a quick perimeter check and sure enough there seemed to be a mass of ants rallying around the porch door. I quick upended a bottle of lemon juice all along that edge and by early afternoon – no ants! I explained to my son that one was more like a nuclear attack. Another chuckle. So much for his peace-loving mama. I feel the same way about the bunny who seems to be dodging my lazy cats and avoiding my not-so-bright dog on its way to eating all of my French filet green beans. Doubt vinegar or lemon juice will do the trick on that one.

Just in case you have an ant problem too, here are some of the suggestions from the internet site Green Eco Services.

I’ve noted the ones I’ve tried and the results.

1. Keep a small spray bottle handy, and spray the ants with a bit of soapy water. (haven’t tried this one, seemed too kind, but in the interest of cleaning up all the vinegar, lemon juice, and baking soda scattered all over my kitchen, it will be my final attack)

2. Set out cucumber peels or slices in the kitchen or at the ants’ point of entry. Many ants have a natural aversion to cucumber. Bitter cucumbers work best. (couldn’t bring myself to sacrifice any of my fresh cucumbers that just ripened this week)

3. Leave a few tea bags of mint tea near areas where the ants seem most active. Dry, crushed mint leaves or cloves also work as ant deterrents. (this seems like it might be a good maintenance plan – I’m going to pick some mint today)

4. Trace the ant column back to their point of entry. Set any of the following items at the entry area in a small line, which ants will not cross: cayenne pepper, citrus oil (can be soaked into a piece of string), lemon juice, cinnamon or coffee grounds. (lemon juice seems to really work the best, but I also scattered lemon slices on the counter, in the cabinets, and around the sink)

5. Mix a half teaspoon each of honey, borox, and aspartame (Equal, Nutrasweet, etc.), in small bottles. Place bottles on their sides, with lids off, in areas of most ant activity. Ants will carry the bait back to their colonies. Important: use indoors only; must be kept away from pets and children. (don’t own any aspartame and can’t bring myself to support the sale of unhealthy chemicals in any form, so I haven’t tried this one. Plus, there are way too many pets and children roaming the premises that cannot be kept away from)

6. Leave a small, low wattage night light on for a few nights in the area of most ant activity. The change in light can disrupt and discourage their foraging patterns. (yeah, right.)

7. Ants on the deck? Slip a few cut up cloves of garlic between the cracks. (Nice. And then who wants to sit on the deck with me and breath in the sent of rotting garlic?)

8. Liquid peppermint soap, diluted in a squirt bottle will kill them. It will also prevent them from coming back. (where do you buy liquid peppermint soap?? Sounds divine. I’d like to have some for my smelly kids.)

9. Citrasolve works wonderfully! Just mop or wipe with it and spread it around at entry point. ants will die in house, and won’t come back in again. (if the ants die in your house they aren’t going anywhere are they? Haven’t seen this in my stores)

10. Ring your house with used coffee grounds and other acidic natural byproducts. (I think this is what I did by dousing the porch in lemon juice – worked great so far)

11. Spray bottle with vinegar works too. (Yes! And it’s great fun too!)

12. Dr. Bronners peppermint soap (and do what with it exactly?)

13. Try Boric Acid. It’s natural, safe and it works. (I’d try this, but don’t have any on hand)

14. Peppermint oil–a few drops in a spray bottle of water. (same as boric acid)

15. Pouring lemon juice around areas ants frequent (seems to work but is kind of messy and sticky)

16. Baking soda can deter ants – pour a solid line in areas of activity and they won’t cross it. (this seems to be working! Added bonus that it soaks up bad smells – always a good thing)

17. A puree blend of orange peel and water can be applied to an area to discourage ants from crossing. (too much work and mess and more stickiness)

18. Baby powder stopped them dead in their tracks. (no longer have babies or baby powder, but I might be tempted to try the powder just to remember)

19. Use a piece of chalk to draw a line over trails – again, the ants won’t cross it. Chalk also has the advantage of being able to be used on vertical surfaces (I tried this and the ants just laughed)

20. We up here in Alaska work a lot with carpenter ants. I use the original Listerine the brown one. Full strength and we spray it in there tracks and this kills them. I also find that they do not like the peppermint castile soap. (Now carpenter ants are scary – I’d definitely give this a try if that’s what I was dealing with. Those guys are big enough to carry away a small cat!)

21. Several readers have had success with using powdered yeast. The ants usually disappear within one day! (not sure what “powdered” yeast is, but I’m not wasting my good yeast on ants)

Good luck with your own ant attack. Let me know what works!

Camp Achterberg

July seems like the longest month of the year to me. I don’t know if it’s the long wait for ripe tomatoes, or the endless days of children brimming with energy and attitudes. Either way the month surely drags.

When they were small I stockpiled all the camps for July. A few hours of peace were worth the price tag, besides Vacation Bible Schools run back to back and cost nothing. But then the protests began. No one wanted to go to bible school. No one wanted to get out of bed for camp. It’s too hot. None of my friends are going. Blah, blah, blah. And the costs of camps for bigger kids seems to escalate with every year and every sport.

To avoid their rebellion, I rebelled. No more camps. Alright just one each. This summer we’re down to the free Harry Potter camp at the library and a Medieval Times camp through the school system. My checkbook is happy, but I’m back to the endless days of nothing to do but ferry the children to the pool or friends’ houses. Frankly, I’m bored.



"Swimming in the driveway"

 So it’s time for “CAMP ACHTERBERG”. Camp Achterberg was born one summer a few years ago when there was too much time and no money for camp. So I made our own camp. Five days of homemade fun! When I first announced it, you could hear the groans for miles around. But ask them about it now and they love to tell stories of Camp Achterberg. “Remember when that lady came and yelled at us for swimming in her driveway!” This was the stream hike that went a little too far and ended with threats from a distant neighbor when the kids were jumping off her driveway bridge in to the creek that ran underneath. She was pretty worked up and it certainly didn’t help that the kids thought she was kidding when she yelled, “No swimming in my driveway!”
Camp Achterberg is one week of planned events led by none other than mom. Here is a list of ideas we’ve used and/or considered:

- stream hike - you don’t need a stream running down your street like we have, you can head over to a park or just pull over along the side of the road. Be sure to wear old shoes, sunscreen, and bug spray.

- Visit a farm – there are loads of farms out there that give tours, check them out online or ask a farmer at your farmer’s market if their game.

- Visit an obscure museum. Most of us never visit the museums in our town unless we have company visiting, and then we just hit the big ones. There’s a National Clock and Watch museum nearby that gets rave reviews, look in your phone book or online and find a museum noone knows about – they’re usually free or even cheap.

- Make a big, messy art project. Go to your local arts & crafts store and buy something you’ve always wanted to do – tie dye is fun. Last year we painted tiles left from a rehab project as stepping stones for the garden (and grave markers when the fish we won at the carnival died).

- Go to the movies

- Have storytime – no matter the age, kids still love to be read to. Fix a snack, get comfy and read.

- Taste test all the ice cream stands in your town (get a pint to go from each and dig in blind folded!)

- Go bowling or ice skating

- Invite friends over

- Take a hike

- Go canoeing or kayaking

- Sleep in a tent in the yard

- Have a bonfire and make s’mores (or use your grill if it’s too hot)

- Swap bedrooms

- Go berry picking

- Take a factory tour (we loved the candy factory tour!)

- Make a water slide in your yard

- Put on a talent show (pets are also invited to perform)

- Visit a kennel with new puppies

- Volunteer at a food bank

- Take a bike ride somewhere other than your own street

- Build a bug or rock collection

- Go to the pool from the minute it opens until the minute it closes

- Go geocaching or letterboxing

- Have a picnic

We brainstorm ideas and nothing is off the table. Sometimes a camp day is simply each kid inviting three friends to come play which makes it feel like camp. Or it’s a trip to the dollar store with all the money you can earn in one morning (great trick for getting your house picked up). It’s doing anything you wouldn’t do on a normal day. It makes every day a special occasion. For us, going out to eat is rare, so a camp day might include a meal out somewhere new.

Hairnets required for factory tours!

If you haven’t got a whole week to dedicate to camp, try one day a week. “Camp Tuesday” works just fine. Some of these activities might cost a little money, but compared to the camp fees, they are a real bargain. Start your own camp this summer. I promise you’ll make memories that last a lifetime and you’ll never realize how much fun you can have in your own hometown.

Fast Food Fight

I know this post is most likely point-less. But I’m going to say it anyway. Seeing as it is the season of fast food. And maybe I’m a hypocrite because I’ll confess right up front that during the two road trips we have planned for this summer, we will undoubtedly wind up eating at a fast food joint. And yet, I must carry on with this rant.


Please, please, please don’t eat fast food. I understand that when you have children in the car who are pulling your fingernails out one-by-one with their incessant whining while they wither away to nothing with bloated bellies and sunken eyes in the back seat, you have no choice but to pull in to the fastest food possible. You have no other option. But let’s be honest here, folks. Sometimes we choose fast food because it’s easy. It makes the kids happy. And heck, it tastes good.

But you know what else it does? It makes our country fat and unhealthy. It makes our kids develop tastes for foods that are over-salted, drenched in fat, and coated with sugar. It teaches them that eating fast food is an acceptable choice for their meal, rather than a last-ditch, there’s no-where-else-to-eat, it-might-make-us-sick, kind of option. My three kids will never eat at McDonalds without at least feeling bad about it. I’ve driven the knowledge in to them that when they eat fast-food they are eating food that is not so much food as animal by-products, lard-coated pesticide-enriched, GMO potatoes, and chemically created drug-filled sugar water.

It’s every mother’s duty to give their kids some baggage. And this is one of the carry-ons I’m loading on mine. I think it’s a good one. To be sure, you can occasionally find something nutritionally redeeming at a fast food restaurant. But my guess is your kids aren’t choosing the carrot sticks or fruit cup. And if they go for that baked potato, it’s sure to be smothered in artificially-colored cheese food products. A grilled chicken seems harmless until you ask about the chicken’s heritage and discover it was raised amongst millions of other chickens crammed in a dark, closed-in house with horrible ventilation and hopped up on antibiotics to keep it from dying from the bacterial infections that are common in such set-ups. Don’t be fooled by those lovely pictures of chickens sitting on a fence. Those chickens can’t even walk, let alone hop up on a fence because they’ve been bred to have grotesquely large breasts that prevent them from even moving. Egg to deep fryer in about 12 weeks time. If they live any longer, they’ll die from congestive heart failure because their bodies can’t support their breasts (no lie – I know someone personally who didn’t get his chickens butchered in time and this is how they died!).

If my ranting and raving isn’t enough to make you steer past those golden arches and smiling freckled-faces, consider these facts:

“With 250,000 quick-serve restaurants to choose from, Americans fork over more money on burgers, burritos, and bacon-topped sandwiches each year than what we spend on higher education, new cars, and computers combined.” (Hyman, Ultrametabolism, 60)

“The average weight of a ten-year-old boy in 1963 was 74 pounds; by 2002 the average weight was nearly 85 pounds. The average weight of a ten-year-old girl in 1963 was 77 pounds; by 2002 the average weight of a ten-year-old girl was 88 pounds.” (National Center for Health Statistics, October 2004.).

“One Big Mac is equivalent – in terms of grain produced and consumed – to five loaves of bread. But instead of feeding the hungry with grain, a lot of it is going to the waistline of people in wealthy countries – often to their detriment.” (Bittman, Food Matters 2009)

Heart disease is not only the number one killer of adults; frighteningly, it’s also the second leading cause of death for children under 15. http://champsforlife.org/whatishcm.html

A person would need to walk 9 miles (14.5km) to burn off the 923 calories found in Burger King’s Double Whopper with cheese.

So what’s an overloaded, stressed-out mom to do? Here are a few suggestions to get you through:

- If you’re in town, go home to eat. A peanut butter sandwich or a frozen pizza are healthier choices. Besides, they’re just as quick and cost less.

- If you’re traveling – pack food. Stuff a cooler with fruit that travels well like cherries, apples, bananas, and blueberries. Toss in several bags of baby carrots. Wheat crackers, raisins, craisins, apricots, nuts, and cheese sticks are easy too.

- When all else fails, remind yourself and your kids that HUNGER IS NOT AN EMERGENCY. There are very few people starving to death in the US. Your kids can go several hours (at least) between meals. Hunger will pass and many times it’s actually habit and/or boredom that drives us to demand food.

- If you must stop, look for a place that serves fresh food quickly, instead of processed food. Chipotle Grill is one of my favorite stops and it’s quicker than the average fast food. Stopping in a Mom&Pop type place can also be quick, if you tell the server you’re in a hurry and ask what can be prepared quickly.

- Find a restaurant with a good salad bar. Don’t forget that many of the newer supermarkets have salad bars. You can even get a pound of shrimp steamed quickly and enjoy a decadent treat instead of a mashed up hamburger that will make you feel ill hours later.

- If you know you’re going to have to stop and you can’t bring yourself to pack food. Remember you have other options beyond fast food. The internet gives you the power to find restaurants on your route that serve healthy fare. And in a pinch, an iphone or GPS usually can give you information on restaurants nearby.

Here’s my bottom line. Fast food won’t kill you, if you eat it once in awhile. (It will kill you if you eat it daily – see the movie Supersized if you don’t believe me!) What’s most important is teaching our children that this is not a healthy way to eat. When we swing through the drive-thru on a regular basis, we are training our kids for a lifetime of unhealthy eating. Every mom I know loves her kids too much to want that for them. I know fast food is easy. I know our children love it (they love candy and potato chips too). But this is one of those things we must do for our children (like driving the speed limit and being nice to rude people). This is the point when we need to stop saying it’s OK even if everyone else is doing it.
Besides the health issues raised by consuming fast food, I’d like to raise another point. When we eat “fast” we are not respecting the place food has in our life. It is our sustenance. When we choke down something in a wrapper while our children duck in and out of the playland between bites of ground up chicken-parts coated in bread and fat, we aren’t paying attention to the food we eat. When we sit down and face one another and eat good food together, it is a form of communion. We need to teach our children to taste their food, to appreciate where it came from, and who prepared it. We need to teach them the power they have in choosing what to put in their bodies and about the power food has to make our bodies healthy or unhealthy. Whatever decisions they make will be apparent at some point in their lives on the bathroom scale or the doctor’s table. Teach them to make healthy, empowering choices for their bodies and their lives.

We only get one shot at raising our children. This is our one and only chance to teach our children about eating healthy and being healthy for a lifetime. It’s more than a meal and much more than fast food.