I’m reading the most fascinating book. Although nothing that is being brought to light by the studies cited surprises me. In fact, as I read I find myself muttering, “duh” on a regular basis. The book is called Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder. The author, Richard Louv, expounds on the growing body of evidence linking the lack of nature in children’s lives and the rise of obesity, attention disorders, and depression.
It makes sense. How much time does the average child spend outdoors? My childhood home was in the woods. I could walk out my back door and have access to miles of woodlands. I remember building dams with my brothers, catching crayfish, and stomping on skunk cabbage. Once we even dug an underground doghouse for a stray dog we planned to keep a secret from our parents. My best friend lived across the street and we used to “cook” strawberry soup” from the wild strawberries that grew in her yard and chew on green clover cringing to keep from spitting out the sour leaves. Can you imagine what a parent would do if their child picked up a clover leaf and popped it in her mouth today? Most moms would fish it out, me included since so many lawns and playgrounds are treated with chemical weed killers and fertilizers.
Our children know all about the world. They know about global warming and the deforestation of the rainforest. They have a hyper-intellectualized perception of animals thanks to Pixar. They are pros on recycling to save our resources. But can they tell an oak tree from a maple? Have they ever picked up a Gardner snake or discovered a bluebird’s nest? Do they know what moss feels like or have they seen a bat hunting mosquitoes at dusk? They know all about the world in their minds, but they may not have discovered it with their hearts. Kids are open to learning all kinds of things, but as Louv points out we are in danger of raising a generation of kids indoors. I can’t begin to imagine the implications of that.
Being in nature is good for everyone. A recent study at the University of Glasgow concluded that access to green spaces helps people live longer, healthier lives. Getting your kids outside can present a challenge for some of us. The computer and TV beckon. Sometimes its fear that keeps our children inside and I’m not talking about a child’s fear. The media has hyped up our worry over the dangers to be found for unsupervised children outside. I hear myself saying, “It’s not like when I was a kid. You can’t just let them run wild.” But maybe we need to. And that might just mean getting yourself outside. Children will follow. I know this for a fact.
When things get a little to hairy in my house and I find myself doing and saying things I never want to do or say as a parent, I head outside. I’ll walk up to the barn and brush a horse or watch the chickens fuss at each other or I’ll go study our fruit trees to see if any awful bug is assailing them. Sometimes I’ll go for a walk in the woods. I do these things to calm down and get away from my kids, but not five minutes after I’ve made my escape I will hear footsteps behind me. My daughter is sure to become my shadow. And next I’ll hear the kitchen door slam as my oldest heads for his fort in the woods or the swing set. The last one out will be the youngest who will trudge to the sandbox to stir up a new adventure (from which it will be nearly impossible to remove him from an hour later). And peace will reign again. Nature can do that.
Getting your kids outside is good for them for a multitude of reasons. The latest research is just confirming what I already know. That open space, fresh air, dirt, plants, and animals are healing.
Research cited by Louv says that kids who spend more time outside are more creative. They engage in imaginative, open-ended play. Nature can help relieve stress. A Cornell study found that “life’s stressful events appear not to cause as much psychological distress in children who live in high-nature conditions compared with children who live in low-nature conditions.”
In 2001, Terry A. Hartig at Uppsala University in Gavle Sweden, demonstrated that nature can help people recover from “normal psychological wear and tear” – but nature also improves the capacity to pay attention, increases positive emotions, and reduces anger. I don’t know about you, but I could use children who pay more attention, are happier ,and yell at me less. I was reading Louv’s book yesterday while listening to my children argue about who had already used up their computer time and who hadn’t. When the dispute was resolved and the offending party was retreating for the swing set, I announced that tomorrow will be a “computer free day”. The computer is what keeps my kids inside. What keeps yours inside? I’m already working out my plan of attack for the summer. We’re going outside. All of us.
So what do you do if you don’t live on a farm or in a rural community? You seek out nature. It can be found anywhere. My dad can find birds in any setting just by listening quietly. Salamanders and really cool spiders hide under rocks even if there are a lot of tall buildings around. Find nature. It’s still here underneath it all. And if you are blessed to live near it – get out of the house. You only have 18 years (at least that’s the plan) to grow these little people and their brains – take advantage of the cheapest medication around for attention issues, depression, anger, and whatever else ails you. Get them outdoors. Get yourself outdoors.
Here’s a few more ideas:
1. Check your newspaper. There are always naturalist programs available through the national, state, and local parks. They are almost always inexpensive and sometimes free.
2. Find out where the parks are in your area. Make it your mission to visit all of them this summer.
3. Go fishing. At least in Pennsylvania, kids don’t need a license (dad’s do).
4. Take a walk and pick up the trash on your street. You’re doing a good thing for your community and it is an excuse to get closer to nature. I promise you’ll encounter some kind of wildlife (I’m not saying it won’t have eight legs of more).
5. Send your kids to camp. Find a camp that will get your kids outdoors for the day. Some kids need the encouragement of other kids and a structured environment to encounter nature on their terms.
6. Go geocaching or letter boxing. (Don’t know what that is? Look it up online. We love to geocache so I’ll post about it soon)
7. Have a picnic.
8. Go camping.
9. Plan a vacation to a state park. Many state parks have “camping cabins” that are relatively inexpensive. Sometimes they have lodges that are still cheaper than a resort.
10. Take the dog for a walk. A dog is great excuse to get outside every day. If you haven’t got one, check with your local shelter, many will let you walk theirs!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
The Babies Are Moving Out
It’s time to move the babies outdoors. It’s kind of like sending the preschooler off to kindergarten. You can no longer control their surroundings and protect them from the elements. You have to hope you’ve done a good job raising strong healthy seedlings and then pray for good weather. There are a few things you can do to make the transition easier.
I firmly believe in “hardening off” my baby plants. This means moving them outdoors in a gradual way to get them used to the wind, temperature, and the strong sun which is so different from the fluorescent lights they have been raised under. Even store bought seedlings can use a little hardening off. If I had a sunny window I would start by letting them spend some time there. Alas, the only really sunny window is in my six year old’s room and that might not be the safest of surroundings. So I move them outside in to the shade on my porch on a warm day for an afternoon. From there I increase their time outside and their exposure to real sunlight a little each day. Eventually graduating them to sitting in their bin together over the very spot I plan to plant them. If the temperature threatens to dip low, I bring them in for the night. This takes about a week.
At this point I watch the weather. The last frost is supposed to be somewhere around tax day (April 15) for us, but we always seem to still get a few frosts after that down in the hollow where we live. I shoot for Mother’s Day for tomatoes and peppers and other warm weather plants. I want to be certain the temperature won’t go below 45 at night. I’ve got too much invested in my tomatoes (all 24 of them) to risk a cold night ruining my hard work. Ideal conditions would be daytime temps around 70 and not too sunny with some light rain. But life is not ideal now is it?
Planting seedlings is careful work. Water your seedlings thoroughly so that when you lift them out of their pots they soil will stick to the roots and not crumple away. Lay out where you are planning on putting them and prepare clear markers so that other folks who traverse your garden won’t trample on them. Like so many other things that look great at home, once you get them out of their element they seem incredibly small and fragile. Surround them with a string fence or deliberately mark them with large stakes.
Dig the hole larger than the seedling pot and be sure the soil you are planting in to is moist. If it isn’t, water the hole before planting the seedling. If you have compost to add, work the compost in to the hole also.
I firmly believe in “hardening off” my baby plants. This means moving them outdoors in a gradual way to get them used to the wind, temperature, and the strong sun which is so different from the fluorescent lights they have been raised under. Even store bought seedlings can use a little hardening off. If I had a sunny window I would start by letting them spend some time there. Alas, the only really sunny window is in my six year old’s room and that might not be the safest of surroundings. So I move them outside in to the shade on my porch on a warm day for an afternoon. From there I increase their time outside and their exposure to real sunlight a little each day. Eventually graduating them to sitting in their bin together over the very spot I plan to plant them. If the temperature threatens to dip low, I bring them in for the night. This takes about a week.
At this point I watch the weather. The last frost is supposed to be somewhere around tax day (April 15) for us, but we always seem to still get a few frosts after that down in the hollow where we live. I shoot for Mother’s Day for tomatoes and peppers and other warm weather plants. I want to be certain the temperature won’t go below 45 at night. I’ve got too much invested in my tomatoes (all 24 of them) to risk a cold night ruining my hard work. Ideal conditions would be daytime temps around 70 and not too sunny with some light rain. But life is not ideal now is it?
Planting seedlings is careful work. Water your seedlings thoroughly so that when you lift them out of their pots they soil will stick to the roots and not crumple away. Lay out where you are planning on putting them and prepare clear markers so that other folks who traverse your garden won’t trample on them. Like so many other things that look great at home, once you get them out of their element they seem incredibly small and fragile. Surround them with a string fence or deliberately mark them with large stakes.
Dig the hole larger than the seedling pot and be sure the soil you are planting in to is moist. If it isn’t, water the hole before planting the seedling. If you have compost to add, work the compost in to the hole also.
Getting the seedling out of its pot and in to the soil seems simple, but that isn’t always the case. If you use plastic containers (like the used yogurt cups I use), it is helpful to tap the bottom to loosen the plant. I actually invert the plant (holding my hand over the top so the plant won’t fall out) and tap it really hard. If there are roots growing out of the bottom of the cup I tear them off. Then I carefully shake the entire plant out for the container and set the plant in the hole, firming soil around it and up its neck. I bury it deeper in the ground than it was in the pot, especially with tomato plants.
Many of the books I’ve consulted have said to lift the plant out by the leaves, but that has never worked for me. Inevitably I end up lifting off the leaves without the plant. So gently shaking the plant out of the pot works is my method. And if that doesn’t work, I run my finger around the edge of the pot and scoop the plant out that way. If you have used the “plantable” peat pots, you are supposed to be able to plant the seedling pot and all. The one year I tried that it didn’t work for me. The plants were root bound and didn’t do well. At the end of the summer when we turned over the dirt, the peat pots were still completely intact. So if you use them, be sure to tear off the bottom and maybe tear the the sides back a bit too before you plant them. Lovely idea though, those peat pots.
My favorite plant store (Landreth Seeds) is having their annual sale this weekend. I will get up early to be one of their first customers on Saturday. As much as I enjoy saving lots of money raising my own seedlings, it’s still at thrill to buy a few “foreigners” to plant. This week I’m also going to harvest some of my “volunteer” lettuce that grew from the lettuce I planted last year and let go to seed. That’s the beauty of heirloom seeds, you get lots of volunteers. I’ll let you know how that works out. I’ve never thought of lettuce as a perennial, but this year it is for us. Gardening is such an adventure. You learn something new all the time.
My favorite plant store (Landreth Seeds) is having their annual sale this weekend. I will get up early to be one of their first customers on Saturday. As much as I enjoy saving lots of money raising my own seedlings, it’s still at thrill to buy a few “foreigners” to plant. This week I’m also going to harvest some of my “volunteer” lettuce that grew from the lettuce I planted last year and let go to seed. That’s the beauty of heirloom seeds, you get lots of volunteers. I’ll let you know how that works out. I’ve never thought of lettuce as a perennial, but this year it is for us. Gardening is such an adventure. You learn something new all the time.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Chai Tea Cures Flatulence? What?
It’s Friday and the sun is shining! It’s been over a week since the sun has shone down in our little hollow and the last thing I want to do is hang out in here with my computer. The gardens are calling. So I’m going to cheat today and just regurgitate something someone else wrote. This info comes from Body and Soul Magazine, one of my favorites. The author is Hillari Dowdle (what a name). The original article has 25 remedies in it, but I’m only going to highlight the ones I think might be most useful. These are all natural treatments for common ailments. Most of the ingredients you probably have in your kitchen. But first, here’s my own experience with using a inexpensive, natural treatment.
A week or so ago when I was planting my 200 hostas I was stung by a bee. It hurt but I was ankle deep in mud from the springs in the hillside we had just unearthed and the hillside is at the bottom of our property. Having already hiked up the hill three or four times to get tools I forgot or to negotiate a peace treaty between siblings, I just didn’t have it in me to run up one more time for the bendryl cream. I looked around and realized I had the perfect treatment surrounding me – mud! I slapped some mud on the offending sting and the swelling and pain dissipated in minutes. Somewhere in my travels I’d heard you could put mud on swellings and stings, but this was the first time an opportunity presented itself. My kids get stung multiple times all summer long. Next time it happens I’m going to whip up some always available mud and slap it on.
Blemishes, rashes, and burns: Tumeric
Use it topically to bring pimples to a head quickly and soothe acne, scapes, and sunburns. It stains, so be sure to wash your hands after use. Add several drops of water to ½ teaspoon of powdered turmeric to make a thin paste. With your fingers, spread the mixture on blemishes, sunburns, or acne. Leave on for up to an hour, rinse.
Headache: Peppermint
Fill a small bowl with ice water and add 5-7 drops of peppermint oil. Dip a washcloth into the bowl, wring it out, and apply the compress to your forehead for 10-15 minutes. Alternatively, add several drops of the oil to a washcloth, throw it into the corner of a shower, and climb into the minty steam. (I’m wondering if peppermint tea will help too. I use peppermint tea for tummy aches.)
Bug Bites: Banana (this might be a bit more cleanly than mud!)
Apply the banana peel, fruit-side down, directly on the bite and hold it there until the itching or burning subsides. (I’m packing bananas on our next camping trip.)
Stuffy head: Salsa (my kind of medicine!)
Hot peppers thin the mucus in the nasal passages so that it’s easier to expel and they do the same thing for the lungs – making it easier to expectorate. Plus they’re one of the top sources of vitamin C. So pick some spicy salsa with hot chilies like jalapeños, serranos, or habeneros and snack until your sniffles subside.
Flatulence (Do you think there is any way to get a puppy to drink this?) – Chai
Add 1/3 teaspoon each of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and ginger to 8 ounces of hot water and steep for several minutes. Strain, sweeten with a bit of raw sugar or honey, and enjoy before or after a meal.
Colds: Garlic
Raw garlic’s strong antimicrobial properties make it effective for fending off and treating the common cold. Peel one or two garlic cloves, dip in honey, and chew. (Ew! No way my kids would do this!) Or simply mince a few cloves, add warm water and a little honey, stir, and swallow without chewing. Repeat every 2-3 hours from the first sign of sickness. (I can’t imagine doing either of these, but them I’m skweamish. My favorite salad dressing has raw garlic in it. I might be tempted to make an extra potent batch and eat it with carrot sticks or drench my salad with it. I’m sure you can think of a way to get some raw garlic down. I don’t know if garlic really works or not, but –knock on wood- I never seem to get colds and I eat a lot of garlic.)
Fatigue: Blackstrap Molasses
Ongoing fatigue can have many causes, so it needs a physician’s diagnosis and care. But for run-of-the-mill fatigue, blackstrap molasses – a good source of iron, calcium, and other minerals – can work wonders. It’s a pick-me-up from the pioneer days and a great restorative remedy for women suffering from what used to be known as “tired blood.” Dissolve 1-2 teaspoons of blackstrap molasses in ½ cup of warm water or milk, such as almond, rice, or soy, and drink daily. (I don’t know if cooked blackstrap molasses has the same effect, but the wheat bread recipe I posted a few months ago calls for 2 tablespoons of molasses. Anadama bread also uses a hefty amount of molasses and is delicious. I’ll post that recipe below.)
Sadness: Cinnamon
It’s safe, it contains no sugar, and clinical research has shown it even helps stabilize blood sugar levels. Pour 1 cup of boiling water over a stick of cinnamon and steep for 10 minutes. Drink. (I’m going to start sprinkling cinnamon on everything I can think of!)
If you’d like to see the whole article “Secret Kitchen Cures”, check out www.wholeliving.com. Most of the article seems to have come from the book Herbs for the Home Medicine Chest by Rosemary Gladstar (again, with the name!).
Anadama Bread (from Family Fun Magazine)
2 Cups boiling water
2 Tablespoons butter
½ Cup yellow cornmeal
1 pkg yeast
½ Cup warm water
¾ Cup molasses (use Blackstrap Molasses)
1 ½ teaspoon salt
4 2/3 cups flour
Carefully pour boiling water into a big bowl. Add butter and sprinkle in the cornmeal, whisking to mix. Let the mixture stand until lukewarm.
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir the yeast, molasses, and salt in to the cornmeal, then beat in the flour.
Spoon the batter into 2 buttered loaf pans, cover, and let rise 1 hour (until doubled).
Preheat Oven to 350 and bake 45-50 minutes.
I haven’t made this in years, but I’m going to try it with wheat and spelt flour this week. I remember it to be a delicious sweet bread with no refined sugar.
A week or so ago when I was planting my 200 hostas I was stung by a bee. It hurt but I was ankle deep in mud from the springs in the hillside we had just unearthed and the hillside is at the bottom of our property. Having already hiked up the hill three or four times to get tools I forgot or to negotiate a peace treaty between siblings, I just didn’t have it in me to run up one more time for the bendryl cream. I looked around and realized I had the perfect treatment surrounding me – mud! I slapped some mud on the offending sting and the swelling and pain dissipated in minutes. Somewhere in my travels I’d heard you could put mud on swellings and stings, but this was the first time an opportunity presented itself. My kids get stung multiple times all summer long. Next time it happens I’m going to whip up some always available mud and slap it on.
Blemishes, rashes, and burns: Tumeric
Use it topically to bring pimples to a head quickly and soothe acne, scapes, and sunburns. It stains, so be sure to wash your hands after use. Add several drops of water to ½ teaspoon of powdered turmeric to make a thin paste. With your fingers, spread the mixture on blemishes, sunburns, or acne. Leave on for up to an hour, rinse.
Headache: Peppermint
Fill a small bowl with ice water and add 5-7 drops of peppermint oil. Dip a washcloth into the bowl, wring it out, and apply the compress to your forehead for 10-15 minutes. Alternatively, add several drops of the oil to a washcloth, throw it into the corner of a shower, and climb into the minty steam. (I’m wondering if peppermint tea will help too. I use peppermint tea for tummy aches.)
Bug Bites: Banana (this might be a bit more cleanly than mud!)
Apply the banana peel, fruit-side down, directly on the bite and hold it there until the itching or burning subsides. (I’m packing bananas on our next camping trip.)
Stuffy head: Salsa (my kind of medicine!)
Hot peppers thin the mucus in the nasal passages so that it’s easier to expel and they do the same thing for the lungs – making it easier to expectorate. Plus they’re one of the top sources of vitamin C. So pick some spicy salsa with hot chilies like jalapeños, serranos, or habeneros and snack until your sniffles subside.
Flatulence (Do you think there is any way to get a puppy to drink this?) – Chai
Add 1/3 teaspoon each of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and ginger to 8 ounces of hot water and steep for several minutes. Strain, sweeten with a bit of raw sugar or honey, and enjoy before or after a meal.
Colds: Garlic
Raw garlic’s strong antimicrobial properties make it effective for fending off and treating the common cold. Peel one or two garlic cloves, dip in honey, and chew. (Ew! No way my kids would do this!) Or simply mince a few cloves, add warm water and a little honey, stir, and swallow without chewing. Repeat every 2-3 hours from the first sign of sickness. (I can’t imagine doing either of these, but them I’m skweamish. My favorite salad dressing has raw garlic in it. I might be tempted to make an extra potent batch and eat it with carrot sticks or drench my salad with it. I’m sure you can think of a way to get some raw garlic down. I don’t know if garlic really works or not, but –knock on wood- I never seem to get colds and I eat a lot of garlic.)
Fatigue: Blackstrap Molasses
Ongoing fatigue can have many causes, so it needs a physician’s diagnosis and care. But for run-of-the-mill fatigue, blackstrap molasses – a good source of iron, calcium, and other minerals – can work wonders. It’s a pick-me-up from the pioneer days and a great restorative remedy for women suffering from what used to be known as “tired blood.” Dissolve 1-2 teaspoons of blackstrap molasses in ½ cup of warm water or milk, such as almond, rice, or soy, and drink daily. (I don’t know if cooked blackstrap molasses has the same effect, but the wheat bread recipe I posted a few months ago calls for 2 tablespoons of molasses. Anadama bread also uses a hefty amount of molasses and is delicious. I’ll post that recipe below.)
Sadness: Cinnamon
It’s safe, it contains no sugar, and clinical research has shown it even helps stabilize blood sugar levels. Pour 1 cup of boiling water over a stick of cinnamon and steep for 10 minutes. Drink. (I’m going to start sprinkling cinnamon on everything I can think of!)
If you’d like to see the whole article “Secret Kitchen Cures”, check out www.wholeliving.com. Most of the article seems to have come from the book Herbs for the Home Medicine Chest by Rosemary Gladstar (again, with the name!).
Anadama Bread (from Family Fun Magazine)
2 Cups boiling water
2 Tablespoons butter
½ Cup yellow cornmeal
1 pkg yeast
½ Cup warm water
¾ Cup molasses (use Blackstrap Molasses)
1 ½ teaspoon salt
4 2/3 cups flour
Carefully pour boiling water into a big bowl. Add butter and sprinkle in the cornmeal, whisking to mix. Let the mixture stand until lukewarm.
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir the yeast, molasses, and salt in to the cornmeal, then beat in the flour.
Spoon the batter into 2 buttered loaf pans, cover, and let rise 1 hour (until doubled).
Preheat Oven to 350 and bake 45-50 minutes.
I haven’t made this in years, but I’m going to try it with wheat and spelt flour this week. I remember it to be a delicious sweet bread with no refined sugar.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Free Stuff!
Guess what? My blog’s famous! Well maybe not famous, but at least one company has sought me out for an evaluation and review of their products. I’m excited – I love free stuff. For awhile, I thought the e-mail that turned up in my inbox asking if I’d be interested in evaluating products was just spam. When you live with dial-up you learn that you just can’t click on every link. There isn’t the time. But finally I caved because, you know, it offered free stuff. Well, not exactly free. I have to write a review. And since I’m not used to being offered any compensation for my writing, this seemed like a good deal. Of course it didn’t say that I had to write a good review and there weren’t even any prompts like, “here’s your free stuff in exchange for your glowing endorsement”. I even got to pick which products I wanted to review. Fun!
So the box from Ecostore USA arrived yesterday. Ecostore is a New Zealand based company that has just begun marketing in the US. I’ve contacted a friend in New Zealand for some official verification on their existence there, but so far they seem to be legit. They make environmentally friendly cleaning products for the home and body. The phrase “no nasty chemicals” is plastered all over their pages. I’m assuming that “no nasty chemicals” means that they only use nice chemicals and that some of those nice chemicals might even be organic. Since the box just arrived, I haven’t had time to study the items yet, but I’ll have the chemical engineer in the family give them a lookover. The Ecostore products were delivered by Fed-Ex and true to their word, the bill already said “paid.” Gotta love it. I was immediately impressed with all the environmentally friendly assurances about recycled packaging and paper. It doesn’t take much (especially when you’re giving me free stuff) to impress me.
OK, OK, enough about me and my free stuff, what’s in it for you dear reader? Free stuff! Really! Along with the products, I was also given a $25 gift certificate for products from the Ecostore USA website to award to one of my lucky readers! This trusting company didn’t even specify what you have to do to win – they left that up to me. I like the whole trust element. (There was no clause that said that Nick couldn’t win!). So since I’m hoping that I can get even more out of this promo, I came up with a great way to decide who gets the free stuff.
If you’d like to win $25 in free products from Ecostore USA, all you have to do is give me a good idea for a post. Some days my mind is scattered and it's difficult to gather up my thoughts and figure out what to write. This is my way of getting some more free stuff in the form of good ideas. So you send me an idea for something you think I should write about on this blog and I’ll enter your name in my drawing. If you send me more than one idea, I’ll enter you again for each idea you send. So that we don’t get any duplicate ideas, you’ll need to send your idea in the form of a comment to this post. That way you can see if someone already stole your great idea. When I write my review, I’ll post the name of the winner. Don’t worry, it’s all very official. I’ll let my kids oversee the drawing so that it’s all done fair and square. They’re the experts on what is fair and what is not and dividing things up evenly and what have you. Trust me.
If you’d like to check out all the products you could win, see the Ecostore website at www.ecostoreusa.com. I’ll be evaluating the aloe vera shampoo and conditioner and the automatic dishwashing powder. There are lots of other products to choose from so bring on the ideas!
So the box from Ecostore USA arrived yesterday. Ecostore is a New Zealand based company that has just begun marketing in the US. I’ve contacted a friend in New Zealand for some official verification on their existence there, but so far they seem to be legit. They make environmentally friendly cleaning products for the home and body. The phrase “no nasty chemicals” is plastered all over their pages. I’m assuming that “no nasty chemicals” means that they only use nice chemicals and that some of those nice chemicals might even be organic. Since the box just arrived, I haven’t had time to study the items yet, but I’ll have the chemical engineer in the family give them a lookover. The Ecostore products were delivered by Fed-Ex and true to their word, the bill already said “paid.” Gotta love it. I was immediately impressed with all the environmentally friendly assurances about recycled packaging and paper. It doesn’t take much (especially when you’re giving me free stuff) to impress me.
OK, OK, enough about me and my free stuff, what’s in it for you dear reader? Free stuff! Really! Along with the products, I was also given a $25 gift certificate for products from the Ecostore USA website to award to one of my lucky readers! This trusting company didn’t even specify what you have to do to win – they left that up to me. I like the whole trust element. (There was no clause that said that Nick couldn’t win!). So since I’m hoping that I can get even more out of this promo, I came up with a great way to decide who gets the free stuff.
If you’d like to win $25 in free products from Ecostore USA, all you have to do is give me a good idea for a post. Some days my mind is scattered and it's difficult to gather up my thoughts and figure out what to write. This is my way of getting some more free stuff in the form of good ideas. So you send me an idea for something you think I should write about on this blog and I’ll enter your name in my drawing. If you send me more than one idea, I’ll enter you again for each idea you send. So that we don’t get any duplicate ideas, you’ll need to send your idea in the form of a comment to this post. That way you can see if someone already stole your great idea. When I write my review, I’ll post the name of the winner. Don’t worry, it’s all very official. I’ll let my kids oversee the drawing so that it’s all done fair and square. They’re the experts on what is fair and what is not and dividing things up evenly and what have you. Trust me.
If you’d like to check out all the products you could win, see the Ecostore website at www.ecostoreusa.com. I’ll be evaluating the aloe vera shampoo and conditioner and the automatic dishwashing powder. There are lots of other products to choose from so bring on the ideas!
Monday, May 4, 2009
Waste Not Want Not
This weekend my refrigerator went on the fritz and froze everything in my fruit drawer (or maybe some kid, I’m not naming names here, messed with the temperature control). What to do, what to do. Never one to let anything go to waste, especially any expensive, organic, edible thing, I got busy. Luckily there wasn’t much in my fruit drawer this time of year. Not much is available if you’re particular about fruit that is local and organic. There were about 12 apples – the last of the local crop still available at the farm market. There was a bag of organic lemons that had been reduced for quick sale, and some grapes that I was talked in to buying when I broke my own rule and took a kid to the grocery store with me. So the damage wasn’t too bad. Still, I would never throw out good food so….
I thawed out the apples, peeled them and made some fresh apple sauce for dinner that night. The kids were so excited to have warm fresh applesauce, they ate the whole pot. If you’ve never had warm applesauce – try it some time. It’s one of my favorite tastes of fall, but you can make applesauce anytime. A friend stopped by to pick up her daughter while I was in the midst of making the applesauce and was amazed at how easy it is to make. She kept saying, “That’s all there is to it?” the entire time I was making it. She was so impressed that I worry there are others out there who don’t know how simple it is to make applesauce, so here’s the lowdown:
1. Peel and core apples and cut them in to slices (if you don’t like chunky applesauce, you can always pureed the sauce in a food processor after it’s cooked).
Put them in a big pot and add some water – just enough until you can see water amongst your apples, but not so much that it’s covering your apples.
2. Sprinkle a little lemon juice over the apples. You only need a splash, this is to keep it from browning too much and it acts as a preservative if you’re planning to store the applesauce for any length of time. Trust me, if you’ve got kids and you let them have some right after it’s made, there will be no need for storage.
3. Bring the apples to a simmer on med-high and cook until the water mostly evaporates and the apples turn to sauce and break apart easily. Stir the apples frequently so they don’t stick to the bottom, add more water if necessary. This can take some time, especially if you use too much water.
4. When it looks like applesauce, add as much sugar as you like. You won’t need much.
You can also add cinnamon if that’s your thing. I skip it.
Done. See? So easy.
Sweet-tart apples make the best sauce. I don’t recommend red delicious, but mixed with another kind they would be alright. You never need to toss apples – next time they get mealy, bruised, old, wrinkled, or frozen – make applesauce!
Next came the lemons. Not much to do with frozen lemons other than to thaw them out and make lemonade. Which is what my husband did. It was a rainy, miserable weekend so hot applesauce and cold lemonade were both pleasant surprises for all of us. I wasn’t as keen to save the grapes but my kids discovered that frozen grapes are fun to eat, so they didn’t go to waste after all.
Our adventures with the fruit drawer brought home an important part of living an affordable kid-friendly organic life – waste nothing! As much as I love composting, I would never throw something in there for later that I can use now. When the organic free trade bananas get too brown I peel them, break them in to sections and freeze them. Then anytime I want to make banana bread or banana milk shakes, I’ve got the perfect overripe bananas at the ready. I paid a small fortune for those bananas, heck if I’m gonna toss them out over a few brown spots.
When we come down to the ends of our bread or there’s just a couple slices left on the French bread loaf, I make croutons out of what’s left. Croutons are simple to make. Just cut the bread in to crouton size chunks. Spread them out on a cooking sheet. Spray them with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder. Bake at 200 for one hour and 30 minutes, then turn the oven off and let them cool inside the oven. Done. You can also make bread crumbs from the croutons if you need bread crumbs.
Nothing needs to go to waste. You don’t have to grow up in the Depression to know that, although I do think of my mom whenever I’m tucking another plastic container of bananas in to my freezer. She is never one to let anything go to waste and always leaves our house after Thanksgiving with the turkey carcass in the trunk. We let her have it because we know it will come back in the form of her famous homemade turkey noodle soup. Waste not, want not. So true.
I thawed out the apples, peeled them and made some fresh apple sauce for dinner that night. The kids were so excited to have warm fresh applesauce, they ate the whole pot. If you’ve never had warm applesauce – try it some time. It’s one of my favorite tastes of fall, but you can make applesauce anytime. A friend stopped by to pick up her daughter while I was in the midst of making the applesauce and was amazed at how easy it is to make. She kept saying, “That’s all there is to it?” the entire time I was making it. She was so impressed that I worry there are others out there who don’t know how simple it is to make applesauce, so here’s the lowdown:
1. Peel and core apples and cut them in to slices (if you don’t like chunky applesauce, you can always pureed the sauce in a food processor after it’s cooked).
Put them in a big pot and add some water – just enough until you can see water amongst your apples, but not so much that it’s covering your apples.
2. Sprinkle a little lemon juice over the apples. You only need a splash, this is to keep it from browning too much and it acts as a preservative if you’re planning to store the applesauce for any length of time. Trust me, if you’ve got kids and you let them have some right after it’s made, there will be no need for storage.
3. Bring the apples to a simmer on med-high and cook until the water mostly evaporates and the apples turn to sauce and break apart easily. Stir the apples frequently so they don’t stick to the bottom, add more water if necessary. This can take some time, especially if you use too much water.
4. When it looks like applesauce, add as much sugar as you like. You won’t need much.
You can also add cinnamon if that’s your thing. I skip it.
Done. See? So easy.
Sweet-tart apples make the best sauce. I don’t recommend red delicious, but mixed with another kind they would be alright. You never need to toss apples – next time they get mealy, bruised, old, wrinkled, or frozen – make applesauce!
Next came the lemons. Not much to do with frozen lemons other than to thaw them out and make lemonade. Which is what my husband did. It was a rainy, miserable weekend so hot applesauce and cold lemonade were both pleasant surprises for all of us. I wasn’t as keen to save the grapes but my kids discovered that frozen grapes are fun to eat, so they didn’t go to waste after all.
Our adventures with the fruit drawer brought home an important part of living an affordable kid-friendly organic life – waste nothing! As much as I love composting, I would never throw something in there for later that I can use now. When the organic free trade bananas get too brown I peel them, break them in to sections and freeze them. Then anytime I want to make banana bread or banana milk shakes, I’ve got the perfect overripe bananas at the ready. I paid a small fortune for those bananas, heck if I’m gonna toss them out over a few brown spots.
When we come down to the ends of our bread or there’s just a couple slices left on the French bread loaf, I make croutons out of what’s left. Croutons are simple to make. Just cut the bread in to crouton size chunks. Spread them out on a cooking sheet. Spray them with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder. Bake at 200 for one hour and 30 minutes, then turn the oven off and let them cool inside the oven. Done. You can also make bread crumbs from the croutons if you need bread crumbs.
Nothing needs to go to waste. You don’t have to grow up in the Depression to know that, although I do think of my mom whenever I’m tucking another plastic container of bananas in to my freezer. She is never one to let anything go to waste and always leaves our house after Thanksgiving with the turkey carcass in the trunk. We let her have it because we know it will come back in the form of her famous homemade turkey noodle soup. Waste not, want not. So true.
Friday, May 1, 2009
The High Cost of Eating
Do you know how much you spend on food? Details are not generally my thing when it comes to just about anything except our budget. Early in our marriage, paying the bills and managing the piles of money (ha) became my job. It stressed Nick out to know what we spent on pets or clothing or food or other unnecessary items (unnecessary in his mind at least. He never had an issue with what we spent on beer.). So I claimed this task and began tracking it on my computer. I got a strange thrill from categorizing each expense and generating reports with just a click of the mouse. The pie charts were kind of fun. So I can tell you exactly what we spent on food (or anything else for that matter) for the last 13 years.
For the purpose of comparing our food budget before and after we “went organic”, I am only looking at the last four years. In 2005, organic meant only a term in chemistry class to us. In 2006, our youngest son developed Alopecia Areata and we began our quest to cleanse our diet and our life. In 2007 we were a bit militant about organics and in 2008 we finally hit our happy medium of local, organic, whole foods. We were gardening throughout all these years, but the serious canning began in 2007 and in 2008 consumed our summer.
A little more background – we have three kids. Kid #1 is not a big eater except for Cheezits (he requires at least one box a week). Kid #2 eats less than the birds that wait patiently at my bird feeder that I rarely fill (except when my dad visits because he’s the “birder”). Kid #3 eats anything, all the time, preferably something with lots of meat and fat. All three of these kids have only gotten bigger during my comparison period, so you would expect that they are eating more (except maybe Kid #2, I think she eats less if that’s possible. Her food preferences become more restrictive each week. We’re down to macaroni, cheese sticks, and strawberries.).
The price of groceries has gone up dramatically. A fact that is not lost on you, I am sure.
So bearing all of these factors in mind, I’m now going to share with you our food expenditure for the last four years……drum roll please…….
Has remained just about the same each year, give or take $100 either way. Bizarre, I know. Even as we have transitioned to organic, local, whole foods we have managed to keep our food expenditures the same. Considering the growth of our family and the state of our economy, you might even say we lowered our food bill. Proof positive that you do not need to spend more to eat organic. You do have to be creative and resourceful and you can’t be afraid to get your hands dirty. I know I’ve said much of this before, but here’s how we do it:
1. We stock up on staples, especially if they are on sale, reducing the number of trips to the store.
2. We buy in bulk – mostly loose bulk from a natural food grocery store we are blessed to live reasonably close to.
3. We buy our beef and pork by the cow and pig.
4. We raise our own eggs.
5. We garden like lunatics and can, freeze, or dry everything that’s not moving.
6. We avoid buying processed food and make our own bread, yogurt, cookies, etc.
7. We pack lunches.
8. We buy directly from farmers and love to “pick and pay” all summer long.
9. We cook and eat at home almost every day, eating out only on rare occasions (we’d rather splurge on seafood and cook it at home where the wine is cheaper and better and the bread is fresh).
10. We eat “planned overs” (never call them “leftovers”).
And we eat well. No way this would work if that wasn’t the case. I love to eat. Last night we had pulled pork sandwiches, baked beans, and fresh local asparagus. Tonight we’ll have homemade pizza with caramelized onions and roasted red peppers with a fresh salad and homemade ice cream for dessert. So if your excuse for not eating organic and healthy is that you can’t afford to, take a look at your budget. It’s a matter of priorities.
I’m not one to preach (most of the time), but what you put in your body and your kids’ bodies should be the very best. Nobody gets a second chance to be healthy today. It’s an investment, like any other. Maybe you can’t raise chickens in your backyard (although you’d be surprised….), but you can find ways to cut your budget and eat healthier. Little changes add up to big ones. Just don’t say it can’t be done.
For the purpose of comparing our food budget before and after we “went organic”, I am only looking at the last four years. In 2005, organic meant only a term in chemistry class to us. In 2006, our youngest son developed Alopecia Areata and we began our quest to cleanse our diet and our life. In 2007 we were a bit militant about organics and in 2008 we finally hit our happy medium of local, organic, whole foods. We were gardening throughout all these years, but the serious canning began in 2007 and in 2008 consumed our summer.
A little more background – we have three kids. Kid #1 is not a big eater except for Cheezits (he requires at least one box a week). Kid #2 eats less than the birds that wait patiently at my bird feeder that I rarely fill (except when my dad visits because he’s the “birder”). Kid #3 eats anything, all the time, preferably something with lots of meat and fat. All three of these kids have only gotten bigger during my comparison period, so you would expect that they are eating more (except maybe Kid #2, I think she eats less if that’s possible. Her food preferences become more restrictive each week. We’re down to macaroni, cheese sticks, and strawberries.).
The price of groceries has gone up dramatically. A fact that is not lost on you, I am sure.
So bearing all of these factors in mind, I’m now going to share with you our food expenditure for the last four years……drum roll please…….
Has remained just about the same each year, give or take $100 either way. Bizarre, I know. Even as we have transitioned to organic, local, whole foods we have managed to keep our food expenditures the same. Considering the growth of our family and the state of our economy, you might even say we lowered our food bill. Proof positive that you do not need to spend more to eat organic. You do have to be creative and resourceful and you can’t be afraid to get your hands dirty. I know I’ve said much of this before, but here’s how we do it:
1. We stock up on staples, especially if they are on sale, reducing the number of trips to the store.
2. We buy in bulk – mostly loose bulk from a natural food grocery store we are blessed to live reasonably close to.
3. We buy our beef and pork by the cow and pig.
4. We raise our own eggs.
5. We garden like lunatics and can, freeze, or dry everything that’s not moving.
6. We avoid buying processed food and make our own bread, yogurt, cookies, etc.
7. We pack lunches.
8. We buy directly from farmers and love to “pick and pay” all summer long.
9. We cook and eat at home almost every day, eating out only on rare occasions (we’d rather splurge on seafood and cook it at home where the wine is cheaper and better and the bread is fresh).
10. We eat “planned overs” (never call them “leftovers”).
And we eat well. No way this would work if that wasn’t the case. I love to eat. Last night we had pulled pork sandwiches, baked beans, and fresh local asparagus. Tonight we’ll have homemade pizza with caramelized onions and roasted red peppers with a fresh salad and homemade ice cream for dessert. So if your excuse for not eating organic and healthy is that you can’t afford to, take a look at your budget. It’s a matter of priorities.
I’m not one to preach (most of the time), but what you put in your body and your kids’ bodies should be the very best. Nobody gets a second chance to be healthy today. It’s an investment, like any other. Maybe you can’t raise chickens in your backyard (although you’d be surprised….), but you can find ways to cut your budget and eat healthier. Little changes add up to big ones. Just don’t say it can’t be done.
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