Vegetables delivered

Growing up in Sandusky was idyllic. Our 100 year old home didn't have AC. Hot summer afternoons were serenaded by fans blowing in the windows. I especially loved the warm afternoons, after being outside all morning, coming in and showering, laying on the floor in front of a fan for a mini-siesta.

My parents worked hard on a nice-sized garden that yielded tomatoes, lettuce, rhubarb, carrots, radishes and other veggies, the variety changing year after year.

Some afternoons - if we were lucky- children would come by pulling a wagon, selling produce presumably from their family's garden. I don't know where these people came from but they were always a welcome sight for my mom, who would call from the kitchen and tell me to get onions, radishes, a few melons or whatever she didn't have on hand.

Today, I often wish we had someone nearby who would come past, pulling a wagon and offering some of their homegrown vegetables. My own garden is very small and still not yielding much this year - lots of herbs but so far, just cherry tomatoes, jalepenos, green peppers and a few small yellow zucchini.

Just east of where I grew up, in Huron, is a wonderful farm called Chef's Garden. 225 acres of sustainable farming, similar to the principals at Malabar Farm. Chef's Garden has begun an unbelievable undertaking of selling their superb, high quality and unique produce through AN INSURANCE COMPANY. I know, right? Read more at my examiner.com article this week.

Another hike for food

My blog has been on vacation this past week, I guess everyone deserves a break from routine. Even words in cyberspace or the interwebs, or whatever you kids are calling it these days.

Today we rose and spent a leisurely morning sipping coffee and recovering from a long and busy week. Decided to go out for brunch, but again, walk the mile or so each way to a restaurant. Braden and I made the hike; he is suppose to walk every day for his pulmonary rehabilitation. The kids weren't all up yet and ready to go, so they followed behind later in the car, just in case Dad needed a break. We ended up walking both ways to Bob Evans - with a nice breakfast in between.

It is such a pleasant feeling to stroll after a meal; in our culture it's too customary to eat and then sit down which is not as good for our digestive systems. I'm not suggesting riding a roller coaster after wolfing a cheeseburger in 60 seconds (which is a common challenge on the Bubster's new fave show Brain Rush) But a nice 20-30 minute walk after eating is refreshing for the soul and good for digestion too.

I love our new tradition of walking for our meals out- adds a nice dimension to the event and we see all kinds of interesting things along the way. I highly recommend it.

Later today we're going spelunking. I don't know if you can really call it that, we're going into some caverns - Indian Trails -

From their website:

The Sheriden cave site at Indian Trail Caverns was presented by the State of Ohio with a historical marker in August of 2001. The site has yielded over ten thousand different specimens and artifacts which include over sixty five species of life that lived in Ohio prior to the last glacial coverage of the region. Rare extinct species found at the site include short faced bear, elk-moose, flat headed and long nosed peccary. This is the most recent site on the planet where the giant beaver lived. The giant beaver was over six feet long and weighed over 250 pounds.

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend ~

Beth

Holistic Dentists

Today over on examiner, I wrote about holistic dentists, by definition and also a way to locate one near you. There is an awesome practice in Cleveland called the Center for Advanced Dentistry, I wrote about it here.

Hope your smile is projecting all your inner beauty! ;)

Here's to your health,

Beth

Got a picky eater? Today I covered all the bases

Over on Suite101, I discussed some helpful hints for feeding picky kids. I have them, I know how the drill.
I've also learned that kids grow and change and their tastes change as well. Mine did. Yours probably did too.
Patience is a virtue for parents on ever topic and getting your kids to eat "right" takes time. In fact, according to my research, we have to offer a new food about 10 times to get our children to actually like them.
Don't give up! :)

A long walk for lunch

Today- my munchkins asked if we could go out for lunch- the summer doldrums are here and I understand wanting to get out of the house and do something different (even though we've been at Space Camp and karate classes this week- my kids HAVE to always be busy...I understand that too...Type A personality, OCD, ADD, whatever... we just are happier when we have a project or something going on)
And...the ADD kicks in...back to lunch. I agreed, with two caveats:
One, that we walk to wherever we go. That immediately limited some of the choices, although we're within a few miles of a dozen restaurants, the closest one got picked (Olive Garden).
Two, that they only order water to drink. This helps me stay on our weekly budget -and eliminates the battle of "can't I PLEASE get pop?" when we get there. You know how much I love the HFCS...

So, we're headed off to Olive Garden, home of the sort of Italian food, for some salad and soup and breadsticks..and water. Maybe not THE healthiest lunch in the world, but could certainly be worse.
And we'll get a good workout both ways.

It's so hot today, I'm sure there will be swimming later too. Pictured are my son and "his" two girls, his buddies from down the street, out cruising in the convertible last night.

Hope you're all having an awesome week!

Best,
Beth

Born on the Fourth of July

Today's bittersweet for me - I have always loved Independence Day, not just for the celebration of our nation, but for duality of the holiday. My dad - Calvin Coolidge Crawford -was born on the 4th of July during Calvin Coolidge's presidency- (1924) - to a very patriotic mother (obviously). Dad's been gone 7 months now, and the day is a lot harder than I thought it would be without him...

Growing up, we celebrated the 4th always as the national holiday but also Dad's birthday and my childhood was spent on the shores of Lake Erie or at various inland parks, with family & friends, cooking out, swimming and having an amazing time.

Swimming was always a focal point, Dad was going off the high dive on his 50th birthday. We spent many years at the beach at East Harbor too. There was always a cookout, birthday cake, and at least one thunderstorm midday that would send us running to the cars or shelters, shivering from the sudden drop in temperature. Those times were still fun because we might end up at a putt-putt or better yet, an ice cream stand. Still in our suits, wrapped in beach towels and then the party would move on to someone's house or back to the parks.

At day's end, fireworks were usually watched at the bank parking lot across from Hill's, a department store that had a nice display -or- from Battery Park, watching the sky illuminate from Cedar Point, across Sandusky Bay.

Dad never minded sharing his birthday with the whole country; in fact, he seemed honored to be born on Independence Day. We called him our firecracker and he was.

For me, this year, the day seems to have fizzled without him.

Hmmm...should I mention the High Fructose Corn Syrup?

Who knew my little corner of the blogger world would generate such interest and controversy from big business? Because I've been blogging and writing about high fructose corn syrup, a paid consultant for some very big companies (I won't mention any names, but they rhyme with Moca Mola and Melloggs... just to name a few, her list of corporate clients is longer than a "fruit" roll up) by the name of Robyn Flipse has been leaving comments on my articles.
Not nice comments. Albeit professional, they have a whiff of antagonism and worse, deception. I've been deleting the comments but finally responded. ((Make sure to read the comments at the end of the article, they go in reverse order))
It's amazing to me that someone like that is paid to surf around the interwebs and post comments on topics that are controversial and detrimental to her clients' bank account. Amazing.
I didn't know I had so much influence, but apparently I do. And in today's corporate world, it's good to know.
To read more about the deceptive tactics of the corporate food industry and the lenghths they will go to protect their bottom line, read this.