What Not to Eat

I have felt uneasy about lawn services for a long time. We cut back on ours, but Chuck wasn’t quite ready to give it up altogether. A post from the Smart Ingredients Blog arrived in my inbox, and it made a lot of sense. I really don’t want those pesticides seeping into the soil near my garden, no matter how seldom.

In the post called Intentional Eating, the blogger discussed ingredients that are harmful and hidden in processed foods. Here’s a sampler.

  • MSG – Can causes weight gain, brain damage, depression, headaches. Found in seasonings, broths and packaged foods.
  • Aspartame – A carcinogen. Found in diet foods and gum.
  • High-fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) Can cause weight gain, tissue damage, diabetes. Found in sweets, breads, salad dressings, condiments and more.
  • Food dyes – Can cause hyperactivity. Found in many items, the not-so obvious ones include kids’ medicines, vitamins, pickles, muffins, salmon.

Her list was longer, but you get the idea. The solution? We’re doing a lot of it already, but I know my family could get better. Suggestions start with:

  • Change something. Small steps lead to better lifetime habits.
  • Make your own. Get in your kitchen and start making cleaner foods for your family.
  • Read labels. You may be surprised – even shocked! – at what’s in commonly purchased foods.

To read the entire post about Intentional Eating, go to the Organizing Dinner Blog.

This is not a sponsored post. It just reinforced what I’d been thinking and gave some specific examples. Readers, what else do you do to cut out the chemicals in your family’s foods?

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Save No Money at the Big Box Store

We needed a shed – a big box, if you will. We’d somehow missed the seasonal sales, so it took a good search to find the best deal on the best size shed. Chuck found one at a store that doesn’t usually attract our attention.

“With the discount, it’s the right price for exactly the right size, and we can have it delivered.”

“Okay.”

“Well, it’s not really a discount. It’s a rebate.”

“Then we’ll be sure to do the paperwork.”

“And the rebate is in the form of a store credit gift card.”

“If that’s what it is, that’s what it is. I’ll apply it toward garden supplies in the spring.”

We came to regret it. The delivery ran into snags and got here several days later than expected, which gave Chuck the job of assembling it outside in nasty fall-hints-at-winter weather. Then we all shared the same virus, and not even rebate paperwork could pull me away from the bucket next to my bed. Those were small inconveniences, though. The final word, however, was this: the email with the rebate instructions came after the rebate deadline.

Now we’re shaking our heads, saying we knew better, but we didn’t act on our past experience. It’s highly doubtful that we’ll go back to this store, rebate or no rebate. If we miss the sales, we’ll go to the store that has everything and more and a big orange silo in the middle.

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Shop Small: Not just Once a Year

Shop Small, and Shop Local!

Shop Small, and Shop Local!

There’s more to this picture than just a reminder to shop small and use my own bag. The bag (cute, with polka dotted back) was free at a small downtown shop on Small Business Saturday, the day after Black Friday. If you look closely, you’ll see that also hanging on the kitchen chair is a large plastic bag from Kohl’s. Oops. So much for using my own bag, right?

Well, not exactly. Kohl’s is a Wisconsin company. Its headquarters are near Milwaukee. I shop there carefully to get the most for my frugal dollar. Between discounts and a gift card (earned through a wellness program) and sale racks, I got my money’s worth when I filled this bag.

As for the bag, it’s big. The reusable bags in my purse were not big enough to handle this order (mainly the hiking boots and their box). To make the most of the one-use plastic bag, I’ll make sure it sees at least another day as a wastebasket liner or a container for thrift store donations. I’m green, but I’m not perfect. Sometimes I have to make the best of a less than optimal situation.

So the moral of the story, the resolution to this tale, is this: shop small businesses, shop locally, be green whenever possible and use tools to shop frugally at those local and small businesses. Sound good? Readers, I value your input. Comments are welcome – consider adding your two cents about shopping small and shopping locally.

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Food Choice – eat a rainbow

Children are natural sorters. They look at collections and organize them into categories or order them by size, shape, or color. Chuck gave our niece a basket of toy food. She organized it by color, in rainbow order.

Rainbow Menu!

Rainbow Menu!

Maybe her mother will let her sort and organize the refrigerator. Or maybe not.

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All This for a Stack of Books?

It’s not just any stack of books. In my family? Books fill and overflow the shelves until we have book piles – and that’s after I swap away quite a few and deposit a few more in neighborhood Little Free Libraries.

But I’m already getting off topic. La Petite called and asked if I could help her transport a bookshelf she would like to buy. I was going to be there anyway, coming to pick up Amigo after a weekend visit. Of course I said “Sure, why not?”

First: the bookshelf she wanted, a display model, flew off the store shelves before we arrived. It was gone. The store had the item in stock at full price, but La Petite wasn’t quite prepared to pay that much that day. That’s my girl: frugal to the end, even with a bookshelf.

But we had the van. And the shelves were unlikely to fit in her Saturn. Unlikely? Impossible .And the shelf unit was perfect, just perfect, for her apartment and the Big Art Books that needed a home. The shelf unit was a little more than she wanted to pay, but the Momvan was temporarily available, and it was Black Friday weekend, after all. She asked for a manager – nicely, of course.

The manager on duty offered her 20% off – close to $100 discount. We bought the shelves.

With a big box of ready-to-assemble bookshelf loaded into the Momvan, we realized we didn’t have a hand truck or dolly to help us maneuver this big, not too heavy but definitely awkward box from the parking lot to her apartment. We found a nearby Menard’s (doesn’t every strip have a nearby Menard’s?), bought a simple hand truck and a toy for the Toys for Tots box, and we were ready.

It wasn’t easy, and it was punctuated by repeated utterances in the category of “Mom, you’re pushing the wrong way,” but we got the Big Awkward Box to her door and then up to her second floor apartment. Luckily (for me, anyway), she didn’t want the shelves up in her loft bedroom.

And so, all was well with the world. Amigo and I hit the road with a few chips and sodas for a snack and the Green Bay Packers battling the New England Patriots on the radio. La Petite watched the game and put together her new set of shelves.

Home, sweet home.

Home, sweet home.

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Fall Market Days

We’re buying a little less at the Farm Market these days. The freezers are filling up, and we’re getting low on containers, too. That’s usually a sign that I don’t need to prep quite so many peas or so much corn. In that case, we buy mainly what we’ll cook and eat in the next week.

Saturday's Take

Saturday’s Take

I had to set up the still life on the table with the canning books and jar lids because the kitchen counter was full. See below.

Salsa Time!

Salsa Time!

I convinced “Chuck” to help prep the tomatoes. The kitchen smelled of onions, tomatoes, and vinegar. Yum! The only drawback of last night’s salsa marathon is this: there are no chips in the house. We’ll take care of that later today with a quick grocery run.

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Markets Galore!

Did I really neglect posting this last week?

Last Weekend's Market

Last Weekend’s Market

I made applesauce with a hint of cherry, cherry jam that didn’t jell, and froze more and more beans.

Then Wednesday came.

My Last Midweek Market

My Last Midweek Market

You can see potatoes, peaches, spinach, bunny food, and the un-jelled cherry jam peeking around the back.

I prepped what I could, but I didn’t buy anything that required major time investments because I knew Amigo and I would be gone Thursday and Friday.

So Saturday came again — see the results?

Today! Food, glorious food!

Today! Food, glorious food!

Everything has a purpose.

Apples: applesauce.

Peas: supper and freeze the rest.

Beans: freeze.

Zucchini: anything I want it to be.

Corn: a baker’s dozen (the vendor likes me) -half dozen for Sunday supper, the rest to freeze.

Meanwhile, I’m steaming cauliflower and carrots for supper tonight. They’ll be mashed with a little butter, salt, and pepper. Mmmmm.

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Back to School – Daisy Style

Back in my regular classroom days, preparing for school meant something different. Here are a few examples.

  • Then: I’d browse the school supply ads and stock up for students that I knew couldn’t afford supplies. 
  • Now: I stock up on canning supplies and fresh, local foods so I can feed my family through the winter.
  • Then: I’d plan at least a week in advance, usually more, to spend time in my room setting it up for the students’ arrival. It would take several days.
  • Now: I’ll stop in this week to move my belongings from my old cubicle to my new one. It’ll take an hour, two at the max. Maybe Amigo will help.
  • Then: I’d get the calendar up to date, noting staff meetings and parent-teacher conferences and any other commitments outside of the regular hours.
  • Now: I’ll get the calendar up to date. This item is still necessary.
  • Then: I’d spend a few Saturdays at school preparing my room and catching up with coworkers.
  • Now: I spend Saturdays at the farmers’ market or in the kitchen working on stocking the pantry.

I also make a point of spending time outside. It can be as simple as weeding or watering the garden or reading a book on the deck, but getting out is an important ingredient in self-care. Back to school means back to my cubicle and much, much more. The process may look different on the surface, but underneath the hustle and bustle it’s the same: getting ready for a new group of kids and parents.

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So on we go – grief or no grief

The flurry of posts and memorials for Robin William’s death has subsided a little. Life goes on and on.

Meanwhile, I keep going to the Farmers’ Markets. The act of going & the act of buying followed by the process of preparing and freezing or canning or cooking… Let’s start over before I create a huge run on sentence.

 

Wednesday's Market

Wednesday’s Market

The act of going to the market is therapeutic. I get to talk to people, ask questions, and interact positively.

The midweek market is a place filled with happy people! If you look closely at the photo, you’ll see two bunches of carrots. A vendor gave me the second bunch for free because I bought peas and beans from him. He was just being generous and nice – he didn’t know I had a pet rabbit at home waiting for fresh food like this.

No Parsley or Sage

No Parsley or Sage

Rosemary, Thyme, and Lemon Basil hang in the attic. They’ll hang from those hooks for at least two weeks until they’re dry or pretty darn close to it. Like gardening, hanging herbs for drying demonstrates a belief in the future. They won’t dry overnight.

Like gardening, drying my own herbs is a process, not a product. So on we go, growing  and harvesting and gathering what we’ll need for the future. The future looks good.

 

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Market Day – but wait, there’s more!

Last night I hooked myself up to monitors and participated in a home sleep test. I slept, so I’m guessing I passed. Right? Maybe. I’ll send the monitor back Monday and eventually hear back from the doctor.

But meanwhile, back at the O.K. Chorale, it’s Market Time Again!

First Things First

First Things First

This picture shows the stock-up items from Wednesday’s market. Peas, peppers, onions, bunny food (a.k.a. carrots), potatoes. The beans in the front came from the garden.

Saturday Market

Saturday Market

Blueberries, peas, yellow beans (I picked lots of green last night), bunny food, cherries, strawberries (imported, I’m sure), tomatoes, and a curry chicken salad for lunch from the Green Gecko Deli. The wine in the back row is also from the Green Gecko.

Are you thinking what I’m thinking – that it looks like a mighty small haul for a Saturday market? You’re right. I also bought a smoothie from Smoothie Island and egg rolls from the Hmong food booth. Aha. And —

CORN!!!

CORN!!!

I’ve mentioned that I plan to attack corn week by week instead of a big bushel all at once. Here’s the first batch. Chuck will cook six with supper tonight. the remaining 18 are due for a quick blanching followed by slicing the kernels off the cob. I feel like there’s a step I’m missing. In the book Plenty, they did one more thing, right? Oh, I remember! They had a bottle of wine. Prepping corn calls for wine, that’s it. I hope it’s okay if I substitute a New Glarus beer. It is a Wisconsin product, after all.

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