3/365 - Heart

Harrison's people might not have arms, but he always makes sure to give them a heart : )

2/365 - Something New

    Added some food coloring and water to a spray bottle and the kids sprayed the snow outside.  They had a blast! 

     I wish I had a good editing program. I would have loved to make the whole picture black and white and have the snow still be colored. 

365 Photo Project

I've heard about this photo project that people were doing last year.  It's where you take a picture of something every day of the year.  You can either make a list of categories, use a list found online, or just take and post a random picture.  I needed a little more structure so I found a list I liked on Pinterest from @fatmumslim and decided to give it a try.  Here's my first attempt.  

1/365 : Today - Since it's the first day of the new year, I thought this picture would fit the category.

Happy New Year!

Grass-fed Beef 101

I never really gave much thought to red meat. I mean, I heard you were supposed to limit your intake and try to only have it 1-2 times per week.  I heard it was bad for your heart and cholesterol, and was high in fat.  I would see signs in the grocery stores: Corn Fed, Grass-fed, Vegetarian Fed, Grain Fed, etc.  I never really knew the difference between any of them or thought there was any choice to be had.  Then I picked up the book The Real Food Revival: Aisle by Aisle, Morsel by Morsel in the food section of my library.  This book was a life changer for me.  The chapters are broken down into aisles of the supermarket and the meat chapter was especially eye opening.  I now know that red meat, when raised and handled properly, is actually good for you.  You can eat as much as you want, without limitations.  

     What's the matter with corn fed?

                                   

Up until the 1950s cows were traditionally raised on pasture (grass).  Cattle ate grass in the warmer months and hay in the colder months.  Then came a surplus on corn and soybeans and farmers saw their cows gaining weight much quicker eating grains.  A bonus for the farmers was that grain was available year round, unlike grass.  The corn fed meat was tender and had more marbling than grass-fed beef and was soon seen as the better type of beef.  The problem with this new diet was that the cows started getting sick from the grain.  Cows' stomachs are not built to break down corn.  Grain gives cattle an acid stomach and makes them sick.  Antibiotics are given to help with the current sickness and further antibiotics are given to try to prevent other problems, such as liver disease.  Antibiotics and growth hormones are also given to cows so they will grow faster.  A cow who used to take 4-5 years to mature, is now maturing in 14 months.  What happens to all those antibiotics and hormones? They get passed along to us and we eat them.  

There is so much more to cover regarding the overuse of antibiotics and its' effects on animals and humans.  I'll cover that in a future post.  

     

     Benefits of grass-fed beef 

Other than the obvious lack of antibiotics and growth hormones,  more reasons to eat grass-fed beef are:

• Higher in Omega-3 fats, which help prevent against high blood pressure and heart attacks.  Studies have shown Omega-3s to help reduce your risk of cancer, and slow down the spread of a wide array of cancers.
• Has the same amount of fat as a skinless chicken breast, deer, or elk.  Lean meat lowers your LDL cholesterol levels.
• Higher in vitamin E and beta-carotene.  Vitamin E is linked with a lower risk of heart disease and cancer.  It has also shown to have anti-aging properties.  
• Meat and milk from grass-fed animals have higher levels of CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) a type of good fat which greatly reduces tumor growth and cancer risk.

     Why I plan to buy a cow.

Grass-fed beef is pricey.  Very pricey.  Cuts of meat average about $20 per lb in grocery stores such as Whole Foods.  Even visiting a farm that raises grass-fed beef will prove to be a costly trip.  Your best option is to buy in bulk and purchase half a cow.  You buy the cow from the farm, who arranges for it to be butchered under USDA supervision, shrink wrapped, labeled and frozen.  It sounds crazy, but I definitely think it's worth it.  I don't think there's anything better than knowing exactly where your food comes from.  If you can't afford it or don't have the freezer space you can split the purchase with others, AKA cowpooling.  I visited a farm yesterday and was so impressed with the farmer and techniques used.  I purchased some meat to sample and will hopefully be able to purchase more in the future.  I will then follow up and give a full description of the particular farm, farmer, and techniques used.

     

     

     

How Kiwi Crate saves my sanity

One of my favorite blogs that I started following when H was younger is Weelicious.  A lot of what she blogs about is cooking for and with kids, but she also gives great tips on new and different products.  A few months ago she posted about Kiwi Crate and gave a promo code to try it out for half off.  I thought it looked good and decided to give it a try.  It was almost summer vacation and I thought it would be good to have some projects to keep us busy.  For the most part my kids get along, but on those crazy out of control days it's nice to have something set aside that I know will keep us all busy for a little while. 

Kiwi Crate is a monthly service that you sign up for.  Each month for $20, a box gets delivered to you and inside is 2 related projects.  The materials are very well made and stand up well to both my kids.  You can pay an additional $7.95 per month for extra materials if you have more than one child, although we've never needed the extras.  K is usually able to participate and make her own project.  H is always super excited when he sees we have a new box delivered.  This month's crate was Farmer's Market.

The 2 projects this month were My Colorful Harvest and My Market Apron.  Each project comes with their own instruction booklet and lets you know how much parent participation is required. That really helps you plan which one you should tackle first, and if you'll have to split the box up into 2 separate days (which we did with this one).  

We decided to work on the Colorful Harvest project first.  The materials given were fruit and vegetable/fruit fabrics, yarn laces, cotton balls, green felt, pipe cleaners, and stencils.  In our first box we ever received they provided child safe scissors which were optional for this project, as was a pencil.

The first step was choosing a vegetable/fruit fabric and lacing it almost all around, leaving a small space to stuff with cotton balls.

K stuffing her apple piece with the cotton balls and H lacing his eggplant piece.

After the pieces were laced and stuffed we finished them off with more lacing cut leaf shapes out of the green felt.  We used the pipe cleaners to attached the leaves to the top of each piece.

The finished products.  This was a fun activity to keep us busy on a day where we stayed home.  We didn't get to the other project, which was to paint on an apron and pretend to work at a Farmer's Market selling your fruits and vegetables.  The crate came with paper money for the customer.

I'm so impressed with the amount of materials that comes with each crate.  Kiwi Crate also emails you extension activities that vary with each crate.  This is a definite sanity saver for parents, especially ones who have more than one kid at home!

Going to the zoo..........for free!

Yesterday we went to the Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport, CT......and it was free! All we needed was our library card.

A lot of libraries have museum passes that are available for free or discounted admission to parks, museums, and other attractions.  The Beardsley Zoo is a very popular one but we were able to reserve it about a month in advance.   Just check on your library's main page and see if there is a link for Museum Passes.  My library gives you the option to search up to 30 days in advance.  You can also reserve the passes at libraries outside of your town, but check their rules first.  Sometimes you have to call the day of instead of reserving online.

It was K's first time at the zoo where she could actually run around and enjoy the animals.  She was so excited when we first got there that she was so close to them!

This was one of my favorite parts.  The zoo has 3 bald eagles and one of them was taking a bath in the little pond right in front of us.  They had a sign explaining that zoos are only allowed to have the eagles if they have been injured in some way and unable to return to the wild.  When this particular eagle got out of the water were noticed it was missing some of its right wing.  They are so beautiful to watch!

Peacocks roam freely around the zoo, which H loved.  K kept trying to run up and pet them....and the chipmunks.....and the squirrels.  One day she'll realize that most animals do not want her running up to them squealing.  She has yet to catch one.

This was a really cool thing to try right at the entrance of the zoo.  They have a condor right when you walk in and afterwards you can "spread your wings" to see how big your wingspan is.  Then you can see what kind of animal matches your wingspan.  H had the wingspan of a Red-Tailed Hawk and K had the wingspan of Barn Owl.

We will most definitely be back again soon.  Hopefully we'll be able to get the free library passes again!

The First Post

I'm sitting here trying to figure out how to write a post for this new blog I've decided to create.  How many times will I write a sentence and then delete it and start over? I don't even know where to begin.  I guess I'll start with the number one thing that started me on my journey to becoming the person I am today.  It was a book actually....a life changing book.  Don't Eat This Book by Morgan Spurlock.  I don't know why I ever decided to pick that book up in the store and buy it. I remember calling my older sister up and reading her gross quotes (I'll spare you.....for now).  At the time I did it to disgust her and make myself laugh, but by the end of the book I wasn't laughing. I was so grossed out and haven't eaten a McDonald's burger since. Not that I was ever a huge fan of the burgers, but I would occasionally eat one without giving it a second thought.

A few years later I got married and became pregnant with my first child.  I joined an online mom's group with IVillage and was amazed to learn about things I had never even thought about. Eating organic, "going green", homemade baby food, to vaccinate or not to vaccinate, to circumcise or not to circumcise, chemicals in your home, and the list goes on.  After my son H was born I became even more interested in learning all that I could do to make his world healthy and safe.  I had never known love like that and was determined to make his environment a better one. I slowly began reading more about food and became aware of how important it is to read labels and know exactly what you are putting into your body.  I couldn't believe the person I was turning into. I never paid attention to labels or food before I had my son.  I had no idea what all the different terminology meant. Farmed fish? Wild Fish? Free Range? Air Chilled? Vegetarian Fed? "All Natural"? Organic? "Grass Fed? Huh????? I felt like I was constantly reading and researching anything I could find so I could become more educated about our surroundings.  

I decided to start this blog as a place where I can talk about what's most important to me and every parent I know: the health of their children (and themselves!).  I won't only be blogging about food, although currently that's my biggest concern/interest.  I'll also talk about general kid and family things: ways to save money, family activities in my area, green tips, etc.  I hope you'll find the posts interesting and hopefully you can learn a few things, or teach me a few things!