Little Boy Blue Cries Till He Gets His Way

Now that I've established that my son is a Jedi-in-training (see previous post), and that he's sure to dominate the galaxy someday with his testosterone, acting talent, and handsome good looks, then I can make my confession.

Let me start here: I throw some cold cereal in one of my colorful Ikea bowls, and the monkey throws a fit unless it's in his favorite color.

Next clue: the kid wears the same shoes every day for over a year. He's very particular about wearing thin sock without extra fluff around his toes, and with the seam not crowding the edges of his feet.

So The Mister of the House takes him to the store to pick out new shoes, and my Buddha Baby got stuck!

Breakfast cereal all again. Gotta have his favorite color. If you haven't guessed it by now, it is pink.

I love how this kid is opinionated, feisty, adorable, tan, and in love with his mama. Every day he hugs me close and says : "I wuf you mom.".

We did get him some new shoes by the way, and he came home and bragged about having "pink shoes". Maybe I'll get them on here tomorrow.

Happy Weekend!

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Father's Threat; Mother's Pride

I can't believe how fast these little people are becoming bigger people. Here's a recent trick we taught to our puppy.



If you live in a cave, click here.

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(Revisited) Review of Field to Families vs. Bountiful Baskets

A couple of months ago I posted a hasty review of two food co-ops operating in my region of the west. That comparison dealt mostly with ease of ordering (one totally dominates over the other) and value (both seemed a pretty good deal on paper, although I had only tried one of them). Since that time, I have ordered multiple baskets from both entities in question and am here to give a more thorough review.

Entity one?
Field to Families.

Entity Two?
Bountiful Baskets.

Rating system: 1 - 5 stars (5 being the best)
Here we go:

SERVICE AREA
Field to Families: 2 stars
Bountiful Baskets: 5 stars

The chances of you getting a Bountiful Basket are much higher simply because they service 6 states: Washington, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Nevada and Arizona. Utah alone has over 100 pick-up locations throughout the state!

Field to Families is operating (as of April 2010) in six cities in Utah, none of which are south of Layton. Those cities are: Logan, Ogden, Roy, Clinton, Layton, and Heber City (okay, technically Heber City is south of Layton but it's in the high Uintas and not along the populated Wasatch Front).

FRESH FOOD VARIETY
Field to Families: 3.5 stars
Bountiful Baskets: 5 stars

Field to Families has a smaller network of growers, and it's clear that they don't reach down into the southern regions of Central America (like Bountiful Baskets). Tropical fruits don't exist in the Field to Families Basket, and they make that clear on their web-site.

Who knew that pineapple grows in Mexico? Bountiful Baskets did. Their policy is 50/50 fruits and veggies, and I have been surprised at the variety. Bananas are a general staple in about every basket (also grown in Mexico), and have been supplemented with other fruits like oranges, strawberries, blackberries, cantaloupe, and...pineapple!

That is not to say that Field to Families has no fruit. Their baskets include "8 food units", of which strawberries have been somewhat constant in my pick-ups (also oranges and lemons).

CARBON FOOTPRINT
Field to Families: 4 stars
Bountiful Baskets: 2.5 stars

Anyone living in Utah should seriously consider Field to Families since they are practically in your backyard. Their growers are located in Northern Utah, with a partner farmer located in Southern California. Their network is smaller, but definitely more local!

With pineapples, melons, and bananas adorning Bountiful Baskets, it's clear that their produce made a longer drive to get to my kitchen, much like your local grocery store.

LOW COST
Field to Families: 5 stars
Bountiful Baskets: 4 stars

Both entities charge $15.00 for a conventional produce baskets. Bountiful Baskets also offers Organic Baskets for $25.00. Expect an extra $1.50 handling fee (for each order) from Bountiful Baskets as well as a one-time fee of $3.00 for first-time orders.

CONVENIENCE
Field to Families: 5 stars
Bountiful Baskets: 1 star

With a husband in advertising and as a former small business owner, I was (and am) absolutely floored at the crap web-site run by Bountiful Baskets. That being said, there is hub-bub about a newer updated web-page soon to be (but not yet) revealed. They are popular enough to get away with it, but my marketing sense calls it bad business. Whatever. We love farmers so we'll deal with it. Here's what you can expect when creating an account with each respective organization.

Field to Families: Sign up with email, address, and credit card. Choose whether to pick up every Saturday or some Saturdays (over 10 options are available) and then have a 2-hour window to pick-up your produce on whatever Saturday(s) you signed up for. You are charged once a month.

Bountiful Baskets: Create account with email, address, and credit card. No monthly service options are available. You must order within the allotted 36 hour window for that week's basket. Try to log-in prior to your allotted ordering window since the site will slow considerably when thousands of food lovers crash the site. If you live in Northern Utah, then you can start ordering Mondays at 1 p.m. and have until Tuesday at 9 p.m. to make your "contribution" towards the coming Saturday's pick-up. Don't wait until Tuesday however, because all the baskets will be sold by dinner-time on the first day.


VALUE
Field to Families: 4 stars
Bountiful Baskets: 5 stars

Even with the extra handling fees, it's clear you are still getting a great deal when you see the abundance of the Bountiful Basket. Take a look for yourself! Here is my first order from Bountiful Baskets. I think I can safely say that I received "12 units of produce"!



In comparison, here is a Field to Families pick-up with their delicious (and still worth it!) "8 units of produce".



Field to Families gives a HUGE VALUE BOOST when you sign up for "Package 3: One pick-up order on all Saturdays of the month ($60.00)". So for the months that have 5 Saturdays in the month, the fifth Saturday is FREE.

In case you're wondering, that month that starts this week (May) has 5 Saturdays! Other bonus months you can look forward to are: July and October (in 2010).

ECO-POINTS
Field to Families: 3.5 points
Bountiful Baskets: 5 points

I'm talking organics here. On their web-site, Field to Families indicates that "We aim to acquire produce from farmers who grow organically (concerning fertilizers and pesticides). Typically, we do not claim the produce is 'certified organic', though sometimes it is".

Okay, so no guarantees on the organics, but doing their best. As I mentioned previously, Bountiful Baskets offers a certified organic basket for $25.00. I even ordered one of those so have a looksie for yourself:



It's looking like "11 units of produce" to me. What do you think?

And here's a re-post of my first Field to Families order way back in March:



with another Field to Families order with the lovely sun mosaic by The Mister of the House:



PRODUCE QUALITY
Field to Families: 4 stars
Bountiful Baskets: 4.5 stars

My strawberries were a bit sweeter from Field to Families, yet all were delicious. The Field to Families carrots seemed to be flimsy within a few days, but still worthy of eating when you cooked them down with some salt and pepper.

Just a couple weeks ago Bountiful Baskets sold flats of strawberries that ended up being soft and better fit for the compost pile. However, they were very cognizant and worked to give people credit that had ordered them (very cool!).

With the tropical offerings from Bountiful Baskets, I have found many of them need to be shelved a few days before they are ready to eat. I had hoped that my directly from grower scenario would mean the produce was picked during its ripened state, but with such a quick trip to my table it's clear that they need a few more days to get to their prime. The reasons this is okay is because you have SO MUCH FOOD that needs to be spaced through the week, that when you get to it later in the week it's divine. Also a bonus is that you know it's not sitting in a warehouse, picked totally green, and ripened with crap like ethelene gas.

FOOD GROUP FIESTA (this mostly means which entity has other offerings to meet all your delicious desires in the other food groups)
FIELD TO FAMILIES: 3 stars
BOUNTIFUL BASKETS: 5 stars

So it's a fruit and veggie party right? And that's what we like. However, Bountiful Baskets rocks the house when it comes to offering other sundries. While it differs every week, they offer things like:
5 loaves of bread for $10.00 (white or wheat)
2 lbs of tropical granola for $10.00 (we got it...it was to die for and more like a treat)
6 packages of tortillas, 2 of which were the size of little brother's head on So I Married an Axe Murderer. $10.00
Cranberry bars, produce flats, and herb packs. I recently ordered the Mexican Herb Pack (for $7.50) and got tomatillos, limes, jalapenos, tomatoes, onion, avocadoes, cilantro and green onion. Yum!


With my New Year's Resolution to eat a salad every day this year, I have absolutely loved both Field to Families AND Bountiful Baskets. My salads have been dark and delicious.

So hang on just a sec, let me add up my stars and average them out. Was this an exhaustive review or what? Hang on.

(whistling)

Okay drum roll please. The overall rating given the plethora of categories covered is this:

FIELD TO FAMILIES: 3.77 stars
BOUNTIFUL BASKETS: 4.05 stars

Close race huh? And that concludes my twelve page essay.

Happy Eating Everyone!

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Pizza for Brains: Food for Thought

When I was a little mutt, I ate school lunch every day. My favorite food was pigs in a blanket, and on the rare occasions that we got chocolate milk, it made the highlight of the day. Now that I have kids of my own, I get to look at school lunch in a different light. A mother's light.

For instance, a couple of years ago our school district decided to make a nutritional difference during the summer break by offering free lunch every day for kids ages 2-18. Now I'm not here to target my kids schools, or even to scrutinize the beloved lunch ladies...BUT I couldn't help noticing that chocolate milk is now always the available option, and that school lunches usually offer pizza at least once a week (sometimes more), and everything is always on white bread. There is also always a plethora of vending machines offering candy and soda drinks just across the hall from the cafeteria.

I had to laugh when I noticed the banner above the crap machine alcove read: "Our Students Know How to Make Healthy Food Choices"....as if that maternal guilt trip will be able to persuade the solo teenager high on having 4 quarters to spend however he or she chooses.

A few years ago, I felt particularly enlightened after watching the documentary Super Size Me. In this movie, Morgan Spurlock decides to eat at McDonald's for every meal for a month...and the result is absolutely disgusting and fascinating at the same time. One segment in particular blew me away. It was about school lunches at an "alternative high school"...as in the school where all the would-be drop-outs and knuckleheads were sent cause they were getting in trouble or couldn't cut it in the regular system.

Like every other school, they offered straight from the freezer foods, soda machines and candy machines. When this particular school threw out their vending and contracted their food be made from scratch, the students made a 180 degree turn in behavior and grades. Unbelievable!

Which brings me to this exciting conclusion:

There is a new series on ABC that is hoping to finish off what Morgan Spurlock started. Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution airs on Friday nights (tonight!) and he is working directly with public schools in what was recently ranked the most unhealthy city in America: Huntington, West Virginia.

I have seen a couple episodes so far and I love it! I hope you love it too...

You can watch past episodes on hulu here, or watch it tonight 9/8central on ABC.

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Porch with a View

The eternal laws of porch loving requires me to sustain a resin goose as the keeper of my gate. It gives me common ground with the grannies. Here's Gwendolyn's view recently:

Wouldn't you know that I finally got rid of my winter wreath upon donning Gwendolyn in her Easter threads. I jinxed the valley into getting a six inch dump of snow on Easter Weekend. Sorry everybody!



There is our recent baby step into better health. Fresh delivery of milk from a local dairy whose cows are hormone-free! Since we only drink about 2 gallons a week, we could afford this luxury.

The milk costs about double what it does in the store. That means you'll find Mrs. Olsen gently placing quarter-filled cups back in the fridge. It also means my daughter, who is on the verge of teendom in 4 short years, won't get any hormone help in the moody, crabby, or mustache department.

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Sheep Go To Heaven

Late last year we made a farm addition that has yet to be announced on this blog. You see, after reading about cows and how they trash the land, we wondered what animal we could raise that would be cleaner on the land, and also require a little less maintenance. After asking around, The Mister of the House made the executive decision to get some goats. Their breed is called : Boer Goats. What that basically means is that they are.....ummmmm, they're meat goats.

Apparently if you can keep the pheramone-saturated and extremely smelly male billy goats out of the picture, goat meat tastes much like beef and is extremely lean. Did we try a goat steak before signing up for this project?

No.

Is Mrs. Olsen on the verge of vegetarianism?

Sometimes.

Because we were getting two friendly and curious female goats, we made a place ready for them in the yard.


We were warned they would trim up our tree branches. "They eat EVERYthing" warned one friend. We had plenty of limbs that needed trimmed, so we fenced off a portion of the backyard and let them have a go.


We did not expect them to go crazy over the only pine tree that was fenced off in the back. May she rest in peace.



It wasn't long until an old rock n' roll song kept thumping through my head. I actually am not sure what this song is about, but the chorus has stuck with me over the years:





Since we refused to have a male billy stinking up our meat, we found a farmer in the valley who offered to let Betty & Matilda (our female goats) a month long tryst with his billy goat.




And now here we are in spring-time April. And wouldn't you know those goats are having babies next month!

...and wouldn't you know that Mrs. Olsen may have talked The Mister of the House into experimenting with some goat milk instead of being 100% meat-heads. We'll see how it goes!

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What Is This Thing That Men Call Death?

One year ago this April, we celebrated the 90th birthday of my last living grandparent: Geneal Call Cooper. Although her birthday was in January, she had a hip replacement in that month, my folks were in Hawaii, so we pushed her party until spring-time. The family encouraged her to get the hip replacement because she was still so healthy and young. Just look at her, and you will see: This mama does not look 90!

As part of her celebration, my cousin and I filmed her kids and grandkids sharing memories of Grandma & Grandpa Cooper. We also interviewed Grandma about her life, and it was such a blessing to understand Grandma on a new level:

-as a young girl that lost her mother at age six

-as a dutiful farmgirl who left home and went to business school so she could have a different life

-as the slightly disappointed wife who ended up back on the farm (at my Grandpa's behest)

-as the bread-maker

-story-teller

-gift-giver (she sent ever grandchild and great-grandchild a birthday card with as many dollars as their years in age...up to 20)

-and mother hen to her five kids, her grandkids, and great-grandkids.

Over and over again family & friends attested: I never heard her say a bad word about anyone!

It was just this past February I mailed her some Valentine's Cards from my kids. She wrote back a thank-you that has been on my fridge. It is dated February 25th of this year. In the letter she is expressing concern over a family member recently diagnosed with cancer. Who would have thought on March 22nd, she would be diagnosed with a rare form of leukimia with the opinion that she had 3-4 months to live. Later in the week she was given 1-2 months to live. In reality, she passed away just 12 days after receiving the diagnosis.

My heart aches that I didn't get to see my Grandma one last time! With a woman of such grace and virtue, I wanted to ask her one thing: Will you be my guardian angel when you get to the other side?

And yet! I can't help rejoice in the fact that she gets to see her mother again, gets to reunite with my Grandpa, and has left a legacy of love for this one granddaughter to try to live up to the rest of her life.

What is this thing that men call death,

this quiet passing in the night?

Tis not the end but genesis,

Of better worlds and greater light.

-words by Gordon B. Hinckley

full poem with accompanying music found here.

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New Farm Addition

We are slowly increasing our self-sufficiency on our little hobby farm. After watching Food Inc. recently, we decided we would try our best to wean ourselves from the "Industrial Meat Complex". We're not vegetarians mind you, but we're not barbarians either.

These pigs were just purchased so Rainbow Girl could start her 4-H experience, and so friends and family could have some fresh and healthy pork in their freezers this fall.



Paula, you made a comment on how difficult it is to buy healthier foods. From our studies (mostly with neighbors) the end-cost of feeding, butchering, and packaging is around $1.80 per pound. Not bad? With the amount of folks we are splitting it with, we'll probably end up with 20-30 pounds. Enough for a sweet pork salad dinner this autumn.

Did I just say that out loud? Sorry pigs! We do love you!



Here's a trailer for the movie Food, Inc. I highly recommend watching it!

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