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Local produce can be found year-round Nutritional literacy courses available Farmers Market savings in a SNAP Can to preserve summer flavors
MUSKOGEE muskogeephoenix.com
Honey: Raw versus Commercial
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Days full of purpose bring fulfillment and joy. Azalea Gardens offers Memory Care and Respite options for seniors diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease or another form of dementia in a comforting and homelike atmosphere full of fun things to do and great people to interact with throughout the day.
Imagination & Wellness Creative outlets for purposeful engagement are happening every day here at Azalea Gardens. We are proud to offer a complete activities calendar with crafts, memory exercises, games, gardening, and more. Let us know if Mom is an avid bird-watcher - we can’t wait to share in her enthusiasm!
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Clint Brock Digital Marketing Manager cbrock@communitynewsdigital.com Healthy Living
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Contents
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6 Bountiful Harvest
16 Savor summer
Locally grown produce and eggs available year-round, any day of the week.
Canning is one of best ways to keep summer produce into fall, winter, beyond.
10 Healthy 'way of life'
18 Farm to table
Health food store has been serving the health supply needs of its community.
Store offers fresh, healthy food provided directly from local farmers.
12 Nutritional literacy
20 Benefits of raw
Group offers nutrition, cooking, physical education courses, among others for all ages.
Local honey producers swear by health benefits of raw over commercial.
14 Token savings
Double Up Oklahoma program allows Beneficiaries of SNAP to save at market.
On the Cover Roy Work Photo: By Cathy Spaulding
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Local produce can be found year-round Nutritional literacy courses available Farmers Market savings in a SNAP Can to preserve summer flavors
MUSKOGEE muskogeephoenix.com
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20 Summer Edition 2021
Honey: Raw versus Commercial
YOUR FAMILY’S HEALTHCARE, CLOSE TO HOME.
As part of Saint Francis Health System, Oklahoma’s largest healthcare network, Warren Clinic offers an extensive range of high-quality primary care and specialty services in Muskogee and Fort Gibson. For more information about Warren Clinic or to make an appointment, please call 918-910-4306 or visit saintfrancis.com/muskogee. CARDIOLOGY/ CARDIOVASCULAR CARE 3340 West Okmulgee Avenue Debasish Chaudhuri, M.D. Satish Kohli, M.D. Tammy Stiles, APRN-CNP
101 Rockefeller Drive John Evans, D.O. Bryan Lucenta, M.D. Jackson Wong-Sick-Hong, M.D. FAMILY MEDICINE 108 Lone Oak Circle, Fort Gibson Charity Johnson, D.O. Alicia Childs, APRN-CNP Bradley Littleton, APRN-CNP
3332 West Okmulgee Avenue Sr. Gianna Marie Savidge, R.S.M., M.D. 3506 West Okmulgee Avenue Rebekah Kriegsman, D.O.
INTERNAL MEDICINE 3332 West Okmulgee Avenue David Kyger, M.D. Sr. Grace Miriam Usala, R.S.M., M.D.
OTOLARYNGOLOGY (EAR, NOSE AND THROAT) 101 Rockefeller Drive Edgar Boyd, M.D.
OB/GYN 3504 West Okmulgee Avenue Jonathan Baldwin, M.D. Edwin Henslee, M.D.
PODIATRY 101 Rockefeller Drive, Suite 204 Patrick Branagan, D.P.M. Kevin Dux, D.P.M.
108 Lone Oak Circle, Fort Gibson Sarah Poplin, APRN-CNM
PSYCHIATRY 211 South 36th Street Paul Matthews, D.O.
ONCOLOGY 300 Rockefeller Drive Fuad Hassany, M.D. ORTHOPEDICS AND SPORTS MEDICINE 2900 North Main Street Peter Fast, M.D. Ronald Hood, M.D.
RADIATION ONCOLOGY 300 Rockefeller Drive Selamawit Negusse, M.D. WALK-IN CLINIC 108 Lone Oak Circle, Fort Gibson Monday – Friday 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
GENERAL SURGERY 101 Rockefeller Drive Richenda Herren, M.D. Sumit Kumar, M.D. Patrick Ross, M.D.
Healthy Living
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Local year-round produce
Bountiful Harvest gathers area craftspeople, growers, cooks Story by Cathy Spaulding
A
rea farmers offer a variety of ways to find locally grown produce and eggs year-round, any day
of the week.
Bountiful Harvest is a new "farmers market hub" in downtown Wagoner. The shop, open since March, offers consignment space for local growers, as well as craftspeople and cooks. One of Bountiful Harvest's growers is Morning
Song Orchard and Nursery. Morning Song owners Roy and Rachel Work grow vegetables, herbs and fruit near Braggs. They sell at Muskogee Farmers' Market and have pages on Facebook and Instagram. They also sell a variety of nut trees online including chestnut, hazelnut, bur oak and northern pecan. "We try to make ourselves self-sustaining, so we don't have to get any product from elsewhere," Roy Work said. "Everything we do, we try to do it so that we're productive off of the land." For example, free-range chickens lay eggs, which the Works sell. Work also is growing 1,200 blackberry plants along a trellis wire.
Learn more • Sun Up Farms, (918) 441-5559, sunupfarmsok@gmail.com • Morning Song Orchard and Nursery, https://www.facebook.com/OklahomaOrchard; https://www. instagram.com/morningsongorchard/ • Bountiful Harvest, 124 S. Main St., Wagoner. Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. Closed Sundays and Mondays. Information: (918) 645-7731. • The egg vending machine at Atypical Hustlers Farm is about five miles south of Haskell on U.S. 64.
Roy Work of Morning Song Orchard and Nursery picks sweet peas that are ready to eat fresh from the vine. They are available from the nursery or at Muskogee Farmers' Market. (Cathy Spaulding)
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Sarah Gilbert of Atypical Hustlers Farm shows a quick way to buy fresh eggs at their vending machine south of Haskell. (File photo)
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Call for Appointment • Walk-ins Welcome 1118 W. Broadway St Muskogee, OK 74401 www.JonesFPC.com t 918.912.5372 f 918.912.5373 Robert Jones, Nurse Practitioner
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Healthy Living
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Chickens at Morning Song Orchard and Nursery find shade under their New Yolk City coop. The hens produce eggs for sale. (Cathy Spaulding)
"This year, these berries will be sold at the farmers market," he said. "These will be ready this month." Herbs offer nutrients as well as flavor. Work sells various types of basil, as well as dill, tarragon and parsley. He said he plans to grow some fennel to meet demand from customers. Microgreens offer loads of nutrients in small packages, said Don Means of Sun Up Farms in Wagoner. Sun Up sells its microgreens Wednesdays and Saturdays at Muskogee Farmers' Market and is starting a home-delivery service, Means said. "Microgreens are the vegetable plant that is harvested before the true leaves come on to them, most of them at about 4 inches tall," Means said. "It's an embryo leaf." At this stage, the greens have nearly 40 times more nutrients than the grown plant, he said. The Means grow micro versions of sunflower, sweet peas, radishes, arugula, cilantro, as well as a salad mix. The microgreen versions taste just like the vegetables, he said, adding that the only difference is "you don't have the feel of the vegetable in your mouth." Sarah and Derrick Gilbert offer a unique way to buy eggs any time of day at their Atypical Hustlers Farm south of Haskell. They have a vending machine by their front gate where people can buy duck eggs as well as chicken eggs.
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Website: www.muskogeemedicalfoundation.org Healthy Living
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The Eufaula Herb Shop is located on 10 Oak Ave, Eufaula. Store hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday.
Health food store offers customers
advice on diet, lifestyle Story by Emily Every
R
ic Fornell has been a health food store owner for over 20 years and a healthy living advocate even longer. In Fornell’s eyes, eating well is living well. “This is the only body that you’re going to have. If you feed it carefully and nourish it properly and take care of it, it’ll last for a long time. If you don’t, it’s not going to,” Fornell said. Fornell founded Eufaula Herb Shop & Health Foods in August 2000. In the 21 years since, the store has been serving the health supply needs of
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its local community. The store, located at 10 Oak Ave., Eufaula, was once a hair salon. Fornell renovated the building, knocking down a wall to open up space for his health food and nutrition wares. Despite occasional flare-ups of popular fad diets and bunk nutritional advice, Fornell says he has noticed an increase of sustained interest in healthy living in recent years. “Healthy food is becoming a way of life rather than something people just want to try for a little bit,” he said. A major advantage of frequenting health food stores is that they can handle questions and discuss nutrition more knowledgeably than a big-chain grocery store. “You can’t go to the grocery store and get any kind of help. They don’t know anything about nutrition,” Fornell said. “We’re kind of the rock of the
The store carries capsules of herbs and vitamins, as well as a selection of specialty health foods.
neighborhood. Everyone else comes and goes, but we’ve been in the same spot for 21 years.” Viewing your body holistically is part of Fornell’s personal health philosophy. He recommends viewing a health problem not as a singular issue to be fixed, but rather as a symptom of a larger way of living. “Your body will talk to you if you listen to it, but it takes time to do that. That’s a mindset that’s really difficult to get to,” he said. “Everything in our body is hooked together. What affects one organ will go on to affect four or five others.” Fornell suggests that people who want to start eating better focus on eating fresh foods. He encourages people to purchase organic produce that has not been treated with pesticides if possible. Many grocery stores have organic sections, as do many local farmers' markets. Beyond the specifics of organic or non-organic produce, Fornell says that the most essential part of eating well is starting the habit of reading nutrition facts labels. Becoming aware of your caloric and nutritional intake is
essential to healthy eating, especially in regard to sugar. “Reducing sugar consumption is where people should start, but it can be hard. Sugar is addictive,” he said. “For instance, a 20-ounce Coca-Cola has 60 grams of sugar in it. That affects everything in your body.” Tim Noakes’s 2017 book “Lore of Nutrition: Challenging Conventional Dietary Beliefs” is a resource that Fornell suggests for those just getting their footing in the health and nutrition world. After years of extensive research, Noakes advocates for a low-carbohydrate, highfat diet to help combat diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular diseases. The Eufaula Herb Shop offers herbal and vitamin supplements, along with gluten-free, sugar-free and organic food options. Also available in-store are massages, blood-typing testing and ear candling. The store offers well-established, nationally recognized brands. The store’s website, www.eufaulaherbshop.com, lists their stocked brands, along with store hours and contact information. Healthy Living
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Nutrition information essential to all ages Story by Emily Every
V
irginia Stanley wants to help boost nutritional literacy in Muskogee
County.
“It’s surprising that people just don’t read nutrition facts labels, or they don’t know that the first ingredient listed is the main ingredient in a food item. It’s stuff like that that we try to teach,” said Area Coordinator Virginia Stanley at the OSU Extension Office. Stanley helps the extension office coordinate and run community nutrition education programs. The Muskogee OSU Extension Office offers nutrition, cooking, physical education and agriculture courses, among others for all age groups. One of Stanley’s personal projects is a nutrition program for older youths called Teen Cuisine. The program includes cooking education, nutrition and physical education for teenagers. “We teach everything: how to measure, budgeting food dollars, the importance of whole grains, nutritious beverage choices and food safety,” Stanley said. “Kids like being able to cook. It’s a hands-on experience. Teenagers especially love learning how to make things like chicken quesadillas and baked potato fries.” Stanley says that kids as young as elementary school age can also benefit from cooking education. Stanley recommends teaching young children the differences between proteins, fats and carbohydrates.
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“We try to have them understand the basics,” she said. Food safety is important to learn at a young age. For example, knowing what to do with food that has been left out overnight is an essential learned skill, as is washing hands before meals. “Kids love learning. Younger ones respond really well to lessons on washing hands. We pull out the Glo Germ that shows where they’ve missed spots washing their hands, and they love it,” said Stanley. “We go out to schools once a week for around eight weeks so that they can incorporate what they’ve heard and teachers can talk to them about it all. They really start learning.” Additionally, the office offers courses to adults as well as children and teens. They provide nineweek cooking courses in a similar style to their Teen Cuisine courses. For those more interested in developing gardening skills, the office hosts several agricultural services, including soil testing. Bring in a pint of soil to their office, and they will be able to recommend appropriate fertilizer for its chemical properties. For specific questions on active gardens, such as what causes diseased tomatoes or what sort of bugs are eating your crop’s leaves, Agricultural Agent Todd Trennepohl can help. “Extension is really all about bringing the university to the community,” said Area Coordinator Susie West. For those looking to become involved in the extension’s nutrition, cooking or agricultural services, the office’s website hosts a calendar of their events as well as contact information for its employees.
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Lacey Wallace, manager of the extension office's High Obesity Program, loads food-bearing plants into a customer's vehicle. (Cathy Spaulding)
Tokens aid eligible shoppers
OSU extension office offers farmers market SNAP benefits Story by Emily Every
B
eneficiaries of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are eligible to double their purchasing power at farmers markets under the Double Up Oklahoma program. Area Coordinators Virginia Stanley and Susie West at the Muskogee OSU Extension Office are
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excited to highlight the possibilities of the program. With Double Up, a $20 grocery haul can become a $40 haul with no additional steps — just purchase farmers' market tokens using SNAP. It’s a pretty simple system. The extension’s booth at the farmers' market will match up to $20 worth of tokens. For example, someone spending $10 would be matched for $10, and someone spending $30 would be matched for $20 worth of tokens. The extension office will have a marked booth at the farmer’s market that lets shoppers know they process SNAP benefits. “People can really stretch their food budget and double up on the amount of produce they’re getting,” West said.
Susie West mans the extension office's booth at the farmers' market. (Cathy Spaulding)
Additionally, there is no cap as to how many times a shopper can use the Double Up program, and tokens do not expire. These tokens can be used for fresh produce and fruit- or vegetable-bearing plants. “There are a ton of great healthy options at the farmers' market. There really is something for everybody,” Stanley said. The program has been live for several years, but has been increasingly essential following COVID-19. “I suspect that there are SNAP beneficiaries that don’t know about the program, particularly with COVID-19 and there being more people using SNAP right now,” West said. “You know, kids are out of school, so that’s fewer meals that they’re get-
ting from school lunches. We really want to highlight this program for people who may not already know about it.” The extension office also is partnering with local medical providers on a program called OKFresh, which provides fresh fruits and vegetables for people experiencing food insecurity. Those interested should contact participating clinics to see if they are eligible for the service. You can learn more about OKFresh at www. okfresh.org or at the extension office’s booths at the farmers' market. The Muskogee Farmers' Market is open Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon in front of the Civic Center, in the 400 block of West Okmulgee Avenue. Healthy Living
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Canning summer goodness Story by Cathy Spaulding
ort Gibson produce grower Deno Clopton gets up early to prepare her jars of fruit preserves and apple butter for market. "I was cooking this morning at 3 a.m.," Clopton said while selling at a recent Muskogee Farmers' Market. By mid-morning that day, Clopton had sold all but a couple dozen jars. Canning is one of the best ways to keep the goodness and nutrition of summer produce into fall, winter and beyond. Rebecca Jennings of Fort Gibson said properly canned foods can last for years. "It's like canned food you buy in a grocery store, except it's healthy and fresh and it's in glass jars," she said. "Canning preserves it."
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Fort Gibson grower Deno Clopton rises early in the morning to prepare her canned goods for Muskogee Farmers' Market.
Jennings grows her produce on her Fort Gibson property along the Grand River. She said she starts canning "as soon as the garden starts producing." The work starts "in the heat of the year," Jennings said. "The worst time to be in the kitchen as a canner is the best time to can — the hottest time of the year." There are two main ways to can food. Pressure canning involves using a special pot with a regulator to help control pressure inside the pot. Water canning involves boiling jars of food. Food safety is paramount in canning, said Melanie Taylor, McIntosh County Family and Consumer Science educator. "You can get a lot of things in there, spores and things that cause botulism," Taylor said. "You definitely need to watch your canning times and make sure that you're hot water bath canning or you're pressure canning, depending on the acidity of the food, just to make sure that it's going to be safe." Food acidity determines whether to can with pressure or hot water, Taylor said.
Shannon Gawf of Eufaula pulls a jar of canned fruit from a pressure canner. She was part of a canning workshop presented by the McIntosh County OSU Extension.
Learn more • Muskogee County OSU Extension Office: (918) 686-7200; https://extension. okstate.edu/county/muskogee/index.html • McIntosh County OSU Extension Office: (918) 689-6772; https://extension. okstate.edu/county/mcintosh/index.html
"Low acid foods — foods that are not acidic enough to prevent the growth of bacteria — those definitely need to have some acidity added and be pressure canned," she said. "Tomatoes are usually considered to be a high acid food, so they can be hot water bath canned." High acid foods include jams, jellies, pickles (because you add the vinegar), Taylor said. High acid fruits include peaches, plums and apples. "Melons and pineapples aren't quite as acidic," she said. Low acid foods include most other vegetables, such as carrots, peppers, green beans, corn, she said. "Any vegetable that you're going to pickle goes up on the acid scale because of the pickling," Taylor said. "Stuff that you add to it and the vinegar." Jennings said her main advice is to get the "Ball Blue Book of Canning." "It's like the canner's Bible," she said. "It has all your canning times, step by step." She said her great aunts did canning. "I moved where we had a huge garden and I wanted to preserve my own food, so I got the 'Ball Blue Book of Canning' and followed it verbatim," she said. Healthy Living
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Farm totable Locally grown food promotes living healthy Story by Ronn Rowland
B
obby Arnold has customers who come into his store and only buy homegrown fruits
and vegetables. The son of Calvin Arnold, founder of Arnold Fruit Company on West Shawnee Bypass, says there are customers he’s known all his life. “They came in when I was helping my father and they would come in with their kids,” Arnold said. “Now those kids are bringing in their children.” Arnold, who along with his brother Darrell run the operation that's been in Muskogee since 1964, says the returning customers are the result of a matter of trust. “They know they are getting good, quality food that is grown locally,” he said. “It’s not being shipped from all over the country. Plus, the food is being grown carefully and sent to us as soon as it’s picked.” Dana Cundiff is one of those long-time customers. "I've always shopped here at Arnold's," she said. "I get my potatoes…it's just fresh. I'm here all the time." Darrell Arnold said the produce they get is as if you went to the farm and pulled it yourself. "The main benefit is that our produce is com-
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Bobby Arnold, left, of Arnold Fruit Company, bags up some potatoes for Dana Cundiff, center, and her husband Mike. (Ronn Rowland)
ing straight from the farmer — it's not sitting in a warehouse," he said. "Your big grocery store, it sits in a warehouse for a while. Also, the farmers pull it when it's ripe. "Grocery stores sometimes, they have to pull it when it's green and let it ripen up while it's being shipped. It doesn't have the same flavor." Cassie Herringshaw of Peace of Prairie Farm, on the western outskirts of Muskogee, is taking her production one step further. Her farm, which she began with her ex-husband in 2012, has been certi-
Cassie Herringshaw of Peace of Prairie Farm, left, in Muskogee bags up a quart of cherry tomatoes for a customer at Farmers' Market. Herringshaw said she believes food that's grown and harvested locally "is small scale and we can do things by hand," and says that produces a better quality product. (Ronn Rowland)
fied 100% organic by the United have an idea that what they are buyWhereas stuff that's States Department of Agriculture. ing is going to be better for them. locally grown is small She believes the only way to eat "It also supports the community," scale, and we can do healthy fruits and vegetables is to eat said Andi Smith, who was shopping things by hand. That fresh. with her twin sister Kandi and their means we can grow va"From the customer's perspective, children. "Plus, you don't have the rieties that taste better the produce that's grown for a superpreservatives. It's just better." and have more nutrimarket, by necessity, has to be bred Some of the vendors are using tion. to be able to be shipped, produced their farm to teach future genera— Cassie Herringshaw and mechanically harvested," Hertions about the importance of growringshaw said. "Whereas stuff that's ing good food. locally grown is small scale, and we can do things Jaxon Lumpkins of Fort Gibson works his by hand. That means we can grow varieties that great-grandmother's farm and also the table at the taste better and have more nutrition." market. She also said that customers who buy from her, "I've been involved with this since I was like 5," or any other vendor at the Farmers' Market, already he said. "I'm now 13."
"
"
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Buying local honey best Story by Ronn Rowland
Mary Ann Bristow inspects some of the local honey sold at Arnold Fruit Company. She buys locally harvested honey because she feels it's better for you. (Ronn Rowland)
20 Summer Edition 2021
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Healthy Living
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Can't go wrong with raw
L
ocally harvested honey versus commercially harvested honey – which is better?
One study, published in 2002 in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, showed no difference among allergy sufferers who ate local honey, commercially processed honey, or a honey-flavored placebo. However, there is a big population of honey consumers and local beekeepers that swear by the health benefits of the locally harvested nectar. Arnold’s Fruit Company on West Shawnee Bypass has been selling locally harvested honey, and Bobby Arnold, son of the founder Calvin Arnold, says his customers swear by it. “It is from this area," he said. "You know it’s not shipped across the country." Local honey has been used as a folk remedy throughout history and has a variety of health benefits and medical uses. It’s even used in some hospitals as a treatment for wounds.
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Many of these health benefits are specific to raw, or unpasteurized, honey. Mary Ann Bristow said she believes if she's going to consume honey, it might as well be the best around. "Raw honey is just better for you to begin with," she said. "It's local, and I try to buy as much local as I can because you never know where the other stuff is coming from." Samantha Pruedert, who helps her sister Carol Jones at their table at Muskogee Farmers' Market, believes in the advantages of local honey.
“It’s just good for you,” she said. “It’s got all that good stuff in it that’s good for you because it is local.” Local honey contains an array of plant chemicals that act as antioxidants. Some types of honey have as many antioxidants as fruits and vegetables. There are also some risk factors involved with local, raw honey. While honey is considered by some people a good treatment to help with childrens' coughs and colds, doctors do not recommend this practice for a child less than 1 year old.
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