The Wise Mom: June 2010

thewisemom

wise: (adj) informed, aware

local food books and resources fried chicken fresh eggs eat closer to home Š The Wise Mom, Holistic Moms Network. Issue 1, Summer 2010.

Copyright Š2010 holistic moms network

thewisemom 4 From the Editor 6 News & Announcements 8 Teaching Future Generations to Eat Healthy 10 Reader Recipes 10 Poetry 12 Local Food Books & Resources 14 It Doesn’t Get More Local Than This 18 You Can Grow Your Own Food Anywhere!

20 Local Food Panel Inspires 23 Chapter Highlight Section 24 Eat Closer To Home 26 Member Profile 28 From Fried Chicken To Fresh Eggs

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thewisemom EDITOR

ADVERTISERS AND SPONSORS

Aimee Wood

For advertising rates and information about Sponsorship, please e-mail us at sponsorship@holisticmoms.org or call

DESIGN/LAYOUT

us at 877-HOL-MOMS.

Emma Catarino CIRCULATION HMN DIRECTOR

The Wise Mom is published four times per year and is

Nancy Massotto

distributed electronically to members of the Holistic Moms Network. For information about membership, please visit

The Wise Mom is a quarterly publication of the Holistic

us at www.holisticmoms.org.

Moms Network (HMN), a national 501(c)(3) non-profit organization for parents interested in holistic health and

SUBMISSIONS

green living. The Wise Mom is the voice of the members

Interested in writing for The Wise Mom? We look for a

of the Holistic Moms Network as well as an informative

variety of submissions, from personal stories and

publication offering views, perspectives, and wisdom from

experiences from members to informative research articles

our parents, wellness practitioners, and experts in the

based upon our issue theme each quarter. Want to share

broad field of holistic living and parenting.

your photos with us? By submitting a photo to The Wise Mom, you agree that you have the right to distribute the

The information provided in The Wise Mom is not intended

image and maintain that all people depicted agree to have

to replace professional advice from a qualified healthcare

their image published.

professional and is not intended as medical advice. The articles and information presented in these pages

Email wisemom@holisticmoms.org for details on

is intended as a sharing of knowledge, information, and

submitting articles or photos for an upcoming issue.

experiences. We encourage all of our reads to become informed about the many healthcare and parenting

Š The Wise Mom, Holistic Moms Network. Issue 1, Summer 2010.

decisions they may face and to make the choice that works best for their unique family.

The Wise Mom is a publication of the Holistic Moms Network and supports the mission and purpose of our non-profit organization.

Nancy Massotto Executive Director

Copyright Š2010 holistic moms network

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editorsnote Dear Members, It is my pleasure to introduce you to our newest version of The Wise Mom in e-magazine format. Here at Holistic Moms we are very excited to launch The Wise Mom to the next level. We hope you find this issue more userfriendly, eye-catching, intriguing, and inspiring. I want to especially thank Emma Catarino who has volunteered her time and energy to creating this beautiful issue. Without you, it would have never come to fruition. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you!

This newest version of The Wise Mom focuses on eating locally and sustainably. Thank you so much to our member authors for contributing. The Wise Mom is truly a voice of us, holistic moms! Eating locally can seem to be a challenge, but we’ve put together a great resource list and all of these articles are truly inspiring. Anyway, the summer is a great time to give eating locally a chance. Once you start, you’ll be hooked.

As always, we welcome feedback on The Wise Mom. Please send comments, suggestions, thoughts, and opinions to wisemom@holisticmoms.org. Our next issue, due out in September, will focus on various Holistic Therapies. If you would like submission guidelines, please send an email to wisemom@holisticmoms.org.

We hope you enjoy this issue of The Wise Mom! Warmly, Aimee K. Wood, Editor

Holistic Kids

eat local

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news&announcements Our 2010 Natural Living Conference is coming!

Spend a fabulous day with some icons of natural living, connect with hundreds of other parents who are passionate about living healthy and green, and enjoy learning about new natural products and services! The 2010 Natural Living Conference, featuring Keynote Speaker Sally Fallon Morell, founding President of the Weston A. Price Foundation, will be held on Saturday, October 23, 2010 in Basking Ridge, NJ. Attend amazing workshop sessions with exciting authors and wellness experts, visit with holistic and sustainable vendors and join the fun of our Silent Auction!

Visit http://annualconference.holisticmoms.org for details. Register early - space is limited and expected to sell out quickly!!

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Join us Online!

Have you joined our new Member Online Community yet? Visit us at www.holisticmoms.net and register to get started! Create your personal page, share photos and your status, join our discussion forums, and more!

Do you Tweet?

Join HMN at our new weekly Twitter Parties featuring a variety of natural living experts and personalities on Tuesday evenings at 10 pm Eastern at #holisticmoms! Not sure where to get started? Visit our website to learn more and you’ll be tweeting along in no time!

Copyright ©2010 holistic moms network

New Chapters Forming!

Get connected to a local HMN community! Check out our new Chapters in New Castle County, DE, Baltimore, MD, Florida’s Gulf Coast and Pike County, PA! 7

TEACHING FUTURE GENERATIONS TO

W

eat healthy

By Angelle Batten

e have a family ritual of giving thanks before each meal. Sometimes it’s rather routine, and other times it feels more alive. During those times, we often talk about the food we’re about to eat (or maybe have already started

to eat before everyone else if you’re one of my eight-year old sons). We talk about how nature has such a variety of colors – how could there be so many shades of green? Or about how a particular food was grown – on a vine, in the ground, on a tree? Maybe how an animal was raised – did it get a chance to wander around the farm and eat the kind of food that would have made it healthy and happy, or did it suffer on a farm without seeing the light of day and get force fed grains instead of grass?

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Copyright ©2010 holistic moms network

These feel like some of the most important

While sitting around the dinner table, you

conversations we have. I want my children

say a farm-related word such as “cow”.

to make the connection between their food

The next person says a word connected to

and their health and the health of the planet.

the previous one. Continue taking turns

I want them to be grateful for their food. I

until you finally reach the word table. For

want them to begin to feel a responsibility to

example: cow, farmer, milk, cheese, store,

themselves and to our Earth when making

refrigerator, lunchbox, table. Connect as

choices about what to eat.

many words as you can before you reach the final destination of the table. Then

A few years ago, I was teaching a group of

go back and fill in some steps. i.e. add

elementary school children about where

grass before cow and bucket before milk,

different foods come from. When I asked

etc. Help your child learn about all the

where hamburger comes from, a little boy

people, equipment, and places involved in

shouted, “McDonalds!” And he was serious.

getting REAL food from farm to table.

When I pushed him to think about where McDonalds gets the meat to make the

Eating locally – from your own garden,

hamburgers, he wasn’t sure. I’ve since

a farmers’ market, a CSA, or a roadside

realized that lots of children are not aware

farmer’s stand – gives you so many

of where food comes from and it gets even

opportunities to have conversations with

more complicated when so much of the

your children about where our food comes

food kids are eating is actually Fake Food –

from, how it affects our health and about

from a science lab or a factory farm.

how farming practices impact the health

“

When I asked where hamburger comes from,

a little boy shouted, “McDonalds!”

And he was serious.

.”

of our planet. The more conversations we There are a zillion things we are trying

can have with our kids, about anything, the

to teach our kids and we each prioritize

healthier and happier they will be. Talk, eat,

them differently. One of the things I know,

and enjoy each other’s company even more

though, is that you want your child to be

than usual this season.

healthy. Another thing I know is that what your child eats either contributes to his or her health or to creating illness. So, maybe

Angelle Batten, M.A. is a

this season, with the abundance of fresh

Teacher and a Holistic Health

and local foods, you’ll be inspired to think

Coach. With Dr. Susan Mc-

even more about where your food is com-

Creadie, a Holistic Pediatrician,

ing from and also how to ‘eat a little closer

she co-owns NourishMD.com.

to home’.

Together they teach parents how to feed their families REAL food on a daily

One way to teach your child more about

basis and how to solve health issues holistically.

where food comes from and how it gets

You can learn more at www.NourishMD.com.

to your table is the Farm-to-Table game.

Copyright ©2010 holistic moms network

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reader recipes

YUMMY KALE CHIPS

by Kenly Goonan: 1. Large bunch of kale, wash, take off from large stems. In a large bowl put in favorite spices, salt, 1/4 cup of oil. Drop a handful of kale pieces into the oil and spices, hand mix, add another handful of kale, mix, add handfuls until all kale is mixed and mixed.

2. Place on cookie sheets into gas oven at 200 degrees for 10 minutes. Electric oven on warm for 10 minutes. Repeat again if not dried out.

Repeat again if necessary.

3. Dry, crisp eat with fingers, if too crumbly, save and put into soups, or popcorn, salads. YUMMY!

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Local ~anonymous Healing our world, One crop at a time, Beautiful bounty, The freshness is exquisite.

Eating Locally, Gives us pause, Makes us think, Time for reflection.

What could be, If only the world, Knew the importance, Of Eating Locally.

Copyright Š2010 holistic moms network

LOCAL FOOD

books and resources

E

ating locally may seem nearly impossible, especially for those of us who live in the Northern climates. However, some dedicated

people and organizations have put together websites and books that really hold our hand in the journey to eating more sustainably.

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Copyright Š2010 holistic moms network

WEBSITES:

director Robert Kenner’s Oscar-nominated documentary

Eat Local: http://www.eatlocal.net/where.html

explores the food industry’s detrimental effects on our health and environment. Kenner spotlights the men and women

Eat Local Challenge: http://www.eatlocalchallenge.com/

who are working to reform an industry rife with monopolies, questionable interpretations of laws and subsidies, political

Eat Local America: http://www.eatlocalamerica.coop/farmlist

ties and rising rates of E. coli outbreaks.

National Resources Defense Council:

Food Matters (2008): With a staggering number of

http://www.nrdc.org/health/foodmiles/ and

Americans suffering from obesity and other food-related

http://www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/eatgreen.asp

maladies, this film takes a timely and hard-hitting look at how the food we eat is helping or hurting our health, and

Local Harvest: http://www.localharvest.org/

what we can do to live (and eat) better. Nutritionists, naturopaths, scientists, doctors, medical journalists and more

One Hundred Mile Diet: http://100milediet.org/

weigh in on everything from using food as medicine to the value of organic food and the safety of the food we consume.

BOOKS: Plenty: Eating Locally on the 100-Mile Diet

Food Fight (2008): Discover the disturbing problems

by Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon

inherent in today’s food system with this insightful documentary, which profiles chef Alice Waters’s efforts to

Eat Where You Live: How to Find and Enjoy Fantastic Local and

promote local, organic and sustainable agriculture as a

Sustainable Food No Matter Where You Live

delicious alternative to mass-produced fare. Narrated by actor

by Lou Bendrick

Justin Kirk, this eye-opening examination of the food we eat features compelling interviews with author Michael Pollan

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

and celebrity chefs such as Wolfgang Puck.

by Barbara Kingsolver, Camille Kingsolver, and Steven L. Hopp Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution (2008):

TV/MOVIES

Jean-Paul Jaud’s documentary visits the Barjac village in

(TV media that makes you think twice about the food you eat).

France, where the mayor has mandated an all-organic menu

Movie descriptions courtesy of www.netflix.com:

for the lunch program in the local school. Farmers, parents, kids and health care advocates discuss the impact of the

PBS Show — NOW travels to Virginia to meet farmers

decision. School and government officials also weigh in on

who’ve made the difficult switch from tobacco to organic

why people are dying of cancer in ever-increasing numbers,

produce and the movement to ‘buy local’.

the food industry’s role, the use of pesticides, nutrition and

http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/344/index.html

local sustainability.

Food, Inc (2008).: Drawing on Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation and Michael Pollan’s, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Copyright ©2010 holistic moms network

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It Doesn’t Get More Local

than this

By Jeanette Koncikowski

T

here is a snapshot in my mother’s kitchen of myself and my younger brother around

ages 5 and 3. We are each standing next to the pumpkins we grew in my great aunt’s garden that year. Throughout the preceding summer, my brother and I wandered around and dug up mud in this woman’s vegetable garden whenever we visited. In October, there was a beautiful orange globe sitting in the middle of the patch. My great aunt anointed it as the fruit of my labor and we carted it out in a wheelbarrow.

I glowed while my mother took the picture. My brother apparently did not have as green of a thumb. He is standing next to a small, sugar-pie size pumpkin in the picture.

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It was obvious who the gardener in the

in the ground much less officially but

family was. It wasn’t until I was a teen-

grew just the same. I spent my maternity

ager that I learned my aunt had gone to

leave mothering my growing infant and my

the store and purchased that pumpkin, as

growing garden. As with my children, the

none of our own had grown there at all.

joys in the garden last year came from the

The perception that I could grow glorious

little things – one brussel sprout plant that

vegetables stayed with me though. So when

survived an onslaught of hungry squirrels,

my husband and I purchased our first

harvesting enough carrots to can, and sharing

home three and a half years ago, I spent

a pot of homemade marinara sauce with

the winter we moved in planning my first

friends. Nothing makes me happier than

garden.

watching my daughter run barefoot through our pesticide-free grass to pop a cherry

It was around this same time that I came to

tomato off a plant and into her mouth.

understand the need for local and organic foods. Like many women, I came to a higher

Growing my family’s food has completely

environmental consciousness only after

changed the way I think about food. Eating

becoming a mother and asking rhetorically,

whole foods through the summer meant

“You expect me to put THAT into my

I couldn’t go back to packaged and

precious child’s body?” I “greened” our

processed in the winter. This year, we’ll

house and my garden would be no

get our winter vegetables from the extras

different. I ordered organic seeds,

frozen or canned at harvest time as well

enlisted my husband in building

as from an area CSA (community-shared

untreated beds, and started a compost

agriculture). We eat at home more and

pile. I had mild success. My cherry

my children eat vegetables, like Kohlrabi

tomatoes were prolific, but my soybeans

and Pac Choi, that their friends have never

didn’t grow at all that year. Nor did any

heard of and most refuse to try. Right now,

of the 25 organic strawberry plants that I

I have leggy heirloom bean and squash

paid a small fortune for. We also enjoyed

seedlings overwhelming my laundry room,

greens, potatoes, a couple of zucchini,

anxiously waiting for a warm enough day to

some green beans and about 5 baby

transplant outside. Lettuces, peas, turnips,

carrots. More importantly, I was hooked

onions, beets, spinach, and potatoes are

on the process.

already sprouting. Now I just need to find

“

Like many women, I came to a higher environmental consciousness

only after becoming a mother.

.”

room for the pumpkins.

There is something wholly magical about birthing a garden. Even though I doubled

Jeanette Koncikowski is mother

my bed capacity in the second year, that

to two beautiful little girls

season was much more haphazard. My

and one backyard, organic

second child’s birth coincided starting my

garden in Blasdell, NY. She is

seedlings in the spring. Things got plunked

also an educator and writer.

Copyright ©2010 holistic moms network

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You Can Grow

Your Own Food Anywhere!

By Heather DeGeorge

W

hen it comes to local and sustainable food, you can’t do it any better than growing your own—even in an apartment! Even a small,

windowsill garden will provide you with some home-grown food to offset your food bill and provide you with some delicious additions to your cooking. Here are the things you need to know: You have more space than you realize. If you can fit three flowerpots in a sunny spot inside your house or outside—you have enough room to grow something. There is a huge misconception that you need a great deal of space to grow your own food. This is simply not true. The amount of space you have simply dictates how much of your own food you can grow.

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Copyright ©2010 holistic moms network

shade except for the flower beds. As a

Know a few key differences in the types of plants you’re growing.

result, people are unknowingly looking

There are only two major ones you’ll want

at my tomato and pepper blossoms in

to know at the onset. First, learn the difference

July—not the traditional flowers that my

between “determinate” tomato plants and

veggies are planted with. A one-foot wide

“indeterminate”. “Determinate” plants

strip along the driveway serves to grow

grow to a specific size and then stop growing.

green beans. And the shady areas provide

As a result, they produce a crop of tomatoes

perfect planting spots for lettuce, spinach

and then they’re pretty much done. On

and broccoli. You can now find reasonably

the other hand, “indeterminate” tomato

priced containers for growing plants upside

plants just keep growing and growing and

down and hanging from a hook. With a

growing. I have had mine grow to be six

few exceptions (like pumpkin, watermelon

feet tall/long and draping over everything.

and zucchini) you can grow one or more

They also continue producing tomatoes

vegetable plants within a single square foot

over and over and over again. If you’re

of planting space.

planting a flower bed and don’t want a

Be creative when trying to find space to grow food. In my yard, we have mostly

“

Be creative

when trying to find space to grow food

.”

messy looking tomato, try to stick to

Grow what you actually eat.

“determinate” varieties.

Many people get very enthusiastic with their new, brown dirt and start planting lots

The other major thing you’ll want to know

of vegetables that may not be the staple of

is the difference between “hybrid” and

their family’s diet. The result is that they

“heirloom” or “open-pollinated” (often

aren’t quite as invested in tending to that

abbreviated “OP”). Open-pollinated (OP)

crop and/or the crop may go unused. If

seeds will produce a plant exactly like the

you’re a VERY new gardener, start with

plant the seed was collected from (the

three things your family eats a lot of and

“parent” plant). Heirloom seeds are OP

then build from there. In my home, this

seeds that are farmer favorites for many

is green beans, tomatoes and zucchini

decades. While all heirloom seeds are OP,

(although we happen to have space for

not all OP seeds are heirloom—they were

zucchini). Focus your learning year on the

not all favorites of the farming community.

things that will really provide a great deal of value-added to your household. If you

Hybrid seeds are those that are produced

spread yourself too thin trying to learn the

by cross-pollinating two plants to create

growing habits and needs of too many dif-

a new plant. As a result, saving the seed

ferent plants, you’ll become overwhelmed.

from a hybrid may not produce the same plant as the parent. The concept is the

Copyright ©2010 holistic moms network

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same as cross-breeding dogs to produce a Labradoodle or a

little bit (and eventually, maybe a lot) of your own, local,

Cockapoo. This is not the same as genetically-modified seed

sustainable food!

(GM). GM seed undergoes modification of the seed DNA at a molecular level where crossing of proteins and genes are

Heather DeGeorge is a member of HMN-Union

often between the original plant and another species of being

Co, NJ and HMN-Middlesex Co, NJ chapters. She

(like animal) to produce a desired result.

is a stay-at-home mother, writer and lifetime gardener.

Arm yourself with the internet and any beginner book on gardening and you will be well on your way to growing a

RESOURCES If you think you don’t have enough space to garden, you have to read “Square Foot Gardening” by Mel Bartholomew.

If you think you won’t know how to grow your veggies or what to do when things go wrong, keep “The Vegetable & Herb Expert”

by Dr. D. G. Hessayon on-hand for pictures of problems and how to potentially solve them. Their solutions are not always organic, but identification of the problem and the internet can find you an organic solution if this book’s answer has too much chemical intervention for your taste.

“The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible” promotes a different growing method than “Square Foot Gardening”, but has a TON of great information on growing food in general as well as plant-specific growing and care information (including good and bad companion plants).

If you’re worried you’ll have too much produce and nobody to eat it, donate it to a local food bank through The AmpleHarvest. org (www.AmpleHarvest.org; 973-409-4093). AmpleHarvest.org

entering a ZIP code or city to find all registered pantries within a specified distance. Entries include name, address and other contact information, and also days and hours that donations are accepted.

was created in 2008 specifically to help backyard gardeners share their bounty. Gardeners can search the AmpleHarvest database by

Copyright ©2010 holistic moms network

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LOCAL FOOD PANEL INSPIRES!

By Jessica Claire Haney • Arlington/Alexandria, Virginia chapter

A

main goal in planning a local food meeting for April 2010 was to make sure that all of our members -- and also folks from the community — ­­ would have all the resources necessary to take advantage of the many

offerings in the Washington, DC metro area just as produce started becoming available. We knew, though, that most Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares filled up in February or March, so we compiled a comprehensive list and made it available at our January meeting, which was an anniversary party that brought in a lot of new faces. At this meeting, we also had available a list we had compiled of local sources of pastured meat, milk, and eggs. Three volun-

teers and one leader worked on these resources, which are posted on our chapter group page

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Copyright ©2010 holistic moms network

and will be updated yearly. For the April meeting, we created a third document listing farmers markets and included information about family-friendly aspects of each market.

Over 60 people attended our April meeting with a panel featured two farmers from an organic produce farm; one farmer from a farm that sells meat, milk, and handmade items like fresh pasta; a couple who owns a restaurant that offers local and seasonable fare and also runs a CSA; and two representatives from a local farm buyer’s club that buys local meat and eggs (and produce in the summer) from and delivers to several suburban communities.

The panelists gave inspirational talks and engaged in a lively Q&A session. Several of the speakers and many additional businesses – including local health food stores, restaurants, and Polyface Farms – provided donations for the evening in the form of giveaways and refreshments.

We opened doors a half-hour early for this event and had lots of information out on tables from local-food related businesses. Finally, each attendee received a resource list with all the contact information for the speakers and a list of additional local resources, including other farm and U-pick information and links to websites of non-profits working on issues of school lunch, gardening in schools, urban food deserts.

Looking for Healthy, Kid-Friendly Recipes?

With all the PR we did for this meeting, we had many additional people requesting electronic copies of our materials. It’s rewarding to know we’ve put great resources into the hands of so many members of our community.

Pick up one of HMN’s Cookbooks, Growing Healthy Families or Many Paths, One Journey to Health. Packed with member recipes for fresh, whole foods no matter what your nutritional path! $15 each or 2 for $25. Order online from www.holisticmoms.org.

Copyright ©2010 holistic moms network

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EAT CLOSER TO HOME

By Sara Grochowski • Leader of the Minneapolis, MN Chapter

E

at locally. Buy organic. Support sustainable agriculture. Some of us hear these terms all the time. It used to just be “buy organic�, now we are having conversations about supporting local farmers (even if they are not growing

organic) and seeking farms that use sustainable growing practices (organic or not). It is not only about how our food is grown, but where and who is growing our food. While a USDA certified organic sticker assures harmful chemicals were not used to grow your fruit or vegetable, it does not address farm size, shipping distances, fair prices for farmers or local economies.

Over the last two or three generations, available food choices

they grow their food. Challenge your family to try a new fruit

in the grocery stores and the approach to how we cook in

or vegetable each week, asking the farmer how they would

our homes has changed dramatically. Time spent in preparing

prepare the selected food in their own home.

home cooked meals has also steadily declined since 1950 as more people eat at restaurants and fast food outlets. Over the

Monitor your food purchases at the grocery store -

last ten years, however, there has been a shift in how people

Assign a child the task of determining where your food purchases

view food choices. Whether it is the slower economy, more

come from and research how you can make more local purchases.

access to information or simply coming back to how our grandparents lived, more and more people are reading food labels not only to determine ingredients but also to see where the food originated.

Parents can make food choices for themselves, but often it is for the health of their family. We are the most powerful agents of change in our families, but also in the local food system.

Eating local means more money for the local economy, plus fresher and better tasting food. Less traveling distance

Research the restaurants in your area that use locallygrown foods in their menu items Patronize the restaurants and ask what farms provide their food and where they are located.

Serve one meal per week made with 100% locally produced food Many farms have seasonal recipes on their websites or just be creative.

means less susceptibility to harmful contamination. Often the easiest ways to make changes are by involving the entire family. Consider the following ideas this spring and summer: Join a CSA (community supported agriculture) Many farms offer a CSA program which involves delivering a box of in season weekly or bi-weekly produce. Members may also receive weekly newsletters, farm updates, recipes and have the opportunity to visit the farm.

Become a regular at the local farmers market Bring your family and meet the farmers in your area. Ask how Copyright Š2010 holistic moms network

25

June 2010

memberprofile

Julie Wagner Chapter and amount of time that you have been an HMN member: I’m currently the founder and co-leader of the Portland, ME Chapter. I joined the West Morris/Warren County Chapter of HMN in the fall of 2006. When that group split, I was a dual chapter member and later became a co-leader of the Warren County Chapter prior to my family’s move to Maine.

Children: I have two kids; a seven year old son and a 3.5 year old daughter.

Your Volunteer Role for HMN: In addition to co-leading the new Portland, ME chapter, I am the Social Networking Coordinator for HMN. In this ever changing technological stream of information, my role is to help keep the “face” of HMN consistent and accurate on the many sites, networks, and chapter pages, blogs, groups, etc on the internet. My job is to help chapters stay current with the most recent images and wording for wherever they choose to put information about HMN and their chapters online and help those who are new or unsure with social networking. I also host weekly Twitter parties on Tuesday nights from 10-11pm.

What have you been working on recently?

Recently, I’ve been assisting with the conversion to the new Online Community. It is a very large project, inviting the thousands of members of HMN to the site and then assigning them to their chapters, so I’m helping out as much as I can. I’m looking forward to when we’re past this first phase of getting everyone online; I look forward to connecting with more moms from around the country and getting to know them better.

I absolutely love that we now can have faces to names and share pictures of ever ything from birth and breastfeeding to birthday celebrations and even planting, weeding and

What HMN Members are

Talking About . . .

harvesting gardens!

In Our Chapters:

Why do you volunteer for HMN?

Make your own Recycled T-shirt Grocery Bags, American River, CA Chapter (July)

HMN fills such a huge need in my life. I live far from my biological family, and now that we’re in Maine far from my extended created family!

HMN offers support for me and my family and the choices we make, resources for new ideas and concepts and health and healing modalities I’ve never even heard of that could make huge differences in our lives, gathering with other moms (and dads and families) to just spend time in our daily lives and “survive” our days

Greener Cleaners, Central OK Chapter (July) Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, Santa Clarita Valley, CA Chapter (July) Feingold Diet/ADHD, Atlantic County, NJ Chapter (August) Safe Drinking Water, Nashville, TN Chapter (August)

and especially fun when we celebrate together!

Online: How does your family incorporate eating locally/sustainably?

We’re blessed to live where we have a Farmer’s Market year round. We go to the indoor Winter Market from October-April and now the Main outdoor markets *three* days a week right here

Cloth Diaper Detergents How Do You Keep Love Alive in Your Marriage?

Natural Tick Repellants Feng Shui Resources Favorite AP Books

in town (in two different locations). We also belong to a local food co-op which sources all their offerings from Maine farmers at wholesale prices. I’m thrilled to live in Maine where eating locally is so incredibly easy!

Join the Conversation!

Connect with a Local HMN Chapter: www.holisticmoms.org Join our Online Member Community: www.holisticmoms.net

Copyright ©2010 holistic moms network

27

FROM FRIED CHICKEN TO FRESH EGGS

By Michelle J Massa

G

rowing up in a part of the country where fried and fast food are not only a tradition but a way of life, I learned a lot about myself and what I consider to be good quality food by moving to Northern California. In this vast and fertile

state, I discovered the deliciousness of fresh fruit from the farmer’s market and was seduced by the decadence of eating fresh and local vegetables. By learning to eat locally, I learned how to eat seasonally, and gained a newfound enjoyment in the simple pleasures of food.

From the perspective of a non-native Californian, I always find it remarkable how the locals here value organic, pesticide-free produce and are willing to pay for it. But I suppose that carries on through right down to their choice of beer and wine as well. No Lite-beer-out-of-the-can or boxed

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wine for these folks. And that’s the main reason why I stay

the ones right out of my backyard. And in doing this we are

and enjoy my richer quality of life. I realized that appetizing

participating in sustainable agriculture (although I wouldn’t

food is food that is harvested with care and does not harm

consider our backyard to be a farm or anything) in which we

the environment.

are cultivating food that is healthy, humane, seasonal and most of all, pleasurable.

And if I value my health and

So for those people

wellbeing, then

out there that were

I can choose to

raised like myself

spend my dollars

and could never

on nutritious

imagine anything

food which will

tasting better than

not only sustain

your regular order

me, but will

from McDonald’s,

increase my level

you’ll find that

of health; or I

your palate does

can spend those

get spoiled and you

same dollars on

can easily discern

a myriad of

the freshness and

p r e scription

quality of what

drugs in my later

you consume. It

years.

brings eating out to a whole new level because your expectations are higher. You

So after a few years of assimilation into this Organic & Green

know that quality food is local food because it is grown and

life, I was finally ready to take the ultimate step a girl raised

harvested in order benefit our local ecosystems. And, when

on fried chicken can take. I resolved to cut out fast food as

we buy produce from our neighboring farmers, it supports

well as packaged and processed food completely out of my

our local economy. It’s never too late to take a bite from

life. Along with that, my husband and I would grow as much

that fresh, local, organic strawberry and become aware of

of our own produce as we could while raising a couple of

the tasty, appetizing possibilities that come with local and

hens in our backyard to provide us with fresh eggs daily.

sustainable foods.

And so, I embarked on a journey most of us are too afraid to tackle. I had to actually prepare and cook my own meals; every meal.

Michelle J Massa is a Bay Area wife and mother who strives to raise awareness in all things

One thing I discovered was that, for the lazy-when-it-comes-

natural and holistic. Living holistically is not an

to-cooking person like me, fresh fruits and vegetables that are

alternative lifestyle, it is a natural one.

tasty without any dip or dressing are a great way to go. I also found that the closer I got to the source of my food, the more enjoyable it was. The sweetest tomatoes I have ever tasted are Copyright ©2010 holistic moms network

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get local

The average carrot travels 1,500 miles to reach your table!

The average non organic fruit contains more than 20 pesticides.

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Copyright Š2010 holistic moms network

Copyright Š2010 holistic moms network

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