Food Apologetics: Why I Love Whole Milk

Alright. I have something I'd like to discuss. It's about food, and you are going to think I've gone crazy. I've repeatedly asked My Dear Husband if he thinks I've gone crazy. He says no. Obsessed maybe, but not crazy. Well, the only thing I see fit to be obsessed over is Jesus, so I confess my obsession and admit I am praying for a healthy, balanced approach to changing how we eat in our home. 

I have done the lowfat thing - I wish I had a dollar for every low fat Snackwell's chocolate marshmallow cookie I ate when I was 16. I have done the WeighDown thing, and although it enlightened me to the principle of moderation, I took the liberty of eating whatever I wanted, and did lose weight eating chocolate and pizza. And I have done the Weight Watchers thing, and I lost weight very quickly after I had Nancy, which was great because I didn't have to buy a new "transition" wardrobe, but I was exhausted by the points counting, and couldn't enjoy the foods I really liked (brown rice, eggs, butter and olive oil) without feeling guilty. Although I was thin, I still felt like I was not nourishing my body with good foods, and there was a world of foods out there beyond oatmeal, chicken breasts, and lowfat yogurt.

I was not in search of something new. I just happened on a book, In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, at the library, and was fascinated. I wanted to know more about how to shorten my food chain. My mom bought veggies at the farmers market when it wasn't cool yet to shop farmer's markets. And when Ryan and I were newlyweds, I knew the market was a place to get inexpensive produce, and since we lived just a few miles from it, I went every weekend. The price is what lured me, but the benefits of supporting local farms and knowing where my food comes from was what kept me going. In addition, seasonal produce is just that, seasonal, picked at the peak of freshness and contains the maximum amount of nutrients and vitamins. Plus, for me, it is so relaxing, and a very simple indulgence to wander with a cup of coffee and look at what the vendors have available for the week, and I love how each week is different.

On returning In Defense of Food to the library, I found on the shelf nearby Real Food, by Nina Planck. (click on the book at the top of the post to learn more about her and her book) I pulled it off the shelf because the cover was pretty, and after reading the subtitle "what to eat and why", I hoped it was going to tell me I could eat good whole foods, and as much as I wanted, without feeling guilty.  Sort of. Planck, a woman who started the London Farmer's Market when she was just 29 and grew up on a farm in Virginia, explains that not all food is equal. Meaning beef from the supermarket is not the same as beef raised on grass, pastured and free to roam. Eggs from chickens free to roam and scratch and peck at bugs contain more Vitamin E, Omega-3s and beta-carotene than eggs from chickens in cages. (I can see the difference here - I have a friend who keeps chickens, and their egg yolks are bright orange, a sign of the presence of beta-carotene) Milk from cows fed grass is full of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a cancer-fighting Omega-6 fat that also aids in weight loss and builds lean muscle. I think most of you are sick of me talking about our love for all things Happy Cow Creamery.

If I let myself think about it, I get really mad at how difficult it is to find "real food" and super mad when I see how expensive it is! We are trying to find the balance of being wise with what God has given us and be good stewards of our money, but also being wise in how and what we eat and especially what we feed our children. Usually I am an all or nothing kind of person - if I can't do it all the way, right the first time, then it's not worth doing. But I feel like any small changes we can make will be a benefit to our family and the...yes, I'm going to say it...environment around us. Not to mention, it's really fun knowing my friend Jenny collected the eggs she brings us on Sundays with her girls, and Kate gets excited to see our friends Chad and Amy Bishop from Greenbrier Farms and what they have in their big white coolers for the week. I mean, she got excited about radishes and spring onions! And ate them!

So what do you think? Do you like butter? Does the fact that we down 2 gallons of whole milk a week make you shudder? Are you satisfied with the "middle aisles" of corn and soy products in the grocery store? I'll tell you, my husband loves Pop Tarts, and I will continue to buy them, and I don't think we could survive with preschoolers without prepackaged snacks and crackers. I am just learning more about the world beyond Ritz and Coffeemate. I am really excited that it wasn't that hard to find places closeby that offer healthier options of the things we love, that are better for the animals and the environment, that let me get my hands a little muddy in the garden, and that support our friends and neighbors in their livelihoods or hobbies. 

I have some links on the blog to a few things I am interested in, but am planning on adding a few more. This month it's food and gardening. Next month, I'll probably be nose deep in some fiction (it's almost summer, you know), and by August I'll be picking up all those parenting books and learning all I can about school aged children and how to deal with the changes that come with entering the public school world. If you have read all of this, you must be one of my close friends!  So thanks for humoring me, and hopefully posting about my current interest will quell the tendency I would normally have to talk your ear off about it. Consider this post a warning - don't ask me unless you really, really want to know!

Edisto Beach with the Keever Family

The Keevers invited us to join them in Edisto for a few days over spring break. It was much like last October (sans flooding the house prior to our trip): Windy, unseasonably chilly but really fun and relaxing. The kids just don't care about the weather and whether (ha!) it's hot or cold out. They were just pumped to be with each other and be somewhere new. Tuesday was freezing cold outside, and especially windy on the beach. Wednesday had a short shower, and then warmed up a bit, and Thursday was beautiful, so that's the day we left. 

I decided to bring Easter egg dye kits with me and we dyed eggs with the kids, and Nancy totally stressed me out while doing it. She just kept picking up the same egg and throwing it back in the cup, splashing dye all over the place. Kate kept dropping and breaking hers and would have a meltdown every time. That got a little old. Harper and Calahan did great. In theory it was a good idea, but it took longer to set up than it did to actually dye the eggs. We went on several hunts for eggs, too. We had a great time with our friends! It is so fun to get to know each other better while we are all relaxed and out of our hectic life for a few days. Thanks again, Keevers!

Coming back from the beautiful "shell beach", Botany Bay Plantation.

Nancy loved "Tawahayan"; he was the first one she asked about when she woke in the mornings. I hear Calahan thinks Nan is "pretty cool". That's cool.

It was really, really windy.

Daddies giving girls rides back to the car. We were all a bit windblown.

Shell Beach.

The Keevers. This was the coldest day on the beach. Believe me, Harper did need the hat. But everyone had fun!

Did I mention it was windy?

I had to include the video. Being a Keever, Calahan was bent on getting the most eggs and coming out on top, until the bannister ran into his face. He recovered quickly, though, and ended up getting the most eggs (he did help me hide them...).

Santee at Spring Break

For Spring Break, we headed down to Santee to our family lakehouse to spend time with the kids before we met the Keevers at Edisto for a few days. It was very relaxing, and I wish we would have spent more time there. We always seem to choose to go when it's cold, but the kids really don't mind. I did tell Ryan next year I don't want to go on vacation until May, so we can enjoy warm weather. 

The house has been part of the family's for over 40 years, I think. Mom, correct me if I'm wrong. It is a small house, no dishwasher and only 1 shower, but the view is priceless, and the kids think it's a magical place to be, as I did when I was a kid. I hope they will have the same fun memories I do of fishing with mom and dad (my MOM was the one who taught me to bait a hook with a worm), swimming by the pier, going tubing on the lake, walking down to Taw Caw campground bait and tackle to buy some candy, and trying desperately to find a decent restaurant to eat at. 

  

"I cwimbin'!" She did this before we even knew it. She's fast.

 

Jumping off the sofa. Sorry Mom.

At the aquarium in Charleston, on our way to Edisto. Nancy didn't mind at all touching stuff. Kate saw her first shark (to her memory. we saw a young hammerhead on the beach at IOP with the Kulps and Gainors a few years ago!)

Sisters.

Hightower Farm Field Trip

This goat was the size of a mule, he was huge.

One of the puppies loving on Nancy. She was in heaven with all the animals, but the momma pyrenees scared her. She was the size of a regular sized goat!

Kate holding one of the baby goats. I had no idea they were so cute and soft!

At the beginning of the month we went to a friend's farm in Campobello. They have a few goats, a couple of Great Pyrenees dogs, chickens and a peacock that they think wandered over from not-to-distant Hollywild Animal Park. We had so much fun seeing the baby goats and puppies. It was fun to hang out and meet some new friends, too, and see the Hightower's home. We appreciate them opening it up to us to explore and let all the curious kids poke around. 

I was fascinated at how they came about getting the land, choosing to build there and starting a small farm. Ryan and I really, really would love to try that kind of adventure one day. Do you ever feel like someone else is living the life you want? Sometimes I have to force myself to trust that my suburban life can still be one of adventure and it is exactly where God wants me to be. But it does not sound nearly as exciting to me to say "I went out and threw some zinnia seed out on the ground" as it does to say "I milked the goats this morning before breakfast".  Of course, I'd like to think I could hang with the toughest of tough hands and not mind rolling my sleeves up and getting dirty, but I must confess: the most adventurous thing I did while at the farm? Nancy fell in a puddle of mud and poop and I did not cry or stress out (too much. Jill Peterson had to convince me Nancy would not contract Ecoli). I felt pretty proud of myself!

Perfect Parenting

If we give them an inch, they take it and run a mile. We let them do this at the table one night, and now they attempt it several times a week. But it's really funny to us, so I guess we're willing to put up with them being borderline rude at the table because you are allowed to be silly for such a short time...imagine Ryan and me doing this if we ate dinner at your house. My apologies in advance if the girls try this when dining with you. They also lick their plates after dessert. Judge me as a mother, I don't care. You know you want to lick your plate after dessert, too!

Making More Memories

When I met my friends at Clemson when we were 18, the thought that these may possibly be the kind of friends that share our families with each other and grow up together never crossed my mind. I was just so excited to make new friends and have fun with each other and make fun memories that I didn't think about the future. I certainly didn't think that there would be 20 kids between 11 women born within 5  1/2 years!  A luxury, now I see, to be in a place so comfortable in life that I didn't have to think about my future. 

I think it is such a gift God gives us to find in people a kindred spirit that endures life's trials. To get to partner with people in their journeys, and to be a part of each other's journey, I feel is such a blessing. Many of my Clemson memories are as vivid to me as they were the day they happened, and when they were happening I did not consider us kids. But we were! And I still feel in many ways that I still am a kid, waiting to feel like a grown up! We may not live with each other anymore, or know what we all have had for breakfast or how that exam went or be there when someone wounds us or get to rejoice with each other when good news comes, but there is something so very comforting about coming together with friends that know you so well, you don't have to explain yourself. Although we've all changed greatly in 10 years, those years we spent together at school, living and sharing with each other, gave us insight into who each of us is at our core.

All of that to say, I got to take the girls to Clemson earlier in the month to visit my dear friend Brandy and her kids. They moved up at Christmastime from Bluffton, and we are trying to take advantage of being so close. It is kind of amazing that kids and everyday life have only let us see each other a couple of times, but each time we try and plan out our next hang out time to cram in visits! Bran has Sarala (4), Jackson (2.5) and Sam (1). It was so fun!! Bran makes me a more relaxed person. She's very laid back and just doesn't get stressed out and keeps things in perspective. 

The kids had a lot of fun together. Sarala and Kate played in Sarala's room most of the time, pretending all kinds of things. Nancy went between the big girls and Jackson and "baby Sayum"- she just wants to be where the action is. We packed a lunch and went to the Botanical Gardens and took a walk, it was a beautiful day! I had my wedding portraits taken here, and of course I never thought about bringing my daughters to hang out in the garden where their Daddy proposed and I wore my wedding gown! Then B turned me on to Sonic's happy hour and we got some giant Dr. Pepper's as a treat to ourselves. Love you B! It was fun making more memories with you and the kids! Can't wait for the zoo with Tracy in April!

Sarala and Kate checking out the fish.

This was Nancy's favorite part of the day! She even talked about it to Ryan at dinner that night, how she got to "ride de strorrer ride wif jackson. I stam up!" (stand up) And Jackson was such a strong, sweet boy keeping Nancy safe with his arm around Nancy to make sure she didn't fall off. 

I love Nancy cutting her eyes at Jackson!

Another One?

Eating a messy snack at the kitchen table. Me: "Nan, don't put your hands up in your hair, please." Nancy: "I just stretchin', Momma!"

Excuses at age 2? Yikes.