Nature's Garden

I recently found this company, Nature's Garden Delivered, and instantly fell in love! They deliver affordable organic, fresh and seasonal produce from local farms right to your door...and they protect the environment in the process!!  Does it get any better than this?!?!?!

The idea is perfect, but there are two things in particular that stand out to me. First, the quality is unbeatable and it supports local growers...so nice to know where your food is coming from! Second, with all seasonal ingredients, the possibilities are endless!! You are not longer stuck in the same 'dinner rut'.  You can explore new recipes to utilize each item in your box...some of which may be brand new to your dinner table.  You can even swap out some of the items in your box ahead of time if you don't want it.  Can you tell I am excited...fits right into my Food Revolution 'kick'.  I can not wait to get my first delivery!!

Starting a Revolution

Holy cow....my head is spinning.  I am so fired up right now.  But in a good great way!  It is all because of Jamie Oliver.  If you have not watched his new show on ABC, Food Revolution, you HAVE to.  It is on Friday nights at 9 pm and you can watch all the episodes online.   I just found out about it and literally watched all the episodes, back to back, online.

This show reminded me of why I wanted to be a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher.  I wanted to inspire my students, among other things, to be healthy and empower them to actually do it.  Yet, every time I tell people what I teach I always get the same head nodding, eye contact avoiding, 'I don't know what that is...but I am going to pretend I do' look.  I can tell they are trying to figure out exactly what it is, so I graciously help them by re-wording my title and say, "It is basically, 'Home Ec'..."  The problem, is that it's not.  And, I have, unwittingly, actually become 'Home Ec-y'.  I got caught up in daily grind and forgot that I wanted to inspire and empower my students.  My mission used to be to prove that my content is important...maybe even more important the the core academics. Ha!  Yeah, right! Don't even get me started on  that.  Well...it is my mission again.

The statistics don't lie.  Our children are the first generation to have a lower life expectancy than us, their parents...that is just stupid - and it's 100% preventable!  Why are we so complacent about this?

The most disturbing part was about school lunches.  As a parent, it is unsettling.  As a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher, it's not ok.  And as Americans, we have to take control of our lives [and our childrens'] and embrace this revolution.  I don't know exactly what yet, but I am going to do something at my school to start a food revolution.  And you better believe I'm going to start with the menu at our house...

“Right now, in time, is a moment where we’re all confused about how brilliant we are and how technically advanced we are.  That is fighting with what once made our countries great - which is families, community, being together and something honestly as simple as putting a few ingredients together and sitting your family, your friends […] down at the table and breaking bread…”

                                                            - Jamie Oliver

 Are you going to be a part of the Revolution???  Watch the show and sign the petition here.