Guilt in a Bottle--made of #7 plastic

My head is spinning. I think I'm going crazy. Oh, don't mind me, I'm just a mom with internet access and a chemical conscience.

Here's a list of what's bugging me (so much that I spend perverse amounts of my life on the internet researching it). 

BPA--just Google it and you'll know what I mean

other forms of plastic--now I know what #1, #2, 3, 4, 5, and (gasp!) #7 means on the bottom of literally EVERYTHING

gas prices--and their relationship to food prices, and its relationship to my financial future and home life

parabens

sodium lauryl/laureth sulfate

propolyne glycol

the future of the honeybee

ethanol

wasteful packaging

The possibility exists that I have too much time on my hands. I don't want to be the person who brings my own stainless steel camping plates to a cookout (whah whah whahhhhh), but I do have a certain compulsion to research and take action on issues that will likely affect me and my children, no doubt my grandchildren. Instead of "Gee mom, why did you smoke and drink when you were pregnant with me?" the new questions will be, "Why did you feed me canned ravioli and infant formula out of bPA-leaching polycarbonate bottles?" The answer will be the same: "Well honey, you see, we just didn't knooooow back then."

Guilt guilt guilt. Maybe it's the emotion, for women at least, that truly leads to change.

A Party at the Farm

Today the whole family traveled 30 minutes North to the farm which grows our vegetables. We joined a CSA farm for the first time this year and today they had a party to kick off the season. 

What an important lesson to show your kids where their food comes from! I loved walking through the 3+acre garden with the children and showing them how broccoli grows. There is a disconnect in their minds between the food they see in the grocery store and the food growing here. I want to connect all those images for my kids. Instead of a bag of frozen broccoli that's purchased at a huge sterile store,  steamed up, then tossed in the garbage, I want them to see the plant and how little of the whole plant they are actually eating. And how the rest of the plant can be composted or used for seed. 

Seeing food as a means to an end has become epidemic in this country.  Instead of quantifying food by Weight Watchers points or carbs or whatever, think about the process involved. Think about the by-products and consequences of your food choices.

I pay money to the farmers, they invest it in their farm, grow food, and share a portion with us.

Seems direct enough to me. 

And they grow the most delicious beets I've ever tasted.