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Images from an afternoon at Stratford Ecological Center March 26, 2012.
1) baby lamb 2) chicken coop 3) hens protecting eggs 4) u-pick greenhouse 5) giving garden sign 6) goats and cows 7) Rachel and sheep pen 8 ) Lil petting cat 9) cernal pool 10) mayapple 11) spring beauty
The other day, a friend asked for help with her picky eater. Children who only eat a few things are endlessly frustrating to their parents who are concerned about nutrition and also bored out of their mind eating the same thing every night.
I known this frustration personally. My sweet Lil, who loves planning edible gardens, has witnessed a chicken butchering, travels around the world, and has been welcome in the kitchen from day one, is a highly selective eater. Her favorite foods are healthy but I can't afford to feed her salmon nigiri, kiwi, and Parmesan cheese day in and out, not to mention that they aren't local or able to be made by me.
I read a good bit of child development literature because I am totally fascinated by human development. I watch kids carefully at cooking classes and have noticed some patterns that are supported by developmental activities.
I have a theory that at age 2, most kids are high on the power of self feeding that they eat a huge variety of foods. Lil used to eat whole sweet peppers, every kind of fruit, sauces, and more.
By age 4, kids are experimenting with exerting power against other people and often refuse foods because they can. So much is going on socially and emotionally that many 4-5 year olds stick with very basic foods so they don't have to spend much energy processing new flavors and textures. Many children exhibit sensory issues around this age that make crunchy, soft, or chewy food very unpleasant for them. These developments are all normal.
Selective eaters tend to get into a pattern of enjoying just a few types of food throughout elementary school. Their willingness to try new foods often returns in the ever-experimental teens.
With children wanting to eat every day (three times, even!), it is easy to get caught up in daily worry about foodstuffs. If you cave to unhealthy foods and/or spend mealtimes nagging, kids are picking up the message that it's ok to ignore healthy choices and eating meals with those you love is not a priority.
So parents must take the long view. Focus on the lifelong habits that mindful eating can make. The ultimate goal of family dining must be to make and serve a variety of healthy foods and instil the value of slowing down to eat with those you love.
I don't believe in tricking kids into eating foods they don't want by adding purees to their favorite foods. I think kids should learn to love foods in their natural state, not covered up with stronger flavors. Similarly I don't believe in rewarding healthy eating with sweet treats. Both send the wrong message: that one must force themselves to eat nutritious food.
That said, I have found some tricks that help our meals with choosy Lil go more smoothly.
1)Try a family healthy eating challenge - Lil was very motivated last year when we made a chart and recorded how many fruits and vegetable each person ate each day. It helps that Alex is not a great produce eater so he was falling behind the goal of five servings too. Another challenge could be to buy a fruit/veg once a week that none of you have eaten before and prepare it.
2)If your child is into pretend play, ask him/her to eat like a bunny/monkey/elephant/any animal with a produce-rich diet. For some reason Lil was excited about raw kale for awhile because it was 'bunny food'. I let her nibble at mint out of the garden when she's crawling around like a kitty because it's green and has to be good for her, despite the germs.
3)Try a different preparation - Lil is recently on a frozen produce kick. I know it's not as healthy as fresh but a bowl of frozen peas is a heck of a lot better for her than a bowl of crackers. She likes frozen peach slices and berries too.
4) Give the child lots of power - If they can handle choices, give very simple a or b selections, i.e. "would you like apples or bananas for lunch?" Encourage them to help arrange a fruit plate or create a salad or push the button on the smoothie blender. Even if they don't eat the finished product, I can almost always get a child to take a bite of something they helped create.
5) Serve something they like at every meal - We always serve something Lil likes that she can choose to fill up on if she doesn't like other dishes. Often this means we pull out a piece of chicken before we add sauce or a portion of rice before mixing it with vegetables.
6) Serve everything at every meal - Put a tiny portion of each item you serve on the child's plate even if they've rejected the foods a thousand times. This communicates that a variety of foods is healthy and there's always a chance to change your mind.
7) Ask for input during meal planning - We meal plan as a family on Sunday morning, sitting around the dinner table and talking through the week, fresh produce, and what we want to eat. This is a good time to demonstrate compromise: everyone gets some of what they want on the menu but no one loves every meal.
8 ) Make changes slowly - If you typically make exactly what your child wants for every meal, changing that pattern will cause some stress. Offer one new food or preparation a day so as to not overwhelm them.
9) Never say 'picky' - Labeling a problem gives credence to it. If someone asks "Is X a picky eater?" I say "X likes y, y, and y." If I'm feeling saucy, I add "We eat dinner together every night. Do you?"
10) Breathe and relax - Your job as the parent is to provide the food. The child's job is to choose what to eat.
Do you have a picky eater? How do you deal?
In central Ohio the weather is exceedingly warm for this time of year. The temperatures coupled with lots of rainfall make it feel a bit like June around here.
Most of us are itching for the garden to catch up to the weather. If the grass is growing so high, why shouldn't we start summer vegetables early? If the fruit trees are in bloom, why not plant tender annuals?
Hold your horses. The experienced growers at Monday's Central Ohio Food Forum (Jaime from Wayward Seed Farm, Joseph from Swainway Urban Farm, Trisha from Local Matters and myself) agreed that the risk of a frost is just too high right now. The frost free date is a debatable May 1- May 15 in our new zone and too many growers have been burned by planting before early May.
Don't be bummed. There are plenty of other spring gardening tasks to take up your time.
Use your gardening energy wisely right now to ensure bigger better harvests later on. Here are some seasonally appropriate ideas:
These activities should be plenty to dirty your hands for the next 38 days until the full growing season begins!
How are you keeping busy in your spring garden?
We made our own salt from San Salvador, Bahamas sea water.
This statement usually elicits one of two responses. 1) "Wow! Awesome!" 2) "Why? It's only like $1 a pound at the store!"
We, of course, are of the "Wow, Awesome" mindset. But to answer the why: 1) Because we can. (This reason motivates far too much experimentation at the homestead.) 2) Because we never have before. 3) To bring back a free souvenir. 4) Because we can't in Ohio. 5) What else are you going to do in the middle of a hot afternoon on a remote island?
Making salt is as easy as you might think. Here's what we did:
Collect the seawater, avoiding sand. (My awesome photography assistant Lillian took these pictures.) We collected 3/4 gallon after spillage.
Place the water in a shallow pan and put it in the hottest spot you can find to evaporate.
Look the next day and realize that the sun isn't really doing much. Consult the book Salt: A World History you happened to have on vacation and find that evaporation takes a month or so.
If you aren't staying a month, heat the salt water. We weren't sure of the metal quality of the rental house pans, so we opted to bake the water in a glass pan in the stove. Boiling would be faster but could easily corrode a low-quality pan.
Bake for many hours. Wonder if the water will ever leave crystals behind.
Finally! A salt crusted pan! Marvel.
Scrape the salt crystals into a pile.
Measure the volume of the salt for the information of your blog readers. We made about 1 cup from the 3/4 gallon batch.
To appear as though we weren't cocaine smugglers, we stowed the salt in clear plastic containers and baggies clearly labeled salt in our suitcases. That was apparently enough to get through customs just fine.
Making salt was a fun way to get a souvenir from the ocean for free. We know it was only free because we weren't paying the electric bills to keep the oven on for a half a day and simultaneously cool the house with air conditioning. I doubt that it makes economic sense to cook your own salt from seawater unless you have access to a free source of energy (maybe wood?) or time to wait for evaporation.
Yet we will certainly make salt again. We're smitten with the totally local, no cost, easy-to-take-home souvenir.
We also want compare different salts from different oceans. Will Hawaiian salt taste markedly different than San Sal salt? Will it have a different color or crystal structure? Curiosity demands that we experiment a little to find out whether we should start a collection of homemade salts from around the world.
Have you ever made salt? Will you try it next time you're at an ocean?
City Folk's Farm Shop opens today in North Clintonville. Located at 4760 North High Street, at the intersection of Beechwold and High, City Folk's is a sustainably-minded urban homesteading store. They stock gardening, house keeping, and animal husbandry supplies for central Ohio backyard growers. Lil and I stopped in yesterday to see the store before the soft opening.
It's hard not to scheme and dream in City Folk's. Tucked into corners of the store are charming handmade bat, bee, bird, and worm houses. A rack on the wall holds the most rustically beautiful hand tools I have ever seen. Everything a homesteader needs from laundry detergent to cheese making supplies to dehydrators are stocked in the welcoming, well lit show room.
Seeds from a variety of organic and heirloom producers are stacked in colorful packages just waiting to burst into plants. Pots in a variety of sustainably sourced materials are available to fill with bulk or bagged organic soil.
The back of the store houses a selection of chicken feed, soil, and amendments that can be loaded right out the back door into the parking lot.
City Folk's Farm Shop obviously has a preference for local, sustainably made tools - a preference I share. Shop keeper Shawn is committed to providing what local homesteaders need and welcomes our ideas. She put together a schedule of educational events to be held in store, including Backyard Chicken Basics (April 15, 3:30-4:30 pm) and Homesteading with Children (June 3, 3:30-4:30 pm) led by yours truly. See the full calendar on the City Folk's event page.
City Folk's opens today with hours from 10 am - 6 pm. They are planning a grand opening celebration for Earth Day weekend, April 21-22. Visit soon to outfit yourself for the spring growing season.
Disclosure: City Folk's hired me to write copy for their website and manage their social media account during opening. This post was not part of our agreement and opinions are my own.
Spring is most definitely in the air in central Ohio! We're already sweating with nearly 80 degree highs, we just had our first huge storm and there are buds blooming everywhere. I am uneasy about this weather and worry about a late frost, but I can't help but enjoy the outdoor time.
Hop into spring gardening and food culture by attending some of these great events:
Lil and I will be in the Central Ohio Food Forum crowd to talk about home gardening and homesteading at this month's discussion. Doors open (free admission) this Monday at 5:30 pm at Wild Goose Creative to enjoy Sassafras Bakery goodies; the forum starts at 6:30.
City Folk's Farm Shop soft opening is this Tuesday at 10 am. I am working with City Folk's to promote their new organic gardening and homesteading store and couldn't be more proud of their philosophy and offerings. Tuesday's first day will include treats from Pattycake Bakery and free seeds (up to $15) for every tenth seed buying customer!
On Wednesday I will join other food blog fans of Ree Drummond at her Pioneer Woman book signing from 6-9 at the Barnes & Noble at 1739 Olentangy River Rd Columbus OH.
I really wish I could get out to the Creative Arts of Women show opener this Thursday, March 22 at the Shot Tower 546 Jack Gibbs Blvd, Columbus, OH 43215. The reception will feature dance and puppetry performances by CoCo Loupe, Heidi Madsen & Denise McDonough.
Grab a bite of spring locavore fare at Black Creek Bistro and stop in the nearby CS Gallery for their Open artist's show through March 27 and in early April their Two Year Anniversary show debuts. Alex's parents have pieces in both shows.
Next Tuesday the 27th, I'm excited to be attending Cement Marketing's Timeline for Facebook Pages workshop. I love the work of Alaina and her crew and look forward to learning more for myself and my clients.
The North Market debuts a new event at the end of March: the Coffee Roast. Samples, demonstrations, and a home-roasted bean contest will buzz visitors about Columbus' vibrant coffee scene. Grab a cuppa March 31 from 9 am to 2 pm.
Columbus Food Adventure's famed Taco Truck Tours start up again April 1. Or choose the Short North, German Village, or Alt Eats Tours. All are great for a staycation, special date, or introduction to a new food scene in the city.
Beginning gardeners or anyone wanting some new skills will want to check out the Gardening Programs at Franklin Park Conservatory. They offer everything from container gardening to making a living wreath to constructing a rain barrel.
Register now to volunteer with Root Down for Earth Day and then go to the celebration on April 21 at Columbus Commons.
Join me to talk hens at the Backyard Chicken Basics class April 15th from 3:30 - 4:30 pm at City Folk's Farm Shop. We will cover coops, chicken varieties, care and feeding.
I'm teaching about sauerkraut, yogurt, kimchee, and more Fermented Foods at Franklin Park Conservatory on Sunday April 22 from 3:30-5:30 pm. Taste and create cultured, healthy foods in this workshop.
Clintonville Farmer's Market Spring Sprout Day begins the farmer's market season on April 28, only seven weeks from now! Buy organic seedlings from me at the Swainway booth and check out the season's first produce.
The spring 2012 Market to Market ride is scheduled for May 5th with the bicentennial theme Moustaches & Monacles. Get your bike tuned up for another great ride!
NB. Our new family travel blog has its first posts up! Check out Curious Wanderlust for a little bit about our recent travels and look for updates from Alex in India this coming week.
Happy Pi Day! It's the day I celebrate 3.14 by creating culinary circumference: pie.
Hounds in the Kitchen has recipes for pie dough, mushroom pie, and spinach feta pie. I shared my lemon meringue pie failure and dozens of photos of pate en croute, my Charcuteplaooza pie. Like so many other food bloggers, I made peanut butter pie in remembrance of Jennifer Perillo's husband Mikey last August.
Today, Pi(e) Day 2012, I offer 10 Life Lessons in Pie:
1. Life is Messy - It's inevitable that a pie maker ends up with a little flour on her apron or the floor or both. No big deal - washing up is part of life.
2. Pretty is Nice - A pie with a perfectly tucked crust and carefully cut center is a truly beautiful thing.
3. But Pretty isn't Everything - Ugly pies can taste great and pretty pies might be unpalatable. It's best to taste every kind at the table to find your favorite.
4. Mistakes Happen - Making pie isn't particularly difficult, but sometimes the crust and filling elements don't come together just right. Most of the time you still end up with something tasty and if not, there's always another day to make another pie.
5. Mom's is Best - At least my mom's pie crust is best. I am not as exacting and will never make pie as precisely as she does. Enjoying Mom's pies for summer birthdays and winter holidays is a sacred family tradition.
6. Always Make New Traditions - Creating and curating rituals anchor our bonds to family members. We made a new family tradition in Valentine's tea which usually includes pie.
7. Think Out of the Box - Family traditions are key but great pies are made by thinking a little differently sometimes. Lil's entry to pie day (coming soon below) is all about the mini pumpkin pies she made. The individual desserts were a fun compliment to dinner one night this week.
8. Everything in Moderation - Pie is tasty but stuffing anything in a fatty crust is not usually the healthiest choice. We enjoy sweet pies on special occasions and savory pies not more than once a month.
9. Eat Close to Home - The best pie is made with the freshest ingredients. The freshest ingredients come from as close as your backyard garden. I have yet to make a 100% backyard pie but it is a dream of mine because I know the taste would be out of this world.
10. Math is Important - When weighing flour, calculating volume for garden soil and diving pie into fractional pieces, homesteaders are using math. Calculating totals at the farmers market, square footage of a garden bed, or expansion of a ratio preserve recipe all require a mastery of numbers. Practice math and you'll enjoy a more efficient DIY life.
How are you celebrating Pi Day 2012? Comment or link below!
Homestead for SaleWe are finally putting our Clintonville house on the market very soon. In the meantime, life is a blur of paint and trim and organization.
The new buyers of the hound homestead will move into a home complete with:
If you are in the market for a house and want to choose finishes like paint and a little bit of flooring, let's talk ASAP.
In addition to my role as chief house stager, I am working with three social media clients: City Folk's Farm Shop, OCS Logistics, and C-PAP Central Online. It is exciting to guide small businesses in the world wide web.
I also accepted a role with Swainway Urban Farm to assist at farmer's markets. Our first date is the Clintonville Sprout Swap on April 28! I am a huge fan of Joseph's growing philosophy and can't wait to help him share organic seedlings, produce, and mushrooms with the Clintonville and New Albany market shoppers.
As if life couldn't be more busy, we decided on our last trip (this past weekend to Indianapolis) to start a family travel blog. Lil will take videos, Alex contribute quick posts on the road, and I'll manage the whole thing. Check out Curious Wanderlust for our very first updates.
Thanks for hanging in with the website updates during the hosting transition. I'm in the process of transferring to a new-new host with the old-new theme and everything will look normal again soon.