Is it Food?

One of the wonderful things about having multiple children is watching them teach each other things.  There's been a lot of that going on around here lately.  Henry has given Violet several lessons on how to draw cars and vans (her speciality is people, he thought she should branch out).  The whole family has been trying to teach Ivy how to talk and walk.  She has been very receptive to the talking thing, and really likes to stand, but has absolutely no interest in putting one foot in front of the other.

Yesterday Mitchell decided that Ivy eats way too much paper, and he was going to teach her the difference between what is food and what is not.  He plopped her in the high chair with some various objects and pointed.

"Not food!"

Then he poured some Cheerios on her tray.

"That's food!"

She took the hint and gobbled up the Cheerios.  When those were gone she stuck the other stuff in her mouth too.  I love babies.

I just recently watched "King Corn", a documentary following a pair of friends as they try to plant an acre of corn in Iowa and follow it through to the plate.  It was really sad.  I highly recommend you watch it yourself, but here are some of the highlights:

*A vast majority of the carbon in our bodies originates from corn.  Corn, corn syrup, cornfed meat, cornstarch - corn is in EVERYTHING.

*Most of corn grown in the United States is not fit for human consumption.  You have to feed it to a cow or turn it into high fructose corn syrup before we can eat it.

*Cows can't eat that corn either.  We feed it to them for about 150 days and then we slaughter them for meat.  If we didn't slaughter them they would get sick and die because cows aren't meant to eat that crap.

*Most of the alterations made to today's corn isn't to make it produce more ears or to taste better or be more nutritious.  They are made to be able to grow the most plants per acre.  Like little inedible corn cities.  Or rather, huge inedible corn cities since the family farm has been under attack for years.

But I'll let you watch it yourself.

As Mitch gave Ivy her lesson about what is food and what isn't, I was just reminded about the scene where they try to eat the corn they grew and discover that it's inedible.  Sad.  It can be such a tricky thing these days to figure out what is really food and what isn't.

Mama Tea over at "A Farmish Kind of Life" just had a great post about a new book she read called "Food Rules" by Michael Pollan.  One of the rules is "Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food."  Seems like good sense to me, though it's trickier than it seems now.

Our book club is starting to read another food book - "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver.  I just requested it from the library so I'll let you know how it is after I get a chance to read it.

Lots of food-learning going on around here!

If you're feeling inspired to do a little more food-learning of your own, then head on over to Mama Tea's because she's having a giveaway over there.  You could win your own copy of "Food Rules".  I know I'm heading over to enter, it sounds like a good one!

Good day, good eating, and good luck :-)

Sunday Scribbles

Bits O' Brain, and they call it Sunday Scribbles...


*Book club got me thinking about meaningful work. Soul filling work. I don't think I'll ever find any of that that pays actual money. People do it, they find it, but I just feel like it may never be in the cards for me and then what does THAT mean? Work somewhere soul sucking or don't work?

*I've been thinking about this poem alot lately and it makes me sad...

"The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep."

*I just watched the movie "King Corn". Made me never want to eat processed food again. I think I need some heirloom non-GMO corn seeds too...

*I want to plant things. I feel like if I could just plant things and hang clothes on a clothesline, everything might just be okay.

*I want to paint things. I feel like if I could just paint things bright colors, maybe I could get by until I could plant things.

*Cub Foods has Cutey Baby cloth diapers (that woman has MAD marketing skills!) and they are on sale this week, so if you are into that sort of thing, get 'em while they're hot!

*I have a new hat. I got it for my dance class for our costume, but I kinda like it. I'm not usually a hat person but I've been wearing this one around lately because it makes me feel like a gangsta. Or a leprechaun...

You Get a Star!

Charts.  Sticker charts, chore charts - I'm not a big fan of charts.  We can never keep on top of them for very long, the enthusiasm wanes quickly, they put the focus on getting stuff for what you do  instead of doing stuff because it needs to be done and being a participating member of the family.  But sometimes what we need is a good chart.  Charts always have a nice honeymoon period where they inspire the kids to do great things and life becomes easier for a few days (a few weeks if the rewards are good enough and frequent enough).  Grandma left for Arizona for a week and things have kind of taken a turn for the worst around here simultaneously.  I have been frazzled, to say the least.  So I said to myself, "Self, let's make a chart".

What kind of chart to make?  A chore chart?  A sticker chart?  What should earn stickers?  Hmmmmm...

I decided on an awesomeness chart. 

You get stickers for anything that mama deems awesome.  Brought your homework home and did it without screaming?  Awesome!   Put your boots and coats away without being asked?  Awesome!  Sat in the doctor's waiting room without making a total scene?  Awesome!

When everyone gets to the top, we're going to Chuck E. Cheese's.  Awesome!

Basically I'm setting up an economy in my home where the currency is stickers and I am the Federal Reserve Bank.  Is it bribery?  By the definition set forth by some of my friends, no.  Bribery is when you give the reward before the good behavior.  Incentives are what you give afterward.  But it feels a lot like bribery.  Especially when I sing out after dinner, "I'm coming upstairs in five minutes and anyone who is wearing jammies and has clean teeth gets two stars!", and my offspring scurry for their toothbrushes and footie pajamas without any help or cajoling or yelling from me.  It feels wrong, it feels like bribery and lazy parenting.  But if this is wrong, I never want to be right.  It just works so well!  At least it does this week anyhow, and this week is when I'm feeling kind of crappy and really need to not fight with anyone.  Just today I handed out stars for playing quietly together and for shoveling the driveway, no fighting involved.

I feel a little dirty...


How do you feel about charts?  Do you use them?