Vacation in Vermont

We went to the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, VT. My Dad has a timeshare there (that he is selling in case anyone is interested!). We have never been and it was beautiful. It was such a different scene from Texas and the weather was perfect. We went from very humid mid to upper 90's to 60's and 70's. It was pretty hard to come home from that. Charles just kept saying, "I want to stay!" We did lots of activities, outdoor and in. Lots of hiking, walking in the cute little town, car rides in the mountains, working out, yoga, hanging out, tennis, movies, eating, and on and on! Here are a few pictures...

Dad (Walt) and his wife, Nan

The Boys, Charles and Logan



Grandpa and Logan
Cute picture except that Dad won and Logan had a minor meltdown right there in the shop.



Logan


Me and Charles
I didn't realize that I didn't put on any makeup that day!



This is also the home of Ben and Jerry's famous (and delicious) ice cream.





Just hanging out in a very cold stream.



The view from our condo.



Climbing wall. Logan loves these!

A fun time was had by all and we are looking forward to our next getaway!
(No, nothing planned, just dreaming)

School Lunches

I did meet with the director of Nutrition for Logan's school District. We talked for about 45 minutes and I had a few surprises. The biggest one is that the nutrition department's budget is not included in the School District's operating budget and gets none of the money from the government that goes to schools directly. They operate independently as a non profit organization. The money they get comes from sales of food, cash subsidies from the government, and donated commodities from the USDA for each meal they serve. In districts that serve at leas 60% free or reduced priced lunches (which Logan's school district does) get an extra two cents per meal served. Because much of the food that is served is from donated commodities, there is going to be a lot more soy, corn and wheat based products. The things that really put on the pounds! These very things are also given to big cow farms and chicken farms as surplus commodities with the sole purpose of a cheap way of fattening up the livestock so they can be brought to market quicker. The director of nutrition gave me lots of information including menus, ingredient lists and nutritional information for many of the lunches they serve. She has also tried to start a few programs in the classroom so that the curriculum is tied into what is current in the cafeteria. I told her that Logan came home one day and told me that he was learning the food pyramid and found out he is supposed to eat mostly grains! I was shocked because that is utterly false. The food pyramid has been changed to make fruits and veggies the biggest group. Unfortunately the grain lobbyists won when the new graphic was designed. Fruits and veggies were seperated into their own groups on the new pyramid so the grain slice is bigger than each one seperately. She wa also very disappointed to hear about all that. She agrees that she needs to work more with each school on the curriculum and training the teachers better on their programs.

After reviewing the information I think that they are doing a better job than many schools but think that a lot more can be done. The menu reads like a fast food menu and we are training the kids to eat these things every day. Even though the hot dogs are made from chicken and the hamburgers are 100% beef with no additives. The cheese pizza has half cheese and half imitation cheese (which is made mainly from soy and corn) so there is lots of room for improvement. The school follows the recommendations from the USDA. So the main thing is to change the rules that the USDA puts out. I sent out my letter to many people in government and at the school district. I have signed a few petitions to improve school food programs. There is a lot going on out there right now. Mostly because the old requirements expire this year and need to be renewed. Any changes in the program can only be made when the program is renewed. Also this turns out to be something that First Lady Michelle Obama is promoting right now. I hope to continue working with the school and writing to those in government to get better nutrition in the schools.

I also saw a great movie called Food Inc this weekend. It gives a lot of insight to where the current global food market is going. We saw the movie Saturday night and the national news showed many clips from the movie because of the recent e-coli thing. If you see the movie you will understand where the e-coli thing is coming from. Not good. I wont get into it here but check out the links.

Tomatoes

Our garden is in full swing and we have many successes and of course losses! This big success are the tomatoes. We planted four varieties this year. Cherokee Purple (Charles' favorite), Black Krim (Looks Like a Cherokee Purple and we cant tell them apart!), Persimmons, and Costoluto. The Persimmons (picture left) is a pale orange and tastes fabulous! It has a really creamy texture and is not overly sweet. The Costoluto (picture right) is an old heirloom paste tomato and so far this is the only one that has made it. The bugs and the birds seem to really like them a lot. Not sure I will though. I started new seeds today of the two favorites for fall plants and hope to replace them as they get too big.

The cucumbers and squash did not make it. A combination of vine borer worms and fungus took care of them for good. We got a few cucumbers and squash but that was it. We had a good load of radishes and we have eaten half the carrots. Turns out that Mustard likes carrots. I pulled one up to see how big they were. I walked over to Mustard to pet him and he grabbed it out of my hand! He tried so hard to eat it! Who knew that dogs liked carrots.




I also have bunching onions and basil. The cilantro bolted very early and we didnt get much out of it. I think we are having a harder time becuase of the heat. We have had over a week of 100+ degrees and I'm getting a little tired of it! I have also discovered that the Kale doesnt like heat so it is gone! I think I will try it in a winter garden. They are supposed to be okay even in the snow! Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Leftovers

Before putting in this year's veggie garden we found a few surprises. There were potatoes which we never harvested any because we thought they all died! And there were a few baby carrots. I think these are from seeds that didn't germinate (there were many!) and decided it was time when the weather warmed up a bit.

Posting Blitz!

I haven't posted in a while and I have lots of material to talk about. I just haven't gotten myself to the computer to make it all happen. Logan is sick today and so I have some time. Logan has sore throat, headache, voice is hoarse and nauseous. Sounds like it could me many things including the Swine Flue except no fever yet. Waiting to see what happens! Meanwhile I am working on the new posts including downloading almost 200 pictures!