I am Going to Monsanto

I am about to open up another chapter in the adventure that has been afforded me by the Illinois Farm Families Program. I am about to head over onto “enemy” lines.  

 I am going to Monsanto.

Just say Monsanto out loud and people will give you a thousand different options for how awful they are and must be. I have read the Facebook articles and the passed along information and been convinced that something is amiss. One of the reasons I wanted to join the program was to hear the other side of the story – to get to know the people using the seeds and see what their opinion was.

I met some Farmers last year, all of whom, if they grew corn or soy, were growing some GMO crops. Some of them bought from Monsanto. As I recall all of us moms in the program, I think about 25 of us, were sort of horrified. What came out of it for me is this – who are we to judge?

Now, don’t get all excited. I am not saying that I am pro-GMO, pro-Monsanto etc. But I do think that Neil deGrasse Tyson is tons smarter than me and HE is not worried about them.  Here is a sample of what he had to say on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/neildegrassetyson/posts/10152652892786613

For thousands of years Farmers have been modifying plants and animals through breeding choices. Today, the pigs in the gestation stalls could not survive in the wild. You will not find a wild seedless watermelon. For thousands of years human beings have sacrificed biodiversity on the altar of quantity. Now, because we are doing it in a lab, we are paying attention.

First – we’ve been doing it in a lab for something like 30 years. The crops have been in our fields for 20 years.

Second – I don’t believe the problem is in the modification. I am not a scientist. I am just a mom, a writer, a Girl Scout leader.


But what I think the problem is and what I think in my own humble opinion is the following:

1. What are we doing about cross-pollination with other crops?
2. What are we doing about allergies?
3.  Why aren’t we labeling – and not just that the food is GMO but with information available by the food’s code on what has been modified and why.
4. Why aren’t we letting farmers keep seed?
5.  How long do patents last? Can they expire like copyrights and the food is returned to the public domain? 

These are my top concerns and what I will be taking with me to Monsanto. Hopefully, I will get some clarification and answers.  I am open to discovering that the hype I hear is wrong. I am also wary that I am just hearing the other side of the coin and that somewhere in the middle we can find the truth.  

Wish me luck.

Winter Is Coming or How to Survive the Polar Vortex 2.0

The short autumn has given way to crisp December days. And while visions of sugarplums may dance in the heads of those around me, I am pretty sure my kids will turn their noses up at minced dried fruit and nuts, even if it is rolled together in a ball and sprinkled with sugar.

So! What is an urban momma to do to get fresh fruits and veg in the Midwest? Well, since we live in the modern era I can get just about anything at my local grocery. From Watermelon to Mango – there is a bounty to have and to buy. Lately though, we have tried to maintain a diet that is seasonable and sustainable. What the heck can I feed my kids in December?

Locally, we have a lot of good options. There are still Michigan apples in the stores, and should be for some time as they store well and can ship from the local orchards. Also, remember there is a reason oranges are traditional stocking stuffers, citrus is prime in the winter months and will keep your vitamins up too!

Winter squashes are still coming in and will continue to be good from local sources through the winter as they keep well. If your kids are like mine, they probably turn their noses up a bit on squash, but I found a GREAT minestrone recipe that I will share that will help get you through it.

First you have to have a dinner of roasted chicken. It’s the best way to get stock.  At True Nature Foods, my local store, I can get chickens from a farm in Illinois. The good news is that a lot of our meat is local to the region, even the stuff you buy in stores. For example when I was with the City Moms program this year (http://www.watchusgrow.org/about-us/meet-the-moms/) we toured a hog farm, the Gould’s http://gouldfarm.com/,  whose meat goes to Hormel. 

That’s getting us sidetracked from soup.

After you have your roast chicken dinner, put all the bones, left over skin, meat you aren’t going to eat, together with a chopped onion, carrot and celery, and any herbs you may have stuffed inside the chicken for flavor into a large stock pot. Cover with water and boil for an hour or two. You can do this process at least twice and get a couple of gallons of stock. I freeze mine in gallon sized bags for later use in soup.

Make your soup! Make lots of soup with root vegetables and stock.  You will survive and so will I!

Here is my latest favorite soup, it is a lot of ingredients, but it is well worth it.

Autumn Minestrone

1 onion, diced

4-5 cloves of garlic, sliced

1 tbs herbs

2 tbs butter

2 tbs oil

3 carrots, roughly chopped, peeled if desired

3 stalks of celery, chopped

½ butternut squash, cubed

4 potatoes, peeled cubed

4-5 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1 pound kale, stems removed, chopped

1-2 quarts of chicken or vegetable stock

1 can of cannellini beans

1 cup of pearled barley

1 5oz can of tomato paste

Salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion, garlic and herbs in the butter and oil. When soft, add the carrots and celery. Saute 5 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and as much of the stock as you can get in your pot. Boil until the potatoes and squash are fork-tender. Voila. Soup. Serve with bread and butter for an extra treat. This makes a TON of soup, you can freeze the leftovers or have jealous coworkers for lunch.

I survive the winter by making the best of the local, sustainable ingredients available to me and filling my stomach with hearty, warming soups. How do you survive?

Taking Farm Visits to the Next Level

I am just like you, City Mom. 

I work a full-time job and have two wonderful daughters in elementary school. I am a Girl Scout leader, a menu planner and a recipe experimenter.  I volunteer for the kids’ school and I try to have a life of my own and work out once in a while, but mostly, like you, my number one concern is my kids, their health and their happiness.  

When I can, I get my kids away from the traffic, and the cars, and the concrete and we visit forests and parks and rural areas.  We love going to pick apples, berries, and pumpkins.  I love being on the farms and fantasize with regularity what it would be like to live out there, with the land and the air and the trees. What would it be like? 

Then, miraculously, I saw a link to the Illinois Farm Bureau’s program for City Moms. The program allows a group of moms from the city and suburbs unparalleled and unprecedented access to working, family farms in Illinois. The program only asks that you commit to it and write about your experiences. I immediately applied – what an opportunity. 

This is a level up from apple picking, I can tell you that.  It is behind the scenes, no holds barred all access to an industry that has very strict guidelines on visiting. (This is all for the health of our food supply, I can assure you right now and not because of any dark secrets). 

 I have no regrets. I have been able to ask hard questions about animal welfare, husbandry, bees, GMO, crop cycles, weather, food of the persons directly involved. I have seen a farmer emotionally moved about the loss of an infant pig. I have seen a farmer plea with us to understand that science is not our enemy.  I got to hold a baby pig and watch the bloom of a soybean. 

Has my mind been changed about hot button topics? Not entirely. But I will tell you that it has been informed and transformed thanks to this wonderful opportunity.  My curiosity is still searching for answers, but I know more than I ever would have without this program. 

Guess what City Mom – YOU too can have this opportunity. Now is the time to apply for the 2015 City Mom program.  Simply visit http://www.watchusgrow.org/about-us/tour-our-farms and apply. It is the chance and experience of a lifetime. 

 

If you are curious about farming – you should do this. 

If you have burning questions about food production – you should do this. 

If you have doubts about the safety of the animals you eat – you should do this. 

If you want to learn – you should do this. 

If you want to meet some of the most wonderful people you would never otherwise meet – you should do this. 

If you want to ask me any questions about my experience, feel free to comment below and I will respond with honesty.  

Take advantage of this wonderful opportunity. I would do it all over again!

Winter. It's come.

Winter.

This morning on my commute through the city into the suburbs for work I noticed everything looking so... grey.

I composed this on my voice recorder... and edited here for your pleasure.

Winter in Chicago
Cold.
Dreary.
Grey.
Everything the color of ash
Everything the color of death
really everything the color of not waiting
but of having given up.

Underneath the summer waits.
Bouncing green sprigs of grass.
The ridiculous foliage of the trees in August.

It's waiting.
Its more like
Less Like
Hibernating
More like waiting to be resurrected like the bird born of ash
you know the one.
That's the beauty and magic of Chicago.
If you can get through the disgusting winter, the ash, the death.


Ok. It is a little high school melodramatic, but I am so tired of the colorless sky and earth. Everything the same shade of dirty. Yearning for the pop of pink in a little girl's snowsuit.

Lucky Thirteen

Lucky thirteen.

 It has been thirteen years since we first arrived in Chicago... kids from Denver looking to make it in the big city. And thirteen years later, I still sort of feel like an alien. Thirteen has always had some significance to me ... likely to all the moody kids who grew up thinking that Thirteen was magical, so I am sure, in a sense that it is, in fact magical.
Which leads me to the utterly un-magical way I feel about where I live right now. I wanted this blog to be a way that I identified with my life as an urban, working mom. The number of posts show how awesome I have been at that. So, today, I am making the choice that this blog will be what I do better... what has always resonated with my audiences no matter what format it comes to them in... it will reflect my honesty.

So honestly, I kind of hate the city.

I kind of hate most things about city life.

 I kind of feel like I am stuck here forever in concrete hell.

 But I honestly feel like I am not dedicating energy to much more than hating it. And this has got to stop. So, I am just going to write out the stuff I need to write about.

And I am going to try to start to change my ways. I am going to try and adapt to survive. The only way to adapt is to make the choice to do so, and so today. I am pledging to you, my invisible audience and my husband and my kids. I am pledging that I will seek to weave magic into our lives. That I will embrace it fully and unconditionally. This is what I need to do to survive. Otherwise, that mom and wife and friend you glimpse from time to time will disappear. I like that person. I think you do to.

But I guess she lives in Chicago.

 Okay. Home. Sweet. Home. Find it.

And I promise.... someday there will be pictures. 

Summer in the City

It's been hot, we will all admit.

This is when the City really shines! I love summer in Chicago. The festivals, the lake, the clinging heat.

Yes, I LOVE the clinging heat.

Somewhere in my Irish, French, Native American, English, German (insert other northern European Country here)blood - lives the unquenchable fire of Italian Gypsies. Yep. I know its there. Well... we think we know. But none the less.

I fell in love with Humidity in Italy and summer in Chicago is nothing short of that promise of swealter.

Besides. Things I can do with the girls - splash parks, third floor pool parties, lake visits. Its the best.

I love summer in Chicago, when the beach beckons and I can pretend I am at "the Shore" when startling greenery pops out and laughter comes easy...

A blessing in muggy green and heat.... Yes. Yes!!!

Okay, but lets be real here. I cannot use my oven. This is really what the urban experience of summer has to be. I cannot make a chicken nugget without heating my entire third floor apartment for hours. What I would give for central air - or a window without bars in there. The bounty of the summer thrown on the grill children begging for lasagna of all things... Oh the Urbanity!!!

Thank God(dess) for watermelon.