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In spite of night time raiders that we have nicknamed “Rototill”, we managed to have an early harvest of our Fall produce.  With good soil and pesticide free food, raccoons, opossums, and skunks have visited us every night throughout the summer.  One pumpkin was consumed along with a watermelon, a cantaloupe, a few tomatoes, squash sprouts, as well as our raised beds and gardens being “rototilled” by morning.  We have tried everything to deter our visitors, but they continue to come.  We are thankful for the harvest that we have despite our visitors.

Food is eaten to provide energy to the body for work, health, and fullness of life.  Taking a few extra minutes to plan some “full of life” school lunches will bring blessing to children’s mid day meal.  The following are some ideas from my lunch menu:

• *Applegate (purchased by Hormel in May 2015) or Organic Prairie turkey, chicken, or ham sandwich with soy/canola free mayonnaise and raw cheddar cheese on gluten free or ancient grain bread like Spelt.  Read the ingredients for Applegate products.  Carrageenan (a thickener) may be in some of their foods.
• Salad made from romaine, green, or red leaf lettuce.  Add some finely chopped tomato with some homemade dressings like Ranch.  *Salad dressings are easy to make and can be stored in the refrigerator in a mason jar for one week.  There are many excellent recipes on the Web.
• Chopped fresh seasonal fruit like apples, pears, strawberries, peaches, etc.
• Banana with raw honey
• Leftover homemade pizza from last night’s dinner.  *I made a homemade ancient grain barbecue chicken pizza that was devoured.  I used Trader Joe’s barbecue sauce (in the glass bottle), mozzarella cheese, left over barbecue chicken, red onions and tomatoes from our garden, and cilantro.
• Raw vegetables like carrot sticks, bell pepper, and sliced cucumber in a sour cream ranch dip
• Cheese quesadilla with homemade salsa *my salsa recipe includes a few chopped tomatoes, about 1/2 tsp. salt, 1-2 minced/seeded jalapenos, about 1 tbsp. lime juice, 2 green onions finely chopped, and about 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• Sliced raw cheddar cheese with rice crackers from Trader Joe’s or Blue Diamond
• A tasty dessert like Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls (check out my recipe page) or Gluten Free Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies from the back of Trader Joe’s Oatmeal bag.  *We now purchase only organic oats since oats are commonly desiccated with glyphosate.
• Sunspire chocolate Sun Drops in a snack cup
• Cup of nuts
• Organic *peanut (We enjoy https://www.onceagainnutbutter.com/shop/peanut-butter/peanut-butters-organic) , cashew, almond butter sandwich with favorite jam
• Some organic/GMO free potato chip chips (Our new favorite are brands made with avocado oil)
• Water, raw milk, or chocolate milk
• Banana bread with soy free chocolate chips
• Ice packs for cooling

Hope this helps!

This morning we harvested 2 happy chicken eggs from our hens, lots of beefsteak, yellow globe, cherry, and Roma tomatoes, 2 bell peppers, 3 cucumbers, 4 red onions, onion seeds, and a giant sunflower.

Eating good food is important.  People put great effort into making money, planning vacations, accumulating stuff, and investing in good relationships,  but what about what goes into their bodies?  I am, almost daily, appalled by what people around me eat.  Then I think, “No wonder there is an epidemic with cancer, heart disease, and dementia…”  It takes effort and planning to eat well, but it is worth the time.  Health is valuable!  In order to be healthy one must make an investment into their bodies.  Researchers from  University College London recently published amazing results from a study citing that “eating 7 fruits and vegetables or more per day reduces your risk of death at any point in time by 42 percent compared to eating none.”  This is a worthwhile investment that everyone can benefit from!  Personally, I choose organic or grow my own.  Nothing tastes better than homegrown produce!  Having a home garden has enhanced our lifestyles–we get more exercise, delicious food, a nice place to visit, entertain and educate our neighbors, sunshine, and lots of wildlife visitations.  Years ago, while teaching nutrition curriculum I discovered that most vitamins are stored in vegetables.  This was a revelation to me.  Since then, I not only educate my students and those around me about nutrition, but take eating my vegetables very seriously.  We keep a fresh salad in an airtight container all week so it is readily available.  Summer is a great time to enjoy fresh farm produce.  Happy eating!

My Country, ‘Tis of Thee by Samuel Francis Smith

“Our father’s God to, Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright
With freedom’s holy light;
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King!”

Nineteenth century Americans celebrated liberty as given to them by God and not the government.  Many saw God as their king and understood personal responsibility.  The words of this song and the Declaration of Independence helped influence Laura Ingalls’ understanding of liberty while celebrating the fourth of July on the prairie in De Smet,  South Dakota.  Her revelation of liberty occurred when she realized that her mom and dad would be telling her what to do for a little while.  When she left home, the wisdom she had learned from the Bible taught to her at home, church, and school would be her guide.  She understood that liberty meant that the government was not going to tell her how to live.  Real liberty comes from God and ordering one’s life according to His word.  “Let freedom ring!”

¹⁵ For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. ¹⁶ Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants^[a] of God. ¹⁷ Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.  1 Peter 2:15-17 ESV

American public education has been declining since 1837.  I think that we can all agree that society is on a decline.  Not much history is taught in school.

According to the National Assessment of Education in 2010 only 20% of American 4th graders master United States History.  It gets worse.  By graduation, only 12% of America’s students know the history of their country.  They have learned little about the founding principles of liberty.  “I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration….”  John Adams said this to his wife, Abigail, at the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  Even if students pass history tests, what do they really know about the history of America?  Do they know that Abraham Lincoln enforced the Fugitive Slave Act during his presidency?  How much do they know about the Magna Carta signed by King John of England in 1215 and how it influenced our country and the Constitution?  The Magna Carta gave people power and made the King subject to the law.  They are taught to worry about climate change and that humans are responsible for it.  Horace Mann’s (the father of American public education) belief that the Bible should be taught to maintain morals has been basically ignored.  Students are indoctrinated with the idea that Earth is about 5 billion years old.  Graduates are rarely taught another view, that Earth is not more than 10,000 years old based on Biblical records.  Sad indeed, that graduates, even the most gifted, are graduating with huge gaps in their education.  

“The Bible must be considered as the great source of all the truth by which men are to be guided in government as well as in all social transactions.”  Noah Webster

The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are about 5,000 words long.  On July 4, 1776, Thomas Jefferson, a representative of the 13 colonies, declared independence from England.  Jefferson believed in the rights of people to have a government that gives life, liberty, and the freedom to be productive.  The colonists declared independence from England for many unjust actions from King George III and Parliament.  The preamble of the Constitution promises justice, peace, general welfare, and the blessings of liberty.  This was written so that government would stay small so that the people would continue to enjoy their liberty.  The jobs of each government branch are defined in the Constitution.  Congress makes the laws.  The powers given to Congress are written in Article I, Section 8.  The Constitution gives them 18 defined powers.  Congress gets to use America’s credit to borrow money.  They are to keep business running between the states and other countries.  Congress may make money and declare its value.  They set up the courts.  Congress punishes pirates and has the power to declare war.  They may establish and support an army and a navy.  They make the laws for the 10 square miles of Washington, D.C.  All the laws made must be “necessary and proper” and fit into the first 17 powers given to them.  The President gets to make sure that Congress is making laws that are Constitutional.  The Supreme Court does this too.  This is called the balance of powers.  Thomas Jefferson added the Bill of Rights to the Constitution so that people would be guaranteed personal liberty.  America is blessed to have people who cared about liberty by giving us this Constitution.

Monarch butterflies used to dwell in about 45 acres of forest in central Mexico.  About 25 million butterflies lived on each acre.  Today, Monarchs inhabit about 1 1/2 acres and have lost about 80 percent of their population in California according to an article by Dr. Mercola.  Could pesticides be the culprit?  Since making our backyard a pesticide free zone, there has been a burst of life from the soil up to the sky.  Recently, we planted 4 milkweed plants.  We planted two different varieties.  Since planting them a few months ago, there have been non stop monarch butterfly visits to our garden.  Sometimes we have seen as many as four fluttering about near the milkweed.  The brightly colored females leave a tiny white egg on the leaves or stems.  Within a day or two, a tiny yellow and black caterpillar emerges.  After a few more days, the caterpillar becomes very large.  They like to find a quiet place like a wood pile to attach their chrysalis.  In two weeks or more (depending on the temperature) the butterfly comes out of its capsule and flutters away.  The whole process is amazing and will entertain both adults and children.  This summer, if you live along the monarch butterfly migration route, consider planting a few milkweed plants in your garden to help the butterflies.

Our first female Monarch butterfly just hatched!

This breakfast was served more than once in the past week at a public school.  The first is a box of cereal labeled Tootie Fruities by Malt-O-Meal.  The ingredients are:  Corn, wheat and whole grain oat flour, sugar, salt, calcium carbonate, natural orange, cherry, lemon, lime, and other natural flavors, vitamin C (sodium ascorbate and ascorbic acid), yellow 6, niacin (niacinamide), vitamin A palmitate, reduced iron, zinc (zinc oxide), red 40, blue 1, vitamin B12, yellow 5, folate (folic acid), vitamin B6 (pyridoxine hydrochloride), vitamin B1 (thiamin hydrochloride), vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin D.  This breakfast food is loaded with artificial colors.  When Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 are in England’s foods the following label is attached:  “May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.”  Food dyes are petroleum based chemicals.  They have been linked to hyperactivity in children.  Is this any way to start a day of learning?   Instead of using artificial colors, foods in Europe use real food colorings like radish, carrot, red cabbage, and lemon extracts.  Additionally, artificial blue, red, and green food colorings have been linked to cancer in lab rats.  After getting a dose of fancy artificial colors, the students ate corn that is most likely a genetically engineered variety loaded with glyphosate (Roundup Weed Killer).  The second item, syrup, was made by Americana with the following ingredients:  Corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, water, caramel color, potassium sorbate as a preservative, citric acid, natural and artificial maple flavor.  How much real maple syrup was included?  I bet not much.  The packet was about a tablespoon of sugar most likely made from genetically engineered corn as well.  Where is the real food like toast, butter, and eggs?  No wonder students have difficulty learning!