And what a gorgeous night it was for a walk. Hundreds of barn swallows silhoutted against the backdrop of the setting sun as they dove and swirled, chasing the evening bugs.  Bull frogs croacking away in the farm’s pond.  The corn is now taller than any of us.  Ah, summer nights.

Summer Nights

Getting ready to head out in a few minutes for our evening family walk.  Always such a nice way to calm ourselves and wind down from the day, spending a half hour or so, enjoying each other’s company and relishing the beauty of the landscape aournd us.

HOLT INTRODUCES FARM TO SCHOOL BILL TO FIGHT CHILDHOOD OBESITY, SUPPORT
LOCAL FARMERS
(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (NJ-12) has introduced legislation
that would create a Farm to School grant program to fight childhood obesity
and support local farmers. The Child Nutrition Act is up for reauthorization
this year, and Holt – a member of the House Committee on Education and Labor
- is working to improve how food is sourced for the 31 million children that
eat at school five days a week, 180 days a year.

“Farm to school programs exemplify the best use of federal school lunch
dollars,” Holt said. “This is a rare opportunity for a win-win solution- a
program to ensure our children get the best quality food at school, help
foster local farm job growth, and create local economic growth.”

Video of Holt talking about the legislation with school nutrition experts
can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs52sHtZRkU.

The Farm to School Improvements Act (H.R. 4710) would establish a
competitive grant and technical assistance program to increase the use of
local foods from small and medium sized farms in schools. The grant funds
also would improve the relationships between schools and local food
providers. The legislation would provide $10 million in mandatory funding
each year for the duration of the program and require that grant recipients
provide a local match to ensure serious commitment to the project.

Farm to School programs have shown that locally and regionally produced food
can be provided efficiently from nearby producers if there is a good
distribution system.  The grants authorized by this legislation would
provide communities the seed money they need to develop robust,
economically-sustainable programs linking agricultural producers with
schools.

“This seed funding could not come at a better time as the interest and need
for Farm to School programs is at an all time high,” said Marion Kalb,
co-Director of the National Farm to School Network. “HR 4710 will create
competitive, one-time grants that can be used to develop vendor
relationships with nearby farmers, plan seasonal menus and promotional
materials, start a school garden, or develop hands-on nutrition education.”

Farm to School programs can:

*    Strengthen children’s and communities’ knowledge about, and
attitudes toward, agriculture, food, nutrition and the environment.
*    Increase children’s participation in the school meals program and
consumption of fruits and vegetables, improving childhood nutrition,
reducing hunger, and preventing obesity and obesity-related diseases.
*    Benefit school food budgets, after start-up, if planning and menu
choices are made consistent with seasonal availability of fresh and
minimally processed whole foods.
*    Support economic development across numerous sectors and promote job
creation.
*    Increase market opportunities for farmers, fishers, ranchers, food
processors and food manufacturers.
*    Decrease the distance between producers and consumers of fresh
agricultural products, thus promoting food security while reducing emissions
of greenhouse gases and reliance on oil.

“In these challenging fiscal times, every dollar we spend must not only meet
immediate needs but also make lasting improvements for the future,” Holt
added. “Because school food programs currently provide more than half the
daily calories for many children, it is vital that these calories are
healthy ones.  Farm to school programs increase the availability of fresh
and locally grown food that improve our children’s daily nutrition and can
lead to permanent improvements in their diets and productivity and can
reduce future health care costs associated with obesity by billions of
dollars.”

The piggy flu is once again visiting our house. Topher had it two weeks ago and was down for 5 days. Now little Miss Meghan is laying about on the couch, coughing, running a high temp and feeling miserable overall. Poor babies. We’ve been treating ourselves, all of us, with elderberry syrup, homemade by a dear friend of ours and it is keeping the worst of it at bay.

Some interesting things we have learned about it. First and foremost, it’s blown way out of proportion by the media! When Topher was first diagnosed with the swine flu, TJ and Meghan came home from school and I told them what their brother had. Poor TJ burst into tears, saying, “He’s going to die! We’re all going to die!”. Took me a few minutes to talk him back off the ledge. My goodness. The fear the media can instill and it’s power is just amazing to me. Another thing we learned is that if anyone has the ‘flu’ right now, it is almost certain that it is the swine flu as the ‘regular’ flu season has not even started yet. Something else of note is that the CDC has recommended, just very recently, to not treat initial symptoms, within the first 48 hours of onset, with Tamiflu in people without high risk factors. (I wonder if that will change now that there was a recent death of a teenager here in NC who started exhibiting symptoms but whose doctor followed the CDC protocol and did not treat him with Tamiflu because he didn’t have risk factors, but then ended up dying from complications. I hope they do reconsider their policy!). I’ve also done some more reading and thankfully, it appears that you can only get H1N1 once because your body builds up immunities to the virus, so that is good to know.

I do believe all in our household are going to be downing daily doses of elderberry syrup this autumn and winter as it is an amazing natural remedy that helps with immunity building, respiratory strength, asthma and many other things!

Weighed in at 200.0 this morning. But, that’s seven pounds less than I was at the first of the year. And it’s only going to get better from this moment forward. My whole view has changed and for the better.

I went for a 30 minute walk/intermittent jog (not much but a start) already this morning. We are so fortunate where we live. Just around the bend, there is a beautiful walking road. As I walked, I watched the puffs of white and gray shaded clouds glide across the blue morning sky. The cows were out by the fences, having their morning meal and we greeted each other with due respect. I also spoke with the Canada geese who were sharing the field with the cows. Every now and then, one of them would take flight and then land in the still pond that is on the other side of the road. The air was crisp and the breeze fluttered past me as I walked. I pushed through the aches in my calves, knowing that as each day passes, the pain will lessen and last a shorter period of time. Buzzards circled above one of the fields and I could hear the crows conversing in the distance. I even spotted two bluebirds flitting along the fence line. As I walked, I concentrated on my breathing and enjoying the ‘me’ time, knowing that I am doing this for me, for the divine which resides in me, and taking care of that spirit.

After I returned from my walk, I actually ate breakfast, also. A rarity for me, but one that is going to become less so. Had some fresh eggs (thanks to our chickens) and multi-grain toast. I must learn to honor myself and treat myself as the sacred being that I am. This is not to sound snobbish, just learning that we are all sacred, part of the divine and should treat ourselves and others as such.

Oh, yeah, today is new and beautiful and wondrous day. I’m dancing the waltz of life!