Shelly Kramer and I Are Buying a Cow. You Should, Too.

Yes, I know the title is misleading because, well, I've recently gone vegetarian. But because I have not converted my husband or kidlets, I am still buying meat for them.

My social media expert and very knowledgeable BFF @ShellyKramer approached me recently as she knows me to be a Green Gal. We're both disgusted by what goes on behind the scenes in the food industry (see Food, Inc. for further details), and are concerned for our health and that of our children. Fortunately, Shelly is friends with a farmer in NE Kansas, and so we have the exciting opportunity to purchase a local, GRASS-fed (as opposed to corn-fed) cow that hasn't been treated with hormones and is allowed to graze naturally. Shelly and I are looking for other locals to go in on this cow with us (it's a lot of meat), so if you are interested, please get in touch with me a.s.a.p.

I just spent 20 minutes on the phone with Deborah, the farmer, who said that right now our cow is hanging out in a 40-acre pasture. The cows on the farm are rotated around the pastures in herds of about 15. They are not confined because that is what causes diseases. They are a licensed, certified organic farm, and their meat is federally inspected. Deborah said they "don't sell to just anyone," that ideally their goal is to build relationships with people who want to know their farmers and where their food is coming from. Isn't that incredible?

We will take the girls to visit the farm this fall and get to see our cow. I think that somehow, watching him just chillin' eating his grass and hay will help me feel a teensy bit better. At least he is living a pleasant life now, unlike his counterparts squeezed into cow lots, injected with hormones and antibiotics, never seeing the light of day and unable to move while standing in their own feces.

Now before you get your panties in a wad and start thinking I'm going all granola, I assure you I am not (not that granola is bad at all, in fact I kinda wish I was more granola-y). So here are some other (random) things about me:

• Yesterday I ate a non-organic apple with non-organic peanut butter
• I drive a gas-slugging minivan. And was belting out Bananarama on my way home from a grocery store that was not Whole Foods (although I try to shop there frequently).
• We have been drinking local Shatto milk for years now; and I only just realized that while it's a local dairy and they use glass bottles which I love, the cows are fed some corn. This gives me the sads. The cows are not given hormones, however. Whew!
• Some of my fave good-for-you/organic/all natural food brands include Kashi, Back to Nature, Stonyfield, Annie's Homegrown, & Newman's Own Organics.
• Occasionally Twinkies find their way into the pantry, and typically The Father Load is to blame for this.
• I have lofty notions of buying a Prius when the girls are a little older/bigger.
• I think I may be failing miserably at composting. Can someone please come evaluate the contents of my tumbler? I may also be tumbling too vigorously, as twice the contraption has belched out its contents all over the place. So I had to put it all back in by hand. It was tres lovely.
• FOR LADIES ONLY: you should seriously consider organic tampons. Did you know that they use chemicals like bleach on your Kotex/Playtex, etc? I don't want bleach & chemicals up inside of me where they're absorbed. I bought a Diva Cup a while back, but my ob/gyn told me best not to use it because of menstrual backflow which can lead to endometriosis.

Anycow, I am saying all this because I want you to know that I'm not perfect. There are Twinkies in my cupboard sometimes, there is garbage at my curb every Monday, and I still use paper towels (not as much). I've thought about chucking it all and going back to the way things used to be, wondering if one person/one family can really make a difference. But I've come too far. I am learning and educating myself more every day. Baby steps.

I encourage you once again to watch Food, Inc. Add it to your Netflix queue, go to Blockbuster, or see if it's playing On-Demand. We have got to start educating ourselves and moving in a better, healthier direction.

Pouring My Heart Out (About Chicken Nuggets, Jazzercise, Earth Day, Big Macs, and Jillian Michaels)

Today I am Pouring My Heart out along with the awesome Shell over at Things I Can't Say. If you'd like to link up or play along, please go here. You don't have to agree with everything I say, but like Shell, I'll ask you to be respectful and refrain from commenting if you have nothing positive to say.

Because Earth Day is this week, I've had a lot weighing heavily on my mind. I believe Earth Day should be EVERY day, not just once a year. People need to wake up, take notice, and really begin making changes before it's too late. In my humble opinion, it's already too late, but perhaps if we hurry we can catch up.
More about that tomorrow, though....


Earth Day is not only about caring for our planet, but caring for ourselves---by going back to the Earth, to natural things put down that Frosty and Super Size Fries, please, and to the way nature intended it.


I have always leaned towards eating healthy/organic/natural, but my intensity waxes and wanes. I shopped at Whole Foods over the weekend for the first time in a few months. It was a lovely (albeit expensive) experience. But you know what? The food tastes better. It's fresher. I love being surrounded by shelves, stacks and displays of everything good for you. While we were in the produce section a bubbly employee knelt down and offered my girls freshly cut hunks of Granny Smith apples, which they greedily gobbled up. I frequently shop in the organic/all-natural sections of other grocery stores because Whole Foods is not close to my home. But it's a few extra miles I'm going to travel more often from now on. Because it matters.

My wake-up call was this post by Jessica Gottlieb. While mostly about social media and its impact, it was also about our diet, our health, and how little we're teaching our children about basic nutrition. Read her post and watch the short video clip from Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. Kids who don't recognize tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes? Appalling. Unreal. Ridiculous. We have only ourselves to blame when they squeal with delight at the sight of those hellish Golden Arches. The next time you turn into the drive-thru salivating over the idea of a Big Mac and fries, stop yourself and really think about what you are doing not only to yourself, but to your children. What examples are you setting?

Another wake-up call was this post by Dr. Joe, "Why You Should Drop The Soda Right Now." He cites staggering statistics about how much soda Americans are consuming compared with people in other countries. There are 12-14 teaspoons of sugar in every can of soda--revolting, no? Juice isn't much better. Unfortunately, diet soda isn't the solution with all of its artificial sweeteners. I quit drinking Diet Coke a long time ago and have never been better. I discovered the artificial sweeteners were giving me stomach pains.

I'm reading labels more closely. I don't want to buy stuff loaded with ingredients I can't pronounce. Yes, my kids will continue to eat chicken nuggets, but now I am buying the ones with all white meat, no artificial ingredients, no trans fats, etc.

I went through my fridge and pantry and tossed the undesirable things---things I'm too mortified to admit were hibernating in there. But it doesn't matter now because they're gone, and they won't be coming back.

You think your Yoplait yogurt is healthy? Think again---look at the label and see "high fructose corn syrup." Blech. Guess what? It's also in things like whole wheat BREAD. It's no wonder we've become so accustomed to liking sweet things. It's time for us to become responsible consumers, to read labels and take control, to think before we buy and before we take a bite.

Hmmm, what else? Let's turn off the tv, computer, video games, etc. and get up off our lazy bums. Let's get outside. Let's take our kids and our dogs for much-needed long walks. I just bought Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred dvd to do at home. It's $8.99, you don't need to sign your life away, leave your house, or buy a gym membership to get fit (read: no excuses!). All you need is a mat (or a towel) and a set of hand weights (or cans of soup). Think about the example you're setting for your kids when they see you're excited about exercise (even if you're pretending a little bit). Think about how good YOU will feel, and how much your body will benefit from it. Guess what else? The Father Load is doing The Shred with me because that is how incredible it is. And because he cares about his health and his body, too.

I have one life. I have one body. I am finally starting to treat it like a temple.

This is my chance, your chance, our chance for something better.

Do it now. Make a change.What are you waiting for? Get those leg warmers on!

(image courtesy of @RosevilleRockLn on Twitter)