Everything "old" is "new" again.

There's seems to be a current trend these days towards hand-made items and organic foods. Sites like "Etsy" for example show members from all over North America touting their creations for sale via the internet. Everything from the famous triangle cloth banners and jewelry, to wooden toys and personalized t-shirts can be purchased there. These sorts of things were a given when I was growing up. We simply made our own Christmas decorations, we hemmed our own pants, and we baked our own goods. No one ever would have thought you were part of the the "new wave", or have given it a second thought. These were just lessons and ideas of creativity that were passed down by generations from one woman to the next. It's quite ingenious actually that so many stay-at-home Mom's on the internet have cashed in on their creative sides and have thriving businesses, that otherwise would have taken years to establish at Farmer's Markets and little mall kiosks.

And that brings us to Organic foods. The health guru's out there are saying if we want to lose weight we should eat smaller portions and exercise. Oh and choosing organic produce and meat goes a long way to keeping pesticides and hormones out of our body. While I agree that organic in some cases may be better for you, they are acting like they've just reinvented the wheel here. GOD made the first organic chickens, the first organic apple, and the first organic carrot, no one else. It shouldn't be a mystery or a new revelation that fruits, vegetables and meat in their original form, before human altering, are the best way to go. I think it borders on the ridiculous that supermarkets can hike up the price of God-given foods simply because they haven't had anything added to them! Crazy! I think it should be the other way around, we should pay more for added pesticides and hormones as that costs money. Simply letting your chickens run around free, feeding them grain, and air chilling them seems like a no-brainer. Yes, the chickens may be a little smaller, and it may take a little more time but if everyone started buying organic, the prices would eventually be brought down.

Our abnormally large (33lb) non-organic Thanksgiving turkey that didn't fit in the pan.

It kind of reminds me of my Mom saying " I wish I'd kept those shoes or those pants. Who knew they'd come back in style all these years later" I think people just get tired of thinking up the next big craze and simply pull something from the past and repackage it. Our society is partly to blame for this. We shop the middle parts of the grocery store and skip the outer produce sections because we like fast. And I have to admit frozen is fast. I was also mentioning to my hubby as we went out for dinner the other night, "why do none of these restaurants have any openings tonight?" He replied "That's the society we live in, people don't want to cook anymore" Scary..

Carrots we grew in our own garden Summer 2011

Some turned out a little different than other's..

Teo helping to wash them

I'm on a mission lately to try lots of different types of veggies, and find the best way to cook them. We've tried Bok Choy, lemon grass, swiss chard, and we hope to try more.

Whether we use organic or not, and hand-maid or store bought, I'm doing my very best to embody the Proverbs 31Woman. To provide the very best I can and to instill in my son the lifeskills he will need to be a hands-on father and husband, who can cook and clean just like his father.