I need to take a minute to address some things and answer some questions:
1. A few people asked me why I don't buy organic foods. The answer is pretty lengthy, but here I go:
a. If I were to buy organic food, it would only be organic produce. Once produce is plucked from it's tree/ground/plant/etc, it starts to lose all it's good stuff (I think that "nutrients" is the correct term). There aren't many organic farms, so most organic food is shipped over hundreds (if not thousands) of miles...thus, losing a lot of it's good stuff. When I can, I buy local. Right now, the local stand that I frequent doesn't have good stuff. In the winter, I usually get my produce from the supermarket. Even then, I know that my bananas and avocados aren't grown anywhere even close to me, but I get them anyways. Gosh, I love them both!
A good example of this is organic milk. Have you noticed that organic milk doesn't expire for almost a month or longer? That's because there are just a few organic milk manufacturers. The milk has to be pasteurized twice to make it easy to travel long distances. If it is ultra-pasteurized, then it's got hardly any of the good stuff left. What's the point of drinking it then?
A good example of this is organic milk. Have you noticed that organic milk doesn't expire for almost a month or longer? That's because there are just a few organic milk manufacturers. The milk has to be pasteurized twice to make it easy to travel long distances. If it is ultra-pasteurized, then it's got hardly any of the good stuff left. What's the point of drinking it then?
b. If something is USDA approved organic, then that means the food has past the government's test to be organic. I don't know what their test is. So far, the government hasn't done a great job when it comes to food regulations. When I see processed foods that are organic, I read their labels, and don't know the ingredients, I have to wonder if I trust the government's definition of organic.
c. Have you seen the price of organic foods?
Ideally, I would love to grow all my own produce, have my own milk cow and a few chickens, but that would be crazy. All my time would be dedicated to food and I'm not willing to do that right now. I've got Survivor to watch, Burl to play with, and friends to meet for lunch.
For now, I'll get as close to that ideal as I can without going insane. Last year John grew tomatoes and they weren't government-certified organic, but they were incredible! (My neighbor even wanted to pay us for them-I gave them a competitive rate.) I don't know the science behind it, but I think picking my own tomato is better for me than buying an organic one. Now that I think about it, that was the same time that I developed a stutter, my hair turned green and I grew a long tail...oh well.
Before I step off my soapbox, I would like to say that it's just what John and I feel is good for our family. We try to eat the least amount of processed food that we can, but still leave room for life. Today, we grabbed oreos and chips from the grocery store, a Subway sandwich, and hit the park with Burl. I ate my weight in processed food and now I feel gross. Veggies for dinner!!!
For now, I'll get as close to that ideal as I can without going insane. Last year John grew tomatoes and they weren't government-certified organic, but they were incredible! (My neighbor even wanted to pay us for them-I gave them a competitive rate.) I don't know the science behind it, but I think picking my own tomato is better for me than buying an organic one. Now that I think about it, that was the same time that I developed a stutter, my hair turned green and I grew a long tail...oh well.
Before I step off my soapbox, I would like to say that it's just what John and I feel is good for our family. We try to eat the least amount of processed food that we can, but still leave room for life. Today, we grabbed oreos and chips from the grocery store, a Subway sandwich, and hit the park with Burl. I ate my weight in processed food and now I feel gross. Veggies for dinner!!!
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2. Thank you for all of your advice on how to respond to comments. I have learned that if a commenter leaves an email address when they comment, then I can respond. Or, I could leave my own comment in the comment section, but I'm not sure that people recheck their comments that they left on other blogs. I don't.
I was frustrated and thought about switching to WordPress. I love how WordPress does comments! The main complaint is that WordPress doesn't allow for widgets to be added into the HTML code, and I have me a wholelotta widgets added to my blog.
I think that I am going to do what Paige told me to do.
I use www.disqus.com for my comments. If you go to the site, it is easy to register a new account and they even have a quick app to install it on blogger. I like it because I can respond via email and the responses go under the initial comment. You can also sync it with Blogger and import all your old comments into it so if you ever decided to remove Disqus, blogger will have all the comments. I think it is better at filtering out spam posts too.
There is my answer and my advice on that. I hope that I haven't lost too many people. If by reading this, you think that I'm techy, well you're wrong. My husband does all that stuff. I just take him to a blog a like, tell him the thingy that I want, and he figures out how to do it.
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3. Thank you to everyone who reads my little blog. Some friends read this and comment, email or text me about it and I really appreciate it. I started it as something fun to do, and it is fun to do it. It makes it a lot of fun to get encouraging feedback.
Pics from HERE
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3. Thank you to everyone who reads my little blog. Some friends read this and comment, email or text me about it and I really appreciate it. I started it as something fun to do, and it is fun to do it. It makes it a lot of fun to get encouraging feedback.
Pics from HERE
I've used disqus for quite awhile now and think it's the bees knees! Hope the switch is easy peasy.
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