Full Circle Child Blog

   Yesterday was both fun and an educational experience for us as we visited the Shatto Farm, home of the Shatto Milk Company.  We have been buying Shatto milk for about two years and had been looking forward to their annual family day festivities.  Upon arrival, I was surprised at just how many people were there.  It was a 45 minute wait to get into the cow barn.  The kids ate a snack and watched a couple horses while in line.  It was a worthwhile wait to see the baby calves and our oldest even got to milk a cow!  Then we were able to walk through the milk production facility.  Outside they had free food, samples, music, and bouncy houses for the kids.  

   The kids really enjoyed it and I think it was a great experience for them.  Now they know just where their milk comes from and I can feel even more confident providing it for them. 

   If you live in the midwest near a grocer who sell Shatto, try it!  You’ll have a hard time going back to your old milk.  If you have tried it, you know what I mean.  Whatever part of the country you live in, I encourage you to find locally produced, glass bottled milk.  Our family’s purchases alone keep at least 200 plastic bottles from being used each year, the milk is fresher, tastier, and I believe more nutritious. 

Check out our Local Foods Page for pictures.

   I just finished reading Michael Pollan’s latest book, In Defense of Food, and it is full of great information, as I knew it would be.  One of the most basic points he makes is that we must get informed about our food choices; not only what we eat, but where it comes from, how it is produced, and how we consume it.  The idea to eat healthy, nutritious, “real” food consumed at the end of a short food chain is not new at all.  The difference is that until recently, people didn’t have to think about it. 

   It seems to me that perhaps a shift in the way our food was produced, and the rise of big agribusiness, coincided with the feminist movement.  As women went to work outside of the home and had less time to worry about what to make for dinner, this important role was taken over by corporate marketing.  Women were told they could get more done and spend less time in the kitchen with quick, easily prepared meals and TV dinners.  This propaganda pushed away the very person who made the decisions about what to eat, knew where her family’s food came from, and took pride in nourishing her children.   

   Of course women have every right to work outside the home or not, and equality is a right all people are entitled to, but the idea that providing healthy meals for a family is an unimportant chore simply needs to end.  As strong women and mothers we must take back our right to know what we are feeding our children and take pride in doing so!

I wonder if citizens today, for the most part, believe that deception by government or corporations is only something read about in our history books?  No matter how much evidence to the contrary, mainstream Americans seem to think that their best interests in matters of health and well-being are being looked out for by government and that it is just crazy or paranoid to think otherwise.  Nor do they believe that it is possible for corporations to conspire to deceive them.  Well, just check out this link!  It is unbelievable, even for those of us who do not trust the government and huge corporations!   http://www.enviroblog.org/2009/06/-its-1960-embattled-tobacco.html?utm_source=BPA-Call&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=second-link&utm_campaign=Toxics