Now that summer is here, the garden is starting to boom (along with the weeds...). I'm sure you've made lots of plans for this summer. We're just going to try to make it to the beach on hot days and maybe go camping once or twice. It's easy to have fun in the summer, as long as you make time for it! Having family from away come visit is always nice too. I just got back from France where all of my family still live. Elliot and I had a lot of fun!

Like most kids, mine don't want to eat their vegetables. They'll just fill up on carbs and meat. I keep trying to add more of them into their diet (which means less junk!) and hopefully their palate will start to change and they'll appreciate veggies more.

Here is a few tricks you can use to get them to eat more veggies:

1- Set an example: If they see you eat your veggies, they're more likely to try them. You are their role model after all!

2- Offer it to them when they're most hungry and give no other options. Just before lunch or supper, when they have to wait for the food to be ready, is the perfect time to get the veggies out!

3- Blend them with something they like: I'm thinking popsicles! Make a smoothie and add a few greens (not too much so they don't notice) and pour into popsicle molds. Stick in the freezer and Voila! My new favorite way to get some goodness into the kids. Strawberries and blueberries smoothies are so easy!

4- Get them involved: I'm not the best at it, since I like to be efficient when it comes to doing anything, but it works! Kids are more likely to eat something they helped prepare, or even better, helped grow. Starting a garden and getting your kids to help plant, water and pick is a great way for them to try theses beans and peas they've watched grow.

5- Enforce the ''One bite rule'': Research shows that children who have initially rejected a food must be exposed to it at least 8-10 times for the food to be accepted! That's a lot of rejection, but consistency pays off. Require the child to try at least one solid mouthful of a rejected food whenever it is served.

6- Make it fun: Use colorful veggies, and arrange food in patterns in their plate - a smily face is always a win in our house! Kids like their food arranged into separate piles. Also dips can be more fun for those raw carrots and broccoli.

Try to always have fresh fruits on hand, and have them in an easy to reach spot: Already peeled and cut apples, sticks of carrots. If it's available and within reach, it's half the battle!

Warmly,

Estelle

Look at these kiwi vines growing on my parents stone and brick house in North of France!

Where did Spring go? As farmers, we are always on the look out for warmer temperatures so that we can start our seedlings as early as possible, since our growing season is just so short. I bet your dreaming about a vacation in some crazy hot island. I'm dreaming about lush grass to put my animals on...

I've mentioned before about the environmental cost of industrially raised meats, where thousands of animals are in one place and there's just nowhere to put all the manure... causing the ''Dead Zone'' in the Gulf of Mexico as an example of how bad it can get.

You might already know that processed meats are loaded with chemical preservatives, just to make sure you're not gone die from an acute infection from E.Coli. What they don't tell you is that these chemicals are just as harmful in the long run.

Then how do you know what's in the meat you buy at the store? Where is it from? There's nothing on the package telling you how it was raised (they like to add some meaningless buzz words like ''air chilled'' or ''fresh grain fed''), which basically means it was industrially raised in confinement, indoors, without ever seeing the sun light (for pigs, chickens and turkeys). Cows are not much better off, you cannot know if they were raised in feedlots with hormones or in a ranch on grass, or if your burger comes from an old dairy cow. The way these animals are treated in CAFO (concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) is just not fair to them. Animals do have feelings and these were never really given the opportunity to interact with humans, to be sacred for the nourishment they provide us. I personally like to thank my animals for the bounty they offer us, as well as the opportunity they give us to live from the land.

On a nutritional basis, industrially raised animals are fed conventionally produced grains (even though cows are supposed to eat mostly forage - grass or hay - they're fed a highly concentrated ration of corn and other grains to get them fattened up quicker). These grains are mostly GMO (soybean, corn and canola being the majority of GMO crops grown in North America - Yes in Canada too!) which are sprayed with the Herbicide Roundup, whose ingredient is Glyphosate. This molecule accumulates in the animal's body, and in turn ends up in your own body after you consume the meat from these animals. So it's not just antibiotics you should be concerned about (even though it's a huge problem feeding chickens antibiotics to get them to grow faster), it's also the glyphosate that will cause leaky guts, kill your gut bacteria and create other digestive issues.

Fortunately there is an alternative! Know your farmer! We make sure that our animals are treated humanely, we don't use any antibiotics or hormones, and buy exclusively GMO free feed. We are very much conscious of the gift that they give us through nutrition. And to name only one, the Vitamin D that they produce from the sun is then stored in their fat, and is available to your body when you consume it.

So please take a few minutes next time you decide what you'll put in your body. You are worthy of feeding it the nutrients it needs, and avoid the poisons that are lurking. I very much hope that this information will avoid some very unnecessary pain and suffering, from the animals but also humans. The extra dollars spent on the grass-fed, free-range and pastured meat is very much worth the avoidance of suffering from chronic diseases and digestive issues. 

Warmly,

Estelle

Have you heard about KOMBUCHA yet?

SCOBY starting a new fermentation

It's the new trend and yet has been used for centuries in Central and Eastern Europe. KOMBUCHA is a fermented tea, but don't worry, it's a good kind of fermentation! It's full of the good bacteria that you need in your gut to help you digest, fight diseases and be healthy. It can be expensive to buy at the store, or you can make your own. It's easy and all it takes is some sugar, tea and a SCOBY.

What's a SCOBY? The SCOBY, or mother, takes the form of a rubbery disk, and is what ferments the tea. You will need one to get you started.

How to Make Kombucha Tea

1. Gather Equipment for Making Kombucha Tea

• Quart-Size Glass Jar
• Plastic or Wooden Stirring Utensil
• Tight-Weave Cloth or Paper Coffee Filter
• Something to secure the cover to the jar (rubber band or canning jar rings work well)

2. Gather Ingredients for Making Kombucha

• Unfluoridated, Unchlorinated Water
• White Sugar
• Tea Bags (back or green tea)
• Starter Tea
• SCOBY

If you have just started making kombucha, you can work your way up to larger batch sizes to help maintain proper ingredients ratios and to avoid stressing the SCOBY.

3. Select Ingredient Ratios for Making Different Amounts of Kombucha

One-Quart Batch:

• 2 tea bags
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2-3 cups water
• ½ cup starter tea

Half-Gallon Batch:

• 4 tea bags
• ½ cup sugar
• 6-7 cups water
• 1 cup starter tea

Gallon Batch:

• 8 tea bags
• 1 cup sugar
• 13-14 cups water
• 2 cups starter tea

4. Follow Instructions for Making Kombucha Tea

1. Combine hot water and sugar in a glass jar. Stir until the sugar dissolves. The water should be hot enough to steep the tea but does not have to be boiling
2. Place the tea bags in the sugar water to steep.
3. Cool the mixture to 68-85ºF. The tea may be left in the liquid as it cools or removed after the first 10-15 minutes. The longer the tea is left in the liquid, the stronger the tea will be. 
4. Remove the tea bags from the liquid.
5. Add starter tea from a previous batch to the liquid.
6. Add the SCOBY.
7. Cover the jar with a tight-weave towel or coffee filter and secure with a rubber band.
8. Allow the mixture to sit undisturbed at 68-85°F, out of direct sunlight, for 7-30 days, or to taste. The longer the kombucha ferments, the less sweet and more vinegary it will taste.
9. Pour kombucha off the top of the jar for consuming. Retain the SCOBY and enough liquid from the bottom of the jar to use as starter tea for the next batch.
10. The finished kombucha can be flavored and bottled, if desired, or enjoyed plain. There is no limit to the flavoring possibilities. For a fizzy finished kombucha, try bottling it in a tightly-sealed container.