Pure Sprouts Blog

Teaching our kids to cook

puresprouts — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 12:28:00 +0000

Children have 3 influences in life- school, home, and everywhere else (or the world around them). Teaching our children about foods and healthy eating is one of the most important things we can do for their future. Our children have a 10 year shorter life expectancy than we do. This is due to the increase in diet-related diseases- heart disease, obesity, diabetes, etc. Our food system is broken and only we can fix it.

How cool would it be if your children knew how to cook? If they enjoyed it? If they knew what a radish looks like? Or that a potato is a root vegetable? How cool would it be if each child knew how to make their own baked french fry?

We each play with our children every day. Couldn’t some of that time be allotted to having fun in the kitchen?

What if your family tried a new piece of local produce each week? It is simple to find a recipe online using kale, for example. Find a recipe that sounds interesting, and gather the family in the kitchen to cook it. I’m sure your family won’t love every dish you create, but you made it together- and that’s all that matters.

Why aren’t there more local organic fruits?

puresprouts — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:40:00 +0000

Here in the Northeast, we don’t have the same luxury of abundant supplies of fresh, local, organic fruits as the West. I think most of us around here have eaten a berry from a field. We can taste the difference- it’s juicer, richer in flavor, and well, in season! As a buyer of local produce, I’m always on the lookout for local ORGANIC fruits- we deserve it on the East Coast, right? Sure, it’s not as difficult to find conventionally grown fruits in this area. So, why is that?

Rodale Institute describes it- “Eastern fruit growers face twice as many problem diseases as their Western counterparts (including fireblight, scab, black rot, and cedar apple rust) in addition to no fewer than 60 species of damaging insects. The single most destructive insect pest for Eastern growers—the infamous plum curculio—is unknown in the West. The geographic disparity is so great that Eastern tree fruit growing is widely regarded as “the final organic frontier,” as Michael Phillips put it in his The Apple Grower: A Guide for the Organic Orchardist (Chelsea Green, 1998).”

Yes, that explains it- conventional growers can take care of these pests with chemicals. For natural, organic growers taking care of these pests is quite labor intensive. Add to that the product loss, and a grower fear a viability issue.

I think the real trick is for an organic fruit grower to have another outlet for the less than perfect fruits- whether it be drying, processing, or creating juice. We bought most of our fruit from Reeder Farms last year. Now, they did it right. Naydene Reeder has another side to her business where she uses her fruits for baking, processing, etc. I’d venture to say the Reeders have very minimal loss of fruit.

We know it’s hard for them, but I really hope our farmers try to bring in more organic fruit in the coming years!

** We currently have local, organic apples.

Organics are too costly for my family in this economy???

puresprouts — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:30:16 +0000

I get this all the time. I love your service, but I can’t afford to eat organic foods right now..
Oh, this just sends a pang through my heart. My question to anyone listening is this— why is your health and our Earth not worth it? Is there no where else you could cut on your budget?
I think education is key. People need to believe it’s not only worth it to spend the extra money, but it’s a must. Our food system costs are so externalized these days. Yes, our conventional produce is less expensive at time of checkout, but look at the cost to our health and our Earth? Inorganic fertilizers are polluting our air, waters, and our land. Our fruits and veggies are laden with chemicals- chemicals that have a known effect on humans in large quantities, but consider the number of different pesticides used in agriculture- no one knows the compound effects of these pesticides on humans. So, an adult body mass may be able to take that dosing of toxic chemicals every day, but our children? Think about how little they have to eat to equal the same percentage of toxic chemicals you just ate. Yes, education is key.

Screaming Baby in Car= Pure Sprouts saved me!

puresprouts — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:20:18 +0000

So, I know I own Pure Sprouts- but I’m also the poster child for someone who NEEDS Pure Sprouts! My new baby, Allison, hates the car. She hates, hates, HATES the car. She also hates riding in a cart.. In a front carrier… well, really hates anything but being held and being free to kick away. So, needless to say, we don’t go out much! I develop a bad case of road rage when I’m driving with my screaming baby in the back seat. On top of that, my 2 year old is yelling because he wants to get out of the car and away from the crying baby. I get it!
So, I order from Pure Sprouts. I get my groceries delivered to my house on a weekly basis- and as an added bonus- I eat good foods all the time.

I also know that Pure Sprouts is a serious time-saver. Honestly, how long does it take you to get in the car, drive to the store, walk up and down the aisles, wait in line, pay, pack up the groceries, drive home, unpack the groceries. Pheww! I’d say all of that takes about an hour and a half each week. Pure Sprouts takes about 10 minutes to place your order and then all you have to do is open your door and unpack your bin! I’m a busy woman, but aren’t we all these days? So, I think- what do I do with my extra 80 minutes per week? I can cook breakfast, play with my kids, write blogs, and I may even be able to squeeze in a few pages of a book!