The salad bar and garden grants from Whole Foods Market is helping get salad bars and gardens in schools across the country.
The more that kids know and feel connected to their food, the more curious they become about how things grow and taste – and they’re more willing to try new foods! You can help your children learn more about eating better by applying for a School Garden or Salad Bar grant!
Many schools have already received these grants, and the list grows each year. Check out the website below to learn how to apply!
School Garden Grant
Created in partnership with FoodCorps, the School Garden Grant program provides a $2,000 monetary grant to support an edible educational garden on the grounds of a K-12 school. Schools, or a non-profit organization working in partnership with a school, may apply.
Application Period Open: September 1st, 2016
Application Period Closed: October 31, 2016 at 5pm CST
Review Period: Winter 2016
Notification to All Applicants: February 15, 2017
School Salad Bars
A salad bar at school means kids have the choice of fresh vegetables and fruit for lunch 175 days each year. Kids with access to a salad bar in the school cafeteria not only put more fruits and veggies on their plates, they actually eat them! The CDC reports that kids with access to a salad bar consume three times more fruits and vegetables.
Salad bars are a viable component of a federally reimbursed school lunch. The cost for one freestanding, mobile salad bar grant is $2,625. This includes everything a school needs to get started: the bar, chill pads, pans and tongs. Each salad bar can serve a school for 10 years, which makes it incredibly cost effective!
I remember my older sister taking me to Oceans of Fun when I was about 11 years old and being the teenager sister she was, she really didn’t seem to have the motherly instinct of reminding me to put on sunscreen. I remember my face got so bunt that it blistered up and I ended up at the doctors office where they coated me with some burn cream and bandages. Needless to say that my mom was not happy with my sister.
As I approached my teenage years, I was still trying to fool myself that I could tan by rubbing baby oil on my skin and laying outside on the deck or using the new quick tanning products that were on the market. Anybody remember the QT in the blue and white bottle? Neither seemed to work as I either turned out red as a lobster or as orange as a pumpkin.
After becoming a mom, I made it a priority to protect my kids from the suns rays, and even though I had heard you should wear sunscreen year around, I never really did and even jumped on the tanning bed bandwagon for a few years.
As you can see, the years are catching up with me and the fine lines and wrinkles are appearing.
As an Ambassador for Whole Foods Market, we are given information on a certain topic and asked to share it with you. As you might have guessed this months theme is all about sunscreen. I am an avid believer that you can never stop learning and when I read this post, I learned some new things I never knew about sunscreen.
For starters I always thought sunscreen would prevent skin cancer, that I really didn’t need to wear sunscreen when driving and I didn’t realize there are two types of sunscreen. I also had no idea that some chemicals in sunscreens can disrupt the endocrine system and harm marine wildlife.
And although, as you will read in the post above that sunscreen will not prevent skin cancer, I have to believe that some is better than none.
Reality has hit me recently when I went to the dermatologist to see about some injectables for wrinkling (which I will cover in another post sometime soon.) Long story short, right away she pointed out that the most wrinkled side of my face was the one that faced the drivers side window and that the rays can still penetrate through the glass, causing premature aging and not too much can be done to fix that, but sunscreen can help further damage.
This video on how the sun sees your skin and how sunscreen works totally blew me away. I already have a visible freckles on my face and neck and would be very interested in seeing my skin under this ultra-violet light.
So now that I am a sunscreen advocate, what do I choose?
For me I like a high spf and and chemical free. I love Alba Organics, Kiss My Face and Jason which are all available at Whole Foods Market. If you happen to get too much sun and need a little relief from a sunburn, you can also get Jason after sun aloe vera.
I’m also a fan of getting under an umbrella or cabana when poolside!
Make sure when you stop into Whole Foods Market to get your sunscreen grab a green juice for the juice bar to nourish your insides too! I think my next steps to give up the straws so I don’t get such fine lines around my lips.
I would love to hear what anti aging tips you have and your thoughts on sunscreen.
I will admit I am a Words with Friends junkie, so when I got contacted to try the new Word Addiction game app, I was very intrigued to see how it worked. After downloading the app and playing a few games, I decided to do a little research about the game. It turns out the game was recently developed by a lady in Washington, Missouri, a suburb just outside of the St. Louis metro.
This is a girl after my own heart as she is a WWF addict as well as avid scrabble player. Word addiction is an elevated rendition of the other popular word games but takes the challenge a step further by offering a variety of boards to choose from, the ability to start a word wherever you choose and bridges and blocks to detour opponents from scoring more points.
Games can be played with a friend, a random opponent or solitaire.
I currently have all three types of matches going on at the moment. My phone is quite full of game apps as I like to play to pass the time when we travel. I really like the solitaire option of this game as it can be played while the phone is in airplane mode or when I’m looking for something to pass the time while waiting on an opponent to take their turn.
If you like scrabble or other word games similar to that, i would suggest you give word addiction a try. Download the app and then come find me under sharminmeadows.
This tour took us a little deeper into the science of our food where we got to tour the Monsanto headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri. What an eye opening experience it was for me!
Inside Monsanto Facility
I have to admit, I have been a one sided girl on the issue of GMO’s and have been totally against them. I have enjoyed the opportunity to work with Kansas Farm Bureau and attend these tours to get more educated on the issue.
Since the 90’s Monsanto has primarily been a seed company spending most of their research on plant breeding which has been going on for centuries. That is how we have so many varieties of fruits and vegetables. Check out all the vegetables we have now that stemmed from breeding the yellow mustard plant. It’s given us crops like cabbage, brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, kale, broccili and cauliflower.
Monsanto does however still produce Round-Up and has two primary sections of the company, seeds and crop protection. Both focus on agriculture just in different areas.
We did not get into too much discussion on the crop protection production side of things at this visit so I cannot comment very much on that issue.
We did however talk a lot about GMO’s. What makes GMO’s a little different then plant breeding is there is more science and biotechnology that goes into making the seed. They look at issues that farmers are facing and try to help develop seeds that help with weed, pest control and other issues.
So here are few questions I had and answers I got.
How did Monsanto make a Round-Up Ready seed?
By doing research they found a bacteria resistant to the herbicide Round-Up and incorporated that bacteria into the DNA of the soybean seed so now when the crop is sprayed with Round-Up the weeds will die but the soybean crop will not.
Does having a Round-Up ready crop reduce the amount of Round-Up needed to kill the weeds? It does not reduce the amount used but changes the what kind of herbicide you can use.
Will using too much Round-Up eventually give us super weeds?
Crop rotation and other farming practices are being used to help avoid this.
What about the virus resistant papaya? How does that work? Do you give the papaya a vaccine like a human would get a flu shot to protect it from the virus? Check out the short video at the bottom of the page that explains how a papaya resistant to the Papaya Ring Spot Virus was created for the answer to this.
The tour at Monsanto was very interesting and the scientific research they are doing is mind blowing and the more I have learned the less scared I am of them. But my mind is spinning over the controversy of the other side too and I still need to learn more.
I do however appreciate their approach on trying to help people in poorer countries feed their families.
Entrance to Growing Room at Monsanto
The Monsanto research facility houses growing rooms where they can replicate the climates of other countries and develop seeds to grow under those conditions. In return this helps farmers and families in underdeveloped areas grow more food to help them and their livestock thrive.
Growing Room at Monsanto
Although, some believe you cannot alter a plant to adapt to climate. Who is right?
The research on developing pest resistant plants is pretty incredible as you can see by the pic below the difference between the plants attacked by the velvetbean caterpillar.
Soybean plant infested with Soybean Loop and Velvetbean Caterpillar
Is it safe to put an insect killer in plants?
After many years of research it is deemed safe but the controversy lies that the long term effects are really not known yet and some say it is killing off good insects like butterflies.
For those living in areas where this plant is one of your main food sources to survive, then long term effects and butterflies are probably not as important as is facing starvation.
Their research on microbes (those tiny organisms like fungi and good bacteria) are helping develop better soil for the plant. Think of them as probiotics for the soil that aid the plants root system, nutrient content, growth and protection against disease.
Is this because some people believe Round- Up is destroying the soil and they need to find a way to help?
GMO supporters would say no, those against would say yes.
I think a lot of the controversy about Monsanto stems from Monsanto making chemicals as they used to be an industrial chemical company making things like Astroturf, saccharin and other things. Some of which were made under government contracts that has caused quite a bit of controversy.
I get that some awful things happened and am not sticking up for them in anyway, but a lot of things like that have happened. There was a time when we did not know that cigarets could cause lung cancer and kill you. It can take years to know the effects of some certain things. There are plenty of household chemicals we buy everyday that can harm us as well.
In the last few decades Monsanto has become focused on agriculture and the controversy and questions are endless. I can see there are extremes on both sides, just hang out on youtube for a while.
Do the anti Monsanto videos of skulls and cross bones and people wearing gas masks freak me out?
Sure, they are really creepy and certainly raise some questions.
Do the pro GMO videos make sense as to why they are doing it?
Yes, It seems like a good thing to help starving people.
What about the farmer and having to sign a contract?
We got to speak to a panel of farmers and this just means that the farmer cannot save the seed. Some can look at it that it as just a way for Monsanto to make more money as the farmer has to buy new seed every year. The farmers response was that they really do not want to save the seed as it might not produce a great crop anyway.
Farmer Panel
These farmers have families just like us and in the end want to produce the healthiest safest foods they can for themselves and us in the most effective way they know how.
What about the bees and butterflies? Lots of controversy on this!
Vitamin A Enriched Rice? One side is for it, one is against.
There are hundreds of topics that involve GMO’s each with its own debate that are far to lengthy to cover in one blog post. In the end it all has to come down to a personal choice and educating yourself. The transparency and openness that was shared with us about what they were doing was invaluable information.
My personal choice is to still eat organic and non GMO foods when I have a choice. Although, the more I learn the less scared of them I am. This does not mean I have partaken in the Monsanto Koolaid and am okay with everything they are doing it is just the lifestyle that I live and what works for my family and I until I learn more. I’m also not a fanatic about it when dining out or traveling or even having an occasional indulgence. I believe life is all about balance.
If organic foods are not in your budget, you can still eat healthy. Soy and corn are the most widely used and most of those go into animal feed and some processed food. So if you eat a healthy diet with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables you are not going to get that many in your diet anyway whether you are opposed to them or not. I’ve listed the GMO crops at the bottom of this post. I have done my best to get the most current but the list is continually growing so always double check as everything may not be listed. The information below is from the site Best Food Facts and is a great site to visit that covers about every topic that involves food. I’ve also included some links to some short videos that help explain things where you don’t need to be a scientist to figure it out.
Almost everything in this world is two sided and the GMO’s debate is no different. I see valid points on each side. I wish I could give you more of a clear cut answer on who is right and who is wrong but I really can’t. I still need to learn more. I do hope I have at least given you some facts to research to help you make a decision that is right for you.
Please feel free to comment or ask any questions that you have concerning Monsanto, GMO’s or farming practices. I’m really interested in what you have to say. If I don’t have an answer I will try to find it out for you!
I also wish to thank Kansas Farm Bureau, Kansas Soybeans and Kansas Pork Association for inviting me on this tour and providing travel, meals and accommodations. I also want to make clear that in no way was I compensated or influenced by Monsanto. All opinions in this article are my own.
Corn (field & sweet)
The GM version of field corn protects the crop against corn rootworms and the Asian corn borer. Like GM field corn, GM sweet corn also protects the crop against destructive pests.
Soybeans
The GM soybean plant is resistant to pests and disease as well as being tolerant of herbicides that are most effective, allowing for less herbicide use overall.
Cotton
GM cotton requires fewer pesticides and protects against the cotton bollworm.
Canola
Canola has been modified through biotechnology to make it tolerant to some herbicides. This allows for a reduced amount of chemicals needed for weed control. The modified plant also has resistance to pests and fungus.
Alfalfa
The GM version of alfalfa is tolerant of some herbicides, allowing for a reduced amount of chemicals needed for weed control.
Sugar Beets
The GM sugar beet has increased tolerance to some herbicides, allowing for a reduced amount of chemicals needed for weed control. GM sugar beets also have virus and pest resistance traits.
Papaya
The GM version of papaya makes the plant resistant to the prevalent Papaya Ringspot Virus.
Squash
GM squash has traits that improve the plant’s defense against viruses.
There are other GM crops that are currently being tested, but are not yet available to consumers. For instance, the Innate potato, which the USDA recently approved for commercial planting, is a non-browning variety of potato. And the Arctic apple has GM traits that resist browning after being cut.
Verizon Wireless has all a plethora of technology including the new Virtual Reality glasses. I recently had the chance to visit one of their smart stores and was amazed of all the fun gadgets and gizmos available to make living fun, safe and easy.
The Verizon Wireless Smart Store is divided into different zones where you will find items to make your home smarter, get your body fitter, enjoy surround sound, make your car safer and more!
I have to tell you about are the new Virtual Reality glasses. These things are crazy! I have never experienced anything like it. The glasses allow you to play games, watch movies, experience deep sea diving, watch a theater performance and more.
With my experience I went swimming with sharks and watched Circus Soleil. The virtual reality is a 360 degree experience. In Circus Soleil you find your self sitting in a theater with cast member performing on stage. Look to the right and left and you will see cast members sitting beside you and when you turn around the entire theater is behind you.
While swimming with the sharks when you look up you can see the sun reflecting on the top of the water, look below and you see the the bottom of the sea. Looking left and right your surrounded by an array of sea life. You can check out my reaction here.
Stop by the closest Verizon Wireless smart store nearest you to check them out yourself along with all the other fun gizmos and gadgets they have!
The Whole Foods Market Beauty Week 2106 (March 16-22) is a dedicated week that celebrates the Whole Foods Market Whole Body Department, featuring the largest selection of clean beauty products with the highest quality standards and brands.
In celebration of Beauty Week 2016, Whole Foods Market is offering deep discounts on select natural and organic beauty products. From March 18 to 20, all facial care products will be 25 percent off regular price.
The real highlight of beauty week is the beauty bag release.
Whole Foods Market Beauty Week Beauty Bag Photo Courtesy of Whole Foods Market
On Friday, March 18, stores will offer limited edition “hello, beauty” bags for $15 a piece. The bags are made by Riji Green, which is a business committed to ending human trafficking. Valued at $80, each bag includes products from Acure, Burt’s Bees, derma e, Dr. Hauschka, evanhealy, Mineral Fusion, MyChelle, Pacifica, Trilogy and Weleda.
There are a limited number of bags so make plans to get yours early while supplies last!
Being a Whole Foods Ambassador has a few perks and getting a sneak peak at this beauty bag is one of them. Trust me your going to want to get your hands on one of these.
Items in the bag include:
· Dr. Hauschka® Soothing Cleansing Milk .34 oz
· Derma e® Purifying 2-in-1 Charcoal Mask .5 oz
· Acure Pore Minimizing Facial Scrub 1 oz
· Evanhealy Rose Geranium Facial Toner HydroSoul 1 oz
· Trilogy Rosehip Oil Antioxidant + ml
· MyChelle® Perfect C Serum .17 oz
· Mineral Fusion® Lash Curling Mineral Mascara (Gravity) .57 oz
· Burt’s Bees® Sunset Cruise Lip Stick .12 oz
· Weleda Skin Food .34 oz
Just as I shop Whole Foods Market for nourishing foods for inside my body, I also shop the whole body department to nourish the outside of my body as well! Some of my favorite products include the Everyday 365 Shampoo, Body Wash and Conditioner. Whole Foods Market Lip Balm, Whole Foods Market hand lotion, Burt Bees everything, Alba Botanica, Pacifica and Earth Science just to name a few.
I wish to thank Whole Foods Market for supplying me with a gift card so I can nourish the outside of my body! I am in desperate need of a facial moisturizer and looking forward to the 25% off sale coming up March 18-20! I will see you there!
