Join a Food Coop

What a BLESSING!

It is great fun opening the boxes etc. to find these home grown treasures. You don't have to worry what's for dinner....

Some Coops let you select what items you want which prevents getting overstocked on some items but at a greater price.

We recently toured the farms, Wild Boar Farms, where our products grow and are produced. What an experience! Beautiful fields with healthy looking plants and all was so clean. There is a store from which members can buy for a discounted price. The Coop which is about 25 miles away delivers to a Nature Center here once a week as well.

We feel like we are eating much healthier than before our meals are also more interesting with such variety. As a result we feel we are doing a great deal to improve our health and well being.

Our Coop is located near Fredericksburg, Texas. A beautiful place which is also very fertile and has an excellent climate for growing.

Be sure to stop by if you are traveling on Hwy 290 in the Texas Hill Country:

Wild Boar Farms and Earth Divine Coop

21 Luckenbach Rd. and Hwy. 290

Fredericksburg, Texas 78624

830.990.8187

earthdivinecoop@gmail.com

P. S. We can order online each week for delivery the following week to Kerrville if desired

To find a Coop or Farmers Market in your area go to Local Harvest, www.localharvest.org

Fitness By Marilyn

http://www.fitnessbymarilyn.com

Independent AIM Member - Marilyn Wilson Murray

Farmers Markets

Community Supported Agriculture (And Other Farm Subscriptions)

Many farms offer produce subscriptions, where buyers receive a weekly or monthly basket of produce, flowers, fruits, eggs, milk, coffee, or any sort of different farm products.

A CSA, (for Community Supported Agriculture) is a way for the food buying public to create a relationship with a farm and to receive a weekly basket of produce. By making a financial commitment to a farm, people become "members" (or "shareholders," or "subscribers") of the CSA. Most CSA farmers prefer that members pay for the season up-front, but some farmers will accept weekly or monthly payments. Some CSAs also require that members work a small number of hours on the farm during the growing season.

A CSA season typically runs from late spring through early fall. The number of CSAs in the United States was estimated at 50 in 1990, and has since grown to over 1000.

Find A Location Near You!

http://www.localharvest.org/

Eating Green

"Let your culture inspire your eating habits"

Kibbe Conti, RD, created a nutrition model based on the medicine wheel, a sacred symbol that represents balance. Her hope is that it helps fight the diabetes epidemic currently raging among Native Americans.

Kibbe Conti was working on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation when her nutrition education collided with her culture.

As a certified diabetes educator, she knew that rates of type 2 diabetes among Native Americans are more than two times the national average. As a Lakota Sioux well versed in her history, she also knew that their diets were once healthy--made up of gathered plants, quality meats, and fish. But when Indian land shrunk to reservation size, highly processed meat products and soda replaced extralean buffalo meat and fresh water--not the best choices for people prone to obesity and diabetes, she says. Conti hopes to help by reintroducing more traditional foods into a diet plan that reflects how her ancestors ate: large game animals, fruits, and starchy vegetables. She's now testing her plan on an overweight Lakota man at high risk of diabetes for an upcoming PBS series, scheduled to air later this year

In her own home, "I practice what I preach," says the 39-year-old mother of two. Instead of sweetened drinks, she sips water, milk, or seltzer, and her family eats lean meat--most of the time. "My husband is Italian, and he's from New York," she says. "He really likes sausage, so sometimes he has to have it."

My Diet Rules:

* Buy locally "Our ancestors ate off the land they lived on, so we try our best to do the same. I pick up fresh fruits and vegetables at the market whenever they are available, and I keep organic milk and eggs on hand."

* Make veggies your starch "Native people used to eat beans, corn, and squash, which contain complex carbohydrates that gradually release glucose into your blood instead of spiking your blood sugar."

* Shop slowly "Our ancestors painstakingly hunted, gathered, and prepared food. These days, most of us spend almost no time. Slow down at the store, read the nutrition labels, peruse the fresh meat--healthy eating starts with healthy shopping."