Bloomington's Grape Expectations

I have been better about getting the kids to help think of new ways to use food. I made my daughter chop up the tomatoes I was supposed to take to my father. I forgot and they needed to be used so she put them in a dish where we normally use canned (no judging please ;) ). The biggest challenge is to get some people over the issue of having...

This challenge has reminded me that we need to talk about things often and in different ways. I was driving my dad down a road I had not been on in a few weeks and was amazed at how much the corn had grown - it was soooo tall. My dad agreed. One of the kids was with and couldn't see the yellow corn and he was looking hard...I reminded him...

Different kind of waste averted today. Had a kid not eat all of sandwich and set down on chair. Was petting cousin's dog when the other snuck over to grab it. Kid caught just in time. "That would have been such a waste! I cant believe the dog tried to eat my food!!" ...To be fair, grandpa had not dropped any treats for dog at lunch...

We ended up with a lot of things from National Night Out, mainly fruit and veggies. I processed some of it today to make it easier to work with in the future, and boxed up some for my dad. We are always part of the cleanup crew and I always have good intentions. This time I really looked at it and the likelihood of it lasting until I could do...

We had a few good days, where I was thinking we are awesome, most of our compost is coffee grounds (which are not mine) or fruit coverings, but then found the black beans had gone bad, I was going to finish in lunch but they were now white... Last night I found the carrots that seemed strange when we opened them had not actually survived very...

Went to all you can eat corn event this weekend. Corn was ready to eat, but cobs are not a lot smaller when done than when started. People filled bins quickly. When you eat a can of corn it seems like there is almost no waste. Talked with kids about amount of waste for that one food item alone across the whole processing life, and how other...

I like to know I am doing the right thing personally, but also like to know there are big plans for the future. I didn't think I followed any food related things, but while looking who to add I found a couple, including one of my favorites: Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

Off to good start on tracking compost bin contents - so far watermelon rinds, orange peels, and coffee grinds. I did find a piece of bread in there, but nobody knows how that got there...

My goal is to activity engage the children in the house in being more aware of food waste. We have a notebook by the compost/garbage and all are being asked to help fill it in!