I was so disappointed to miss last weekend’s Wise Traditions conference sponsored by the Weston A. Price Foundation. The topic was “The Politics of Food;” I looked forward to hearing about “The Politics of School Lunches” and in participating in the food activism panel with WAPF publicist and food blogger extraordinaire, Kimberly Harkte of Hartke is Online!
Alas, my family got its first cold of the season, my son coming down with a fever the morning after we got home from a trip to his grandparents. He was out of school all week, and though he was better after a trip to the osteopath, he wasn’t well enough for my sister to watch him as planned on Saturday. And my husband was so sick, I knew I couldn’t leave the two of them alone. They needed someone to warm up (and make more) homemade broth, with kombu, garlic, and love.
So healthy baby girl and I were grounded here in Va. all week and weekend, which meant that I wasn’t able to attend the exciting Farm to School Week events organized by Alexandria’s George Mason Elementary (which I wrote about last week in my column at the Washington Times Communities Family Today section and here). So, when I learned this week of equally exciting initiatives at Arlington’s Barcroft Elementary, I jumped at the chance to make a visit.
A poster entices students to try the healthy tastings in the Barcroft cafeteria
Between a baby napping and a boy getting out of preschool, the trip was short, but I was thrilled to meet Nancy Tringali Piho, author of My Two-Year-Old Eats Octopus: Raising Children Who Love to Eat Everything. Nancy talked to kids today about healthy eating in general and, in particular, about regular versus kid-ified (sugared up and colored) dairy products. And she and the parent volunteers handed out “No Farms, No Food” stickers.
Nancy has a great blog; check out her recent posts on Happy Meals! Argh! I’ve wanted to pick up her book since I heard her on The Kojo Nnamdi Show talking about the myth that we have to give children some different kind of menu instead of real food. It’s always inspiring to hear about other moms writing to make a difference.
Author Nancy Tringali Piho at Barcroft Elementary
A longer write-up is in the works. I’ll post a link here when it’s up.
[…] visit to Barcroft Elementary school’s Farm to Table celebration (referenced here last week) is now described in more detail on my column at the Washington Times Communities […]