A first graders lesson on apples - from seed to taste test. Part biology, part cooking, part food critique and a little math.
My son's teacher, Ms. Smith, gave a wonderful lesson to her first grade class on apples. The children learned about the biology of a fruit tree, the path from harvest to market, varietal differences, cooking (they made applesauce) and my favorite, the blind taste test. Ms Smith's class favorite... the Golden Delicious by a landslide!
The man in the plaid suit barked,"Grow purple carrots! Get interested in organic gardening." As he handed my young son a packet of varietal organic carrot seeds. Our family was exiting The Maker Faire but stopped to chat with enthusiastic 'carrot seed man' and pick up a packet of seeds. Frankly, I found 'carrot seed man' a bit creepy. My tolerance for oddballs was on empty after a long day at Maker Faire but my son was excited to learn more. I quietly obliged as my husband and son chatted with 'carrot seed man'.
After a week's worth of light badgering, my son and I set up a large planter with organic soil on our sunny deck in San Francisco and we lovingly planted our tiny carrot seeds. We watered and waited... and watered and waited. After four months of watering and waiting I decided the kids needed a payout on these subterranean root vegetables and I declared a recent sunny Sunday afternoon 'Harvest Time' for our carrot patch. Pulling our tiny carrots out of the earth was more fun than I thought. Some carrots were orange, some white, some were intertwined (planted too close together) and some were a gorgeous purple. Some carrots were so tiny and cute they made us laugh. It was fun.
Getting kids involved in gardening is an amazing thing. It's a science project, a lesson in the origin of real food and of course patience. Thank you 'carrot seed man'.
Oh Angie. I can only imagine how tough motherhood and stardom must be. You're a globetrotting movie star, hot Mom, UN ambassador, lover of 3rd world orphans, husband stealer and a crazy bitch that just had twins. Seriously, what's not to love... I'll tell ya. Feeding your kids orange Cheetos and blue Gatorade?! It's junk food!
Angelina. You are a role model for millions of Moms. I know it must be hard to be you but please change your junk food lovin' ways... for the children. To help you out we've assembled some pointers for you and Brad.
6 tips for a healthier snack time for the Jolie-Pitt kids
I'm not recommending you eat soap or feed it to your kids. But let's just say... theoretically... if you had to threaten to scrub a sassy foul mouthed kid's mouth out with soap discourage your sweet little ones from using inappropriate verbs and references to body parts. This would be the perfect soap for the task, it's organic, made in the USA, vegetable based and it has oats for scrubbing the words right off the tongue. So the next time your child says, "you wouldn't dare do that Mom, soap is poison" whip this baby out of the soap dish. If the raw oats don't scare him just say the word vegan and watch them cringe in horror. Works every time.
