This growing season I have planted the most diverse and hopefully fruitful garden since I began gardening five years ago. This is also the first year that I started everything from seed. It is so exciting to plant a seed, wait for germination and then see the sprout. I never quite know when it’s going to happen! I’m always amazed at how quickly and how large the seedling is compared to the seed itself. My husband hadn’t
seen many seeds before this spring when I ordered a bunch from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds through my food co-op, and I still remember showing him some of the teeny tiny seeds. He couldn’t believe that something so small could grow so large over the coarse of a growing season. Yes, I’m gearing out over plants and nature. But you have to admit, it’s pretty neat!I planted three varieties of lettuce, but the Crisp Mint romaine type seems to be doing best. I took my first harvest of lettuce last week and it just keeps coming. I will have to plant some more seeds for succession harvests later in the summer. I created the perfect dressing to pair it with for some epic salads for lunch and side salads for dinner. They have been so good!
The zucchini is really taking off! I planted an Italian striated variety which I’m looking forward to trying.
The most exciting veggie to grow so far has been this dwarf bok choy. It has grown super fast and will start bolting pretty soon. I harvested a bunch of leaves for a stir fry this week and they were delicious. Fun fact – bok choy is super high in calcium! A great replacement for dairy for folks that don’t care for or eat much animal protein. The leaf had just a hint of bitterness and was definitely sweet, but the crispy crunch was the best part. I was late on getting my peas into the ground this year (it took awhile to prepare the raised beds and get some good soil going), so I hope to harvest some peas before it gets too hot. I have planted green and purple types.
In other news, I had a wonderful dinner last week with a colleague (thanks to the hubs for doing all of the parenting that night!). Of course being dietitians, we ate great food while talking about food and feeding our families, particularly our kids (has anyone dined at Clover near Gonzaga U? It was fantastic!!).She shared a story with me about her toddler eating butter by the spoonful. She is a fellow Ellyn Satter fan and educates families about the DOR. Naturally, she let her toddler make the food choices which led to the consumption of spoonfuls of butter. It reminded me of a post that Ellyn Satter shared on her Facebook page (click here to read post) which explains why toddlers have such an affinity for butter. Basically, when infants grow into toddlers, they likely aren’t drinking as much breast milk or formula which is a great source of fat in their diet. As we all know, butter is milk fat and it tastes good, so many toddlers make up for that difference in fat by eating more butter at times. This is completely normal and nothing to be worried about especially when the butter is offered with other nutritious foods. I recall my daughter eating butter with her finger when out at a restaurant and now my son is transitioning and when we include butter at a meal, he will often eat his fair share. To this day, my daughter still loves butter on her rice and vegetables.
What I love about the DOR is that I have complete confidence in my feeding responsibilities and my daughters ability to eat what is right for her own body. Even though I have had years of schooling and course work that tell me how to calculate and estimate her nutrient needs, there is no way that I have the time or inclination to track what she is eating, which foods she needs more or less of to satisfy the Recommended Daily Allowance for her body. I have absolutely no doubt that she is growing incredibly well. She is healthy, strong, full of energy and is entirely capable of making those choices for herself. So I go about my job and prepare meals at approximately the same time, which more often than not offer a good variety of food groups from whole foods and other family favorites. Her body does the rest!
If you have any questions or want to learn more about this way of feeding children which has been proven time and time again to be the most effective at developing appropriate, normal eaters that are healthy from a young age, feel free to contact me.
Questions for comments: What is taking off in your garden? Anything exciting from your first harvest? Do you recall a time when your toddler or child ate more of a certain food when they were learning to eat or exploring their tastebuds?
Until next time, eat well!
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