Our quest to eat local has been going well this summer. Pictured above: Locally baked sourdough bread from the farmer's market topped with local free-range eggs from a nearby farm, garlic chives from my CSA share, and green salsa, handmade by a small local Mexican restaurant. Not all ingredients came from Iowa, but it was all made by Iowans. One thing about Iowa: we produce a lot of food!
However, we did cheat a little bit. A few of our favorite things are produced in states that touch Iowa--like the goat milk I like from Heartland creamery, various delicious cheeses from Wisconsin, and the occasional neighboring-state fruit, condiment, etc., so we expanded our rules to include these. It's been easy to find meat, milk, and just about every vegetable we could want (except avocados). We've also harvested greens from the garden, and although it needs serious weeding, the tomatillos I tried this year have sailed above the weeds and are producing well. They look about ready. The weeds haven't been so kind to my peppers, so I need to get out there, but my work schedule has been intense and of course it's summer so when I'm not working, I tend to want to be lazy.
Meanwhile, my CSA pickup has been full of great veggies so I haven't been wanting. Fruit-wise, we've gotten peaches from Missouri, and we've cheated a little when the kids really wanted something like plums or apples that came from states not bordering Iowa. Because if the kids want fruit, want am I going to say? "No! Eat some Iowa bacon instead!"
On the yoga front, I will be heading to the Yoga Journal conference in Estes Park towards the end of September and although I've been doing a lot of yoga, I'm still carrying some extra weight. I lost about 18 pounds while writing the Naturally Thin book with Bethenny Frankel, but I need to finish the job, so I've decided to drop 16 pounds by September 21. I think I can do it if I just cut back a little on the indulgences and step up the exercise. So that's my goal, starting today. My son, Emmett, who is 10 years old, is going to do this with me because he wants to drop some weight too. He's been having an overindulgent summer, as we all have, but he's not as active as his brother so it sticks to him the way it sticks to me. So together we are on a healthy eating and exercise quest, so we both feel better and have more energy. We can do it, Emmett!
This is Emmett, getting a good workout, mowing the lawn (with proper hydration, of course).
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