Some of my favorites...

For those of you that don't know me, I am a Michigan native. I spent the first 17 years of my life in a small town in Michigan and then I left to join the Air Force. At one of my first duty stations in Monterey, California they had a wonderful farmer's market. I was just discussing this with one of my friends today and I told her that going to that market was one of my favorite things. It was my first glimpse at natural life.

I grew up in a large family with seven older sisters. My father was a lawyer, my mother was a college student, and we were a busy family. Our meals consisted of cereal or something quick for breakfast, packed or school lunches, and fast food or boxed food for dinners. The only real times I remember my mother cooking was when it was a holiday. I remember eating lots of things from boxes or frozen dinners and food from some burger joint literally 5 times a week, at least. I remember my mom allowing us to get peanut M&Ms as a snack because "they had protein in them" and I grew up thinking I had better eat M&Ms so that I wouldn't be protein deficient.

I guess my childhood sparked my interest in nutrition. If you have ever studied this topic or read up on it, it is not a static subject, it is always changing. Remember when eating eggs was questionable? How about when trans-fat first came about - it was a better alternative to saturated fat, or so we thought. In and amongst all of the changing and sometimes conflicting information no one has ever argued with eating simple, whole foods. Organic food, to my knowledge, has never been frowned upon.

Now we live in a time where high fructose corn syrup and trans-fat sneak their way into everything. Things are labeled as "Healthy" and "Natural" when in fact they are anything but! I struggle with maintaining a balance in my family. My kids see other kids at school eating those nasty fruit by the foot snacks and they want them. These rotten foods are marketed towards our children, with cartoon characters and prizes on the boxes. I told my son just the other day that he may in fact receive more nutrients if he ate the wrapper one of these snacks came in versus eating the snack itself. He thought that was pretty fun and I think it's pretty true!

Our local grocery stores are filled with junk. Sure they do have a natural section but it is usually considerably smaller and twice as expensive... what's a mom to do? Well a few years ago I found an excellent resource, a company called Azure Standard. According to their website they "Specialize in natural, organic, earth-friendly foods and products. We deliver directly to customers, buying clubs and retailers by semi truck and UPS." I am fortunate to be one of their drop points and I get my groceries delivered right to my door. Since I became an Azure customer I have increased the amount of organic products in my household. The offer so many products, the ones in my local store's natural section and about 10x more. Their prices are great and their customer service is wonderful. I am so glad that I found them. I encourage all of you to look at their website - http://www.azurestandard.com/ You will be amazed. (If you create an account by entering only your name and e-mail address you will be able to see prices. They have not sent my any spam mail in my 2+ years of being with them.)

Another recent find is Full Circle Farm. This farm is located in Carnation, WA and they do weekly deliveries to my town. They offer organic produce grown on their farm and other nearby locations. They also have a green grocer section where they feature items such as meat, bread, and chocolate to name a few. If you sign up for delivery and use the code KITSAP2010 you will receive $15 off of your first box. The boxes are customizeable, meaning that if they contain oranges you have the option of substituting apples, etc. I have received four boxes thus far and have very happy with all of them. They also offer referral rewards, so tell them Rebecca Austin sent you! Their website is http://www.fullcirclefarm.com/

Ok, that's enough for now. What are some of your favorite resources???

Welcome friends!

This is my attempt at starting a group... I hope in organizing this blog I will connect with people who are like-minded with similar interests. I hope to use this as a soap box to share our ideas, spread the word on different products we like, offer suggestions for new organic choices all the while supporting one another on this mission.

I am a mother of two boys, a wife, and a person who works in the healthcare industry. It is my goal to feed my family from local, organic, whole foods so that we may maintain health and vitality. Please follow along if this sounds like something you are interested in!