fall.

i found my natural prozac.

PRODUCE.
i love fresh fruits and vegetables.
love them.
have i told you that sometimes while i'm shopping for produce i have to hold myself back from bursting into song...
sometimes, tears come to my eyes- really.
i want to sing... "from the banks of California, to the shores of Tennessee."
Ha!  That was my attempt to sing "I'm proud to be an American."
But then, as i was typing, I realized that those probably aren't the right words... seeing how there aren't any shores in Tennessee.
i ALWAYS sing the wrong words to songs...  the professor mocks me all throughout the Christmas season.
i digress.
where was i?
singing in the produce section...

Doesn't year round produce just make you want to thank God that we live in this day and age?
Doesn't it make you grateful you live in this country?
I never have to worry about my children not having food... good food.
what a blessing.
Do you know that if Americans took the money we spend on PET FOOD and donated it to end world hunger, we would eliminate starvation?! 
Our PETS eat better than many HUMANS.  how sad.
in the produce section, i feel blessed.

i had a friend in junior high who was adopted from Russia as a teen.
If I remember correctly, when she first flew to America, they stopped at a grocery store.  She thought it was fake.  A store set up by the government to make America look good.  She made her adoptive family stop at grocery stores the whole ride home to prove that they were real.  
(i really did have a friend from russia, but doesn't this story sound more like reader's digest?)

today i bought a cart full of produce- and one fresh chicken.
i came home bursting with fall goodness.
pumpkins will do that to you.

Since Halloween is on Sunday, we won't be going trick r treating.
I thought it would be fun to do a scary Halloween meal...
but then i decided to do my Fall Feast.
Lots of squash and roots and veggies... oh how excited i am.
and, i don't even care what the food tastes like...
or whether or not my kids like it.
to me, food is just amazing...
i want teach my children to experience the bounty of the earth... in all it's variety.
If they don't like brussel sprouts, they don't have to eat them every day of their life... but they should experience them.
Everyone should experience them.check out those brussel sprouts on a stick.
seriously...  SO FUN!!  
what a great food.

After this shopping trip, it looks like we will be "Fall Feasting"  all week.
I can't wait.

My kids came home from school and spent 30 minutes trying to name all the produce on our table.
They were as giddy as I am.
While I'm writing this blog they keep asking, "Mom, what's this called?"
I heard Jakob ask, "What's this?
the kids said "Cabbage".
He asked, "What kind of cabbage?"
They said they didn't know and he said, "Iceburg cabbage."
Funny boy.
Leah ate a banana and said, "Mom, did you go to the jungle today?"
Ellie has eaten a pear, a banana, and half of a pomegranate for snack.
yup.
i love it.

Oh, I'm proud to be an American.
I'm so grateful for the bounty that surrounds me.
I want my children and my home to be FULL of the good things of the earth.
If i can't live on a farm... shopping for produce will continue to make me happy.

ps.
Have you tried black grapes... SOO GOOD this season.

pps.
can you name this fruit?
yes, i bought 2.  How could you not buy a fruit that looks like Thing 1?  cool.