40%

Isn't this beautiful?  We think so.

Unfortunately, this is a miniscule amount of the produce that is wasted daily in our country.  As a nation, we waste an estimated 40% of the food that is produced for consumption.  Forty percent!  There are trash cans like the one in our local grocer in almost all of the 300,000 grocery stores across the U.S. carrying food that has minor blemishes....or one single berry that is starting to rot.  Tragic.

We make it a point to choose the foods that are not "perfect" as we know they will be scooped up quickly by the produce managers and tossed into the trash....incidentally, most of it looks like the produce coming out of our garden as fruits and veggies aren't designed to be perfect!  At times, we've even tried to buy them out of the trash but they refuse to sell them, saying it is against company policy.  

Just so you know, the organic raspberries pictured were delicious.  We ate them on our granola this morning!

Gull Lake Family Camp

We went to Gull Lake Family Camp last week.  Yes, there are 18 Sch Family cousins so far, ages 2 -16.  The kids had a blast.  I came home whipped, determined to be the "cool" mom who stays up late!

See, I told you.  So the cool mom.

Lincoln caught his 1st fish, all by himself.  He was pleased as punch.

Two of my sweeties getting ready to ride the jet ski

So very blessed

I love this picture that Madeline snapped of her lunch plate.

Daniel Son

I have no idea what they are discussing here but I love this picture.

Thought of the Day

Wisdom.  circa 400 BC

Bible Camp

The girls ran a Bible camp for their cousins and several friends this morning.  Planned and executed completely on their own, I have to say I was quite impressed.  Yes, 11 children ages 5 and under.

(can we all just pretend that I don't still have photo frames on my bookshelves with no family pictures in them?!  It's been months.  Months.  In fact, I recently had a friend stage an intervention.  Yikes.)

That's Just Gross.

I am making a dish with all the eggplant from our CSA and although I usually make my own breadcrumbs, I thought I might save a few minutes and just grab some from the grocery today.

(me, in aisle 10, peaking at the ingredient list)

And then I decided against it.

Garden Gone Wild!

Our garden is going crazy this year....which is a welcome change from last year when we started to think we had lost our organic touch (that's what a cool summer and lots of rain will do to you!)

At any rate, we have so many veggies between the garden and our CSA that I have been making up new smoothies almost daily.

Today's smoothie was a combination of broccoli, celery, snap peas, green beans, squash, zucchini and cucumbers.  Combine your veggies with purified water and freshly squeezed organic lemon juice and the fruit of your choice (I threw in a handful of organic strawberries.)  My kiddos loved this one.

You will be amazed how many veggies you can blend up!  I blend, re-fill, and blend again.  After pouring this one for GLLAM, I make another blender full for Ron and myself.