Why Do You Always Have Vegetables in Your Lunch?

That's what a kid at school asked my son the other day. He answered "Cause I like them!"

Then, after practicing at home, he went up the little heckler the next day, looked him in the eye, and said "From now on, don't say anything about my lunch."

It worked. But, still. So far this year, my kids have been teased for vegetables, avocado on a sandwich, cheese (!), salad and even yogurt. They don't really seem to care that much. But isn't it amazing that our little kids are so convinced that real food is weird when brightly colored, nutritionally-depleted, chemical-tasting food is normal.

It's just something to think about.

Berry Picking with Kids

Day before yesterday, my family did one of our favorite activities. We went to "The Farm." That's what we call Berry Patch Farms in Brighton, Colorado, a you-pick place with strawberries, raspberries and all kinds of vegetables. It's the kind of place where there really is a red barn, roasters crow and they take you out to the berry picking patch on a tractor pulled wagon traveling through fields of broccoli, spinach, squash and sunflowers. It's so idyllic that I always feel like I am exaggerating when I describe it.

When we are there together, the world makes sense. Even my six-year-old can feel it--in fact I think she, especially, feels it. And I am trying to put my finger on why. Here's what I do know: Picking food is an instinctively satisfying experience, something humans are meant to do, but few Americans have the opportunity to do. And working together as a family to get food for the winter allows the children to participate in an adult activity, rather than common modern construct of adults participating in children's activities. Last, there is the insanely wonderful, incredibly flavorful food. But as dramatic as I am being...the sum is still more than the exact parts that I can list.

All I can say is: yeah for berry picking!

And, by the way, yesterday I packed fresh raspberries and tiny fresh carrots from the farm in the kid's lunches. Nobody teased them--and when I asked my son about them, his eyes got big and he just said "Oh, man, they tasted great!"