Breast Cancer Awareness

Hello, and we hope you’re enjoying October, National Down Syndrome Awareness Month. Each week, we celebrate the abilities of people with Down syndrome at Pathfinder Produce by empowering people on-the-job and providing them with opportunities to develop and fine-tune work skills in community-based work opportunities. Come visit us this Thursday, from noon to 5 p.m. to say hello to our friendly and courteous staff and check out all the great produce on sale!

BIG NEWS: At our market on Thursday, October 24, we’ll be partnering with local volunteers to help raise awareness for National Breast Cancer Awareness month too! Ten percent of our market proceeds for our Fall Harvest event will be contributed to Team NYCM in support of breast cancer awareness and research. Our market team is coming up with some other great promotions as well: There will be two drawings for Pathfinder Produce gift certificates, special discounts on Awareness month baked goods, and Chef Eric will be serving up some Healthy PINK smoothie samples. 

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I admit that I like to watch social media posts with little kids doing what little kids do best … playing, laughing, and making adults laugh through their silly behavior and outlandish quips. One recent video that had me chuckling was one showing kids’ unfiltered reactions to the word ‘boobies’, brassieres, store displays, and so forth.

But as it’s National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it’s an appropriate time to encourage everyone to take care of themselves and to be aware of the signs of breast cancer. I would dare venture that most people know someone who has had breast cancer; I’ve had several friends overcome it but it’s still a worrisome diagnosis that impacts all aspects of family life. It too often remains a fatal disease.

Men too have mammary tissues and can also develop breast cancer. So it’s important for everyone to know the signs and do regular self-exams. The following link offers guidance on the ages when women should begin annual mammograms. If you see or feel a lump developing, don’t put off going to get it checked out. The sooner you begin treatment, the better your chance of making a recovery.

These are some stats shared from the website, breastcancer.org:

·       About 1 in 8 U.S. women (about 12%) will develop invasive breast cancer.

·       In 2019, an estimated 268,600 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected in US women, along with 62,930 new cases of non-invasive breast cancer.

·       About 2,670 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected in US men 2019; a man’s lifetime risk of breast cancer is about 1 in 883.

·       Breast cancer incidence rates in the U.S. began decreasing in the year 2000: One theory is that the decrease was in part through the reduced use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) by women after a 2002 study linked HRT to cancer.

·       About 41,760 women in the U.S. are expected to die in 2019 from breast cancer, though death rates have been decreasing since 1989.

·       For US women, breast cancer death rates are higher than those for any other cancer, besides lung cancer.

·       In women under 45, breast cancer is more common in African-American women than white women, and overall, African-American women are more likely to die of breast cancer.

·       A woman’s risk of breast cancer nearly doubles if she has a first-degree relative who has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

·       About 5-10% of breast cancers can be linked to inherited gene mutations. Mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are the most common. Women with a BRCA1 mutation have up to a 72% lifetime risk of developing breast cancer; for those with a BRCA2 mutation, the risk is 69%.

·       About 85% of breast cancers occur in women who have no family history of breast cancer.

·       The most significant risk factors for breast cancer are gender and growing older.

So, if you are a woman, take the time to take care of yourself through self-exams and annual check-ups. If you’re a guy, support the important women in your life and encourage them to be pro-active in their care, and then follow-up on your important screenings as well. The best way to beat any cancer is to catch it early!

Until next time, be aware and be well!

Lori

This Week's Pathfinder Produce Prices

Oh my goodness, I’m late in sending out this week’s Pathfinder Produce price list. Autumn is a busy time for all of us, so isn’t it great to have a well-stocked greengrocer handy to help with your produce needs?  Stop by the Pathfinder Village Commons this Thursday afternoon from noon to 5 p.m. to stock up on fresh and tasty fruits and veggies for the week!

We’ll take a break from our blog post this week, but will be back soon with more fun food facts, community events and other ways to celebrate this wonderful time of year! 

Until next time, eat well, be healthy and enjoy the fresh tastes of fall!

Lori

Shopping Skills

Good afternoon, everyone!  This week we’re experiencing the height of autumn! And of course, our Pathfinder Produce market has the very best seasonal produce for you to serve and enjoy with your family.  Stop by the Village Commons this Thursday afternoon from noon to 5 p.m. to stock up on fresh and tasty fruits and veggies for the week!

Below, my colleague Maura Iorio, our Senior Director of Education, discusses how visits to the produce market serve as real-life lessons! 

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This school year, our Transition Coordinator, Stephanie Sitts, launched a new program at Pathfinder School called Personal Shoppers. Each week, students’ families have the option to send in a produce market shopping list with their child so that they can pick out fresh fruits and vegetables and bring them home!

The Pathfinder School staff support students by helping them create accessible versions of the shopping lists using Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) icons. Students build independence while shopping by following their lists and selecting the freshest produce for their families.

Our students get to practice making choices, navigating the community, using their communication devices to speak with Produce Market customers and employees and working within a budget to pay for their groceries. Activities like this prepare students for shopping in other settings.

We love hearing back from families how wonderful it is to be able to access our Produce Market to make healthy meals and snacks, and for their children to practice these important life skills!

Happy Shopping!

Maura (and Lori)

Fall Finds in Nature’s Pantry

Hello, and we hope everyone is well! Stop by our next delicious Pathfinder Produce fresh market, this Thursday, September 19 from noon to 5 p.m. for the very freshest, tastiest fruits and veggies around!  Pathfinder Produce …. We’re rooted in community!

A word of welcome to our local friends and neighbors: Come over to Grant’s Field at Pathfinder Village tonight at 4:30 p.m. to cheer on our local scholastic cross-country athletes during the annual Meghan Sorbera Memorial Invitational XC meet.  Another meet is scheduled for Tuesday, September 24 as well!  To all the runners -- Good luck and go for those personal records!

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Tis’ the harvest season and nature’s bounty is all around us. I was looking out at my front yard the other morning and found the largest puffball I’ve ever seen, just waiting to be picked. I’ve never had a puffball before, but a few mushroom enthusiasts I know say they are delicious.

Of course, walking on the wild side can be a “walk on the wild side” if you ingest the wrong thing. The links below offer some tips on how to identify edible puffballs. (As stated in prior blogs, unless you 100% know what you are about to eat or touch in nature, don’t eat or touch it!):

• Mushroom Appreciation: Puffball Identification Guide
• Livestrong.com: The Best-Ways to cook Puffball Mushrooms

Wild foods were a staple in the larder and medicine chest of our forefathers, and I’m very jealous (I mean like green with envy jealous) of a friend who has a stand of elderberries near her home. She has been documenting the process of making syrup through pictures, bottling this magic elixir which is believed to be very helpful in reducing the severity of colds and flu. The links discuss how to identify elderberries and a few recipes; be aware that elderberry stems are somewhat toxic (as are non-ripe berries), so be sure to only use fully black, ripe berries if you make your own syrup.

• Outdoor Life: How to identify an Elderberry Bush
• Edible Wild Food.com: Elderberry
• Wellness Mama: Elderberry Syrup 

Lately, we’ve been watching “The Wild Chef” on Netflix, which features Chef Martin Picard’s adventures with wild game and other naturally sourced ingredients. It’s interesting to see Quebecois-inspired foods being made in non-restaurant settings, similar to our region. An ingredient he shared in one episode that abounds here is sumac: I found this interesting as I’d always been told to avoid the plant because there is a variety that creates a skin reaction similar to that of poison oak or ivy.

It turns out non-toxic varieties of sumac are rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds. Most blogs recommend making sumac-ade, and the berries are used as a spice in traditional Middle Eastern cooking.  Who knew!?

Until next time, be open to outdoor adventures!

Lori

Shishito Peppers

Hello everyone, and I apologize for being a tad late with this week’s post. It’s been a very busy few weeks here at the Village!  That said, our friendly Pathfinder Produce team is getting ready for this week’s delicious and fresh market at the Village Commons on Thursday, from noon to 5 p.m.

Pathfinder is transitioning into fall with the opening of Pathfinder School and Otsego Academy (welcome students!), the start of another fun and competitive community soccer season at Grant’s Field, and with the local middle school and high school students using our Community Trails to train for their cross-country season.  Fall is a great time to discover new activities too … just take a walk outside to explore the community around you.

Below, my colleague Martha Spiegel shares a tale of culinary exploration which sounds tempting!

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I discovered a new (to me) kind of pepper a couple of weeks ago—shishito peppers. As the name suggests, these peppers originated in Japan. They are green, about the length of a jalapeno, but much thinner and wrinkly looking. They are a mild, flavorful, sweet pepper, although about one in ten packs a little bit of a punch. They are healthy little guys too, containing antioxidants, Vitamin C, and dietary fiber.

A couple of my grandkids tried them raw. Jack, our 8-year-old foodie, thought they were scrumptious. Thea, the 3-year-old, said “It’s a spicy pepper,” but she said it with a smile and continued munching. My husband and son also liked them.

I am not a huge fan of any raw pepper, so I looked for ways to cook them. By far the most suggested method is to sauté them in hot olive oil until they’re blistered, and then finish them off with some sea salt and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Then you just grab them by the stem and bite the whole thing off. It’s so easy, and they’re delicious!

We did find that if you bite too close to the skin you can get a bunch of seeds in your mouth, so if this doesn’t appeal to you, bite it off a little farther down as the seeds are mostly clustered at the top.

There are some other recipes that I have found but have not tried yet. Some of them sound really tasty so I’m sure I’ll be experimenting more with shishitos.

Until next time, explore and explore some more!

Martha (and Lori)

Put your Best Foot Forward!

Hello, and welcome to September!  With the start of the school year, scholastic and youth sports, and more fall activities, rely on Pathfinder Produce to meet your busy schedule and your family’s produce needs!  We’re open every Thursday, from noon to 5 p.m., at the Village Commons.  We hope you’ll stop by this week for the freshest produce around!

New Scenes, Healthy Habits

Hello!  It’s hard to believe that Labor Day is just around the corner, and we’ll all be busy with our fall routines -- school, sports and more!  Isn’t it great to know that Pathfinder Produce is here and ready to help with healthy snacks and meal ingredients to help keep your family well-fed and fueled up?  Visit us this Thursday, August 29, from noon to 5 p.m. for the freshest fruits and veggies around..  Pathfinder Produce … we’re rooted in community!

Join us at the Pavilion for our last concert this Saturday night at 7 p.m. with the Dirt Road Express, one of our very favorite country bands. Our thanks go to our Summer Concert series partners at the Chenango County Arts Council. The Summer Concert Series is a Decentralization Program.  These programs are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, which is administered by the Chenango County Council of the Arts, with support from Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.  The series is also made possible with funds from private donors, Stewart’s Shops Holiday Match Program, and WGY’s Christmas Wish.

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This past week we dropped our son off at college. While many parents are overwhelmed by the flight of their fledgling, I’ve been trying to keep it in perspective.  We’ve raised our children to be independent and responsible; when it’s time to go to college, the military or enter the workforce, our young adults are where they’re supposed to be and are advancing to a new stage of life. It’s as it should be. 

Plus, with today’s tech, if he wants to text or talk via video chat, it’s just a few swipes on the phone, and we’re connected. I’m here when he needs a sounding board or just wants to see what’s going on at home. This is a far different world from when I was an undergrad, saving change for weekly calls on the payphone at the end of the hall.

All that said, I do worry about his health.  He is facing new choices and is self-managing his daily activities. I know how easy it is for college students to take on too much too soon: Going from a small high school to a major university presents a smorgasbord of options. Being overtired, not eating the right foods, coupled with new routines and expectations can be stressful.

So far, he’s focused on having consistent routines as he adjusts to college life. In his first week, he’s:

• Going to bed and getting up at set times, hours before his first class, so he’s ready and on-time. 
• Eating a varied diet that includes salads and other vegetables. By not eating a lot of meat-rich dishes he’s also saving money.
• Watching how many sweets or carb-rich foods he eats.
• Drinking water instead of sodas or sweetened teas: His university has new filtered water fountains in his dorm that accommodate reusable water bottles (no extra plastic to recycle).
• Going to the gym for planned workouts several times a week.
• Joining the running club to socialize, and taking walks to explore the campus and de-stress.
• Connecting socially by trying new activities and meeting people with different interests. He went to a bonfire held by one of the faith-based organizations the other evening and enjoyed it.

We are all creatures of habit, so it’s smart to develop sound health habits as we enter new phases of our lives. Even if we aren’t making huge transitions, we can become more conscious of the decisions we make in our daily routines and adjust our habits to support our health better.

Until next time, eat well, be well,

Lori