Screen Time with Kids

It’s nearly March, and we’re excited for all the great things that this month brings -- college basketball, delicious fresh veggies from Pathfinder Produce, and we're gearing up for our DASH TO THE SPLASH training sessions.

If you’re looking for a fun way to get in better shape, DASH may be just the program you’re looking for.  Teams of walkers/runners and volunteer coaches will meet two times a week at Pathfinder Village starting on March 21.  Over the next eight weeks, individuals will gradually build their stamina and strength, all to get set for the SPLASH PATH 5K and Fun Walk, which is set for Saturday, May 20.  You can call Monica Clark at 607-965-8377, ext. 107 to take part in DASH TO THE SPLASH, and online registration is open for Splash Path at splashpath.racewire.com.

We’re pleased to share that Excellus BlueCross BlueShield is a sponsor of Splash Path again this year, and is partnering with Pathfinder Village and other organizations to help improve the quality of life in our communities.  To learn more about Splash Path opportunities, please visit our website. 

We will have information about DASH TO THE SPLASH at our Pathfinder Produce markets, which are set in Edmeston on Thursdays from 1 to 5 p.m., and in Morris at the UMC on Fridays, from noon to 5 p.m.  We hope to see you then!

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Screen Time with Kids

Through our Pathfinder Produce blog, we’ve written many times about limiting screen time, especially for kids. However, there are fun ways to use that limited screen time to encourage healthy eating choices.

I came across a couple of fun sites for younger kids about health and nutrition. One is Super Crew for Kids, which is part of a larger site called Super Kids Nutrition. The main page has links to resources for parents and educators, and their motto is “Saving the world, one healthy food at a time!” A worthy endeavor, indeed.

The kids’ page has a cast of animated characters, and when you click on them they tell you about what their favorite foods are and why they are good choices. Each character has a color which matches the foods that they like. For instance, Penny’s color is purple, and her foods are purple cabbage, eggplant, plums, purple grapes, mulberries, and purple potatoes. Fun! There are also printable coloring pages, a book corner with recommendations for food-related stories, and “Nutrition Adventures” (printable instructions for food-related activities).

Another fun site is Choose My Plate. The link to the kids’ page has educational video games, suggestions to get in the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity, printable word puzzles, and songs and videos to help kids get moving! The rest of the website has helpful information about living a healthy lifestyle for adults too.

Sites like these are a fun way that adults and children can learn and have fun together with their screen time, and then move on to the kitchen for some healthy food activities and outside for some fresh air and exercise. 

Until next time, teach your children well!

Martha (and Lori)

Channeling Hygge, or the Practice of Celebrating Simple Joys

We hope everyone will join us this week at our delicious Pathfinder Produce markets, to discover all the great flavors and textures that abound with fresh fruits and veggies.  The members of our Adult Day Services program work diligently each week to put on our markets, at Pathfinder Village Commons on Thursdays from 1 to 5 p.m., and on Fridays at the UMC-Morris from Noon to 5 p.m.  Stop by and say “hello” to everyone, catch up on the latest community news with friends, and find some great produce deals for your family’s meals.

We want to also let everyone know that we’re seeking participants for our Dash to the Splash Program, our 8-week fitness and training program that helps get folks ready to take part in our fourth annual Splash Path 5K and Fun Walk, which is set for May 20.  The Dash to the Splash program will meet two times each week after work at Pathfinder, and will form teams of runners and walkers.  The teams work together, under the guidance of a volunteer coach, to build strength, stamina and get ready for Splash Path … we also have a tremendous amount of fun along the way!  To learn more, visit our Facebook Events pages. 

To sign up for Dash to the Splash, which will start on March 21, please contact Monica Clark by March 15 at (607) 965-8377 x 107.  To learn more about Splash Path, a low-cost family fun color run and walk, visit our Facebook event page or website, and you can register online at splashpath.racewire.com.  

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This past weekend the weather was beautiful, a perfect time for a winter hike.  As the snow was a little deep on Saturday afternoon, I broke out a little-used pair of snowshoes to see if they would help with walking.  They did, and I enjoyed going around a trail I’ve made around our property, a combination of meadow, woods and quite a bit of swamp. (Perhaps I’m channeling my inner-Shrek).  

I’m still on track with my steps-goal per day (tracked by the wearable widget I got in December), and on my days-off I try to give our 8-year old lab Della a good walk too.  She probably walks twice as much as I do -- her Labrador instincts lead her to investigate lots of thickets and jump into any pools of water she can find.

Once we came back to the house, a hot-cup of tea was in order for me, and she curled up in her crate, her happy place, located close to our Jǿtul woodstove.  She is a terrific snorer, and these hikes send her to the Land of Nod.  As she snored, I checked my Facebook feed … many friends were also going outside to play, and enjoying their fire pits and fireplaces.  It’s as if we Central New Yorkers are discovering traditions of Scandinavia, a region known for ice and snow, and yet paradoxically has some of the highest levels of societal happiness and well-being among developed countries.

Last year, one Scandinavian term got a lot of play in the media, a concept called hygge (pronounced “hoo-guh”), a Danish term meaning “a quality of cosiness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being.”   According to the Hygge House website, hygge is “a feeling or mood that comes from taking genuine pleasure in making ordinary, everyday moments more meaningful, beautiful or special. Hygge doesn’t require learning ‘how to hygge,’ adopting it as a lifestyle or buying anything. It simply requires being present and recognizing a moment that feels so sweet, cozy, charming, special or nice that you just have to name the moment.”  

Hygge House’s blogger Alex Beauchamp offers, “Danes created hygge because they were trying to survive boredom, cold, dark and sameness, and the undefinable feeling of Hygge was a way for them to find moments to celebrate or acknowledge and to break up the day, months or years. With so many cold, dark days, the simple act of a candle glowing with a cup of coffee in the morning or a home cooked evening meal with friends can make a huge difference to one’s spirit.”

So while it’s definitely related to winter, hygge is expansive -- a simpler, thankful platform from which we progress through our lives, and through which we see ordinary moments as gifts.  I would expect that as one becomes more hyggelige, life suggests ways to be more focused on relationships, eschew materialism, and be healthier.  Which leads me to a Netflix program, Minimalism, I also watched this past weekend.  Although it was overly long and maybe a little preachy, the program also focused on how less can be more, and can enrich life.

Until next time, enjoy the simple pleasures,

Lori

A Weekend of Contrasts

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!  

Have we mentioned lately how much we love our Pathfinder Produce patrons, and providing fresh fruits and veggies to area families?  Our markets, held in Edmeston on Thursdays from 1 to 5 p.m., and in Morris on Fridays from noon to 5 p.m. are a real high note of our week.  We really enjoy serving the public in this manner.

We hope you’ll stop by our markets this week to stock up on healthy eats to share with your Valentines!  As always, we encourage everyone to follow our 5210 Wellness goals -- to eat five fruits and veggies each day, reduce recreational screen time to two hours, get an hour of physical activity, and reduce sugary beverages to zero.

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This past weekend, my husband and I went to see my son and his friends compete in the NYS Section 4 Indoor Track & Field Sectionals held at Cornell University.  These indoor meets are very busy, and it’s fun to see all the colorful uniforms from the participating schools.  This meet was huge but well-organized and it went quickly.

All of the students were busy stretching, running, pole vaulting, throwing, hurdling, and of course, doing what teens do best – visiting with friends and having fun.  You could tell that all of these athletes had trained hard.  If their regimens are like my son’s, the athletes spend two hours each day to build strength, endurance, and heart and lung capacity.

As I watched all the warm-ups and events, I was unpleasantly jarred when I caught the strong odor of cigarettes as one man walked by – it was so out of place.  It reminded me of a conversation I’d had earlier that morning on the nefarious marketing of cigarettes in the 50s and 60s.  There were full page ads in magazines, larger than life billboards, TV shows with celebrities smoking incessantly, and romanticized commercials with sophisticated models touting the latest nicotine-delivery system.  In that conversation my husband recalled how the Marlboro Man died from lung cancer; in truth, many of the Marlboro Men actors died from lung or heart disease, attributable to smoking.

Later that night, my son and his friends attended the school’s semi-formal; on the way home, we stopped at a store so he could buy a bottle of water (he was parched).  As I waited, I watched another smoker light up underneath the fluorescent glare of the store awning.  He inhaled deeply, the burnt ashes accumulated in a long gravity-defying cylinder before he flicked them away.  The man was probably in his late 30s – born well after the 1964 Surgeon General’s Report declared smoking a health hazard.  I felt sorry for that smoker, who I guessed would soon be riding down the trail of the Marlboro Man, slowly killing his heart, lungs, and arteries.

So why am I focused on smoking?  As you know, February is American Heart Month, and yet America still has new, young smokers lighting up each year.  According to research:

• close to 2,500 kids try their first cigarette each day and about 400 kids become regular smokers;
• it is the number one cause of preventable deaths each year;
• about $332 billion is spent on tobacco-related diseases and lost productivity each year;
• and in a 2014 report, the Surgeon General noted “If smoking continues at the current rate among youth in this country, 5.6 million of today’s Americans younger than 18 will die early from a smoking-related illness. That’s about 1 of every 13 Americans aged 17 years or younger alive today. 

Education efforts have helped since 1964, reducing the smoking population from 45 percent of Americans then to about 15 percent now. Yet despite efforts, there are still young smokers being enticed through new forms of marketing, new tobacco products, and messaging in movies and from friends on social networks.  Hopefully, for many of these youngsters, their tobacco use will be a phase and they will turn to healthier ways to engage with peers, like community and school sports, and daily fitness activities, like hiking, jogging and swimming. 

Until next time, love your kids, your own heart & lungs, and be well!

Lori

Hoops for Heart at Pathfinder School

My goodness, here we are in February, which is celebrated in the U.S. as American Heart Month.  Here at Pathfinder, we’re focused on cultivating heart health by sharing messages of eating well and encouraging folks to get enough exercise.  Even though great strides have been made in improving cardiac health, the most recent data indicate it remains the leading cause of deaths in the U.S. (2014 statistics). 

In conjunction with our health organization partners, Bassett Healthcare’s 5210 Programs and the Greater Utica Chapter of the American Heart Association, we encourage everyone to take steps to make their hearts stronger and last longer (which is very timely for Valentine’s Day!).  That includes:

• cutting back on fats, sweets, lots of red meat, and excessive carbs;
• eating more fresh fruits and veggies each day;
• encouraging your loved ones to eat better through your example;
• upping your activity level – an hour a day is optimum, but even 20 minutes of walking each day can make a big difference;
•  and giving up sweetened sodas and other drinks in favor of water.

Here at Pathfinder Produce, we can help you meet your eating goals … stop by our fresh produce markets this week, Thursdays in Edmeston, 1 to 5 p.m., Fridays in Morris at the UMC, noon to 5 p.m., and discover the variety of healthy foods that can put you on the path to a “heart healthy you.”

Below, in our post from Director of Education Maura Iorio, she speaks about how our Pathfinder School Students are taking charge of their heart health and helping out the American Heart Association.  Enjoy!

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 Pathfinder School’s students, led by Adaptive Physical Education teacher Susan Johnson, are gearing up for their annual Hoops for Heart event! With an emphasis on fun and fitness, students will be learning about ways to stay heart healthy and raise awareness for the American Heart Association.

During the week of February 13^th, students will be learning about making good food choices (lots of fruits and veggies!) and different ways that they can stay active throughout the day. On Friday, February 17^th our students and staff members will be wearing RED and hitting the basketball court to show off their skills and celebrate all that they learned about heart health.

Our students will also be participating in the official Hoops for Heart fundraiser. All of the money collected will go directly to the American Heart Association to be used for research, education, and community service projects. For more information about Hoops for Heart, please click here. 

In honor of our upcoming Hoops for Heart event, click here to check out this easy heart healthy idea that’s perfect for a pre- or post-basketball game snack!  We recommend making sure your orange skins are dry before drawing on them, and using non-toxic markers. 

Another idea that you can try is to use baby carrots and black olives to make a healthy veggie tray, like the one pictured to the left.  Other Pinterest images show similar trays with the ball lines delineated with long unpeeled strips of cucumbers.  

Until next time, eat well and love your heart!

Maura (and Lori) 

Cauliflower, the Go-To Veggie!

It’s the big weekend, the culmination of the NFL Season, and many of  us will

be watching as the Patriots take on the Falcons on Superbowl Sunday.  That said, we hope that everyone will come to Pathfinder Produce this week for some fresh and yummy fruits and veggies, so that your game-time treats won’t raise your lipid levels or slow you down. 

Our All-Star Produce team is here to help you get just what you need for your Superbowl gathering.  We’re here at Pathfinder Produce, Edmeston, in the Village Commons on Thursday afternoons from 1 to 5 p.m.  And our second market each week is at the UMC Hall, 17 Church St., Morris on Fridays, from noon to 5 p.m. 

We hope to see you later this week!

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Look! It’s rice! It’s mashed potatoes! No, it’s Cauliflower!

Health food fads have a tendency to come and go, but right now cauliflower seems to be having a moment. Cauliflower has a reputation for being pretty bland—the last to be eaten on the holiday veggie platter, and often pushed to the side of children’s (and adults’) dinner plates. In recent years though, this oft-neglected vegetable has gotten a makeover. Low in fat and carbohydrates, and rich in Vitamin C, cauliflower has become the go-to replacement for—well, just about anything honestly! Swap out traditionally starch/carb-heavy ingredients like rice, potatoes, and pizza dough (no, seriously) for cauliflower and see for yourself how versatile this veggie can really be!

 

Cauliflower Fried Rice:

For a fraction of the calories, you can still enjoy the taste of traditional fried rice! Click here for a simple recipe and give it a try!

Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes

This is one we’ve mentioned before here at the “veggie blog.”  When you’re craving the ultimate comfort food, but are doing your best to stick to those New Year’s Resolutions!  Click here and try out some mashed “cauli-tatoes!”

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

The techniques used to turn a vegetable into pizza may test your culinary skills more than the previous two recipes—but the results will be worth the effort!

Click here to learn how to make guilt-free pizza!

Enjoy!

Maura (and Lori)

New Shoots and Upcycling

We hope everyone is having a great week, and we’re looking forward to seeing our loyal patrons and new shoppers at our Pathfinder Produce markets this week, on Thursday, 1 to 5 p.m. in Edmeston at the Pathfinder Village Commons, and on Friday, Noon to 5 p.m. in Morris at the UMC on Church Street.

Our markets are staffed by our volunteers from our Adult Day Services Program, community volunteers, and members of the Pathfinder staff.  Everyone pitches in to help with the markets, as they know how important it is for area families to have access to yummy, fresh and nutritious produce.   Plus it’s a great way to catch up with our friends and neighbors.  We hope to see you this week at our markets!

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These past few weeks, the members of our Adult Day Services Program have been thinking about gardening and getting things moving for the planting season to come at Pathfinder’s three high tunnel hoop houses.  Along with some herb seeds they’ve planted in the Button Greenhouse, they’re experimenting with planting roots from previously used veggies.  

The gang started off with some sprouted potatoes, which actually is the tried and true method for growing spuds.  I’ve also planted them myself that way, using traditional methods, as described in “Farmer Boy” by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I remember my dad growing potatoes in hay bales (no dirt means no fuss when it comes time to peeling or baking potatoes).  You also can use trash barrels to grow potatoes, and there are stackable bins, in which you build up the sides and add soil as the plants grow.   At harvest time, you take off the sides to expose the new potatoes.  (Caution, don’t use pressure treated lumber for any gardening bin project.)

My friends also used root scraps to replant some celery and red onions, and they are going to try replanting Romaine lettuce too.  There’s a comprehensive guide to planting food scraps for new crops at the Food Revolution Network website.  More foods, like sweet potatoes, nuts and fruits, are covered at DIY & Crafts.  During these days of great variations in temperatures, we’re also using some additional temporary pvc and sheet plastic cold frames to help keep the young plants at more constant temperatures.

I really like this idea of relying on resources we have at hand and extending the lives of things we use … it harkens back to the adage, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”  This saying apparently was a favorite of Calvin Coolidge, old “Silent Cal,” a Vermonter who became the 30th president after the unexpected death in 1923 of the scandal-ridden 29th president, Warren Harding. Although he was a lawyer by training, Mr. Coolidge’s reputation for not speaking in social situations was such that an oft-told story went: 

A matron, seated next to him at a dinner, said to him, "I made a bet today that I could get more than two words out of you."
He replied, "You lose.”

Regrowing roots is a form of “upcycling,” which is growing in popularity lately.  While not all upcycling ideas I see are practical, they’re interesting nonetheless.  I think this interest of mine probably goes back to the stories from my grandparents -- all farmers in the hardscrabble Catskills -- who “made it do” during the Great Depression through self-reliance, repurposing, and penny-pinching habits.  My one grandma would make aprons and all sorts of things from feed sacks; the other made colorful and hard wearing rag rugs.  My dad’s dad was fastidious about taking great care of his farm machinery, knowing it would last longer if it was treated well.  He kept a 1920s steel-wheeled Fordson tractor so impeccably that it was added to the collections of a local historical museum after his death.

Let me know if you have any great ways to jumpstart your growing season through repurposed scraps, or any other great upcycling ideas you’ve tried.  Until next time, repurpose, think creatively, and be well.

Lori 

Push, Stretch, Take Charge

Hello!  We hope everyone is having a great week, and we’re looking forward to our next Pathfinder Produce fresh fruits and veggie markets in Edmeston and Morris.  Our Edmeston market, held at the Pathfinder Village Commons, is offered on Thursdays, from 1 to 5 p.m.  Our Morris market, held at the UMC at 17 Church St., is on Fridays, and now has expanded hours from Noon to 5 p.m. 

Our staff, volunteers, and members of our Adult Day Service programs all work hard to put on our two weekly markets – they all love what they do to support our communities and engage with local shoppers.  We have received some nice comments about the expansion of our markets as of late:  One person said, “Please send me prices.  Everyone does a great job,” and another offered, “Thank you for this important service.”  Others have asked to be added to our weekly price list email … just contact lgrace@pathfindervillage.org if you’d like to get weekly market updates J.  (And of course, we always cross post on our blog page and on Pathfinder Village’s Facebook page).

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In 2017, I’m committing myself to getting things done on a regular basis and following through on things I keep putting off.  To that end:

·       I’m re-caning an antique rocking chair that’s been sitting around for years with a broken seat.  (I’m halfway done, but am having issues with the cane breaking. I feel a kinship with my friends who are Special Olympians by taking this on … "Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”).

• I’m going to be diligent in organizing my household bills and statements, to better track and control expenses.
  
• I want to eat healthier, and expand the varieties of foods I routinely eat.
  
• I’m starting a modest fitness program, walking more and tracking how much I walk each day.
  
• I’m doing sit-ups to strengthen my abs and back, and trying to stretch more.  I’m up to 25 sit-ups a day … I’ll never have abs of steel, but I already feel a difference in the two weeks I’ve been doing this. 

I suspect that as we go through our lives, our basic human reaction in most situations is to let things coast – as Scarlet O’Hara said, “I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow.”  And yet, through procrastination, we actually deny ourselves the buzz one gets from crossing things off the list.  In answer to Miss Katie Scarlet, I might offer that if I actively manage the things I can control … like fixing a chair, or balancing my checkbook, I can gain perspective on those things that can’t be immediately addressed.  (Plus, if you take things in bite-sized pieces, it sometimes makes larger tasks less daunting).

And talking about bite-sized pieces …. (How’s that for a segue?), this week’s food item to try was quinoa, which was a staple food of the Incas and is making a come-back as a “super food.” 

The first time we cooked this at my house, about a year ago, it didn’t go well.  We forgot to rinse the uncooked grains, and it turned into a gooey, gelatinous mess.  So with subsequent tries, we’ve followed the package directions TO THE LETTER, and we’re now really starting to enjoy it.  I’ve also finally learned how to pronounce it…KEEN-wah (not quin–no-ah J).  It turns out that this “pseudo cereal,” which is very tasty with a slight nutty flavor, is really good for you, and makes a nice alternative to rice, pasta or potatoes.  It is gluten-free, which is also a benefit for those who suffer from celiac disease.

Until next time, push, stretch, take charge and be well,

Lori