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Happy Friday everyone. It’s February 29th which means it’s Leap Day!
Here are some fun facts while I plug away at my deadlines.
According to infoplease:
Leap years are added to the calendar to keep it working properly. The 365 days of the annual calendar are meant to match up with the solar year. A solar year is the time it takes the Earth to complete its orbit around the Sun—about one year. But the actual time it takes for the Earth to travel around the Sun is in fact a little longer than that—about 365¼ days (365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds, to be precise). So the calendar and the solar year don’t completely match—the calendar year is a touch shorter than the solar year.
And how’s this for exclusivity:
- According to the Honor Society of Leap Year Babies, about 200,000 Americans were born on Leap Day
- only 0.0684% of the world’s population are Leapers
Leap Year Day Babies
per 1461 people… 1
per million people… 684
in the USA… about 200,000
in the world… about 4 million
per million people… 684
in the USA… about 200,000
in the world… about 4 million
I’m in the midst of deadline week at work, so I’m sitting here staring at a pile of papers and hundreds of emails. It happens to be my publication’s Environment Edition which hits so close to home– literally. I’m currently reading this very interesting book called the Field Guide to Buying Organic. I’m only halfway finished, but so far, it’s an insightful resource that defines the significance of organics and the impact your shopping decisions has on the environment.
According to the USDA:
Organic food is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations. Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation. Before a product can be labeled “organic,” a Government-approved certifier inspects the farm where the food is grown to make sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to meet USDA organic standards. Companies that handle or process organic food before it gets to your local supermarket or restaurant must be certified, too.
With hundreds of Green books and publications on the shelves these days,
it can be difficult to sift through the biased and unbiased information. So, I wanted to share a list from the book that has been around for quite some time, been circulated through all different media outlets and has even been a marketing tool for Whole Foods and the Organic Trade Association. I don’t mean to post this to be preachy and sanctimonious, but if anything, it sheds even more light on the organic movement and the significance as a new parent.
Top 10 Reasons to Support Organic in the 21st Century
1. Reduce The Toxic Load: Keep Chemicals Out of the Air, Water, Soil and our Bodies
Buying organic food promotes a less toxic environment for all living things. With only 0.5 percent of crop and pasture land in organic, according to USDA that leaves 99.5 percent of farm acres in the U.S. at risk of exposure to noxious agricultural chemicals.
Our bodies are the environment so supporting organic agriculture doesn’t just benefit your family, it helps all families live less toxically.
2. Reduce if Not Eliminate Off Farm Pollution
Industrial agriculture doesn’t singularly pollute farmland and farm workers; it also wreaks havoc on the environment downstream. Pesticide drift affects non-farm communities with odorless and invisible poisons. Synthetic fertilizer drifting downstream is the main culprit for dead zones in delicate ocean environments, such as the Gulf of Mexico, where its dead zone is now larger than 22,000 square kilometers, an area larger than New Jersey, according to Science magazine, August, 2002.
3. Protect Future Generations
Before a mother first nurses her newborn, the toxic risk from pesticides has already begun. Studies show that infants are exposed to hundreds of harmful chemicals in utero. In fact, our nation is now reaping the results of four generations of exposure to agricultural and industrial chemicals, whose safety was deemed on adult tolerance levels, not on children’s. According to the National Academy of Science, “neurologic and behavioral effects may result from low-level exposure to pesticides.” Numerous studies show that pesticides can adversely affect the nervous system, increase the risk of cancer, and decrease fertility.
4. Build Healthy Soil
Mono-cropping and chemical fertilizer dependency has taken a toll with a loss of top soil estimated at a cost of $40 billion per year in the U.S., according to David Pimental of Cornell University. Add to this an equally disturbing loss of micro nutrients and minerals in fruits and vegetables. Feeding the soil with organic matter instead of ammonia and other synthetic fertilizers has proven to increase nutrients in produce, with higher levels of vitamins and minerals found in organic food, according to the 2005 study, “Elevating Antioxidant levels in food through organic farming and food processing,” Organic Center State of Science Review (1.05)
5. Taste Better and Truer Flavor
Scientists now know what we eaters have known all along: organic food often tastes better. It makes sense that strawberries taste yummier when raised in harmony with nature, but researchers at Washington State University just proved this as fact in lab taste trials where the organic berries were consistently judged as sweeter. Plus, new research verifies that some organic produce is often lower in nitrates and higher in antioxidants than conventional food. Let the organic feasting begin!
6. Assist Family Farmers of all Sizes
According to Organic Farming Research Foundation, as of 2006 there are approximately 10,000 certified organic producers in the U.S. compared to 2500 to 3,000 tracked in 1994. Measured against the two million farms estimated in the U.S. today, organic is still tiny. Family farms that are certified organic farms have a double economic benefit: they are profitable and they farm in harmony with their surrounding environment. Whether the farm is a 4-acre orchard or a 4,000-acre wheat farm, organic is a beneficial practice that is genuinely family-friendly.
7. Avoid Hasty and Poor Science in Your Food
Cloned food. GMOs and rBGH. Oh my! Interesting how swiftly these food technologies were rushed to market, when organic fought for 13 years to become federal law. Eleven years ago, genetically modified food was not part of our food supply; today an astounding 30 percent of our cropland is planted in GMOs. Organic is the only de facto seal of reassurance against these and other modern, lab-produced additions to our food supply, and the only food term with built in inspections and federal regulatory teeth.
8. Eating with a Sense of Place
Whether it is local fruit, imported coffee or artisan cheese, organic can demonstrate a reverence for the land and its people. No matter the zip code, organic has proven to use less energy (on average, about 30 percent less), is beneficial to soil, water and local habitat, and is safer for the people who harvest our food. Eat more seasonably by supporting your local farmers market while also supporting a global organic economy year round. It will make your taste buds happy.
9. Promote Biodiversity
Visit an organic farm and you’ll notice something: a buzz of animal, bird and insect activity. These organic oases are thriving, diverse habitats. Native plants, birds and hawks return usually after the first season of organic practices; beneficial insects allow for a greater balance, and indigenous animals find these farms a safe haven. As best said by Aldo Leopold, “A good farm must be one where the native flora and fauna have lost acreage without losing their existence.” An organic farm is the equivalent of reforestation. Industrial farms are the equivalent of clear cutting of native habitat with a focus on high farm yields.
10. Celebrate the Culture of Agriculture
Food is a ‘language’ spoken in every culture. Making this language organic allows for an important cultural revolution whereby diversity and biodiversity are embraced and chemical toxins and environmental harm are radically reduced, if not eliminated. The simple act of saving one heirloom seed from extinction, for example, is an act of biological and cultural conservation. Organic is not necessarily the most efficient farming system in the short run. It is slower, harder, more complex and more labor-intensive. But for the sake of culture everywhere, from permaculture to human culture, organic should be celebrated at every table.
Source: Alan Greene, MD (Organic Trade Association), Bob Scowcroft (Organic Farming Research Foundation), Sylvia Tawse (Fresh Ideas Group)
Has anyone else read about this yet? Newborn survives fall through train toilet
First email of the day from my beloved contained a link to this news story laden with unbelievable details including a premature newborn, a toilet and falling from a train…talk about a miracle survival story.
Like, whoa.
As you may or may not know, we’ve been known to frequent the local watering holes pre-Jack. Since Jack has become our social life, every now and then we’ll go separately to make guest appearances and meet up with our neighbors.
This weekend was Jeff’s turn to have a social life while I remained on diaper duty.
As he was adjusting his ballcap atop his weekend hair, he turns to me and says,
I’m going to the bar around the corner to meet the neighbors for a few hours. Hat or no hat?
Me: mmmm. Not that hat. Dress it up with the WRV hat.
Jeff: Um, it’s not like I’m going to pick up any chicks or anything.
Me: Even if you were, WHERE would you put them.
Jeff: You and baby can hang back in the West Wing and we chill up here.
Can someone hit the brakes? Please, make time slow down for a while!
We had brunch with some friends on Sunday. There was no room for his stroller, so we collapsed it and plopped the baby in one of those wooden restaurant high chairs. Mind you, he’s still working on sitting on his own, so he was a bit wobbly. As we sat there in this neighborhood restaurant with our friends, it totally hit me–my baby looks like such a big kid.
Well, maybe not big, but he’s getting there and fast!
It’s so hard to believe we’re already at month 5. How did this happen so quickly? They said it would fly by, but I never thought it would go THIS fast.
Remember when he looked like this?
With flu season in full effect, I’m quite tempted to sequester myself from all the germies floating around at work, on the train, on the bus– actually, from every where I go. It seems like no matter where I am right now, some one is coughing, sneezing or blowing their nose. ‘Tis the season.
But as any parent knows, you do what you can to protect the little ones from contracting those germs, which includes protecting yourself.
As we sat and watched HIMYM last night, Jeff belted out an echoing bellow of a cough.
It sounded like a possible contamination.
I threw him THAT look, as if to say, where did that cough come from?
“You alright?” I asked almost sympathetically.
“Yeah. I feel myself getting sick. Everyone at work is sick.”
I peered at my raw hands from my obsessive hand/germ washing and unapologetically said, “OH HELL NO.”
As a preface, in my defense, if I get sick, more than likely, the baby gets sick. And please, let’s not discuss a sick and unmedicated Jen, nevermind the possibility of a sick baby.
Let’s not go there.
I continued my tirade, “I love you babe and hope you don’t get full-on sick, but seriously? Get yourself some Airborne, like now. I can’t get sick. If I’m sick, the baby might get sick.”
Surely, there’d be worse things in the world if we were all sick. But if we could prevent a household epidemic, that’d be preferable.
As I went to check on the baby, I heard Jeff wrestling with boxes of Band-Aids and half-full bottles of prenatal vitamins in our overstuffed medicine cabinet. Once he found the Airborne, I followed him into the kitchen where I watched him plop 3 or 4 yellow tablets into a glass.
“uh? Aren’t you supposed to only take one per serving?” I wondered out loud.
“Pffft. One? That’s for ‘regular people.’ Since I’m extraordinary, I need a superhuman amount.”
mmmmmmkkkkkay.
I’m sad to report that despite the superhuman (not to mention, unrecommended) amount of Airborne he took, Jeff is, as he says, “sick as all get out.”
I’d prefer not to take Airborne myself since I’m nursing, so here’s to hoping that he feels better!
*update* Jeff has the flu and will be out of commission for a few days. Poor guy. Looks like lots of crackers, ginerale and soup will be had our house!
We received an interesting note from our insurance carrier last week. In the form of an itemized list of all the procedures, medication, room and board involved in bringing the boy into the world late last September, the insurance company reminded us of the mounting costs of having children and the insanity that is medical care.
As I said before, it’s no wonder we and many other couples make a conscious decision to prolong having children.
The phrase that I heard many times throughout my pregnancy, “You’ll never be ready to have kids” should be reworded to say, “You’ll never be ready to face the mounting costs.” Because, let me tell you, I believe more than anything, we were beyond ready for our kid. Nothing could ever prepare you for the staggering costs of healthcare.
Thank God for insurance.
Nevertheless, just as we anticipated, having Jack was our ultimate investment.
After all is said and done, the cost for bringing Jack home is in the $30-40K range.
*blink* *blink*
Since Jack is such a balmy baby, we rely much more on the versatility of the Bundle Me for our winter stroller and car rides. He sweats right through the layers, so we haven’t had a chance to use this snowsuit that I bought on sale from LL Bean. I guess it’s a good thing it was cold this weekend; it would’ve been a shame if I missed out on another cutesy photo to add to the torture files.
Compared to his last bear get up, the boy cooperated and seemed to enjoy his winter gear. (Now if only Jeff would cooperate by refraining from mumbling things like, “By the way, I hate it” to all the smiling strangers on the street.)
Well, not for me.
We woke up this morning to what looks like, 4 inches of snow in the NJ/NYC area. Compared to other parts of the country, it’s nothing. But this is our first measurable snow of 2008.
It was a lonely, snowy commute this morning. With the kids out of school for winter break and it being Friday, it looks like a lot of people took advantage of their sick days and took a snow day!
Enjoy! I’m so jealous.
I’m not going to lie, for a while, I was having a hard time with the transition on coming back to work. I could tell Jack was confused between mom and me, since we’re both around him so often. It felt like my only job was being the Milk Lady. Nothing more, nothing less.
It broke my heart when he smiled at my mom and not at me. It made me feel guilty for having to leave him every day to go to work.
Now that he’s well on his way to becoming a big kid, Jack can recognize me and is able to differentiate between my mom, Jeff and me. In fact, he has taken a liking in trying to rip my lips off my face out of curiosity. But it’s when the kid reaches for my face and plants an open-mouth drooly kiss on my cheek that makes my role as mom worth each and every sleepness night.
I love the way that he ‘gets’ who we are now. He knows the “Jackson” song Jeff sings to him every afternoon. He knows when to “sing” along with my mom when she rocks him to nap. He knows that I put him to bed every night to his sleepy tunes. He smiles when I pick him up to chit chat after I get home from work.
And as I read in an old article from Time Magazine, The baby’s smile is also a kind of judgment on the care that its mother has been providing.
But, If there’s any change to our routine, it always ends in tearful wails for me, the mom.
After many sleepless nights and overcoming the bitterness of being the sole food provider, my kid knows who I am. I’m not just the Milk Lady any more!
I may be babbling out of exhaustion, but with the babe growing at warp speed, I can’t help but feel nostalgic for his newborn days.
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