Having a connection with our food has become a top priority for our families. We want to have a connection with our food and know more about what we are putting on our dinner tables. So many children today think that their food comes from the grocery stores. That’s a mentality that we can easily change in our own families, by educating ourselves and then educating our children by making them a part of the process. Take a look at these 7 ways that you can engage your family in the conversation and education about our food to create that connection.

1. Read the Label
Get familiar with the labels on your packaged food. Look beyond the calories and the fat grams on the nutrition label. Take a look at the ingredients listed on the package and become familiar with what is in your food. If you don’t know what an ingredient is, look it up on the Internet and become familiar with it. The more familiar you and your family are with the ingredients and what they are on the package, the better decisions you will make as a family for your table.

2. In the Kitchen
Cook together as a family. Find a great recipe that everyone would enjoy and prepare the recipe together. When everyone plays a part in the meal, there is appreciation and sense of pride with the result.

3. Grow Your Own Food
If you don’t have an area for a garden or do not have time to work a garden, grow one vegetable or some herbs in pots on your patio. You don’t have to grow everything you use in your kitchen. Start small. You’ll gain more of an appreciation for the process of growing food by just trying a couple of small things you can use in your kitchen.

4. Find a Farmer’s Market
Locate the closest farmer’s market to your community, then venture out to see what it has to offer. Compare the types and freshness of produce you find to what you find in the grocery store. Don’t be afraid to ask the farmers questions about their farming practices and how they grow their produce. Having the conversation with the farmer can give you peace of mind about where the food you purchase came from.

5. Visit a Local Farm
Many farmers give tours of their farms if you just ask. Find a farmer closest to you or find one at a farmer’s market that you can contact. Having a visual of what a farmer does to produce the food on your table gives a bigger perspective to the food you eat. It also helps connect the dots from farm to table.

6. At the Grocery Store
When grocery shopping, make your family a part of it by having them help look for items on the grocery list. Kids love to go on a hunt to see if they can find certain things. Making it a game can be fun. Later, when you show them what the ingredients they found at the store are used for in the kitchen, they are able to make a connection with their food and understand what goes into the preparation of it.

7. In a Restaurant
When you are eating in a restaurant, don’t be afraid to ask the waiter about where they get their food. If you are ordering fish, ask if it is wild fish or farm-raised fish. Ask if they get their produce locally from a farmer, farmer’s market or through a food distributor. It never hurts to ask the waiter about this information! Farm to table restaurants are popping up all over the place that make this type of information available to the consumer. Try one out sometime and learn about the farms they get their ingredients from when you dine at one.

About the Author:
Working with her grandfather not only taught Rebecca Crownover about the hard work behind farming, but also taught her about overcoming obstacles in life. Tragedy struck her family in 2009 when her husband, a native Texan and farmer, passed away in an ATV accident. His passing inspired Rebecca’s award-winning children’s book, My Daddy Is In Heaven With Jesus. Rebecca founded Texas Farm Girl, a brand that helps ignite a passion for agriculture in farming’s next generation, while teaching life lessons that she herself learned growing up on her PawPaw’s farm. Rebecca remains a business partner at Lone Star Family Farms with her in-laws to carry on her husband’s legacy and to continue her contribution to the farming business, an industry that has always been an important part of her life. Be sure to check out Rebecca’s web site.

The post 7 Tips to Connect Your Family to Their Food first appeared on The How Do Gardener.

While getting fresh produce from nearby sources isn’t a year-round option for many Americans, it’s still possible to continue to enjoy healthy regional, seasonal food in a number of other ways. Whether it’s buying a basket of fresh tomatoes, green beans, or peaches, and canning or blanching and freezing them for future use, or dining at a restaurant that focuses on using local ingredients, it’s possible to continue your green dining habits throughout the year.

Engaging people who are interested in living healthier and greener, Good Housekeeping partnered with LG Electronics this fall on a “Living Greener” initiative, showing consumers across the country how to make the most of local produce and other healthy foods. The program encourages a greener lifestyle, providing consumers with tips and ideas for efficient products, such as LG’s new refrigerator. The refrigerator recently earned the Good Housekeeping Seal, and includes a Smart Cooling System that maintains superior humidity and temperature levels to help keep food fresh longer. And at 31 cubic feet, it has the largest storage capacity available in its class and can easily accommodate bushels of produce.

Susan Westmoreland, food director of the Good Housekeeping Research Institute offers these tips to keep eating local even after the growing season is done:

* Support year-round CSAs and farmers markets. To join a Community Support Agriculture you pay a set amount of money for a portion of what the farm or group of farms produce, usually delivered every week or so. Farmers’ markets may feature meat, cheese and eggs in addition to colder weather vegetables that keep well, like winter squash and onions. Since both of these are relatively new concepts, you may not be fortunate enough to have both options in your neighborhood. Check out localharvest.org for more information. Then, embrace your luck, shop and eat well.

* Make good use of your refrigerator and freezer. When you are bringing home a bunch of produce, you know the importance of finding space in your refrigerator to preserve the veggies you won’t use right away. But at the end of the season, a great way to make your veggies last longer is to blanch (cook in boiling water for 1 minute) then cool completely, bag and freeze them for later use in stir fries and pasta dishes. To freeze berries, simply rinse and freeze in a single layer until hard, transfer to zip seal bags and freeze for desserts or add a handful to brighten any winter cereal bowl.

* Can and preserve. Another great way to preserve your fresh-picked produce for the colder months is to can, pickle or process it. Your surplus tomatoes can be turned to salsa or tomato sauce for winter and your bounty of cucumbers can be transformed into tasty dill pickles. For both freezing and canning, do some research to make sure you are safely preserving your food. In addition to some great books on the subject, Internet resources like the Daily Green are a great place to start.

* Stock up on hearty vegetables. Vegetables like onions, potatoes and squash are not only some of the last to be picked during the growing season, but also some of the heartiest and longest lasting produce available. Even if you don’t have a root cellar, you can extend the life of these vegetables even further by storing them in a cooler part of your home like the basement or a garage.

* Patronize restaurants that focus year-round on the freshest, healthiest ingredients. These days, many restaurants aim to get as many ingredients as possible, from vegetables to fish and meat, from local sources. Visiting these restaurants is a great way to help sustain your local food industry.

By firming up your commitment to eating local throughout the year, you’ll help your local economy while also decreasing your carbon food print. And on top of it all, you’ll be rewarded with delicious meals for every season.

The post Five Ways to Eat Local Throughout the Year first appeared on The How Do Gardener.