Organic produce doesn’t have to be costly. Here’s how to spend wisely.

 by Kim Corrigan-Oliver Your Green Baby

Don’t think you can afford organic food on your family’s grocery budget? Think again. With a few simple tips, you can become a savvy organic shopper and your family will reap the benefits.

Choosing to go organic is an easy decision to make when you understand the advantages. First and foremost, by choosing organic you are avoiding pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals used in conventional production methods. These chemicals have been shown to have adverse effects on our health and health of our children, and many of them are known carcinogens.

Second, by choosing organic food you are taking a huge step towards helping our environment. With a reduction in chemicals for production, and care and support for the soil, organic farming is better all round for Mother Earth. And last but not least, organic food just tastes better. If you don’t believe me – try it! Be warned though, you may have a hard time going back.

Organic food is more expensive then conventional food simply because it costs more to produce. Organic food can only be labelled organic if the farm it comes from has followed very stringent guidelines that prohibit the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, genetically modified seeds, or crop radiation. Following these guidelines, paying for yearly farm inspections to maintain certification, and the manual labour required to control insects and weeds, means higher prices for organic food for the consumer.

While most parents want the healthiest foods for their kids, and agree that organic is the best way to go, it’s hard on the budget to always choose organic fruits and vegetables. Here are a few simple ways to stretch your organic dollars.

Eat seasonally and locally.  As consumers, we are used to buying the produce that we need all year round. When buying organic, we need to alter that thinking. Organic foods are grown and harvested according to seasons. If we buy our organic produce locally and in season, it’s much easier on the wallet. Buying organic food that is not in season or grown elsewhere will be more expensive.

Visit your local farmers’ market. Buying directly from the farmer cuts out the middle man, and you get to talk to the person who is responsible for growing your food. Many small family farms my not be certified organic – this is after all a long, tedious, expensive process – but nevertheless use organic farming methods. It pays to chat with farmers about how they grow their produce; you may just find organic foods at very reasonable prices.

Join a CSA. CSA is Community Supported Agriculture. Some CSAs are certified organic, and even those that are not tend to practise organic farming methods. Again, it pays to talk to the farmer. When you join a CSA, you buy a share of the farmer’s bounty, giving the farmer access to guaranteed funds to help support their farm and crops. This is a mutually beneficial partnership for both farmer and member.

Grown your own. The best way to know for sure how your food is grown and to cut costs is to grow it yourself. Growing your own is very rewarding – avoiding pesticides and other chemicals, and using organic fertilizers and your own compost produces beautiful and delicious vegetables. It is so satisfying to head out to the garden each afternoon to pick food for your dinner. You gain a whole new appreciation for the food on your plate. If you have never grown your own food, start small – a patio tomato plant or some fresh herbs. You will be amazed at how satisfying and cost effective it is.

Use these lists. The U.S.-based Environmental Working Group (EWG) has compiled two lists for consumers – The Dirty Dozen and The Clean Fifteen (see below). The Dirty Dozen lists the 12 foods you should buy organically; they use many different chemicals in their production and have high residues. Your organic dollars are best spent on The Dirty Dozen. The Clean Fifteen on the other hand are foods with little chemical exposure in production and low residues. You can save your organic dollars on these foods. With a few simple tips you can stretch your dollars a little further, enjoy organic food and feel good about what you are doing for the environment, your community and your health. Happy eating!

The Dirty Dozen

Peach, Apple, Bell pepper, Celery, Nectarine, Strawberry, Cherries, Kale, Lettuce, Grapes (imported), Carrot, Pear

The Clean Fifteen

Onion, Avocado, Sweet corn, Pineapple, Mango, Asparagus, Sweet peas, Kiwi, Cabbage, Eggplant, Papaya, Watermelon, Broccoli, Tomato, Sweet Potato

Men in Daycare

By Andrea Belanger www.askanece.com

How many of you work with a man in the child care field or have a male
child care provider at your child’s centre? How do you feel about men in
the child care field?

I took my Early Childhood Education Diploma both through Seneca College
and Loyalist College. Out of all the courses I took to get my diploma, I
had only one male in any of my classes. This student was fantastic. He
had a real love for children, a willingness to learn, his projects were
fantastic and creative. He would have been great addition to any daycare
centre.

He did however have one problem…there was not one child care centre in
our area that would allow him to do his field placement in their
establishment. Without field placements he could not graduate. He was
very discouraged, as you could imagine. He had taken the course after
his nephews were born. This student had discovered he had a talent with
young children and he really enjoyed spending time with them. I ended up
leaving the school before I found out if he was ever allowed to graduate
and I always hoped our paths would cross again somewhere in our field.

Today, as a supervisor, I would hire him in an instant based on his
talent and passion for the job, however I also have to think of the
parent’s in my centre. How would they react to a male diapering and
toilet training their children? Sadly, there is a stigma attached to men
in child care. I have had the pleasure of working with only two men in
the child care field over the span of six years, and both were in
school-age programs where there is no diapering or toileting involved.

Perhaps this is why these men were more widely accepted. Although I must
admit, there was more then one odd glance or derogatory comment made by
parents about his choice of profession.

From these two experiences, I have come to realize the benefits of male
staff in a child care centre:

* They work twice as hard to prove they are capable of handling the job.
* They have a natural ability with the older boys who are usually
embarrassed to be attending daycare in the first place.
* They provide different styles of teaching, behaviour modification
and life experiences which only improves the program.
* A well rounded childcare team is more representative of real life
situations.
* They provide a strong male role model for the children in the centre.
* Men in the child care field help break the stereotype that child
care as women’s work.

Men make great parents, why not great child care workers too?

This Saturday we’re at the first of two big parent shows in Durham this month: The Durham Parent Baby & Toddler Show.

Stop by and say hi! We’ll be promoting the site to parents by handing out Durham Region Daycare business cards and raffling off some great gift baskets.

If you’re a childcare provider, now is the time to sign up: Because we’ll be seeing hundreds of parents the next few weeks, we’re offering a 30% discount to list or renew your daycare!

Click here, and enter coupon code Show09.

Want more info? Email me at info@durhamregiondaycare.com

Look forward to seeing you!

Cleaning out some old magazines, I came across a great set of daycare articles in Today’s Parent that I think is a must-read for parents and providers alike.

• Daycare decisions: Finding the right child care arrangement can be overwhelming. Here’s help sorting through your options. Full story here.
• Child Care. What Canadian Parents Need Now: Listen up, politicians, as Today’s Parent readers tell it like it is. Full story here.
• Report Card: How the provinces — and the country — spend on child care. Full story here.
• Four Ideas That Could Change Child Care: Surprise — it may happen sooner than you think. Full story here.

Don’t forget there are great resources and links on Durham Region Daycare for parents and providers.

Welcome to another provider profile, where we highlight the great childcare workers in Durham Region!

Name: Moyra Stephen

Family: I have two wonderful sons, aged 30 and 29; my youngest son has cerebral palsy, and was the inspiration for starting Cardinal Nannies and Companions Inc. 23 years ago.

Daycare type & location: Cardinal Nannies is a caregiver placement agency in Whitby. We hire and place nannies for children and caregivers for the elderly and those with special needs throughout Durham Region. We handle requests from families for short term, and long term, part-time and full-time, live-in and live-out care. We place live-in nannies, from Quebec and the Maritimes, or here from overseas on a work permit, anywhere in Canada, and abroad.

How long in business: I started December 1, 1985.

Why did you decide to become a childcare provider?: My personal experience was providing in-home daycare for children. I also volunteered in a hospital with children, the elderly, and with special needs. My professional background was in marketing. Then I had a son with special needs. It was very difficult to find appropriate providers for his care, so that was why I established Cardinal Nannies.

What’s your favourite part of the day?: I enjoy early mornings. I watch the sunrise, and prepare for each new day with curiosity, wondering what will be different about it, and wondering what I will know at the end of the day, that I didn’t know at the beginning.

What do you find most challenging about your job?: I am very mindful of the responsibility I have in placing caregivers in families’ homes, and endeavouring to find the right nanny for each family, and the right family for each nanny.

What makes you unique?: We give each families’ request our personal attention, and we genuinely care about all of the people we meet. I personally interview the nanny applicants and meet many of the families before arranging for them to interview caregivers. Most families choose the first person we send them.

Describe some of the interesting backgrounds of your nannies: I have recruited in England and Ireland and the Caribbean as well as hiring nannies from all over the world. These days many come from the Philippines to make a better life for their children. As a mother, I admire their courage in leaving their family behind to come to a new country and work with our families. Many have been taken advantage of, and some have been mistreated, but they still continue to do their job every day.

Favourite memory as a provider: I appreciate the feedback from a client that we found them the perfect nanny, and their children are happy and well cared for.

If you could change one thing, what would it be?: I wish people could be upfront about what they want, and then it’s easier to help them find it.

With the holiday season here, I of course want to get Julia, our home daycare provider a gift. She is such an invaluable member of our and Lucy’s life — almost like an extended family member — that she deserves far more than we could ever afford.

She and her three boys are avid campers (seriously, they went winter camping last year. Like in the snow and everything), so last year we got her a $25 gift card to Moutain Equipment Co-op.

Julia isn’t much of a girly-girl, so my inital instinct to treat her to a manicure/pedicure doesn’t go (plus one of her sons actually laughed when I suggested it). I’d really like to get her something just for her, as she devotes so much time to her daycare and her own kids that I think she deserves and needs it.

Suggestions?

Caregivers, what gifts have you received in the past? Any favourites jump out at you?

Parents, what have you given to your daycare providers?