I don't know if this is solely a Northwest term or not, but I've always felt like I was a bit on the "granola" side. You know, the green, earthy, health nut, environmental type. But just sort of. How so?
When pregnant with the boys, we took the Bradley Method childbirth classes (I desired to have their birth be medication-free and entirely natural) and had a midwife as my "doctor". But I drew the line at having a home birth. I wasn't that granola.
After the boys were born, I was blessed to be able to nurse them. And even for a whole year! But I didn't feed them "on demand" whenever they cried, or attempt the whole baby-wearing thing. I wasn't that granola.
When solid foods came around for them, I dabbled a little bit in making homemade baby food. You know, applesauce, pears, squash. And when they were a bit more advanced in their eating skills, I used the Happy Baby Food Grinder so they could eat what we were eating. I loved that thing! Yet I certainly wan't the "grind your own legumes into powder, boil them and make your own baby food bean mush" type. I wasn't that granola.
Surely a controversial topic, but I was a immunization-delaying momma. I had strong feelings about that. Yet I did not withhold all immunizations from our kids. I wasn't that granola.
Outside of baby-ville, I excitedly got my first pair of Birkenstock sandals when the kids were little. And even a genuine, shipped-directly-from-Germany pair, at that. I still love those things! And think they're totally comfortable. But you won't see me wearing tie-die shirts, peace necklaces or clothes made from hemp. I'm not that granola.
I am one who used to recycle. Back in the Northwest we had recycle bins for each type of recyclable item - paper, plastic, glass, etc. In our home I was known to stop someone from throwing away paper... it goes out in the paper bin, of course! (Sadly, here in the Midwest those opportunities aren't as plentiful.) But don't think I'm a tree-hugger. I'm not that granola.
Now lately I've been trying to be more healthful with our food. I found out about flaxseed meal from another "granola", so will sprinkle that into our baked goods, and also substitute some whole wheat flour for the regular flour. The kids don't know the difference, yet they're getting some extra oomph in their food. But don't think I'll ever make my own hummus or nutbutter, or that you'll find wheatberries, steel cut oats or bulgur wheat in our cupboards. I'm not that granola.
So..... with all of that, I don't know if I'm sort of granola, or if in order to be truly called "granola", you have to dive in head first. ?? Hmmm. I'll just stick with being sorta granola. Works well for me.
1 comment:
I love this post! It made me chuckle.
I can relate a little even though I'm not from the Pacific Northwest. I was raised on the more healthy options, like, we never had "sugar" cereal it was plain ole CHeerios w/ honey for us and we even got our honey from a local honey-lady and mom made her own granola...and for a time, we even got milk straight from a farm outside of town--had to skim off the cream off the top!) Chris and I were getting most of our groceries at a "health food" store before we moved to Fairmont--and we recycled EVERYthing (maybe not paper though) ;) Once in Fairmont, those things weren't accessible, so we stopped doing them. I also, held firm to feeding my babies/toddlers healthful foods. Keenan literally hadn't had ANY sugar (white sugar as in candy and sweets) until his first b-day when he had cake/frosting. He never had formula or cow's milk until 18 mos or so---we gave him "goat's milk" which is the closest thing to "mother's milk" as you can get. We've gotten more lax over the years with each kid and then going back to work, it's been harder to keep up doing things more "naturally" and we are now not "Granola" at all. It's sad, but true. Also, with the closing of the Family Market, having to buy our groceries now, we found that the more "healthy" options are the more expensive options...again, sad but oh so very true! So...anyway, thanks for this post!
(p.s. that was our big joke while we were traveling thru Oregon & being in Washington about all the "liberal-tree-hugging-granola" types out there. You'd be hard-pressed to find an anti-Obama bumper sticker out there!!) :)
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