A Howard Watson Intrigue

Okay – this is how I see it. Ronald McDonald is getting all the scapegoat crap slung at him because we-the-parents are blaming him for shoving fat inducing, high cholesterol producing, and Type II diabetes potential food down our kid’s throats? I mean, c’mon. Where are the parents in all this? You’re going to tell me that parents, all of a sudden, just learned how to read labels on food products? Even if the labels lie (which they sometimes do) parents are bottom line responsible for the health of their kids. This means asking for the monthly lunch menu at school; monitoring the sugar intake of your kid, providing healthy fruits and snacks, and “making” them go out and play instead of letting them stay on the computer for hours. It also means providing home cooked meals (maybe even making them in advance) for “latch key” kids (those who come home everyday to an empty house because both parents are working.) Parents have become lazy by sending kids off to school with money to buy what

A hot summer day in Chicago . Temperature above 90 degrees - humidity hitting 75%. Hot air blows into your face. You don’t have a towel so you use your shirt to wipe the sweat off your face and neck. You take a swig of cold-fresh-water from a fountain, bottle or cup. Ahhhhh! Did you know that everyday more than 4,000 children in places like Africa, Haiti , and India die because they don’t have access to clean drinking water? Drinking a glass of water is taken for granted for most of us in the US . What we take for granted is a luxury to others. For the over 4,000 children who wish they could have a cool glass of fresh water the wish unfortunately dies with them. The lack of fresh water is life altering, it is also life threatening. So, knowing this, how can we be so apathetic and self absorbed when it comes to cleaning up our own waterways? Water is what we are . Our bodies are composed of about 72% water. Our brain is over 75% water. Our blood is made up of more than 80% water.

This article is for the farmer in all of us. In that fruits and vegetables in the stores and so-called farmers markets are just too expensive for me, I have decided to produce a vegetable garden so spectacular that you will want my recipe for success.  I should probably mention that I am so excited about this venture and getting my fingers back into the earth that I can't stand myself. I'll take pictures along the way so that you too can say "I did it!" or not . My girlfriend has a catering business and makes some of the best salsa I have ever tasted. Trust me, I have tasted some very good salsa - here in this country and in Mexico. I am going to challenge myself by providing the fresh vegetables she needs - tomatoes, onions, chives, peppers, etc. Who knows, maybe we have started something -what do you think? The embryonic process of growing my tomatoes began 10 days ago. Yesterday I planted jalepeno peppers. Later this week I will plant herbs (parsley and chives