The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1178794
C-4 Wednesday, October 23, 2019 The Press-Dispatch HOME LIFE TO ADVERTISE: Call: 812-354-8500 Email: ads@pressdispatch.net Visit: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg Deadline: 5 p.m. on Monday Youth First Today by Diane Braun, Youth First, Inc. 2 master bedrooms and 3 bathrooms with solid wood doors and hardwood trims. 4 bedrooms with one master bedroom and 3 bathrooms, including a family room with a fireplace. Luxurious 5 bedroom home. Save $40,000 on three of Baird Homes' finest homes. 814 NIBLACK BLVD., VINCENNES • 1-800-743-7004 • WWW.BAIRDVINCENNES.COM HOMES Only ONE Left! Fly on down to get yours! your new Dwelling! Crowded Cave? VISIT US FOR Down on the Farm By Hans Schmitz, Purdue Extension Educator All-natural free-range newspaper article EASY CHICKEN CORN CHOWDER MEALS IN Monica's MINUTES Share your favorite recipe! www.facebook.com/mealsinminutes Monica's Meals in Minutes PO Box 68, Petersburg, IN 47567 mealsinminutes@pressdispatch.net FACEBOOK MAIL EMAIL By Monica Sinclair I'm so excited that we are fi- nally getting some fall weather. The cool, crisp air always puts me in the mood for soup. I love being able to come home from work, throw a few ingredients in a pot and have a delicious pot of soup in no time at all. Then I can sit down, put my feet up and eat my dinner while watching T V. It warms me up and is definitely a comfort food. This week, I am putting in an extremely easy recipe that only takes 15 -20 minutes to prepare. The ingredients are already on my grocery list. Enjoy! INGREDIENTS • 2 tablespoons butter • 1 small onion, finely chopped • 1 celery rib, finely chopped • 1 small sweet red pepper, finely chopped • 2 cans (14-3/4 ounces each) cream-style corn • 1-1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken • 1 can (12 ounces) reduced-fat evaporated milk • 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules • 1/2 teaspoon pepper • 8 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled DIRECTIONS 1. In a large saucepan, heat butter over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery and red pepper; cook and stir 6 -8 minutes or until tender. 2. Stir in corn, chicken, milk, bouillon and pepper; heat through, stirring occasionally (do not boil). Top servings with bacon. Source: www.tasteof home.com Red Ribbon Week is the oldest and largest drug prevention program in the nation, reaching millions of young people each year. This year's event will take place Oct. 23 through 31. According to the Red Ribbon Week website, this event is an ideal way for people and communities to unite and take a visible stand against drugs. Red Ribbon Week was started when drug traffickers in Mexico City mur- dered DEA agent Kiki Camarena in 1985. This began the continuing tra- dition of displaying red ribbons as a symbol of intolerance toward the use of drugs. The mission of the Red Ribbon Campaign is to present a unified and visible commitment towards the crea- tion of a Drug-Free America. National Family Partnership is the sponsor of this annual celebration. They are helping citizens across the country come together to keep chil- dren, families and communities safe, healthy and drug-free, through parent training, networking and sponsoring events. With over thirty annual events hav- ing taken place, you might ask, "Is Red Ribbon Week effective? " According to Peggy Sapp, President of National Family Partnership, consider the fol- lowing: Red Ribbon Week is an environmen- tal strategy, which means it doesn't just affect a small group but usually goes beyond schools, churches and other groups into the broader community. Red Ribbon Week is designed to be an awareness campaign that gets information to the gener- al public about the dangers of drug use. Red Ribbon Week is de- signed to get people talk- ing to other people and working on activities that will help rebuild a sense of community and common purpose. Red Ribbon Week is de- signed to help parents and schools deliver an effective drug prevention curricu- lum. Red Ribbon Week is designed to cre- ate critical mass, which is nec- essary to reduce destructive social norms/behaviors and promote positive social norms/behaviors. Red Ribbon Week is designed to be positive and fun, two things necessary to maintain good mental health. Schools can benefit from curricu- lum available on the official Red Rib- bon Week website, www.redribbon. org. Incorporating substance use pre- vention education into daily class- es, such as health, is an ideal way to bring awareness to students and pro- mote prevention. Parents should also access the web- site for great ideas about talking to children of any age about the dangers of substance use. Children of par- ents who talk to their teens regu- larly about drugs are 42 percent less likely to use drugs than those who don't; however, only 25 percent of teens report hav- ing these conversations. Alcohol and other forms of drug abuse in this country have reached epidemic stages, and it is imperative that visible, unified prevention education ef- forts by community members be launched to eliminate the de- mand for drugs. Please join Youth First this week as we promote the importance of pre- vention and educating our children, families and communities about the dan- gers of substance use. This column is written by Diane Braun, project manager for Youth First, Inc., a local nonprofit dedicat- ed to strengthening youth and families. Youth First provides 57 Master's level so- cial workers to 78 schools in 10 Indiana counties. Over 38,500 youth and fami- lies per year have access to Youth First's school social work and afterschool pro- grams that prevent substance abuse, pro- mote healthy behaviors, and maximize student success. Farmers produce many different kinds of products in a myriad of differ- ent ways to satisfy consumers. Com- panies take those products and label them in a myriad of different ways to satisfy consumer demand. Consumers demand some very odd products wor- thy of further examination. Government inspection is required for all raw meat products on grocery store shelves, wherein those products are derived from animals. The drive towards plant-based "meat" products adds a further level of complication. The Food Safety and Inspection Ser- vice does define "meat food product" as derived from sheep, swine, goats, cattle and equine. Technically, one should not call plant-based burgers "meat." How- ever, long strides by the dairy industry to ensure that milk comes from some- thing that lactates and butter once was churned have not met much success. To call yourself an organic farmer without having done the paperwork, received the audit, paid the fees and earned the label is against the law. Mar- keting, labeling, or selling non-organ- ic food as organic can result in up to a $17,952 fine per occurrence. The US - DA has complaint reporting forms on- line for those who find instances of peo- ple claiming organic produce without a certificate. The organic certification process means no synthetic products used for three years pri- or to certification, a bind- er full of paperwork to keep up each year, and around $400 per acre per year in fees. Those who are certified need the premium on pro- duce raised to offset add- ed cost. Meanwhile, nat- ural, all-natural, and sim- ilar terminology are fair game for absolutely any- one. The Food and Drug Administra- tion has promised to look into provid- ing a definition, but none currently ex- ists in a way that provides any standard whatsoever. If you see a product with "natural" labeled in the grocery store, it means nothing. Find something labe- led "unnatural," because the company would at least have to explain itself on the package there. Pasture-based agriculture is nice. Strict interpretation of this method of farming means the animals have access to pasture over half of their lives. Note that access to pasture is not the same as on-pasture. Good pas- ture-based folks still provide access to shelter in the event of inclement weath- er, mainly as a windbreak. Some an- imals may spend most of their lives on-pasture, while others may choose to stay in the shed or barn. Free-range lit- erally means not in cages. Free-range does not mean access to the outdoors. So many things eat chickens. Raising poultry indoors pro- vides a level of safety for the birds from foxes, minks, coy- otes, and the list goes on. All this nomenclature ex- ists without needing to bring up non-GMO certification. The thing exists. The certification is mostly in- dustry-led with little on the US gov- ernment side (other governments get our food products and do have strict rules). Most of the products labeled as non-GMO in a grocery store are foods that do not have a genetically modified counterpart. That food probably costs more than it's not labeled, equally non- GMO competitor. As an example, the Non-GMO Project is one private veri- fier of non-GMO projects. One compa- ny has blueberries verified. No geneti- cally-modified blueberries exist. Sigh. For more information, contact Hans at hschmitz@purdue.edu or 812-838 - 1331. Katiedid vs... by Katiedid Langrock Couple costumes "How about 'The Wizard of Oz'? " Too boring. "How about a family of sugar skull skeletons? " Too scary. "We could all dress up as 'How to Train Your Dragon.'" Not Halloween enough. "Then how about we dress as can- dy corn? " No! Then we'll be sad we can't eat us! Do we have to dress as a family? My family has never before dressed up for Halloween in a thematic design. I reminded the kids that dressing up as a family was their idea. We changed our mind! My son decided he will dress as a skeerchin. My daughter will be a wizitch. If you don't know what those things are, you're not alone. Neither do I. Their active imaginations and constant storytelling are never lack- ing and always hard to keep up with. I lamented the loss of a cute photo-op. It looked as if I would go back to dressing as Grumpy Bear again. My husband probably would go back to dress- ing as a masked inmate yet again. There was a time, before kids, when my costume would take thought, precision and time. I loved caking lay- ers of white, red, gray and green paint across my face. I rel- ished the discomfort in friends' ex- pressions when they first looked at undead me. Since I had my son, my costume has tended to be repurposed footie pajamas that take 15 seconds to put on. My husband suggested that he and I dress as a themed couple for Halloween, even if the kids opted out. This would be our first time dressing as a couple for Halloween, though it would be less of a first for him. Fifteen years ago, when my husband and I were just dating, he and his work wife dressed as Brit- ney Spears and Kevin Fed- erline and won their com- pany's "cutest couple cos- tume" competition. Clear- ly, I'm over it. I liked this idea of dressing up to- gether. It felt cute and connective — as if a spotlight that's always focused on the kids could get to flip backward for Adam Scales (812) 354-8488 adam.scales@infarmbureau.com Continued on page 7 What is Red Ribbon Week, and why does it matter?