Chickens and Dance.

Funky Monkey in his class

   For the last 4 days Funky Monkey and Girly Monkey have been attending Dance Summer school. We signed them up at the end of last year because they were super sad that dance was all over in June. But when Sunday before Summer school came I wasn't very thrilled with my previous decision. It's not that I didn't think that it was a good idea to put them in Dace in the summer time, but rather I was sad over loosing the last free, careless week of summer vacations. School year is already busy for us, and starting all the craziness a week earlier didn't sit well with me. Funky Monkey started his dance classes at 9 am for 3 hours, and Girly Monkey was there for 2 hours starting 12:30 pm. And I was in charge of driving them back and forth, getting them ready, and most of all supporting them.

Girly Monkey with her friends

   Today was last day and parents were invited for the last half hour of each group's class to see what they worked on in dance class. As tired as I was from the last four days I loved every minute of watching both Monkeys. They even got a piece of ice cream cake at the end of summer school. Both Monkeys loved dancing but most of all they loved catching up with their dance friends.
As a matter of fact, their favorite part of the day has been the half hour in between Funky Monkey's and Girly Monkey's class when they got a chance to play catch with some of their friends But beyond that they both have learned new things in dance class, of which I am very proud. It really helps that I love this dance school so much better than the last one that Funky Monkey attended. And both teachers at this school are very knowledgeable and supportive. It's amazing seeing your kids blossom under great instructors.

   As much as I wanted to come home after Dance school today and throw myself onto my bed I had other plans. A while back, through my homeschool support group, I had learned of a farmer that sells her chickens for pick up. They are organic and free range and are her daughters project. See, this young elementary school girl raises them and they butcher them twice a summer and sell them to locals. Well, having heard that I jumped at the occasion of buying some local chickens. I am a big fan of local food. I love supporting local farmers (especially when they are 9 years old and use the money to pay for their extra curriculum activities) because without the local farmers we would all depend too much on few factory-style food manufacturers that would have monopoly of all of our food. I believe that food should taste, smell, and look like food, and be nutritious and healthy. There is nothing more nutritious and healthy than local food.

Our beautiful, local chicken after roasting in the oven

   Yes, I buy my produce at local farms (whenever they are in season), my freezer is full of local, grass fed and finished beef and bison, I support only local, organic dairies, I shop for goat cheese from a farmer that makes it himself, and now I added few nice local chickens to my freezer. I have always liked fresh food, since that was the norm in Poland, where I grew up. As a matter of fact lots of people didn't even have refrigerators because they shopped everyday for what they need. My mother-in-law said it was the same in Scotland when she went to visit her family, and my sister noticed people in France buying their food daily too. That's not an option here, where is would take me at least 10 minutes to drive to the nearest grocery store, and more like 30 minutes to drive to one that carries organic and local foods. But I can get fresh foods from local farmers, and support them at the same time. And that I do whenever opportunity presents itself to buy local!