Spring Into The Season With These Tips For Gardening With Kids

There is nothing more rewarding than a once-bare patch of dirt brimming with zucchini and tomatoes, basil and dill, or flowers. That patch of dirt can be as small as a window box or pot, or a patch by your back door.

Kids love to garden—give them their own plot to tend and award prizes to the biggest tomatoes or pumpkins. There is nothing more fascinating to a child than an edible plant coming out of packet of seeds. Not only is gardening good fun, it teaches:

• Observation: watching the changes and growth.
• Responsibility: watering and weeding.
• Patience: waiting for the fruit or vegetable or flower to mature.

Some easy projects for kids include:

• Pluck dead blooms from flower beds or containers.
• Make leaf rubbings using thin paper and a peeled crayon or soft pencil to do various leaf and bark.
• Grow broccoli sprouts for your family dinner, using 1-T of broccoli seeds and a jar covered with some nylon, secured by a rubber band. Each day allow the seeds to soak in warm water for three minutes, then drain. Directions for how to grow your own sprouts.
  
• Put vegetable tops in glasses of water and gravel and watch them sprout! Try onion, radish, sweet potato, beet, parsnip, or turnip. Have older children note the progress in a book or draw what they see.

For more great gardening tips and information about composting, download the ACHS Wellness Guide here.

Walnuts and Walnut Oil May Be Useful with Stress

Do you love walnuts? We do! They have such a velvety texture and rich flavor. Plus, walnuts are a heart-healthy food. Walnuts (almonds, hazelnuts, and many other nuts too) have the "good" fats— both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats—thought to lower bad cholesterol levels and also are a good source of omega-3s, fiber, and vitamin E.

So, we thought you would want to know that new research from Penn State University suggests a diet rich in walnuts and walnut oil may also help a person's body to better manage stress.

Penn State recently release the statement "Walnuts, walnut oil, improve reaction to stress" explaining researchers' findings that "walnuts and walnut oil in the diet lowered both resting blood pressure and blood pressure responses to stress in the laboratory," and that, "average diastolic blood pressure—the "bottom number" or the pressure in the arteries when the heart is resting—was significantly reduced during the diets containing walnuts and walnut oil." Their findings have been reported in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.

Here's a link to a healthy recipe for Beet Walnut Salad you can make in minutes. In addition to walnut and beets, this recipe also includes apples, celery, and salad greens. Some fresh herbs may make a nice addition, too! What do you think, rosemary? Dill?

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You can read more about this research on EurekAlert! HERE.