No one is indispensible

Yes, it has been forever.  But life doesn’t always allow for internet service, time or clarity of mind.

Our garden was in a powerpoint presentation given at the American Dietetics Association last weekend.  We were written up in a neighborhood rag.  In fact, I was contacted at our facility by someone who saw the presentation.

One of the kids ate a tomato and stated it was NOT a tomato.  I suggested that they had never really tasted a ripe tomato before.

I am still getting grief about Meatless Mondays.  The chef still will have taste tests and not put what the kids liked on the menu. 

Different kids worked on it weekly.  I am still amazed that the girls who do not want to get dirty.  Or that don’t realize that when you are working in a garden you will get dirty.

Even though it is fall, we have squash, basil, tomatoes, chard and broccoli.  Something is eating the cabbage and the cauliflower.  I was caught in Hurricane Tomas so I was out for an extra week.  I will try and wash away whatever the pest is.

Afternoon fruit continues not to show up.  That may be to staff changes.

On a very positive note, our new director of residents is starting yoga classes and exercise classes!  I have worked a couple of times with individuals and know that the guys, especially, are needing more workouts.  Although the girls are also asking for more to do. 

I have a new bulimic.  She is in denial, but that’s bulimia.

Next week I hope to start a grocery video project with weight management residents going on camera to educate each other on better food choices.

I wondered what would happen since I was gone so long due to my scuba vacation and extended days stranded in St. Lucia waiting for evacuation after Tomas.  Nothing changed.  New kids, same problems.  If I could fake the assessments or do them via webcam, keep emailing for changes in the kitchen I wonder if I would even have to show up.

Consider the source

Ms. Marty, beans is nasty.

Why do you say that?

Cuz they is.

What is nasty about them?

Everything.

What do the rest of you think about the rice and beans for Meatless Monday?

Too salty.

Now, that I can work with.  Too salty tells me something we can change.

Most agree the dish is too salty, but okay.

How about the spaghetti?

Too sweet.

Red sauce makes me sick.

Why are there beans in spaghetti?

Ah, that’s a good question.  In Tuscany, a part of Italy, they are called the bean people because they eat beans with their meals.  In fact, beans and grains are a large part of Italian cooking.  We have beans in here– Can you guys tell me why we have Meatless Mondays?

No.

1. We have a high number of residents with problems with their cholesterol.  That’s a fat in your body.  Anything with a liver will help raise you cholesterol and that is not good for these people.
2. You need more fiber in your diet.  There are going to be some changes in the school lunch and we need to serve you more fiber.  Beans are high in fiber and really help your whole body.  Plus they have protein.
3. My job is to educate you in different tastes.  You will leave here and get jobs.  Your boss might take you to some place with food you don’t know.  Could you imagine telling your boss the food they eat is “nasty”?  Forget your paycheck.

Again, the guys were much easier, made more sense than the girls.  Oy.  But these are inner city kids who don’t have a lot of meal choices and are shuffled from facility to facility.

I leave that happy meeting to face the older girls in the garden.  It is much cooler than when the guys were out, but the qveching continues.  They all knew they were going to get dirty, but I guess they didn’t really believe it.

Ms. Lawyer Head kept missing weeds she was to pull.

“My hands hurt.”

“That’s okay.  I need it done quickly.  I’ll do it.”

I did get each of them to pick cukes or basil or something.  They liked that.

Cucumbers

I had one start watering the lettuce and one had to go to the bathroom.  I escorted one down the hall while watching the others through the windows.  I had explained about the chain on the watering can and making sure not to cut off the plants on the edge of the beds.  One lettuce was about to be Marie Antoinette.

Lettuces and Cosmos

I came flying in the courtyard.

“Stop!  Stop.  Wait.  You have to look at the chain.”

That led to murmurs about me being anal and weird about plants.  True.

“Look, a lot of people planted these seeds.  If this was your plant and I let someone kill it you would be very upset.  You would probably meet me in the hallway.  I have to care about everyone and what they have done here.

It actually worked.  And Ms. bathroom didn’t come out before I got back.  Scary.

And the zucchini plants came back.

Zuke returning from the center

The soap we put on them last week worked.

Zuke flower opening

Zucchini with flower

I’ll see how long it lasts.  Maybe we will even get a zuke.

The swiss chard is trying to come back.

Swiss Chard returning

Since we had so many large leaves last week, the harvest was a little small.  However, we did include the broc and cauli leaves with the greens.  And, of course, some purslane.

I was explaining about labeling and dating foods in a commercial kitchen.  Ms. Lawyer Head said she didn’t need to know that because she was going to be a lawyer.

“Lawyers I know had a lot of jobs getting through school.  How many lawyers do you know?”

“None.” Beat, beat, beat.

“Well, if you ever want to talk with one to figure out what it takes to be one tell me.  I know lots of them.”

Here are some other photos from our current garden.

Butternut Squash flower

Orange cherry tomato

West to east view squash, kale, beans, cruciferous, cukes

Cosmos

Dr. Jekyll wasn’t killed by inventing a new formula, but by missing a small mistake. 7/29/10

Hang on this is the last one before I catch up.

Garden update – Of course, qvetching from the younger girls about weeding.  And it was hot.  However, one just kept working.  She is the one whose adopted family died.

Anyway, while harvesting, I asked two girls to pick the leaves off the swiss chard.  I showed them the size of the leaf they were to pick.  Nothing smaller.  They pulled the entire plants out of the ground.  I had a momentary freak out.

“That’s okay.  I’ll just put them back in and give them a good drink of water.”

They were very taken back that I yelled to STOP, but in a moment of passion for the plants I did get out of my usual Ms. Marty routine.  I try to never let them see me sweat.  At least emotionally.

I FOUND SOME CHARTS!!!  I even got to look up some labs from residents I had assessed and now made up that small stack needing homes in medical records.

Last week I had spoken to a girl who even did a couple of wall push ups with me.  She is over 200 pounds and is around my height, 5’5″.  I was very encouraged.  Not ready to dance, but at least she was thinking about herself being healthier.

In her chart her total cholesterol was over 275.  A good cholesterol is around 175, 200 and your MD starts talking about medications.  I was stunned.

Who let this happen?  Why wasn’t this the first thing I knew about her?  What MD let it go this high without mentioning it.  And guess who gets to tell her?  The person who has the least amount of relationship with her.

I spoke to the therapist.  She’s new and didn’t want to be the bad guy.  So, I took her out of something that was happening in the common area and lowered the boom.  I explained as simply as I could what happens with high cholesterol.  The conference I went to earlier in the month had a special day just for dietitians.  I found out kids in their teens are having strokes.  Great!  More good news.  This kid is a walking heart attack or stroke waiting to happen.

She asked about heart attacks.  I was glad she was listening.  As with any other high cholesterol resident I explain the stroke will probably not kill you, it’s what happens afterward.

My mother’s stroke around Memorial Day is a very clear image of what can happen.  At least my mother has most of her mental faculties and can still walk, eat and use the commode.

I tried to get her to talk to me.  But I am not stupid.  She is all alone in this place and needs to process.  You could see the wheels turning, but the communication was in lock down.

A diet change had to happen quickly, but really does it matter?  She is not interested in low cholesterol foods, our menu is bereft of fiber to clear the cholesterol from the colon and she just got here.  I’m going to order the labs be redone to validate the number.  Other than that, nothing matters until she makes it matter.

No one has cholesterol that high in a day or a month.  Someone just kept moving her along hoping no one would notice this little mistake in her lipids.  This mistake which just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Ethics is what you do when no one is watching 7/20/10

Almost up to date on these emails I sent myself.

Today it was the older guys and it was HOT.  Over 90 degrees F.  But they stuck with it.  One from our initial ripping out of the azalea wanted to come, but he and another guy did something stupid so I had to have staff pick other residents.  Hopefully, this will motivate them to keep their noses clean.

Our weeding was intense today.  It has been 2 weeks since we did anything.  Our zucchini and watermelon plants are just about eaten by aphids, however, we did clean the leaves with a very mild soap and hopefully that will work or at least give them a fighting chance.

Our lettuce is going gangbusters, but is about to bolt.  We mixed some purslane into the leaves. We may have a few more weeks of it.  I took out the seeds to replenish the stock, but misplaced them.  Our kale is growing and we will plant more of it.  The kale should go until we have a snowfall of more than 3 inches.

The beans are flowering and hopefully will produce this week.  The delicate yellow flowers out there are the cucumbers.  We got three this week and the ones from next week are still waiting for noshing in the kitchen frig.

Our greens filled a large tub with a mixture of purslane, kale, a few carrot greens, broccoli & cauliflower leaves and a massive amount of swiss chard.  The swiss chard is the big green leafy plants with magenta, white or yellow stems.  The basil is going strong and we will pick that next week.  As is the oregano.  That is a small plant next to the orange flowers of the butternut squash trellis.

We have some green tomatoes from our cherry tomato plant.  That plant is from seed, not from a garden center.  We will try and save seeds from it for next year.

Tomato Trellis

We have submitted for one gardening grant and will try for another so that we can expand our garden next year.

Basil and oregano

Please feel free to peruse our plants and smell that fabulous basil and oregano.

Oh, just in case you don’t know, those little lavender flowering bushes in the front of the building are – lavender.  Take one of the flowers between your fingers and rub.  It will help calm you down on your drive home.

The half hours is getting to me.  I don’t get to see the residents except in the hallways or when I breeze through the cafeteria.  I don’t remember any new names.  Ms. Lawyer Head gives me a cold stare when I say hello.  I take that as she doesn’t know what to make of me.  I think she thinks I am going to shove some diet down her throat, but doesn’t know what to do when I am just saying and walking down the hallway.

We have no head of nursing and trying to find out info on the new admits is like finding a needle in the haystack.  Labs are nowhere.  I hope no one falls through the cracks.  I ask the residents if they have any significant lab finding, but they all say no.  I have a small stack of notes due for missing charts.

As I was checking out the garden before I left, a woman stopped me in the hallway.  She asked if I was the dietitian, I think my overalls gave it away.

She has a background in dance and is now in some kind of role as a therapist.  She has seen me do yoga with the girls in the courtyard.  She has seen the kids work the soil and pull weeds.  She thanked me and told me how important physical movement is to emotional balance.

Earlier I had done a yoga/exercise class with the older boys after the younger girls.  I have no idea how I managed that.  The guys complained, but kept trying.  The girls were drama queens.

But it is my job to do it anyway.  Amazing that anyone noticed.

Leaders don’t tell people what to do, they make sure it gets done. 7/13/10

Here is another blog entry I have had waiting in the wings.

Today I didn’t get to have the clients help.  It was raining so hard and the weather indicated that there would only be brief breaks between showers.  So, when I saw the sun I got on my tennies and got into the garden.  I will needing clients from the first floor to help when I come back on Thursday.  We will do a massive weeding.  Here’s what I wrote in the weekly email:

Our zucchini plant has an infestation that I will try and clear up on Thursday.  There are aphids and I did see some ladybugs.  Ladybugs eat aphids.  Perhaps the ladybugs have just found out that we have a food court of their favorite meal and will begin putting out the word.  The leaves will grow, but the fruit from the plant will shrivel after a few weeks.

Other than that, I picked a huge tub of lettuces.  The pan I filled was one of the large, deep pans used for our dinner line.  There were about 5 different lettuces of varying color and texture.  It should make a lovely salad tomorrow.

I picked about 5 radishes to thin out the radishes.  These will be great in a salad, especially if they are chopped small.  They give a nice pop of flavor without being too hot.

There were 3 cucumbers ready to eat, a few purple beans, around a cup or so of basil leaves and I threw in an oregano sprig for good measure.

In a shallow big pan. I mixed kale, purslane, swiss chard, broccoli and cauliflower leaves, and carrot greens.  The menu calls for collards this week and these greens will bring color and fresh nutrients to the calcium-rich collards.

Hopefully, I will remember to bring some more lettuce seeds and we can plant some new seedlings on Thursday.  One of our lettuce varieties has already bolted and will feed our animals.  When we have new plants to take their place, I will pull the rest of the plant and our non-human friends will get a real treat.

Please take a look at the vegetable flowers.  The bean flowers are very delicate, yet a deep magenta color.  The zucchini is the large yellow.  The cukes are the small yellow flowers.  The butternut squash is going to flower in the next week or so.  The basil is next to the squash and I picked the tops off to keep the plants from going to seed.  The basil flowers are small and white. I am very curious to see what color the watermelon flowers will be.  They won’t come for another 2 weeks or so it appears at the moment.

Royal Purple beans turn green when steamed

I had a Ms. Lawyer Head to assess today.  She basically blew me off.  She has had lousy luck with parents and people to depend on.  Part of my consultation was to bring up weight management.  She wasn’t biting.  ”I don’t care.  I’m going to be a lawyer.”  I wonder what she thinks lawyers do?

I was a temp in so many law offices in NYC, I can’t remember any of them.  Most of the lawyers were evil.  However, they all knew how to get what they wanted and were great a sizing people up.  I wonder what she thinks of her lawyer?

I will have to figure out how to lead her to better health or resign myself to paying out more taxes in healthcare costs.  I take the majority of the responsibility on myself.  I can’t change her, but I can find some buttons and see if they can be pushed.

Teach what you want to learn and learn what you want to teach, 6/22/10

Here is another entry I have had, but haven’t had time to write.

Today we will be picking lettuce, radishes, basil and oregano for tomorrow’s salad.  Swiss chard will be gathered to add to Thursday’s spinach.  Of course, our chef will have the last say.

Our cukes have lovely, little yellow flowers on them and the zuke will be having more big yellow/orange flowers.  The butternut squashes have survived the beetle wars thus far and the watermelon is taking off in the northwest corner.  One of our pea plants disappeared, but the other is surviving.  The purple flowers of the beans will probably bloom this week.

We will weed the grasses and thistles, but will leave the purslane.  Purslane is a succulent plant with small green leaves.  You can see them in the rocks between the beds.  This is the most ubiquitous plant on the planet.  It even grows in Antarctica.  It is used as a salad green or steamed green and is extremely high in iron and calcium.  Please check it out because if you have a garden, it is probably there.  It doesn’t taste like much so chop it small and add to your salad for a healthy boost.

Purslane, super high in calcium

We added the purslane to the green leaves.

Many of the kids that were here when I first came are leaving.  It is time, but some of them were really great.  Some I wonder what will happen.  My pre-diabetic refuses to do any physical activity.  It is so sad that a simple thing like taking a walk or going up and down stairs for 5 minutes will give her years on her life, but kids are immortal in their minds.

I am trying to have another taste test, but I am also going and presenting at a nutrition conference.  I’m not sure what I am presenting, but you can be sure I will be pushing for better school lunch.

I did a small search around the kitchen for our fiber sources.  Other than the veggies and fresh fruit, which the kids may or may not actually receive on a daily basis, our fiber intake is 1 gram/day.

FYI – it should be around 35-45/day.

Another day in paradise.

Will Wonders Never Cease 6/7/10

Here is an entry I have had on my email, but haven’t had time to write out.

It has been very hot, and staff does not seemed that thrilled with watering.  But, I have roped a few into it which are excited.  I have put together a watering schedule and I will see if it works.

The most amazing part is that we have an actual harvest today!  Here’s what we took to the kitchen, from an email I sent to our executive director:

Our parsnips and radish row in the garden needed to be thinned.  So, the radish sprouts will be used tomorrow in the tossed salad.  The clients who were working with me all tasted the sprouts and really liked them.  The amount of salad made is so large and the amount of sprouts is so small that I doubt anyone would taste them, especially after being minced, but the point of the garden was not to feed the masses rather to make the food cycle connection.

Next week we should be seeding more lettuce.

Thank you to everyone helping to water and everyone who has popped in to give us encouragement.

Yes we gave the kitchen a whole sheet pan of lettuce.  The kids were very interested to learn what was coming up.  What was very interesting was the amount of employees who had no idea what vegetables look like before they arrive at the grocers.

Lettuce for kitchen

I am getting stopped in the hallways, “Ms. Marty, do you need anyone to work in the garden?”  Especially, the boys.  We only have some small plants now, but just give it a few weeks.  I think people are amazed something is actually happening.

Hurry Up and Wait

Well, my hours are down to 10 per week for the foreseeable future.

So, I get to start the garden, run yoga classes, check weights, speak with clients, assess clients and find charts in one day a week.  Oh yeah, I get to run the food committee, too.

I start by checking out emails finding out who is new.  Actually, I take down names and then check them against the last census of the building before I show up.  That usually means the Sunday night head count.  There have been a few clients who came and went within 3 days.  I have no idea why they went, they’re just non-existent.

Then, I figure out who I haven’t assessed, yet.  One would think I would go read the chart, make notes and then talk with the client.  Heaven forbid!  The chart doesn’t make it to anywhere I can read it for at least 2 weeks.  If I’m lucky I get an email stating the food allergies.  One client has been at our place for at least 2 weeks.  I tried to do an assessment, but I couldn’t get an age, weight or height.  I don’t even try to get labs results for at least a month after placement.  Call me crazy, but to do a nutritional assessment I figure I need to know someone’s weight.  There I go being all bookish and widgety.

Since the kids have planted seeds a few weeks ago, I use the gym teacher’s cart to shuffle the baby plants around.  Some seeds didn’t come up and I let these plant-parents sow more seed and see if they will work.  I take the plants home and take care of them.  The resistance I got from staff made it extremely apparent they were not into helping.

I went to the teacher’s classroom [gym] to get the cart.  There was NEW[er] equipment.  A few bikes, ellipticals and a treadmill.  The teacher, Mr. Gym said he wasn’t sure they worked.  I tried everything out, for the second time.  Most of it works.  Now, if I could get trainers to get the kids downstairs, or get 2 more pieces of equipment to get one piece on each floor.

Anyway, our facility [which has a lot of programs for kids I don't deal with] was supposed to be sold.  Today’s rumor/news is that we were not, after months of negotiations and such, and the takeover company employees are gone.  I’m not sure who that means in my life, but I know it meant the guy in charge of residential living stuff.  At first, I thought, DRAT!  That guy was on my side.  Now, I think, GOOD!  Nobody knows what I want to do, they are all worried about their own fiefdom and I can take over.  Sometimes you just gotta luv chaos.

So, I wrote an email to the new executive director [the one who told me my hours were cut] why don’t we have kids in the kitchen helping out.  Chef loved it.  Free help!!!

I got a meeting about it set up for next week.

Now, Mr. T, the principal asks me how to get a key to some room near the school.  LIKE I KNOW.  I work here, now, 10 hours a week.  But, I tell him who to talk to.  I think I scare people.  GREAT!

I can’t do assessments – no charts

I can’t do the garden work – pouring rain

I can’t get the stupid grant out – computer won’t print or stay online or in any MS office program

I do paperwork and talk to some at risk kids or kids who lost weight and are now off my list.

The guys and gals have weeded.  Everyone wants to use shovels.  Just wait.

Next week the plants go in the garden.  They have not yet worked.  We didn’t get the top soil I wanted, so we are going to turn the soil.  All 250 square feet.  The pissing and moaning will start early and last all day since we couldn’t get anything done today.

Can’t wait!

I held another food committee meeting.  This time I even had a form to fill out.

Down the UP staircase

I know it has been a while, but I have been on planes, trains and in hotels with no internet service.  But here are the highlights:

Meatless Mondays got the taste panel.  No one spit out the food, although they made enough comments.  One brilliant light kept saying, “why can’t we have a balsamic vinagrette with the salad.  How about some fresh basil?”  Can you say, “clueless to budget three times fast?”

Much pissing and moaning about meatless mondays, but then one kid thanked me.

I gave up asking about the garden.  I informed everyone that last Monday I was going to pull out the poison ivy.  I did and brought 3 kids in to help clear out other weeds and measure our space.

Here are some photos of our courtyard prior to our work.

Westside with azalea we will pull.

West side of Courtyard

Westside of courtyard for lettuces

Westside of courtyard for lettuces

I got applications for grants and wrote letters to different nurseries and garden shops for materials.  I got an email from a power that be.  I have a budget of $400.

Then, I got an email later that day from the new exec.  Could I meet now?  Sure.

“Everyone tells me how much they like you.  What great things you are doing.  Other than assessments, what are you doing?”

We have now entered into the game, “Justify your job.”

I have assessments.  From that I put together a spreadsheet of data on the clients.  I update it every month so I know exactly who gained/lost.  Who I need to talk to.  I put the assessment sheet into a document that I can quickly update and email to the MDs for diet changes.  Since I am part time, I can’t rely on seeing someone or dealing with physical paper trails.

I have 2-3 yoga classes to get the girls moving at least once a week.  With the help of Drina, I got us new gym equipment.  I talk to kids about their wt, cholesterol, pre-diabetes.

We have been asked to be part of a study on nutrition and behavior, but we have to raise our own funds.  I am looking at grants for that.  I just started the garden project.  Other than that, I drink champagne and eat bon-bons during my 20 hours a week here.

“I’m sure you know we are having budget issues.  We need you to prioritize and do your job in 10 hours a week.”

How am I supposed to connect with a traumatized kid and help them with their wt, a very personal issue, if I don’t know them?

“All of our stakeholders will be very impressed on what you are doing.  I’m going to try to get you more hours.  We can revisit this on a monthly basis.”

You have a budget that has to balance.  I get it.

“I appreciate your attitude.”

So, this week I spent my 10 hours having the kids plant seeds in pots.  I took them home so I can take care of them during the sprouting phase.  Then, we will plant.

I had one client want to get nasty about meatless mondays.

“Ms. Marty, WHY-Y-Y do we have to have meatless mondays?”

Because I have to care about you enough to listen to you whine.  I have to care enough to want you to be healthy on my watch.  You need to learn to eat foods that aren’t going to kill you.  The day I stop caring, you’ll know by what your fed.

Two eyes, one mouth. Use them in that proportion.

Getting up at 4:30 is no fun, especially when you stay up late trying to watch something on TV.  This was the first morning I felt like not going in.  Okay, the wine didn’t help.

For the first half hour, the internet didn’t work.  Then it worked, but not with my non-work email address.  Annoying!  My non-email address has 1/2 of my schedule on it.  However, I did get to read the weeks emails of who came, who is having issues, who left.

I had a number of meetings with clients and the weight charts I made.  I had to get through the assessments of the newer clients first.  It takes about a week or two to find their charts.  Then, I play catch up.  I could do a simple assessment without the chart.  Finding out someone is a pedifile at age 17 is pretty creepy.  Finding out someone has attacked a few staff people at other facilities can give you pause.  Reading that someone has been a rape victim for a period of time lets your guard down leading to getting verbally slammed.

One client was interesting, smart, motivated.  The next wanted me to come into the bathroom so she could do her hair and answer questions.  I drew the line.  She withdrew.  I got what I needed and moved on.  She wants to be a dentist.  I thought of Little Shop of Horrors.

Later I met with Head Nurse.  She began to drill me on why we had to many kids allergic to milk, but not peanuts.  I don’t know, but the fact that 90% of our population are minority clients and 73% of the world’s population is lactose intolerant probably has nothing to do with it.  She also couldn’t understand why I would want to have a Meatless Monday.  ”You don’t want to get between the Germans and their pork”, she said.

Call me crazy, but 10% of our clients have high cholesterol or triglycerides or both.  Over 50% are obese.  Perhaps introducing them to low fat, cholesterol free food may save their life.

Later I walked with Momma’s girl.  Her mother has been ruled by boyfriends all of her life.  Now Momma’s girl wants to be with her mom.  No matter that Momma’s beaux did nasty things in the past.  Every day I meet a new queen of denial.