We are lucky to have a family filled with adventurous eaters, but it wasn’t always that way. For most of her life, Kim was a super-picky eater. “Cheeseburger Ketchup Only” was her standard order for the longest time, and over the years I was always amazed at the number of veggies and fruits she had never tried. I think she was 16 the first time she tried a strawberry, even though she grew up going to the Strawberry Festival every year!
This all ended one night when Abby was a baby and starting to eat solid foods. Kim knew that she was picky and didn’t want Abby to be that way, so as Abby started eating more and more, we made sure to include a variety of veggies. One evening at dinner we were having tomatoes, and I was in charge of serving up the plates. I served myself, gave little portions to Abby and then I piled Kim’s plate high with plump, juicy tomatoes. She looked askance at both me and the plate, and I simply said, “If Abby’s going to eat it, you are, too.” And from that day forward, Kim has turned into one of the least picky eaters you’ll ever know. She loves fresh tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, papaya, and has even come around to olives. She is still afraid of okra because, as she points out, it is slimy, seedy, and hairy.
Last week for her birthday, we proved that as a family we are adventurous eaters. We went to Chez Collete’s French Bistro over near Indian Rocks Beach. We knew we had to order escargot for the girls. Both Abby and Maddy were a little suspicious, but both enjoyed their snails. I think they liked dipping their bread in the herb-garlic butter that the snails were in more than the snails themselves, but I’m just proud of them for being willing to try things. Life is so much more interesting when you have a lot of variety in it. What’s the strangest food you’ve ever tried?
There is one picky eater that we love to encourage – The Butterfly. Few animals are pickier than butterfly caterpillars, with many selecting one plant or family of plants as the only food that they will eat. Take the Monarch butterfly for instance, its caterpillar will only eat milkweed. Nothing else, no matter how similar the leaves look. But, we’ll live with them being picky eaters, because they are amazing miracles of nature. Come out this Saturday for the Butterfly Seminar at 10am, where you can learn about what you should have in your garden to feed these picky eaters. And of course, we’ve got all the plants you need including a fresh batch of tasty milkweed for those Monarchs.
P.S. Mark your calendars for our annual Easter Egg Hunt. Saturday, April 16th at 10 am sharp, we’ll give the countdown for the kids to find eggs hidden among the beautiful plants at the nursery. Please note that to accommodate the growing size of the event, we are going to close the entrance/exit on Wheeler Road for the week leading up to Easter. Of course, all of our gates on Parsons will be open for your use. It’s been three years since our last hunt, and we are excited to watch all of the smiling faces fill their baskets with eggs.
