This morning I was thinking about how easy it is for many to see food only as the finished product. Take something ordinary, maybe a tomato, a slice of bread, a bowl of beans, or even something already prepared from the grocery store. Before it reached our plate, there was a story. Someone grew, raised, gathered, harvested, caught, processed, or prepared what eventually became this food where soil, water, weather, and season all played a part. Someone harvested, transported, processed, packaged, sold, or prepared the food. Then somewhere along that path, we became part of the process too. We may have grown it ourselves. We may have bought it from a farmer. We may have chosen it from a grocery shelf, brought it home, cooked it, or simply opened the package. What interests me is what happens when we begin to notice the relationships again. Pick one thing you eat today and trace it backward as far as you reasonably can. Where did it come from? Who might have had a hand in getting it to you? Was season important to it? What happened between its original form and what is sitting in front of you, and where did you enter that chain? You do not need to research every answer. Start with what you know, notice what you do not know, and let the missing pieces become questions. My thought is that food literacy begins partly here, not by memorizing more rules about food, but by becoming curious about the food already passing through our hands. What is one ordinary food you could trace backward today, and how far back can you follow it? When you think about the food you eat most often, how well do you know its path to your table?

Today we pause with gratitude for the men and women who gave their lives and service to our country. Memorial Day is not just a long weekend. It is a day to remember the cost carried by families, and communities, to promote freedom throughout the world. At Oasis Builders, we talk about home, family, land, and building steady lives. Days like this remind us that much of what we are able to build rests on sacrifices we should never forget. With respect and gratitude, we remember.

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Seed (vegetable) oils are almost entirely fat and provide concentrated calories, with very little protein, carbohydrate, or micronutrients per tablespoon. What “seed vegetable oil” means Most cooking “vegetable oils” sold in bottles are blends or single oils made from seeds such as soybean, corn, canola (rapeseed), sunflower, safflower, grapeseed, cottonseed, or sesame. Their detailed composition varies by plant, but they share some broad features. Typical nutrition per tablespoon For a generic vegetable/seed oil (about 14 g fat per 1 tablespoon / 15 mL):​ - Energy: ~120 calories per tablespoon - Total fat: ~14 g - Protein: 0 g - Carbohydrate: 0 g (0 g fiber, 0 g sugars) - Cholesterol: 0 mg - Sodium: 0 mg All of the calories come from fat. Fatty acid profile (general pattern) Seed oils are predominantly unsaturated fats, with relatively low saturated fat compared to animal fats like butter.

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