Update: The Historic Longview Farmers Market will reopen for the fall on Saturday, September 24, 2011!!

As Texas experiences one of the most costly droughts in more than a century, farmers across the state have been hit with record losses as pasture land has burned up under exceptional drought conditions. Texas farmers have been forced to quickly sell their cattle to feedlots, vegetable crops have dried up in the fields and many farmers markets have closed leaving some farmers with no place to sell their products.

The drought has greatly affected many of the East Texas farmers who also participate in the Historic Longview Farmers Market. Many went to great lengths to grow larger crops, produce more products and buy more chickens in order to participate in the market this year. The Historic Longview Farmers Market has had to temporarily close due to the drought but plans to reopen in the fall pending a break from the extreme weather conditions. The market's closure has left some of the vendors, who do not grow vegetables, without an avenue to sell their products.

If you would like to buy pasture raised eggs, artisan goat cheese, or another item such as (Read Full Article)

On Wednesday, August 3, 2011, the Longview News-Journal featured an article on food allergies and intolerances in the Taste section titled "Gluten-free baking eases allergies." The article written by editor Charlotte Stewart, features a family who has had to learn to cook and prepare food without gluten and other ingredients that trigger severe health conditions for a member of their family.

The article includes an interview with Danielle Heard, MS, HHC, of Artemis in the City as an expert on food allergies and intolerances.

If you would like to read the article on the Longview News-Journal's website please click here or download the newspaper pdfs page 1 and page 2.

Thank you very much Charlotte and the Longview News-Journal for including Artemis in the City in the article! We are very grateful that you thought to interview Danielle.

The following is additional information which was provided during the interview. Danielle has extensive educational training, background and also professional experience in working with people who have food allergy and intolerance issues. She specializes in helping people who have various difficult to diagnose and treat health conditions that most often is linked to their food choices. Many of Danielle's clients initially have food intolerance or allergy issues but with dietary changes they are able to regain their health.

Food allergies and intolerances can be expressed through many symptoms such as (Read Full Article)

New scientific research found that environmental factors increase children's susceptibility to developing autism more than genetics.

The University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Institute for Human Genetics and Stanford University teamed together to lead one of the largest genetic research studies conducted to date on sets of twins to uncover genetic components of autism. Additional research was contributed by Kaiser Permanente, University of California Davis, the Autism Genetic Research Exchange and the California Department of Health.

The research study, which was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and by Autism Speaks, found that environmental factors represented more than half of a child's susceptibility for developing autism. In the most severe cases of autism, environmental factors represented 55% and even higher at 58% as a cause of broad spectrum disorders. Genetics represented (Read Full Article)

I received an email today from my younger brother who wrote to say that my four-year-old niece is so completely fascinated by her new baby brother that she is even trying to breastfeed her monkey. I then realized that there is a need for The Breast Milk Baby.

Parents are the primary role models for their children. Their behavior is monitored ever so closely by their kids who often at a young age will confess that they want to grow up to be just like their mommy or daddy. Pretending to be parents is part of play that eventually leads to adult behavior so it is only natural for a child who views her mother breastfeeding a younger sibling to try to emulate breastfeeding.

The Breast Milk Baby is a new doll that comes with a halter for the child to wear that has two flowers on it to represent breasts. When the doll is placed near the flowers, (Read Full Article)