Blackberries, beets, turnips, English peas, new potatoes, broccoli, white and yellow zucchini squash, romaine lettuce and mustard spinach, shallots, rosemary, sage, kohlrabi, bok choi, fresh dill, garlic, green onions, green beans, large variety of peppers, leeks, pickled beets, salsa, jams and jellies, sugar-free jams and jellies, fried pies, fudge, peanut brittle, eggplant, vegetable plants, hanging baskets, many varieties of trees, bedding plants, fresh pecans, candles, jewelry, arts and crafts, cloth grocery bags, goat milk and honey hand lotions, bath salts, and sugar scrub, and hand crafted lye soap.

The Sugar Free Allstars will be hopping — like grasshoppers — from library to library in the Pioneer Library System this summer with their children’s summer program, Bug-aloo and Boogie. The Allstars will have children ages 5 to 11 and their parents wanting to dance like they’ve got ants. The summer reading program theme is “Catch the Reading Bug!”
The Allstars will perform at the Norman Public Library at 2 p.m. Monday. The library will have two programs; one at 2 p.m. and one at 7 p.m.

The Oklahoma State University Extension Service is excited to present this educational series for Shawnee News Star readers.  As many of you know, parenting is like a journey with new stops, sites and challenges along the way.  This parenting education series will focus on several stops, or issues to help parents navigate their way on their parenting journey.

How do you feel? Are your days becoming longer and more difficult because you lack healthy energy? Are you pleased with your appearance? Are you happy with your lean muscle mass? Is your body performing like it should? Are you at a healthy weight for your age and height? Is your diet providing the necessary nutrients for optimal performance? Regardless of your fitness level, these are great questions to ask yourself and answer honestly. The answers can help you identify areas of disgust in your life and start you on a path for positive lifestyle change.

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Beginning 8 a.m. Wednesday, June 11, 2008, there will be a new requirement to login in order to post comments. After a quick registration, you will be given a username and password so that you may post comments within the news-star.com Web site.

I read about the recent outbreak of salmonella. How can something like this happen in America?

The Mabee Aerobic Center on the campus of St. Gregory’s University will host swim lessons beginning Monday.
The first session runs Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday for two weeks, and the cost of the session is $40 per participant. Leading the lessons will be instructor Heather Merlyn, who is American Red Cross certified with three years experience.
Lessons will be divided into two sections: Water babies and child classes. The water baby section is for children ages 6 months to 3 years. A parent or guardian must assist the child in the water during those lessons.

Rising medication, food and fuel costs are placing new financial pressure on state mental health providers.

A pediatric rehabilitation hospital plans to start construction soon on a summer camp for children with disabilities.

If you’re like me, your summer schedule is starting to kick into full swing. Camps for the kids, tournaments, retreats, vacations and family reunions are special and worthwhile activities. Whatever our destination, we are excited to see the sights, enjoy the foods, participate in activities and experience new cultures with our family and friends. But our new leisure priorities can have a major impact on our normally good choices for proper health and nutrition. Of course, we don’t have to let that happen.

A mail carrier’s main responsibility is to deliver letters and packages, but one Shawnee carrier went above and beyond the call of duty to help a resident in need.
David Bourbonnais has been with the Shawnee Post Office for more than 33 years but until May 1 it had been business as usual. On that day, he faced a situation he had not encountered before — helping someone.

I wouldn’t want you to think that you are behind Bangladesh and Bhutan where plastic bags are concerned.

What is it going to take? How can I motivate you to be in the best shape of your life? I hope the mere fact that you are worth it serves as good enough reason, but if that doesn’t make you challenge yourself for improved health, then let me pass along a few others.

The next time your hubby is waving a credit card bill at you and complaining about your time at the spa, just remind him that it’s for your health.

Last week I urged you all to use reusable shopping bags instead of plastic bags. Let me explain. First, only 1 percent of plastic shopping bags are recycled, so many of them end up in my pond. Yuck! Many of you reuse those pesky plastic purses for other things, like bagging your garbage, and then they end up in a landfill where they never degrade because of lack of oxygen, water, light and other elements necessary for decomposition. Neither do those paper shopping bags.

The Pottawatomie County Health Department is joining the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health and the Oklahoma State Department of Health in celebrating National Women’s Health Week this week. National Women’s Health Week’s theme, It’s Your Time: Get Inspired. Get Healthy, helps call attention to the importance of women’s health.

Chandler’s annual ice cream festival will be held from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 7, in Tilghman Park in Chandler.
The festival began six years ago as a thanks to Hiland Dairy Foods Company, which operates a manufacturing plant in Chandler. The city and Hiland Dairy Foods Company work together at the festival to give out free, unlimited ice cream cones in chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and butter pecan flavors.
Last year, 2,800 ice cream cones were served.
The festival is held in conjunction with Chandler Trade Days, and besides ice cream, visitors may enjoy local food vendors, a homemade ice cream contest, rides for children and live entertainment. The John Arnold Band and Jimmy Henley and a Touch of Grass will be part of the entertainment.

A medical center has received a 120-ton component of a cyclotron to assist in the treatment of cancer.

The machine splits the atom and accelerates cancer-fighting protons to nearly the speed of light.