You’ve seen the label ‘organic’ for years now, but what does this really mean and what are the benefits to you and your family?

According to the Mayo Clinic, the word ‘organic’ references the way farmers grow and process agricultural products. Organic farming practices are designed to address several factors, such as pest and weed control, usage of additives, animal habitats and treatment, pollution, and more.

For produce to be certified as organic, it must have been grown on soil that has been free of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides for at least 3 years. For meat to carry the organic certification, the animals must be raised in living conditions that allow them to continue their natural behaviors, fed natural, GMO-free foods, and cannot be given hormones or antibiotics. Finally, when it comes to processed organic foods, they must be free of artificial preservatives, food coloring, or flavors.

Over the years, research has shown potential health benefits of eating organic, such as an increase in nutrients, like Vitamin C, iron, and magnesium, in produce and an increase in omega-3 fatty acids in organic meat due to feeding requirements for the animal. Additionally, crops grown organically have shown lower levels of pesticide residue due to fertilization practices and lower levels of cadmium, a toxic heavy metal that can affect the liver and kidneys.

Generally, organic foods are more expensive than traditional foods, which is a factor that hinders many from opting to go fully organic. However, depending on your family’s financial situation or health requirements, it may be worth the additional cost.

Museum Campus: Well, it’s been a while, but the Field Museum, located at 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, is opening up again to the general public! Beginning Saturday, January 23, visitors can enjoy the many amazing sights and exhibitions this world-class museum has to offer. Illinois residents can also enjoy free entry on Monday, January 25, and on Thursday, January 28. Favorites like Sue the T. Rex and Maximo the Titanosaur will be on hand as well the museum’s latest exhibition, “Apsáaooke Women and Warriors,” about a southern Montana indigenous tribe. As expected, masks and social distancing will be enforced. Find more info regarding exhibits and ticket prices here.

Museum Campus: Like its neighbor, the Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium is opening its door again as well. Located at 1200 South Lake Shore Drive, the Shedd and all its underwater friends will open to members beginning January 27 through January 29. General admission to the public will be on Saturday, January 30. Tickets for the public go on sale today, January 23, at noon. Masks are mandatory and social distancing will be strictly enforced. Find more info here.

Loop: Willis Towers, located at 233 South Wacker Drive, is home to the first public art installation by renowned artistOlafur Eliasson. The piece, entitled Atmospheric wave wall, located on the Jackson Boulevard wall exterior, was created specifically for the Willis Tower. The 30-foot by 60-foot design, inspired by Lake Michigan and the Chicago River, comprises over 1,900 metal curved tiles that catch the sun and the motion of people moving past it, creating a dynamic visual experience. At night this eye-popping fixture is backlit, enabling bursts of light to disperse between the tiles. Find more info here.

Virtual: Beginning today, January 21, and running until Sunday, January 24, check out HotHouse Meets Havana, a Cuban jazz virtual festival blending the best Latin jazz musicians in Cuba with American jazz musicians and composers. Brought to you by local non-profit HotHouse, tune in each night at 7 pm on their streaming platform for a free two-hour virtual presentation. Featured musicians include top Cuban flute player Orlando “Maraca” Valle, Chicago born master saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, Cuban jazz pianist Roberto Fonseca, and many more. Each performance will be up on HotHouse’s website for 24 hours. Find more info here.

Logan Square: It may be cold this weekend, but that’s no reason not to check out the plethora of local vendors at the Logan Square Farmers Market. The best part? It’s indoors. Taking place each Sunday from 9 am to 3 pm at 3029 North Rockwell Street, this farmers market hosts vendors including Bee in Beezyness, The Chick and the Pea, Jilly’s Jerky, Stamper Cheese, and Yoberri Gourmet, among many others. High-risk shoppers can attend the market between 9 am to 10 am. Masks and social distancing will be enforced. And if you aren’t quite ready to be out and about, you can always place your order through their virtual market. Find more info here.

ERIC KAPLAN AND DEAN’S TEAM CHICAGO

Many people stop feeding birds in winter. Whether they find it too hard or simply think the birds leave, winter is the most important time to feed. Cold weather climes will find many of the birds’ natural food supplies buried in snow. So, the birds you feed in summer will overwinter if they have sufficient food. You will even see birds you do not see in summer if you are providing the right food. 

Blue Jays, woodpeckers, cardinals, sparrows, and finches are just a few species you find at the winter bird feeders. Doves like Mourning and Turtle will practically live in your backyard if you provide ground food. You will need a ground feeder for these doves or just toss food on the ground. We keep an 8-foot round circle clear of snow within reach of the back porch to toss food daily. We feed early morning and evening. Cardinals are here before sunup! 

Do use larger feeders in the winter and keep them relatively close to the house for ease of filling. We have an open back porch with a roof, so our main feeders are under shelter. For those in the open, purchase a good-sized feeder with a roof that extends to keep the seed as dry as possible. This will feed the perching birds. Wet seed can mold and cause disease. 

Clean out any wet or frozen seed regularly. Be sure to clean feeders monthly with a mild unscented dish soap solution. Rinse, then sanitize with a bleach solution of one part bleach to nine parts hot water, and then dry thoroughly before refilling. Do put feeders out in the most severe winds. It is good to have shelter close by like hedges, bushes, or brush piles for birds to offer safety from predators. If you have feeders close to the house, keep at least five feet from windows and use decorative clings so birds will not fly into them. 

Do not cheap out on seed! This is true all year long. Cheap seed is made with half fillers that birds reject, so they accumulate in the feeders and get wet and moldy. Birds need high-fat seed for energy in the winter. Black oil sunflower, safflower, and white millet provide a good mix for most birds that winter over. Add some raw peanut hearts for many birds. We feed in-shell peanuts to keep the squirrels at bay. We were delighted to see that Blue Jays love the peanuts and take them into the trees to shell and eat. You can use a mix entirely made up of hulled seeds, so you minimize the mess of hulls after the winter, but it is expensive. We have been offering suet with fruit and seeds this year. The woodpeckers are particularly fond of this, but all the birds like it. Again, it is high fat for maximum energy. 

Keep up birdhouses and shelters year-round to provide roosting sites. Add a weatherproof heater to your birdbath, or buy an already heated one. We have our birdbath next to the garage to provide electricity for the heater and bushes on either side for shelter. They should be several feet away to provide shelter but not provide ambush cover for predators. We keep the seed in the house as keeping it in the garage or a shed invites rodents, and it is more difficult to keep dry. 

So, do feed the birds this winter. It is a little more work but well worth it. The birds will brighten up the entire backyard with their visits and songs. They do help to get you through the darkest days of winter. 

KATHLEEN WEAVER-ZECH AND DEAN’S TEAM CHICAGO

It’s tough enough getting through January here in Chicago with the weather, gray days, and being indoors, let alone having our usual indoor winter events put on hold. In any event, here are some ideas to keep you from climbing the walls at home sweet home this weekend!

Join Watson Adventures’ NEW Around the World Virtual Scavenger Hunt: The Asia Pacific Game this Saturday from 3:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m. This unique scavenger hunt shows you the best of Australia, Singapore, China, Japan, New Zealand, and more from the comfort of home. You’ll be sent off to explore this area’s best landmarks and museums via links to eye-popping websites for you to answer fun, tricky questions. Stops along the way include the Sydney Opera House, the Great Barrier Reef, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the giant pandas in China, and more! Teams of up to six can play together or remotely with no previous knowledge being required. Advance booking is required at $19 per person.

Round up some family and/or friends for an epic game night of Let’s Roam’s Chicago Virtual Game Night on its one-of-a-kind video platform. Your evening will consist of five rounds of fun games, which include Trivia (8,000+ questions & 60+ categories) for you to go brain-to-brain with your family or friends; Charades (dozens of themed categories to choose from); Let’s Draw (Pictionary with a virtual twist); Trivia About You (complete a short questionnaire and Let’s Roam’s platform will auto-generate personalized questions); and Drinking Games (for the party animals)! Just access your virtual game night on a desktop, laptop, or tablet!!

If you’re a fan of dollhouses, the Mount Prospect Historical Society offers Dollhouse Video Tours now through February 15th. The virtual tour will consist of five dollhouses in their collection, plus one owned by a local resident. The tours are also shot from the dolls’ perspective, and there’s even a fun I Spy-style game asking viewers to locate certain items in each of the six miniature houses!!

Need to get out for some fresh air and don’t care that it’s January? Then head on over to Recess (838 W. Kinzie St.) for their Fire & Ice Pop Up this Saturday (7 p.m.-8 p.m.) and Sunday (5 p.m.-6 p.m.). Enjoy a stroll through their patio as you explore ice sculptures and snap photos at their many photo ops. Once you’ve had enough ice, head on over to one of their fire pit tables to warm up. Your ticket includes one-hour admission to view the ice sculptures and take your photos, a s’mores kit and pretzel stick and one specialty cocktail for adults, and snowflake crafting for the kids! Buy your tickets now as space is limited!!

Have an incredibly fun and safe experience this weekend at ChiTown Movies Presents: Drive-In Theatre under the stars at their drive-in located at 2343 S. Throop St. in the Pilsen neighborhood. Watch classic and blockbuster movies right from the comfort of your car. Outside food and drink are not permitted; however, you will have the option to have popcorn, tacos, wings, frozen mangos, and more delivered right to your car as you enjoy the movie! This weekend’s movies include — Saturday (Moana, 5 p.m. & Jaws, 7:30 p.m.) and Sunday (Jurassic Park, 5 p.m. & Jaws, 7:30 p.m.)!!

Sue Moss and Dean’s Team Chicago

Time and time again, we return to comfort food to soothe the unfortunate reality of a continued shutdown due to the pandemic. One spot playing heavily on the comfort and nostalgia aspect is Marvin’s Food & Fuel.

Located at 954 West Fulton Market in the West Loop, this casual neighborhood joint opened in the late summer, serving up familiar comfort food with a menu created by chef Mitch Cavanah of GT Fish & Oyster fame. 

Marvin’s Food and Fuel currently offers TV dinners to go. These are not to be confused with the TV dinners sitting in the frozen section of your local supermarket. There’s no rubbery steak insisting on staying ice cold in the middle no matter how much you nuke it, nor is there some strange blend of ingredients labeled as pudding sitting in the corner of the tray.

The TV dinners available for pick up or delivery at Marvin’s are freshly prepared classic choices that you can heat at home. The turkey dinner features roasted turkey breast with brown turkey gravy, herb stuffing, and baked apple crumble. Their meatloaf dinner consists of BBQ beef meatloaf, whipped potatoes with Parmesan, and chocolate chip bread pudding. The Lasagna TV Dinner with ricotta and beef Bolognese, roasted cauliflower with pine nut gremolata, and berry crumble rounds out the current options available. Each dinner costs $15. You can order from the website Toast here.

Of course, Marvin’s Food & Fuel offers much more than their TV dinners. The menu is stuffed with an array of comfort cuisine perfect for getting through a when-will-this-be-over pandemic winter. Highlights off the sandwich menu include the char siu pork sandwich with daikon sauce, pickled jalapeno, and garlic aioli. Their take on the skirt steak sandwich, featuring provolone, spicy giardiniera, and horseradish cream, is a standout bursting with flavor. The pulled mushroom sandwich with Jax’s BBQ sauce and pickled red cabbage is one of the best lunchtime meals you can grab on the quick in the West Loop. And finally, Marvin’s burger with double smashed patties, American cheese, caramelized onions, and Marvin’s special sauce is a tour de force for burger lovers.

You can easily get by with the options on the starter menu alone. Particular standouts are the potato latkes tots with a smoked salmon dip, the grilled chicken wings with a Thai chili glaze, and the housemade pastrami platter with sauerkraut, mustard trio, and rye bread.

Despite the cold weather, the spiked ice cream drinks on the menu are well worth the extra chill thanks to the cool sweet mixtures in favorites such as the creamsicle with orange liqueur and vodka, chococo-loco with coffee liqueur and crème de cacao, and the pina colada with coconut rum and a blend of aged rums. Each ice cream drink offered at Marvin’s can be made without alcohol as well.

Marvin’s Food & Fuel is open Wednesday through Friday from 4 pm to 11 pm, Saturday from 10 am to 11 pm, and Sunday from 10 am to 4 pm.

ERIC KAPLAN AND DEAN’S TEAM CHICAGO