An Argument For Food

I've written here before about the declining to almost non-existent nutritional value of our food.  I've gone on at great length about the declining taste in our food, and my theory that this declining taste is the reason so many use so much salt. (Even if you cut back on the salt at home, have you read the sodium levels of "convenience food"? It's enough to make me stop eating at work!!) Yesterday I wrote about the need to go back to growing our own food. Not just for control over our own food, but also to control what we put into our bodies. Sodium is only a part of that. All this really started for me when a co-worker became pregnant and had to start watching how much sodium, caffeine and sugar she ingested. She was near-rabid about it, and the topic of nutrients came up repeatedly at work. Before long, we were all looking at those nutrient labels, and we were all appalled. In one submarine sandwich, there was 115% of the daily recommended allowance of sodium! In one sandwich! In a frozen, throw-it-in-the-microwave-and-zap-it meal there sodium levels ranged anywhere from 25% to 80%, depending on the producer. The conversations turned then to what we can do about this.

I've always said we need to express our wishes with our money, and this is no exception. Don't buy the frozen, high fat, high sodium meals. Bring your own lunch from home. Include in that lunch more fruit, more vegetables, more water, more juice. Last night's leftovers, maybe you made apple muffins or cookies, or your soup you made from scratch. Make your own submarine sandwiches, wraps are so versatile it's hard to get bored, roasted vegetables are always a treat. I know one industrious soul who makes her own bread bowls and somehow manages to fill them with stew and take them to work without making a mess. I'm not that talented, but I eat from home as best I can. Meatloaf, barbeque chicken, homemade biscuits and gravy, soups, stew, wraps, cookies...whatever we have available. Even homemade mac & cheese. Ever look at the nutrition label on a box of KD? I love cheese, even though I shouldn't have much of it. When I get the yearning for smooth, melty macaroni and cheese, 90% of the time, we make it at home. Very little, if none, sodium. There's no mysterious powder to wonder about, and I'm the envy of my co-workers. Even an ordinary sandwich can be livened up with a handful of clover sprouts that you grew. Full of vitamins, minerals and sunshine, those sprouts can take a sandwich from boring to cool in only a few days. The best part is that you don't need a southern exposure to grow them, either.

No matter how we grow our own food, controlling what we put into our bodies will have profound effects. More nutritious food, allowed to ripen in the sun if possible and not picked green, builds better bodies. When we started down this footpath of better health, I didn't notice anything at first. I didn't notice more energy or better skin or anything of that sort. But let me go on record right now as saying we're not perfect. We slipped a few times. It's cheaper to buy crap-food, I'll admit, and we've all done it. After a little while of nipping out for lunch, a few days of not having herbal tea but Coke and Pepsi instead and not paying attention to what I was putting in my body, I was draggin' ass. I was tired all the time, I had no get up and go, no zip, no pep. I wasn't interested in anything, couldn't concentrate... you get the idea. I suspected there might be a link. (Feel free to roll your eyes here) So I went back to drinking more herbal tea, more water and eating fruit and yogurt more often. I found I needed to nap less (I work late into the night, so my sleep schedule is already compromised), it was a little easier to concentrate at work and I wanted to walk more. As a side benefit, I was having fewer asthma attacks. Coincidence? I think not.

So, in conclusion, taking back control of our food, how it's grown and processed and how we eat it is all within our best interests. Better health is something we're all entitled to, no matter what country we live in, our economic situation, or our family dynamic. I firmly believe that decades of nutrient deficient food has made us sicker, weaker and less vital. We can start reclaiming our health one meal at a time, one ingredient at a time, one person at a time. If you can't grow your own tomatoes because you face north and get no sun, like me, look into sprouts. They're the easiest green to grow ever. If you are able, start buying at Farmer's markets. Not only can you actually speak to the person who grows your food, but you'll be supporting local growers and producers. If you want a local food system, help create one. We need to take back control over our food, take back control over our health and in such uncertain times, every little bit of reclaimed control makes us stronger.

Tomorrow, a look at using food stamps in the U.S for seeds and food producing plants! (Thanks to Jacqueline for the heads up!)

Saving The Past and The Future

Those of you who have been reading this blog for any amount of time know I am an organic gardener, and dead set against science messing with plants.  I know that heirloom seed is important, for a lot of reasons, but I was shocked to find out how many species of tomatoes, peppers, garlic and other vegetables disappear every year because they "slip through the cracks" as it were. Not sure exactly what a heirloom plant variety is? Neither was I when I first started down this path. Generally, an heirloom cultivar is a plant species introduced  before 1950, and is usually understood to be a "true-type" variety. Which means that if you plant, let's say, a Brandywine tomato, let it grow, save those seeds and plant those next year, your crop of tomatoes next season will be exactly like it's predecessor the prior year. Now, a hybrid tomato will be one that has traits from two different parent plants, and is bred for specific reasons; color, size, productivity, etc. This is how we've been able to buy green cauliflower, orange watermelon and so on.

So why should we save heirloom seed? To preserve thousands of species that have a lot to offer, to preserve our agricultural heritage, and in many cases to preserve nutritional heritage that hybrids can't meet. I've posted before Who Killed My Tomato? on the rapidly diminishing nutritional value of our vegetables, and the facts cannot be brushed aside. Generally, we are lacking in natural nutrients, so we tend to eat more of what's not good for us, leading to obesity, and many other health challenges. Part of that solution is to take a hard look at what we grow. There's more to it, but that's a lot of information to cover, so we'll leave that for another time. No one can deny that the tomato that you buy in the grocery store is a hard, round, tasteless little thing. That's because they are bred to grow as many  fruits as possible, in as little time as possible and as uniformly as possible. These  are picked green, and gassed to make them an appealing red. Yup, gassed. Ever wonder why the "on the vine" tomatoes offered at some grocery stores are  more expensive than their "hothouse" cousins? Because they are allowed to ripen a bit more on their plants. Not completely, mind you, but a bit more. The tomatoes allowed to stay on their plants have increased flavor, but most people still have no real idea how a tomato is supposed to taste. (This is why so many people put  salt on their tomato sandwiches. Otherwise that sandwich would have no taste at all) So a return to flavor is a very good reason to grow heirloom vegetables.

In today's agricultural world, chemicals reign supreme. Many farmers, gardeners and growers don't know how to grow without hybrid types, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Fans of genetically engineered crops  like to say that the solution for famine is to grow crops that are bred for increased yield. So they focus on hybrids that can be tampered with at a cellular level. Every time a farmer or gardener plants hybrid seed, the demand and market for an heirloom variety disappears. I disagree with those folks for a lot of reasons, but here, I'll pick just one that's relevant to today's post. Did you know that through political influence, there are many countries in which it is illegal to save one's own seed? The easiest way to guarantee that folks cannot trade seeds over the water pump is to pass laws that make it illegal to buy seed other than government approved types. Hybrids. Varieties that Monsanto and the like have developed and made available. It's true. Many of these countries have an ever-growing hungry populace that would benefit greatly by growing and saving their own seeds, but it's against the law for them to do this! This is wrong on so many levels, and a crying shame that politicians have allowed Monsanto and their cousins to poison and starve growing numbers of people that deserve better. But I digress.

Here is just a short list of endangered tomato varieties, although the long list numbers in the hundreds.

*My Girl Tomato
*Kenilworth tomato
*Ryder's Midday Sun Tomato
*Whippersnapper Tomato
*Beefsteak Tomato
*Broad Ripple Yellow Currant Tomato
*Pink Cherry Tomato
*Hugh's Tomato
*Tomato Tiger Tom
*Aunti Madge's Tomato

And here is a short list of endangered heirloom vegetables, whose long list also numbers in the hundreds,

*The Runner Bean
*The Dwarf French Bean
*The Kale Daubenton
*The Afghan Purple Carrot
*The Red Elephant Carrot
*The Shetland Cabbage
*The Walla Walla Sweet Onion
*The Giant Tree Tomato
*The Macedonian Sweet Pepper
*The Crimson Giant Radish
*The Salford Black Runner Bean
*The Boothby's Blonde Cucumber
*The Colossal Leek
*The Loos Tennis Ball Lettuce
*The Rousham Park Hero Onion
*The Mrs Fortune's Climbing French bean
*The Blue Coco Climbing French Bean
*The Gravedigger Pea
*The King of the Ridge Cucumber
*The Jeyes Pea
*The Brighstone Dwarf French Bean

Remember, neither of these lists are complete or extensive.
So now that I've laid out what's at risk of disappearing, and why we should all save heirloom seed, how does one get started on this path? Learn all you can about heirloom vegetables, or flowers if that's your thing. The other big step is DON'T BUY HYBRID!!
Use your hard-earned dollars politically. Buy from suppliers that carry heirloom types. This takes some legwork, but not as much as you'd think. If you Google heirloom seed suppliers, you'll find lots of resources. There are some online resources that are better than others. Seed Savers has an awesome website focused on saving heirloom varieties. From their website,

"Our mission is to save North America's diverse, but endangered, garden heritage for future generations by building a network of people committed to collecting, conserving and sharing heirloom seeds and plants, while educating people about the value of genetic and cultural diversity.
At the heart of Seed Savers Exchange are the dedicated members who have distributed hundreds of thousands of heirloom and open pollinated garden seeds since our founding over 35 years ago. Those seeds now are widely used by seed companies, small farmers supplying local and regional markets, chefs and home gardeners and cooks, alike."

 Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds also has an educational and informative website. From their website,
" Baker Creek carries one of the largest selections of seeds from the 19th century, including many Asian and European varieties. The company has become a tool to promote and preserve our agricultural and culinary heritage. Gardeners can request a free 196-page color catalog that now mails to 310,000 gardeners nationally.
Baker Creek started hosting festivals in 2000 as an idea to bring gardeners, homesteaders and natural food enthusiasts together to exchange thoughts, seeds, listen to speakers and enjoy vendors, old-time music and much more. These festivals gave birth to the idea for our pioneer village, Bakersville. Other projects include our trial gardens, seed collecting expeditions, our popular online forums at idigmygarden.com and educational produce exhibits.
Over the last several years, Jere Gettle and his wife Emilee have branched out into other related projects as well, including the nationally distributed, Heirloom Gardener magazine, which is now in its eighth year of publication.
They also work extensively to supply free seeds to many of the world’s poorest countries, as well as here at home in school gardens and other educational projects. It is their goal to educate everyone about a better, safer food supply and fight gene-altered, Frankenfood and the companies that support it.
All of our seed is non-hybrid, non-GMO, non-treated and non-patented.
We do not buy seed from Monsanto-owned Seminis. We boycott all gene-altering companies. We are not members of the pro-GMO American Seed Trade Organization! We work with a network of about 100 small farmers, gardeners and seed growers to bring you the best selection of seeds available! Many of our varieties we sell were collected by us on our travels abroad.
We offer over 1300 fine varieties! Unique seeds from 70 countries!"

If those of us who grow plants, both flowers and vegetables, do not focus on growing, saving and preserving endangered varieties, we risk losing even more of our heritage, and losing our nutritional resources. By growing heirloom varieties you can help preserve genetic resources that can help feed your family, as well as help prevent possible food shortages. Not to mention the fact that you'll discover a whole new world of tasty vegetables!

Adventures In Sprouting, Part Two

Four Day Old Sprouts

After many rinses, much peeking and a dark corner, I've learned a few things more about sprouting. The picture is four day old mung bean sprouts. They have no smell, and they've been rinsed many, many times. All the literature and tips say every 8-10 hours, but there have been times I've rinsed before 8 hours. This won't hurt them, I suppose I just don't want any chance of them moulding. The process is much simpler than I expected. Soak, rinse well until water is clear, drain well.  Put a piece of cheesecloth over the jar mouth, screw  ring on snugly. Find a dark corner. No, a cupboard won't do. I found this out after mine sat up in a very dark cupboard for a few hours. The reason they can't sit in a cupboard? No air flow. This is important if you don't want to catch something, like E. coli. So after reading a tip that suggested a dark corner of the kitchen, where they would be in a darkened area but not out of sight, that's where I put mine. As I've said before, there is no smell. They are just over an inch long I suppose, and today is the day that I need to decide exactly how we're going to eat them. I think we'll go with a salad. This will provide us, those that will eat the salad anyway, with some powerful vitamins and minerals that the salad would not otherwise have. Since we're all so spotty with remembering our multi-vitamins, this should give our bodies a powerful shot of healthy stuff just when we need it to ward off winter illnesses.

Yesterday, we went back to our favorite organic/health food store to get alfalfa seeds and clover seeds, both for sprouting. Those are more suited to sandwiches, which we eat tons of, as well as salads. So one of those will be my next sprouting adventures.

Hmm, we're having roast tonight, I wonder if I can chop those bean sprouts up finely enough to slip into the roast's juices, and maybe slip that nutrition past the boys without them noticing?

2012 ... A Year of Change? Or Not?

One of the blogs I read each week is The ArchDruids Report (found in my Blogs I Read, to the right and down the page a bit), this week he raises some interesting points. Here is an excerpt, I'd love to know what you think about what he's said. What do you think will happen? Do you see things changing for the better? Leave your thoughts in the comments, I'm hoping we can get some interesting dialogue going!


"I’d like to suggest that when we take a backwards look in the early days of 2013, we will most likely see that that’s what happened in 2012, too: a slow worsening across a wide range of trends, punctuated by localized crises and regional disasters. I’d like to predict, in fact, that when we take that backward look, the US dollar and the Euro will both still exist and be accepted as legal tender, though the Eurozone may have shed a couple of countries who probably shouldn’t have joined it in the first place; that stock markets around the world will have had another volatile year, but will still be trading. Here in the US, whoever is unlucky enough to win the 2012 presidential election will be in the middle of an ordinary transition to a new term of office; the new Congress will be gearing up for another two years of partisan gridlock; gas stations will still have gas for sale and grocery stores will be stocked with groceries; and most Americans will be making the annual transition between coping with their New Year’s hangovers and failing to live up to their New Year’s resolutions, just as though it was any other year.


That is to say, nothing much will have changed, if by the word "change" you mean exclusively the kind of dramatic break with the existing pattern of things that so many people are predicting just now. From any other perspective, plenty will have changed. Official US statistics will no doubt insist that the unemployment rate has gone down—do you ever get the feeling that when the Soviet Union collapsed, the people who used to churn out all those preposterous propaganda claims for their government got hired by ours? I do—but the number of people out of work in the United States will likely set another all-time record; the number of people in severe economic trouble will have gone up another good-sized notch, and public health clinics will probably be seeing the first wave of malnutrition-caused illness in children. If you happen to have spent the year in one of the areas unfortunate enough to get hit by the hard edge of the increasingly unstable weather, you may have had to spend a week or two in an emergency shelter while the flood waters receded or the wreckage got hauled away, and you might even notice that less and less gets rebuilt every year.


Unless that happens, though, or unless you happen to pay close attention to the things that don’t usually make the evening news, you may well look back in the first days of 2013 and think that business as usual is still ongoing. You’d be right, too, so long as you recognize that there’s been a stealthy change in what business as usual now means. Until the peak of world conventional petroleum production arrived in 2005, by and large, business as usual meant the continuation of economic growth. Since then, by and large, it has meant the continuation of economic decline."