Archive for the ‘Food-Nutrition-Health’ Category

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2013 “Dirty Dozen” – Foods best as Organic

Tuesday, October 8th, 2013
Apples at Market

Apples at Market

by Catherine Haug, October 8, 2013

Good Housekeeping recently published it’s new “Dirty Dozen” list – foods overly contaminated with pesticide and other chemicals, so that it pays to pay more for Organic. You can read the full report at The Daily Green: The New Dirty Dozen: 12 Foods to Eat Organic, but read on for a summary. Note that many local produce found at Farmers Markets or at your local grocer is raised Organically, even though it may not bear the Organic label, so be sure to inquire. (more…)

Posted in Agriculture, Food-Nutrition-Health, GMO, Organics, Shop Local | Comments Closed

Organic vs chemical fertilization for farms, gardens

Thursday, August 15th, 2013
Dryland Farming - Palouse Hills

Dryland Farming – Palouse Hills

by Catherine Haug, August 15, 2013

(photo, right from Wikimedia Commons)

Our readers believe in using organic methods to feed their gardens, but do we all walk the talk? Do we share our belief, our method with our neighbors? Do you compost your food and garden waste, then use it to augment your soil? Do you add manure to your compost to heat it up? Do you use aged manure to augment your soil?

Have you considered that if everyone – including farmers – used organic methods in their gardens and fields, that we could completely replace the need for chemical fertilizers? Have you ever wondered how the widespread use of chemical fertilizers come to replace natural organic methods?

It’s all about nitrogen. It is the most abundant gas in our atmosphere, but it doesn’t feed our plants in that form. In order to be useful to plants, it has to be ‘fixed,’ which means converted from nitrogen gas (N2) to ammonia (NH3). Fixing nitrogen requires enormous amounts of energy, amounts that can only be provided in an industrial setting. But using manure and composting food and garden waste bypasses the need to fix nitrogen, because it is already in a fixed state in manure and compost. Thus have humans been able to grow their own food since the dawn of agriculture eons ago. (more…)

Posted in Agriculture, Compost, Ecology, Gardening, Organics | Comments Closed

What is killing bees?

Tuesday, August 13th, 2013
Honeybee

Honeybee

by Catherine Haug, August 13, 2013

(photo, right from bugguide.net (3))

I’ve written about this topic before, but now there is a new bill in congress (HR-2692 or “Save America’s Pollinators Act”) to protect our bees and our food supply. This bill would require the EPA to pull neonicotinoid pesticides from the market until their safety is proven. Please consider writing to your representative(s) – Montana’s lone representative is Steve Daines. See Contact our Government.

There is also a Friends of the Earth Petition to large retailers like Lowes and Home Depot to pull neonicotenoids, a systemic fungicide that is especially harmful to bees – not just honey bees but also native bumble bees and others.

There is not just one thing responsible for the bee deaths, but rather several factors, many of which  have to do with reducing the bee’s immunity to infection by the Nosema parasite. Mercola lists all the prevalent theories in his article: Scientists Discover Fungicide and Pesticide are Killing Bees?and It’s Worse Than You Thought (1). Read on for his list, and for suggestions on how you can help bees. (more…)

Posted in Community, Ecology, Gardening, GMO, Home & Ranch, Landscaping | Comments Closed

Gardening beats depression

Friday, July 26th, 2013

by Catherine Haug, July 26, 2013

The BBC has a great 2 minute video with Brit gardener, Monty Don, on the topic of gardening to increase your happiness and ease depression. I’ve not been able to isolate the video on the BBC website, so for now you’ll have to view it on Mercola’s website: Gardening can help beat depression.

It’s all about the natural joy you experience when you put your hands in good fertile soil and do other work in the landscape – it just feels good. From Mercola’s article:

“According to a recent survey for Gardeners World magazine, 80 percent of gardeners reported being “happy” and satisfied with their lives, compared to 67 percent of non-gardeners. And the more time spent in the garden, the higher their satisfaction scores—87 percent of those who tend to their gardens for more than six hours a week report feeling happy, compared to those spending less time in their gardens.”

See also GardenersWorld.com: Gardening makes you happy. Here’s a quote:

“Humans have evolved with the land, and spent thousands of years growing our own food. We belong outside. Modern lifestyles force many of us into offices and apartment blocks. For some people, their only time outside during the week is the journey to and from the car. But we gardeners have a reason to be outside, and to be part of nature. It makes us happy because it’s part of who we are.”

I can personally report that I begrudge the time when I go out to work in the yard (because I’d rather be sewing). But once there, it’s hard to get me to stop, I just feel so good. Especially when I’m out picking my first year crop of raspberries!

Posted in Gardening, Health | Comments Closed

Your primitive brain – your gut

Thursday, July 25th, 2013

by Catherine Haug, July 25, 2013, updated July 29,2013

In college I took a class on comparative vertebrate anatomy – we studied the anatomy of many vertebrates as a way of better understanding our own anatomy. This study began with the tiny fertilized egg of each species studied, and progressed through the development of the adult. One of the things I took home from this class is that the first organ to form is the gut, and it serves as the brain for the developing individual while the heart and circulatory systems form, and finally the central nervous system (CNS) and the brain. But we also learned that the primitive brain in the gut continues to function in intimate contact with the actual brain, throughout the life of the individual.

What does this mean for us humans? It means that while modern medicine has pretty much ignored the effect of the gut on human health and happiness, the gut deserves more study and respect. We need to ensure that our gut has healthy colonies of gut flora (probiotics), and that it is not overburdened with toxins in our food.

It is important to remember that diet and gut health are not the only factors that influence the overall health and longevity of a human individual, but it may well be one of the most important. Other factors include (but are not limited to) genetics, lifestyle and stressors (7), medical care, gender, accident, and environment.

(more…)

Posted in Ecology, Fermentation, Culturing & Curing, Food-Nutrition-Health, Health, Organics | Comments Closed

The alarming truths about GMO

Tuesday, July 23rd, 2013

by Catherine Haug, July 24, 2013

I’ve written many posts on the harm of GMO foods (see Cat’s GMO Articles), but none tell the story as well as this 6:43 minute video on YouTube: The Alarming Truths About GMOs. If the embedded player doesn’t appear below, click the link to view it on YouTube.

YouTube video:

For more information

I learned of this video from Mercola’s article: Press questions GMO safety, which also features a 6 minute video clip from FOX news: FOX: Genetically Modified Food Concerns.

See also Cat’s GMO Articles on The EssentiaList, What is Genetically Modified Food? (video), Non-GMO Shopping Guide (pdf). You may also with to post the GMO Information Flyer in public places around the valley.

Want to support the campaign in Washington state to label GMOs? Want to have a GMO labeling law in Montana? Read on.

(more…)

Posted in Agriculture, Ecology, Food-Nutrition-Health, GMO | Comments Closed

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