by Catherine Haug
Did you know that the OCA (Organic Consumers Association) has a news & action website for each state? Or that Montana has it’s own Organic Association (MOA)? Check these out. I’ve added the links for both organizations to our home page, in the right hand column under “Local & Organic Links.” (more…)
Offshore Oil Platform
by Catherine Haug
(Photos from Wikipedia)
Now that we are all grieving at the sight of oil-soaked pelicans in the Gulf, we call for an end to our dependence on petroleum. But have you ever thought about what all we’d have to give up? It’s not just fuel for our cars and home heating systems, or that airplane ride to our favorite vacation spot. We’d basically have to give up all that we’ve come to take for granted.
That’s what an article in June 13, 2010 Daily Interlake by Seth Borenstein, an AP Science Writer, titled Boycott Big Oil? Prepare to give up your lifestyle (1) is all about. It includes a litany of all the common, everyday things that contain substances made from crude, or depend upon crude for their maintenance or production.
It’s about what this means for our society; how far we have strayed from The Essential. “Petrochemicals are the glue of our modern lives and even in glue, too.” (1)
Here’s a partial list, from the article: (more…)
by Catherine Haug
I braved the rain to shop at the new Bigfork Village Market last Wednesday evening. I bought goodies at the Guizol family’s booth of fresh and preserved food, offering salad greens, savory cheesecakes, desserts, and preserved foods.
While I bought a small goat-cheese and herb cheesecake (mmm), it was the Preserved Meyer Lemons that interested me the most, because they used an ancient method that is seldom used today.
Today, when we think of food preservation methods, we think of canning, dehydrating and smoking. But mankind has used another technique for centuries, long before the invention of canning jars and electric food dehydrators. A method that not only preserves the life of the food (the enzymes, etc.) but also enhances its nutritional quality.
That method, related to fermentation of beer and wine, takes advantage of salt and/or sugar to keep spoilage at bay, while beneficial microbes work their magic. The result is a more flavorful and nutritious product than the original fresh food – that is, if you don’t insult it with a canning bath. (more…)
by Catherine Haug
Stevia with flowers
See also:
(photo of Stevia herb with flowers Wikipedia)
Although stevia is a sweetener, it is neither a sugar nor an artificial sweetener. It is the Stevia rebaudiana herb, a member of the sunflower family, and contains sweet substances known as steviosides that are 200-300 times sweeter than sucrose.
It can be grown in our valley, and will be a valuable sweetener when sugar becomes scarce (to reserve precious sugar for food preservation and other non-sweetening uses). Stevia cannot be used like sugar for food preservation.
It is also valuable for diabetics and others who must avoid sugar for health reasons. And it may improve insulin sensitivity for those who suffer from metabolic syndrome, and increase insulin production for type-2 diabetics. (more…)
Green Beans
by Catherine Haug
A few members of the Bigfork community are organizing a new Bigfork Village Market for Wednesday evenings this summer, starting June 9, 2010 from 5 to 8 PM. It will be in downtown Bigfork at Brookies Cookies.
From the poster:
“Join us for a fun filled evening in downtown Bigfork! Offering local handmade and grown products, local food vendors and live music!”
For more information, check out their website: Bigfork Village Market. Or contact: (more…)
by Catherine Haug
In my post The Diet of Traditional Peoples: the Work of Weston Price & Frances Pottenger (May 21, 2009), I made a point about Dr. Pottenger’s 1930s research: he found that by the third generation on the wrong kind of diet, his cats had serious problems with their health including infertility and skeletal deformities. While it can be dangerous to extrapolate from cats to humans, Dr. Pottenger’s conclusions were born out by Dr. Price’s study of humans consuming a traditional (non-modern) diet vs those on a modern diet.
Now researchers in Russia have found that GM (Genetically Modified) soy products (grown from Monsanto’s seeds) also produce health issues in third generation hamsters fed a GMO diet. These health issues include sterility and infant mortality. (more…)