Homestead mailing list

[Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>]

Marie McHarry wrote:

> On 9/8/06, Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com> wrote:
> <<People who can't keep
> dairy animals or use dairy products, for whatever reason, should eat two
> servings of deep-green leafy vegetables each day.  I'm sure if you
> consult the nutrition tables, you'll see there's no other natural way to
> get enough calcium. >>
>
> Millions of Chinese have been getting enough calcium for thousands of
> years. That may change now that they're eating more meat, but if you
> keep your protein intake down to maintenance levels, you don't need
> nearly so much calcium. I'd recommend looking at the traditional
> Chinese diet.
>
> Marie
> _______________________________________________
>  
Tofu is often made with gypsum (calcium sulfate), so greens are not 
their only source (gypsum doesn't fall under "natural" sources).  But it 
is interesting that they do consume large quantities of greens, albeit 
mostly from the same Brassica family.  And no doubt they would enjoy 
garlic mustard too, as a nice change of pace, if it's not banned there.  
I once submitted some recipes to the list from a garlic mustard cook-off 
somewhere in Illinois or Indiana.

And of course, you know it's not banned anywhere that this corny 
ideology hasn't penetrated.  What I find most striking is that many of 
the crops I've mentioned, like chufa (the common Spanish name of yellow 
nutsedge) are praised endlessly by ag researchers in academic 
publications for their potential to feed the world (like proso millet, 
another "weed" from the list).  Why, from the sound of it, the entire 
Third World is being planted up in acacia as we speak, for its "ability 
to generate firewood quickly and sustainably."  It's just banned for me.

Call me suspicious, but when government is working overtime behind our 
backs to ban things that most people have never heard of, there's 
usually a deeper reason.

Bill
S. Oregon coast