Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

Great question. Not sure this is what you want, but I'll bite ;-) It's no
surprise we don't see much linking fresh, local food to health. That
doesn't make money for industrial agribusiness, does it. You won't see this
subject on RFD TV sponsored by Monsanto, ADM, Cargill, John Deere and on
and on. 

As far back at Sir Albert Howard (at least) they've been telling us that
depleted soil grows depleted animals - and depleted people. In his books
(1940's) he observed that cattle on depleted soil suffered all sorts of
diseases but cattle grazing land heavily manured with all sorts of organic
wastes stayed healthy, even when allowed to mix with the sick cattle. 

We know that produce loses taste as well as nutrients on the long trip to
the grocery and then to our table. And the typical food item travels 1500
miles from point of origin, some from overseas. That's not all. Much of it
is harvested before it's ripe so it won't spoil by the time we get it, so
it doesn't get to mature properly. Example: tomatoes turn red so they look
ripe, but the sugars don't finish forming once separated from the plant.
There's a link between taste and brix, the level of dissolved solids, in
many kinds of produce. 

Simply eating what we grow organically also cuts down on eating the stuff
that passes for food in the grocery. What we grow ourselves isn't loaded
with poison sprays; it doesn't have the nutrients processed out like white
flour products, doesn't have all the crapola added to preserve freshness,
doesn't have the MSG, aspartame, and added flavorings and colors to fool us
into thinking it's food, and doesn't have the transfat hydrogenated oils
that clog our arteries. We don't need experts to tell us what's good for
us. Try this: put a stick of butter and a stick of margerine out in the sun
for a day. See which one attracts flies. Read up on the hormone problems
from glyphosate, the ingredient in Roundup. Read up on the massive doses of
hormones and antibiotics fed to factory farmed animals. Then ask yourself
if you really want to have children eating from fast food joints, school
cafeterias, and grocery stores. 

paul tradingpost@lobo.net


*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 2/14/2007 at 9:13 AM E. E. Mitchamore Jr wrote:

>As I have read excellent articles such as the ones referenced here, I
>have increasingly noted a "missing link", between sustainable, local,
>gardening/farming and our personal diets.  Until a few weeks ago, my own
>understanding of what is required for a healthy diet was stuck in the '
>70s.  Although I have learned a bit, I think it would benefit many to
>better understand the linkages between our gardening efforts, what we eat,
>how it gets to the table, and the implications to our health and fitness.
>
>There is plenty of information against industrial agribusiness, and plenty
>of "healthy diet" books, but I haven't found much directly supporting the
>benefits of eating what we grow. Or, put another way, what should we grow
>in order to eat well?
>
>Are there such books or websites?  Seems to me that it would be a good
>addition to Ken's or Harvey's website (like they're not already doing
>their part!).
>
>E. E. "Mitch" Mitchamore
>www.hillcountrynatives.biz
>  ----- Original Message ----- 
>  From: TradingPostPaul 
>  To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org 
>  Sent: Monday, February 12, 2007 12:15 AM
>  Subject: [Livingontheland] Ken Hargesheimer on Raised Bed Agriculture
>
>
>
>  This is from Ken Hargesheimer website page Raised Bed Agriculture,
>  http://minifarms.com/rba.html . See the rest of the article at that
>link. 
>
snip