Natural Cures Not Medicine: eat local grown

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Showing posts with label eat local grown. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eat local grown. Show all posts

10 Easy Steps For Starting A Community Garden

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After the latest and ongoing March Against Monsanto protests there has been an even greater awakening to the adverse effects of GMOs and pesticides on human and environmental health. Many people who would love to grow their own food are forced to shop at grocery stores due to the fact that they simply have no space to grow their own gardens. If you must buy your food from someone else, it's best to try to buy locally grown food to ensure that you can have a better idea of what's in it.

Here is a great source to find locally grown food near you: http://eatlocalgrown.com

There are a few option for people that would like to grow their own food but don't have the space: one is community gardening. The video posted below is a short introduction with the 10 basics steps it takes to get a community garden started in your neighborhood.

Weed Free Organic Gardening




There is nothing more satisfying than growing your own organic vegetables, but how is it possible to keep the weeds at bay? 




Weedkillers such as roundup don't just kill weeds. They contaminate the soil around them and make it virtually impossible to grow healthy organic food that is safe to eat. Studies have shown that it can stay in the soil for up to 2 years and has an adverse affect on plant and soil ecology.1  In laboratory tests using rats and mice, it has shown to decrease fertility.

So what are the alternatives to using harsh chemicals? 

The best way (and probably the hardest) to keep the weeds to a minimum is to remove weeds on a daily basis, removing them manually from the soil. In order to reduce the effort involved in this, it is best to turn the soil over and keep it loose on the areas where there are no plants growing. With the use of tools to help you and getting into the habit of maintaining it daily, it becomes relatively easy and hassle free in time. 
Plant strategically, known as companion planting. Learn which foods grow better next to each other and will not invade one an other's space but will give enough ground coverage to suppress weeds, repel pests and keep your vegetables or fruits growing abundantly.2
Know your soil type. It is possible to buy testing kits that can test the ph level of your soil. For example, clay soil is more alkali and will have a higher ph than sandy soil. Research the ideal soil type for each vegetable you want to grow, and if your soil is not right, look for a natural organic fertilizer to correct it.
    Supplement the soil with compost. It is best to know the source or ideally, make your own. Remember to burn weeds and put the ashes on the compost heap rather than the weed itself, or it will leave unwanted seeds in the compost that will wreak havoc in your organic garden for many years to come.
Salt diluted in water makes for an excellent weed killer. Applying directly to the weed will not have any adverse affect on the soil or to the vegetables you are growing around it. Be conscious that if the soil becomes too contaminated with salt it will impair the quality of the vegetables you are growing.
Boiling water is another natural way to eliminate weeds from your patch. This would be better suited when preparing the soil to plant, rather than using with established plants as the heat from the water will kill any roots that are surrounding the weeds. 
Vinegar is an excellent organic weedkiller. It has a high acidity which works by killing the leaves of the weed and stopping it from growing further shoots. It is most effective on younger weeds, but can have a desired affect on more established ones after several applications. 
Weed suppressants such as mulch, straw and newspaper are fantastic for preventing weed growth by blocking sunlight to the weed. Simply lay it down around your plants.
Corn Gluten Meal stops weed seeds from germinating. The gluten ( which is a by-product in the manufacture of corn meal and cornstarch) in the corn is the active ingredient that does this. Scattering the corn meal over the soil will help stop the weeds from coming through. Although this method is not highly recommended in the U.S. due to the fact that nearly all corn is GMO. It can be said that it is still allowed though in organic standards.

Organic gardening can be fun and productive. With a little t.l.c. it can be something you can be proud of. If you have young children, it is also a great way to educate and entertain them. The benefits are endless and you will feel better knowing exactly where your food has come from.


Sources: 1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundup_(herbicide)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companion_plants#Vegetables


Related Posts From Natural Cures Not Medicine
Find A Farmers Market Near You
http://www.naturalcuresnotmedicine.com/2013/05/find-farmers-market-near-you.htmlIs Monsanto's Glyphosate Destroying The Soil?
http://www.naturalcuresnotmedicine.com/2013/05/is-monsantos-glyphosate-destroying-soil.htmlA List of Non-GMO Companies
http://www.naturalcuresnotmedicine.com/2013/05/a-list-of-non-gmo-companies.htmlThe Sad Truth About GMO Foods
http://www.naturalcuresnotmedicine.com/2013/04/the-sad-truth-about-gmo-foods.html

Medicine is Not Healthcare



By Rick Davis, founder of the eatlocalgrown project

For the first time in history, chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, cancers and others kill more people than communicable ones! And here's the crazy part- to a large extent they are preventable!

Unhealthy eating habits and physical inactivity are leading causes of disability and loss of independence. Almost two-thirds (61%) of American adults are seriously overweight or obese. Obesity rates in children have doubled over the last two decades—14% of children and 12% of teens are now obese. According to the USDA, healthier diets could prevent at least $71 billion per year in medical costs, lost productivity, and lost lives.5 That is an underestimate because it accounts for only diet-related coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes and not other diet-related diseases. Obesity alone is estimated to cost $117 billion in medical expenses. Additionally, according to the CDC, state and federal governments spend one thousand times more to treat disease than to prevent it ($1,390 vs. $1.21 per person each year).
"This year, more than 1 million Americans and more than 10 million people worldwide are expected to be diagnosed with cancer, a disease commonly believed to be preventable. Only 5–10% of all cancer cases can be attributed to genetic defects, whereas the remaining 90–95% have their roots in the environment and lifestyle."
Source: US National Library of Medicine

Leading Causes of Death in the United States (2010)

Heart disease: 597,689
Cancer: 574,743
Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 138,080
Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 129,476
Accidents (unintentional injuries): 120,859
Alzheimer's disease: 83,494
Diabetes: 69,071
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 50,476
Influenza and Pneumonia: 50,097
Intentional self-harm (suicide): 38,364
Source: Deaths: Final Data for 2010, table 10

Food is Health Care, Medicine is Sick Care


Your diet has a huge impact on your current health but also has a lot to do with how exposed you are to developing a chronic disease later in your life. The good news is that there are choices that you can make right now that can have a positive healthy impact! As Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivores Dilemma says "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." If you haven't read Pollan's books, I highly recommend them. His writings are the reason I started eatlocalgrown.com

Another of Pollan's books, In Defense of Food shows us how, despite the daunting dietary landscape Americans confront in the modern supermarket, we can escape the Western diet and, by doing so, most of the chronic diseases that diet causes. We can relearn which foods are healthy, develop simple ways to moderate our appetites, and return eating to its proper context — out of the car and back to the table. Michael Pollan’s bracing and eloquent manifesto shows us how we can start making thoughtful food choices that will enrich our lives, enlarge our sense of what it means to be healthy, and bring pleasure back to eating.

This may be over-simplifying things but the the best way to combat diet-related diseases is to just change what you eat.


So how and where do you start? For me it was a combination of 2 things- I started by reading lots of books and then I began going to the my local farmers markets and meeting the people that were there selling food. It's a great feeling to really get to know your farmers. It probably feels natural because it's the way that humans have bought for many of thousands of years! We either grew our own food or we bought it directly form someone that grew it. Only in the past 100 years or so have we shifted away to more industrialized food production. And with that came the onslaught of chronic diseases we see now.

A 'Real Food' Challenge


I challenge you to get out and meet the people that grow food near you. Fruits and veggies are easy to find but there's also great people that supply very healthy grass-fed beef and lamb, pastured chickens and turkeys and delicious pigs too! And don't forget to get some pastured chicken eggs while your at it, the difference between these eggs and the ones you find in the supermarket make them seem like a completely different product.

We created the eatlocalgrown project to help you find local food near you. To get started just enter your zip code and hit search at the top of the page. If you see a listing for a business you know, please take a few seconds to give them a nice rating! And if you notice we are missing anyone it's really easy to Add A New Listing.

Thanks for reading, if you enjoyed this please share. And we're always interested in you comments.

Find A Farmers Market Near You


Please SHARE if you LOVE your Farmers Market! Find a market near you @ http://eatlocalgrown.com


Everyone has been upset over the food chain take over by Monsanto. But now is the rise of the organic farmer. Everyone asks us... "How to I find my local non gmo farmer?" or "Organic farmer" It's all really just fancy ways of saying. WHERE DO I FIND THE REAL FOOD!? Well these guys here have a great service that is trying to unite the farmers markets across the land. You enter your search location and it will quickly check the database for local organic farmers and farmer markets nearest you. Great news right? We thought so. Enjoy!

Natural Cures Not Medicine

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Before trying anything you find on the internet you should fully investigate your options and get further advice from professionals.

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