Whats wrong with our food system – TED Talk

Improve your soil by raking less

by Terry Ettinger

If you dread the annual fall leaf-raking marathon, I have good news for you: Raking and collecting leaves every autumn is a tradition without scientific basis. Research has proven that mowing leaves into your lawn can improve its vigor, and observation shows that unraked leaves in planting beds don’t smother shade-tolerant perennials.

Based upon research at several uni­versities, the organic matter and nutrients from leaves mown into lawn areas has been proven to improve turf quality. At Michigan State, researchers set a rotary mower to cut at a height of 3 inches and then mowed an 18-inch-deep layer of leaves into test plots. That’s the equivalent of 450 pounds of leaves per 1,000 square feet. The tests resulted in improved soil and healthy lawns with few remnant leaves visible the following spring.

You can achieve similar results if you set your mower to cut at the same height as in the Michigan State study, and mow at least once a week during peak leaf fall when your lawn reaches a height of 4 inches. Leaves shred most efficiently when slightly damp, so mow after a light dew. If you follow these simple guidelines, you will never rake another leaf and improve the quality of your soil.

Build planting beds with leaves

Photo/Illustration: Melissa Lucas

Under trees or in other shady spots where a lawn won’t grow, you can create planting beds from fallen leaves as a source of soil-building organic matter. Shredded leaves applied as mulch protect tree roots from heat and cold and retain soil moisture during dry spells. Some gardeners believe that excess leaves can harbor insects or disease, but I have experienced no such problems in my garden.

After we bought our property, I created planting beds where the leaves would naturally collect on our densely shaded and sparse front lawn. It’s been 15 years since I’ve raked a single leaf dropped by these trees. Instead, the leaves settle among the hellebores, epimediums, Japanese forest grass, hostas, and spring-flowering bulbs, where they decompose over time, just like on the forest floor.

Easy, ecological, and fiscally responsible

To treat leaves as trash is both environmentally foolish and financially ruinous. Currently, many municipalities encourage residents to rake leaves to the curb for collection, but before they are collected, heavy rains often wash the leaves into catch basins. There, they decompose and release phosphorus and nitrogen into streams and rivers that flow through the community. These excess nutrients contribute to algae blooms during the summer, which result in lower oxygen levels, making it difficult for fish and other aquatic species to survive.

Municipalities, both large and small, spend thousands, even millions, of dollars each year to collect, transport, and process autumn leaves, tying up resources that could be used elsewhere in our communities. If we all keep our leaves on our properties, we will improve our gardens, save money, and enhance the environment we all share.

Your own source of free fertilizer

A little effort can supply an organic source of nutrients for your plants. Here are two ways to use your leaves.

Pile composting for mixed borders
• Rake the leaves into loose piles or in wire bins about 4 feet square within your borders.
•  Mix in a few shovelfuls of soil, and add 20 to 30 gallons of water to aid decomposition.
•  Pull the piles or bins apart in the spring, and spread the decayed leaves throughout the border (photo, right).
• Cover the decayed leaves with a 1-inch-deep layer of fresh mulch.

Sheet composting for annual beds
• Rake your leaves into the empty beds, and shred them with a lawn mower.
• Sprinkle the leaves with a 1-pound coffee can’s worth of 5-10-5 fertilizer per 100 square feet of garden.
• Turn the leaves, and water thoroughly to disperse the fertilizer, which speeds decay.
•  Turn the leaves again in spring, and plant right through the remaining clumps, which will provide nutrients as they decompose.

Photos, except where noted: Courtesy of Terry Ettinger

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Monsanto will own all seed

Meaning of ‘Orwellian’

“Orwellian” describes the situation, idea, or societal condition that George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free society. It connotes an attitude and a policy of control by propaganda, surveillance, misinformation, denial of truth, and manipulation of the past, including the “unperson” — a person whose past existence is expunged from the public record and memory, practiced by modern repressive governments. Often, this includes the circumstances depicted in his novels, particularly Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Orwell’s ideas about personal freedom and state authority developed when he was a British colonial administrator in Burma. He was fascinated by the effect of colonialism on the individual person, requiring acceptance of the idea that the colonialist oppressor exists only for the good of the oppressed person and people.

There has also been a great deal of discourse on the possibility that Orwell galvanized his ideas of oppression during his experience, and his subsequent writings in the English press, in Spain. Orwell was a member of the POUM militia and suffered suppression and escaped arrest by the Comintern faction working within the Republican Government. Following his escape he made a strong case for defending the Spanish revolution from the Communists there, and the mis-information in the press at home. During this period he formed strong ideas about the reportage of events, and their context in his own ideas of imperialism and democracy.

This often brought him into conflict with literary peers such as W.H. Auden and Stephen Spender^[1].

In 1940 he engaged himself in the practise of supporting mis-information for a revolutionary purpose with The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius. A counter-point to his previous work, immediately after his return from Spain, Homage to Catalonia. Homage was elementary in Orwell’s definition of the process of truth-power connection and its relevance to ideas of freedom versus authority, whereas Lion & Unicorn was a formative piece of ‘propaganda’. The narrative of the two is one that informed Orwell’s later works such as Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm.

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Orwellian DoubleThink: Illness is Health

Find link hereOrwellian DoubleThink Series, part 4

Activist Post

The primary duty of the regulatory agencies responsible for ensuring public health in our Orwellian world apparently is to guarantee that we are laced with toxic contaminants and additives.  Whether it is physical or mental health, it has become clear that federal agencies, and even our local municipalities, are coordinating an overall health agenda that favors corporate interests, while corrupting the promotion of true health and well-being.

Here are three primary examples that highlight the lengths to which our “protectors” will go to convince us to listen to their upside-down worldview, instead of reason and logic:

Alternative Products: The FDA sent warning letters to many E-cigarette companies in an attempt to control an alternative market to Big Tobacco.  It is a pattern of the FDA to attack the free market of products that provide a healthier option than what has been officially approved.  Big Tobacco has a firm foothold in the FDA, so it is no wonder why they would rather keep people smoking their toxic product. If we believe the FDA is actually there to protect us, let us not forget that this is the agency that ignored evidence that CT scans are killing 14,000 Americans per year, just to name one of their oversights.

Vitamins and Supplements: For a case study in Orwellian language, the link to the Codex Alimentarius FAQs that highlights this section is a must-read.  The real agenda is not safety, but using safety as a way to gain control over products that have been proven to be safe in a free market.   The complications that have arisen from nutritional supplements are the tiniest fraction of the illnesses and deaths from medications that are approved to the market in the “official” way.  This is a concerted effort to protect Big Pharma, not the consumer.

Natural Foods: People across the world are waking up en masse to the dangers of agribusiness.  Coupled with a disastrous global economy, people see the health and fiscal sense it makes to begin growing their own food.  And, again, whenever freedom asserts itself, there is the tyranny of regulations to clamp down.  Just recently, county code enforcement officers ticketed a farmer for growing too many vegetables.  His real crime?  Giving it away to a local farmers market.  If that is not Orwellian, I don’t know what is. This is combined with raids on raw food producers, as well as proposed legislation that could even ban home gardens.  After all, those home gardens might be growing marijuana.

It appears that private corporate interests are being supported by our public consumer safety agencies.   Everything chemical, engineered, and produced by mass industry is championed, while all that is good and wholesome is maligned.  Their agenda is akin to a declaration of war upon the natural world, where all human activity will be micromanaged by scientists and bureaucrats.  It is time that we say no.

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Organic farms have better soil

Organic farming is better for the long term health of the soil, according to a new study.

By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent
Published: 7:00AM BST 14 Sep 2010

Organic farms have a much more diverse range of fungi living in the soil than on conventional farms. Photo: PA

The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology looked at microscopic fungi in the soil that helps plants grow.

The study of nine farms in England, published in the journal Environmental Microbiology, found that organic farms have a much more diverse range of fungi living in the soil than on conventional farms.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) has a symbiotic relationship with most plants, allowing the roots to absorb nutrients better and fighting off disease.

Dr Christopher van der Gast, of the CEH, said the use of herbicides and pesticides, as well as constant tilling of the soil breaks down the fungi on intensive farms.

But on organic farms , that do not use chemicals, there is a more diverse range of microbes living in the soil. This helps the crops to grow without the expense of artificial fertilisers.

Dr van der Gast said the findings could help farmers around the world to understand how to make plants grow better in the long term, without destroying the nutrients of the soil with intensive farming.

“For most people it is about what you can see above ground. But the below ground biodiversity of the organisms in are also key. it is a missing factor that most people do not think about,” he said.

“Our research demonstrates that the way humans manage the landscape can play a key role in determining the distribution of microbial communities at both the local and regional scales.”

Co-author Dr Gary Bending,from the University of Warwick, said the findings could help boost food security.

“The work provides us with new understanding which we can use to promote these fungi in agricultural systems. This in turn could improve crop production. With the proportion of the earth’s surface which is managed by humans increasing rapidly, this understanding is essential if we are to predict and manage microbial functioning in the environment to meet many of the major challenges faced by human society, such as food supply and the mitigation of climate change. Addressing these challenges, whilst maintaining environmentally sustainable agricultural practices, requires an understanding of microbial diversity.”

::Farmers are increasingly using compost on fields around Britain as more councils collect food scraps from homes.

Research on behalf of the Association for Organics Recycling found the use of compost increased by 10 per cent last year.

Farmers said the increase was because of the rising cost of artificial fertiliser and the increasing quality and amount of compost coming from local authorities that now collect food and garden waste.

My organic juices

Green vegetable Warning

don’t use too much celery – its bitter

Beetroot is one of my favourites, especially with apple

Carrot, apple and pineapple Mmm

Understanding enzymes and detoxification

NaturalNews) Enzymes are powerful substances; they are responsible for initiating every action in the body, including blinking and breathing. As such, enzymes are often called our life force – because without them we would die. Enzymes are also responsible for helping us digest our food and breaking down and removing old and diseased tissue and cells from the body. But when our enzyme stores are low, diseased tissues and cells regularly remain inside the body – because the enzymes aren’t available to help remove them.

Most diets these days are enzyme deplete and as a result, most people are enzyme deplete. This means our bodies often can’t detoxify away the old, diseased tissue as they should be able to – and it leads to diseased people with health problems. Deep detoxification is one answer to the problem because detoxification removes old, diseased tissues and cells en masse – and it’s why detoxification is recommended for most every disease. Another part of the answer lies in boosting our daily intake of enzymes. This helps our bodies engage in on-going detoxification and remove the old, diseased cells and tissue before they build and cause problems for us. Enzymes also give us life force and energy.

Eating plenty of nature’s raw foods is one way to boost your enzymes and avoid depleting your enzyme reserves. This is the case because heating and processing food destroys the enzymes that are present in nature’s foods naturally. So, the more raw foods you eat with their enzymes intact, the less your body needs to borrow from its enzyme reserves for digestion. This leaves more enzymes free for work like breaking down and removing old, diseased cells. Eating plenty of nature’s raw foods also helps us because if those foods are grown without chemicals, they don’t add to our toxic burden – as do processed, pesticide-laced and often cooked foods.

A few foods are bursting with enzymes and consuming them regularly is key. Some of the most enzyme-packed foods include:
- Unpasteurized sauerkraut
- Papaya – particularly green papaya and papaya seeds
- Pineapple – particularly the core
- Sprouts

For a simple everyday enzyme drink:
Blend 1/2 papaya, 1/3 pineapple, and about 20 papaya seeds. Add a little stevia for sweetness, if desired.

In addition to breaking down protein and old tissue in the body, papaya seeds are known to help with intestinal parasites. In quantity though, green papaya and papaya seeds can induce abortion and have contraceptive effects – so avoid them if you’re pregnant or trying to have a baby. In addition, some Hawaiian papaya is genetically altered, so it’s best to avoid Hawaiian papaya or purchase only organic.

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Do you have the balls to really change the food system?

You watched Food, Inc. with your mouth aghast. You own a few cookbooks.

You go out to that hot new restaurant with the tattooed chef who’s putting on a whole-animal, nose-to-tail pricy special dinner. You bliss out on highfalutin’ pork rinds, braised pigs feet, rustic paté, and porchetta.

Later that weekend, you nibble on small bites as you stroll down the city street, blocked off for a weekend “foodie” festival.

Then you go back to your Monday-Friday workaday routine, ordering pizza and buying some frozen chicken breasts at Costco (“Hey, at least they’re ‘organic’!”) to get you through your hectic week. (You make time for at least two hours a day of reality TV.) You manage to get to a farmers market about once a month, but the rest of the time your eggs and meat come from Costco, Trader Joe’s, and maybe Whole Paycheck now and again.

Guess what? You are NOT changing the food system. Not even close.

You’re no better or different than the average American. You pat yourself on the back, you brag about your lunch on Twitter, you pity your Midwestern relatives eating their chicken-fried steak and ambrosia salad, but you secretly loathe your grocery store bill — which consumes only 8 percent of your income while your car devours 30 percent. Your bananas and coffee may be Fair Trade, but everything else is Far From It. The dozen eggs you splurge on once a month may be from local, outdoor-roaming birds, but all the other eggs you eat come from a giant egg conglomerate in either Petaluma, Calif., or Pennsylvania.

And even that pig in that nose-to-tail fancy dinner came from a poor farmer in Kansas or Iowa because the restaurant is too cheap or lazy to find local, pastured pork. And the ingredients for that foodie festival touting itself as local and sustainable? They mostly came from other states except a few ingredients they highlight as being “local.” But those restaurants, caterers, and food trucks just go back to using the low-cost distributor once the event is over.

So. Want to make a difference?

Here’s what a sustainable food system actually needs you to do, in no particular order:

Educate yourself:

• Don’t take anything at face value — read, listen, observe, research. Look at both sides of an issue and all points in between.
• Read not just the Omnivore’s Dilemma, but also Silent Spring, Sand County Almanac, and anything you can find by Wendell Berry.
• Learn why farmers and ranchers who don’t earn enough to cover their costs are not sustainable and that something has to suffer as a result, whether it be quality, animal welfare, land stewardship, wages, health care, mental & physical health, or family life.
• Understand why sustainable food should actually cost 50 to 100 percent more than industrial, conventional food. Figure out how to buy food more directly from farmers and ranchers, if you want to avoid some of the transportation/distribution/retail markup costs.
• Know the names of more farmers and ranchers than celebrity chefs, including at least one you can call by first name — and ask how their kids are doing.
• Understand that if you want to see working conditions and wages come up for farming and food processing workers, that you will have to pay more for food. Be OK with that.
• Learn about the Farm Bill and plan to write a letter/make a phone call when it comes up for re-authorization.

Chill out:

• Don’t expect a farmer to have year-round availability and selection. Alter your diet to match the seasonal harvests in your area. Get used to not eating tomatoes until at least July, apples in late August to December, citrus in winter, greens in spring. Don’t complain.
• Realize that even animal products are seasonal because animals have biological cycles. Know that chickens produce much less eggs in winter when days are shorter and even come to a complete stop when they are replacing their feathers (molting). Consequently you may have to eat less eggs and pay more for them during that time. Don’t complain.
• Don’t expect the farmer/rancher to sacrifice the health and welfare of the animal for your particular fad diet du jour (no corn, no soy, no wheat, no grains, no antibiotics ever, even if the animal will die, no irrigation, no hybrid breeds, no castrating, no vaccines … what is it this week?)
• Understand that the tenderloin/filet is the most expensive muscle on the animal and that there is very little of it. Don’t expect there to be filet every time you go to market. There are finite parts to an animal. Be OK with that. Embrace it. Learn to cook other parts.
• Understand that there are not enough USDA-inspected slaughter and butcher facilities, which makes special orders difficult and limits how the meat can be processed. If you want a particular cut, organ meat, or process, then buy a half- or whole animal so you can ask the butcher to make that happen yourself.
• Don’t call a farmer a week before you’re having a pig roast to ask for a dressed-out pig, delivered fresh to you, for under $300. We are not magicians, just farmers.

Get your hands dirty:

• Sweat on a farm sometime.
• Participate in the death of an animal that you consume.
• Successfully cook a roast. You don’t need steaks and chops to make an amazing meal.
• Get a chest freezer and put some food away in it
• Cook and enjoy at least one of the following: chicken feet, gizzards, liver, heart, kidney, sweet breads, head cheese, or tripe.
• Save your bones for soup, beans, stock, or your doggies!
• If you own land that’s not being farmed, tell some farmers about it. If you rent land to farmers, offer a fair rental price or fair lease (long-term is better), and then stay out of the way and don’t meddle or hinder the farmers. They are not your pet farmers nor your landscapers.
• Throw your consumer dollar behind a couple beginning farmers or lower-income farmers. Be concerned about how landless, lower-income producers are going to compete with the increasing numbers of wealthy landownerss getting into farming as a hobby.

Help your local farmers do their job:

• Bring your kids/grandkids/nieces & nephews to the farmers market and to real farms as often as possible
• If you ask to visit the farm, also offer to help out or spend some decent money while you are there. Otherwise, wait patiently until the next group farm tour. Don’t expect a farmer to drop everything just to give you a special tour.
• Consider making a low-interest loan, grant, or pre-payment to a farmer to help her cover her operating expenses. Stick with that farmer for the long haul, as long as he continues to supply quality product and can stay in business.
• Give more than just money to a farmer or rancher — maybe a Christmas card, invitation to a party, offer to spiff up their website, or watch their kid for an hour at the farmers’ market.

Really put your money where your mouth is:

• Don’t complain about prices. If price is an issue for you on something, ask the farmer nicely if he has any less expensive cuts (or cosmetically challenged “seconds”), bulk discounts, or volunteer opportunities. But don’t ask the farmer to earn less money for his hard work.
• Don’t compare prices between farmers who are trying to do this for a living and those that do it only as a hobby (and don’t have to make a living from what they produce and sell).
• Share in a farmer’s risk by putting up some money and faith up front via a Community Supported Agriculture share. And then suck it up when you don’t get to eat something that you paid for because there was a crop failure or an animal illness.
• Buy local when available, but also make a point of supporting certified Fair Trade, Organic products when buying something grown in tropical countries
• Buy organic not just for your health, but for the health of the land, waterways, wildlife, and the workers in those fields
• Figure out the handful of restaurants that buy and serve truly sustainable food and become loyal to them. Occasionally give them feedback and thank them.
• If your budget doesn’t allow you to eat out often, eat out infrequently but at the places with the best integrity that may be more costly.
• Ask the waiter where the restaurant’s meat or fish comes from, and how it was raised before you order it.  If the waiter gives an insufficient answer, order vegetarian and tell them what you want to see next time if they want your business again.
• Don’t buy meat from chain grocery stores, not even Whole Paycheck. Understand that for them to get meat in volume with year-round selection and availability, they have to work with large distribution networks and often international suppliers, and don’t pay enough to the producers for them to even cover their costs.
• Get the majority of your produce, meat, eggs, dairy, bread, dried fruit, nuts, and  olive oil from farmers markets, CSAs, U-pick farms, and on-farm stands. Try to buy from the actual farmer, not a middleman. Get the rest of your food from the bulk section, dairy case, or bakery of your local independent grocer.
• Pay for your values. If it hurts, don’t have fewer values, just eat less food (sorry, but most Americans could stand to do a bit of this)

I admit, this is a lot to digest.

What I am saying is that we can’t be casual about the food system we want to see. If more people don’t show some commitment, and take part in some of the hard work that farmers, ranchers, and farmworkers do on a daily basis, then we cannot build a sustainable food system.

You don’t have to be a passive consumer. You are part of this system, too. Don’t just eat, do something more!

Organic Humour