7 of 7 of the series showing Jennifer Thompson of healthybliss.net on the tour of her friend’s organic farm near Hana on the island of Maui, Hawaii. Last in the series shows the central valley or main area of the farm.
It’s been a busy week, so I am a little late in getting this out. This week I give you a summary of how we use the food in the box. I sampled Maracuya Sours on my recent trip to Peru. For my version mix ice, sour mix, rum, and passion fruit pulp in a blender, blend and enjoy!
Today i did alot of planting, i planted four trees, the digging and process took the entire four hours of work. hawaiiwwoofingblogging.tumblr.com
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Most benefits of organic food
Anyone aware of the amount of chemicals included in highly processed food is aware of the importance and the benefits of organic foods in the first place. By the difference between conventional and organic food, we don’t necessarily imply that between an organic and a non-organic apple. What needs to be insisted on consists in the real benefits of organic foods for health first and foremost.
Lots of consumers suffering from some form of chronic illness or even cancer, choose organic foods as safer and more health oriented than conventional products. Although lots of people claim that there is little difference in terms of nutrients, the absence of hormones and chemicals from organic food works great for the promotion of a state of well-being. Lots of consumer analyses do not refer to the difference in nutritional value, there are studies however that indicate superior characteristics and more benefits of organic foods in the first place.
It seems that among the benefits of organic foods we ought to include more vitamin C, higher levels of trace minerals and plenty of anti-oxidant nutrients. A report issued by the US Department of Agriculture indicates that there has been a significant decline in the minerals levels of meat, dairy and vegetables since 1940 in terms of regular non-organic crops. The fact that nowadays we store food extensively and we treat and process the products so much contributes to an alteration of the nutritional value.
The higher content of dry matter is one other of the benefits of organic foods. To make this clear, we have to consider the fact that the use of the artificial fertilizers causes the fruits or vegetables to retain more water and thus swell. Thus, there is less food in the form of dry matter in a non-organic apple than in an organic one. Nevertheless, besides the different amounts of nutrients, there are other advantages to organic food.
First of all, virtually no pesticide residues can be traced in organic products. Even if conventional food producers claim that pesticides are no threat to human health, one doesn’t have to be all knowledgeable to realize that the ingestion of anything chemical cannot help or be 100% safe for the system. The benefits of organic foods are much insisted on at present, with more and more consumers choosing them instead of conventional foods. Gradually this high popularity will definitely trigger a reorientation of the market and even a reformulation of the standards that define organic food in the first place.
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Going Organic
In today’s world, many are concerned about the signs of aging, the rise in the number of allergies and the well being of the environment. We often shout about just causes, moan about growing old and hanker for the good old days.
There is though, a growing tide of people who are starting to take action and change their way of life. People who no will no longer accept food laced with numerous chemicals. Convenience foods are littered with preservatives and chemicals that our forefathers new nothing about. Back then organic food was, well just food. Think about that for just a minute.
Today many individuals are choosing to go organic because they no longer wish to ingest food that they know nothing about. How many food labels do you see that mention “E” numbers, which are “used” instead of displaying the actual chemical or insect that it represents?
Being “totally organic” has nothing to do with leaving behind the conveniences offered by the modern world. Going organic means changing your routine so that you do not use anything that contains artificial colours, chemicals, additives or preservatives.
Of course, many people assume that going organic is difficult, expensive and painful. That is far from the truth. While going organic does take more time, the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages. Some people who have chosen to go organic report benefits such as increased energy, having fewer ailments and not suffering from as many allergies.
No one is too old or too young to benefit from organic products. Organic baby food is a popularly rising alternative to the more common non-organic baby food products. Is it any surprise that many parents are choosing to go organic? Nothing is better for a growing, healthy infant than keeping him or her away from ingesting harsh chemicals.
The elderly can also benefit greatly from going organic. As we age, our bodies are less capable of digesting those harsh chemicals many non-organic products force our way.
Gong organic is a definitely a sign of love to our family and to ourselves. Even our animals can benefit from going organic. Ever wondered what goes into making of animal feed?
Can you afford to go organic? Going organic can be a bit more expensive, time-consuming and detailed. The real question is however, can you afford not too? The benefits far outweigh the inconvenience and cost. Supermarkets are finally waking up to the fact that people are starting to think about the food that they eat. More and more organic products can be found in the aisles of your local food-store. Prices for organic food in my local store are often comparable to non-organic. Given the choice, organic wins hands down.
An added bonus of organic food is the great taste. I was never a great lover of vegetables, but the organic carrots I now eat taste just like butter. Since going organic I honestly love eating vegetables, you really can tell the difference.
Consider going organic today and your body, taste buds and loved ones will thank you for a long time to come.
Steve Thomas writes about going organic and maintains an organic resource website at Organice.
Organic Fertilizers Are Becoming More Popular In The Garden
Why should you use organic fertilizers in your garden? Simply because they are good for your plants and good for the environment. Nearly 70 percent of water pollution comes from agricultural areas that use chemical fertilizers, according to the EPA. These chemicals leach into the water and cause soil erosion. While large-scale farming operations are a chief source of chemical fertilizers in water, home gardeners are also guilty of such pollution. However, many growers are attempting to correct their mistakes by using organic growing methods.
Organic fertilizers are those that use organic soil amendments to raise the nutrient content and improve the soil characteristics of a garden. The addition of decomposing organic materials in an organic garden provides a natural fertilizer, supplying plants with the nutrients they need for optimal growth. These fertilizers also improve the nature of your garden soil, not matter what type you have. If your garden has clay soil, organic fertilizers preserve its tilth, which prevents it from clumping together. Organic fertilizers are also an excellent means of holding water in the soil. This is a boon if you have sandy soil in your garden. Fertilizers made of organic materials have properties that make micro-nutrients like iron and zinc available to your garden plants.
Plants need three important nutrients in order to grow: nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous. All three of these are found in organic fertilizers. One organic material, manure, for example, does not have all three of these nutrients, however. Therefore, most organic fertilizer suppliers combine and mix different materials to ensure an appropriate mix. Alfalfa meal is a green manure favored by gardeners who grow roses. It is a good source of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, and it also contains Triacontanol. This is a hormone that helps to regulate the growth of your plants. Blood meal is another good organic fertilizer. It is an excellent source of readily available organic nitrogen. Bone meal is a good source of calcium and long-lasting phosphorous. These two materials can be blended together for better results. Kelp meal has a high potassium content, but it has no phosphorous. This organic fertilizer must be used together with bone meal to make up for its lack of phosphorous.
It is important that gardeners check the exact composition of any organic fertilizer that they buy, since the fertilizer can contain a number of micro-nutrients and it may lack the other essential nutrients needed to grow healthy plants. Any nutrients that are missing will need to be added by using one of the above, blood meal, bone meal or kelp meal.
Discover more articles about the environment by visiting http://www.environmentadvice.com
Using Organic Fertilizers In Your Garden
Why should you use organic fertilizers in your garden? Simply because they are good for your plants and good for the environment.
Nearly 70 percent of water pollution comes from agricultural areas that use chemical fertilizers, according to the EPA. These chemicals leach into the water and cause soil erosion. While large-scale farming operations are a chief source of chemical fertilizers in water, home gardeners are also guilty of such pollution. However, many growers are attempting to correct their mistakes by using organic growing methods.
Organic fertilizers are those that use organic soil amendments to raise the nutrient content and improve the soil characteristics of a garden. The addition of decomposing organic materials in an organic garden provides a natural fertilizer, supplying plants with the nutrients they need for optimal growth. These fertilizers also improve the nature of your garden soil, not matter what type you have.
If your garden has clay soil, organic fertilizers preserve its tilth, which prevents it from clumping together. Organic fertilizers are also an excellent means of holding water in the soil. This is a boon if you have sandy soil in your garden. Fertilizers made of organic materials have properties that make micro-nutrients like iron and zinc available to your garden plants.
Plants need three important nutrients in order to grow: nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous. All three of these are found in organic fertilizers. One organic material – manure, for example, does not have all three of these nutrients, however. Therefore, most organic fertilizer suppliers combine and mix different materials to ensure an appropriate mix.
Alfalfa meal is a green manure favored by gardeners who grow roses. It is a good source of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, and it also contains Triacontanol. This is a hormone that helps to regulate the growth of your plants. Blood meal is another good organic fertilizer. It is an excellent source of readily available organic nitrogen.
Bone meal is a good source of calcium and long-lasting phosphorous. These two materials can be blended together for better results. Kelp meal has a high potassium content, but it has no phosphorous. This organic fertilizer must be used together with bone meal to make up for its lack of phosphorous.
It is important the gardeners check the exact composition of any organic fertilizer they buy, since they can contain a number of micro-nutrients and lack others.
To discover more information about organic fertilizer and other environment articles visit http://environmentadvice.com
Go Organic – Growing vegetables in your garden
Growing vegetables in your own garden is an excellent idea. The cultivation of vegetables is not too difficult a task and something that people have done since ancient times, when there were no super-markets to go and buy vegetables and fruits from. When growing vegetables and fruits in your own garden, there really is only one question to be asked –What do plants need?
Sunlight: The plants should receive light and heat from direct sunlight for atleast 6 to 8 hours a day, and should therefore be placed in an appropriate site for this purpose.
Water: We need to irrigate the plants with water every day because they need it on a regular schedule so that the leaves do not dry out and become brittle.
Soil: The ground is the most important factor for a garden because the plants are healthy throughout the year when the soil is rich in organic matter. This will also allow them to grow strong and free from diseases and pests. Therefore, it is important to make sure the soil is ready and properly nourished to allow the plants develop well. We must also take note that the plants do not perform well with perennially wet soil or when planted on slopes. One will have to level the ground first and form barriers so that water does not flow in from other sources into the garden.
Tools: Although the tools you need for your vegetable garden are not complicated, you must procure the necessary tools for planting vegetables and for carrying out their daily care. Basically, you need a shovel, a rake, a hose, a trowel, a hoe, a skimmer, stakes and a mower.
The more practical the purchase with regards to your vegetable garden, the more will be the output, especially when you can harvest fresh fruit to prepare the meal of the day, without having to go to market for them.
Go Organic to Shrink Your Gardening Budget
Saving the Earth and protecting children and pets from dangerous chemicals are the reasons most gardeners cite for giving up pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, but guess what? Making the switch to organic gardening methods will save you money too! Here are six examples of how going organic will put money back in your pocket.
**Plant veggies, spend less on doctor bills. A recent article by a Texas research biochemist summarizes some bad news: many scientific studies show that the vitamin content of fresh fruits and vegetables is on the decline. That’s alarming, because fresh produce should be an important source of vitamins and minerals in our diets — without them, we’re more vulnerable to getting sick. Fortunately, there’s a simple way to protect your health and reduce what you spend on costly doctor visits, cold and flu medications, and vitamin pills: plant some vegetables. Fresh-picked home garden produce is brimming with nutrition, and recent studies confirm that organically grown produce can be even richer in nutrients than conventionally grown fruits and veggies.
**Fire your lawn care service. How much do you pay for a lawn care company to treat your lawn? Chances are it’s way too much. So ditch the lawn service and hire a local teen to mow for you instead. To encourage a healthy lawn the organic way, have your hired help set the mower high — at least 3 inches high. That way, your lawn grass naturally shades out weeds (no more herbicides needed). Be sure your helper uses a mulching mower that returns grass clippings — which contain valuable nitrogen — to the lawn (no more bagged fertilizer needed). Once a year, have your helper spread good-quality compost too, about 1/4 inch thick. The compost will melt into the lawn almost immediately, adding a wide range of nutrients as well as beneficial microbes that help prevent lawn diseases.
**Fight pests with flowers instead of pesticides. More than 90 percent of the insects in your yard and garden are your friends, not your foes. Ladybugs, lacewings, and even many kinds of flies and tiny wasps are an important natural pest control force. Their larvae (the immature stages of the insects) gobble up aphids and other pests, or parasitize the caterpillars that would like to turn the foliage of your flowers and veggies into a holey mess. One easy way to attract these good-guy insects to your yard organically is to plant a garden of perennials and herbs with tiny flowers, because the adult beneficial insects eat pollen, not bugs. Yarrow, purple coneflowers, daisies, tansy, cosmos, marigolds, and zinnias are great plants to start with, and you’ll love how they look growing in sunny spots all around your yard. Buying a few packets of annual seeds and several potted perennials is much cheaper — and much more fun — than buying pesticides and a sprayer!
**Forget the bagged fertilizer — buy seeds instead. It’s true! A packet of cover crop seeds such as buckwheat or oats will add as much fertility to your garden beds as any bag of synthetic fertilizer can. And that’s just the start of the story. Using synthetic fertilizer is a vicious cycle, because the chemicals in the fertilizer kill or repel beneficial earthworms and other organisms that help build a healthy soil. Plus, chemical fertilizer easily washes down through the soil when it rains, ending up in the groundwater we drink! You’ll save big in the long term by planting cover crops instead—they prevent soil erosion, they encourage earthworms and other good guys, and they enrich your soil naturally. Simply sow the cover crop seed on lightly loosened soil, rake it in lightly, and water it to speed germination. Within 4 to 8 weeks, you can cut down the crop with shears or your lawn mower, and all that rich green material will naturally break down, leaving you a nutrient-primed planting bed that will produce bumper crops of veggies, fruit, or flowers.
**Reduce your water bill by capturing rainwater. Depending on where you live, as much as 50 percent of the water you use goes to keeping your garden green and growing. That’s a big expense that will only get bigger as water supply problems increase around the country. But for less than 0, you can buy and install a rain barrel that will capture the rain that falls on your roof, providing you a free supply of water for your gardens virtually indefinitely. Rain barrels are available from home centers and mail-order suppliers, and it takes no special skills to install one.
**Grow gourmet salad toppings on the cheap. Microgreens are all the rage at fancy restaurants and farm markets, but boy are they expensive! Here’s a secret: you can grow your own microgreens at any time of year on a sunny windowsill for a fraction of the price. Simply save leftover clamshell containers from the deli and buy some organic transplanting mix that’s enriched with compost. Clean the containers well, use a barbecue skewer to poke several drainage holes in each one, and fill them with moist mix. Then sprinkle veggie seeds (be sure the seeds haven’t been treated with pesticides) generously over the soil surface, cover lightly with more mix, and set the containers in a catch tray on the windowsill. Mist daily until sprouts appear, then water as needed to keep them growing. Within three weeks, the sprouts will reach the two-leaf stage, and you can snip them with scissors to garnish salads, sandwiches, and entrees. Use lettuce, arugula and other salad greens, as well as broccoli, kale, dill, cilantro, basil, even peas.
©2009 Fern Marshall Bradley, co-editor of The All-New Illustrated Guide to Gardening: Planning – Selection – Propagation – Organic Solutions
Fern Marshall Bradley, co-editor with Trevor Cole of The All-New Illustrated Guide to Gardening, is a writer and editor whose favorite topics are gardening and sustainable living. A co-author of Reader’s Digest’s Vegetable Gardening, she also conceived and edited The Organic Gardener’s Handbook of Insect and Disease Control, The Expert’s Book of Garden Hints, among others. Bradley is a former gardening books editor for Rodale.
These are Some of the Benefits of Organic Pet Food
Organic pet food is fast gaining popularity. The sale of organic pet food is increasing at a rate, which is three times greater than human organic food sale. People are getting aware that like humans, pets too need healthy and holistic food. Organic food means the food that is manufactured without the use of chemical substances like the preservatives, antibiotics, pesticides and hormones. Organic food is the healthier form of food, which contains 18 organic nutrients that are certified. Organic pet food has a positive impact on the health and the emotional well being of the pet resulting in increase in its longetivity.
The organic pet food helps in improving the skin conditions and allergies of your pet. This is because the organic food is manufactured using high quality grains and sources that are high in protein. Organic food also helps in increasing the immune system of your pet keeping away health problems like the skin infections. In addition, since the organic food is free of chemical substances, your pet is not affected by the health problems due to these chemicals.
The organic pet food is also low on fat and therefore, organic food does not create weight problems in your pet. It is studied that cats and dogs with greater weights are more likely to suffer from back problems, organic failure and hip dysphasia. Since, the organic food contains high nutrition per ounce of food your pet does not tend to over eat and gets satisfied with small amount of food does maintaining his body weight.
The organic pet food is conveniently available for dogs and cats. Though the organic food is expensive as compared to the non-organic pet food, they provide higher benefits to the pets. Organic dog treats are also available for the dogs, which are hypoallergenic and also free of wheat gluten. The advantage of organic pet food is that the organic food is easy for the pet to digest, as there are no chemicals added, which results in the absorption of all the healthy nutrients present in the food.
To cut down on the cost one can even make organic pet food at home. While preparing the organic food at home it is very essential to choose only the fresh ingredients including the poultry products like the beef, turkey, and chicken. It is advisable to use vegetables like the carrots as it contains beta-carotene, which is very useful for the pet. It is also recommended that the meat be thoroughly cooked and blended together with the help of a food processor. The vegetables and the meat must be mixed and cooked together with the use of brown rice for the binding purpose. Thus, your organic homemade food is ready to be served to your pet.
The organic food made at home needs to be stored in an airtight container and should not be stored more than four to five days. Serving of the home made organic food should be done as earlier, practiced with the ordinary food. For example, if your dog is in a habit of eating one cup of dry food a day then the organic food must be served in the similar quantities. The home made organic pet food can be prepared once a week.
Muna wa Wanjiru Has Been Researching and Reporting on Pet Food For Years. For More Information on Organic Pet Food, Visit His Site at