JASON’S GARDEN

The Backyard Homestead is coming of age!  40 years after the “Back to the Land” Movement took us all out onto our remote 20 acre parcel…

The newest generation to begin farming is making their wave on front lawns, in backyards across America.  It is now very hip to keep chickens in town, and the movable mini-coop (Chicken tractor) that can clean up & fertilize a garden bed is a wonderful invention being built just about anywhere!

Jason Bradford – localization spark plug & recently of my hometown – Willits, CA – has moved to Corvallis, OR –  in search of a wide & fertile valley to farm organically.  His dream is to organize Organic farming for thousands of prime farmland – revolutionize the future of our basic grain crops.  As that bigger dream unfolds, he is making a cozy home with wife – Kristin Bradford – a full time MD & very good baker of scratch German Chocolate cakes, beautiful young mother of 2 extraordinary boys, a Tai Kuan Do student, ballet dancer extraordinaire, and – well – you get it – these are not your ordinary backyard gardeners….but, wait – they are extra ordinary just as are we all, each in our own way.

So find your extra-out-of-the-ordinary time & dig a patch in your front yard, your side patio, your balcony pot of soil…plant a tomato & savor the goodness of the connection to your food.  Meanwhile, you can get inspired & informed by books such as The Backyard Homestead by Carleen Madigan.  

I have learned something new on every page!

start seeing farmers!

START SEEING FARMERS!

Hey – I do hope we all “Start seeing Farmers” …around town, around our county, around our nation… small farmers that is – ones that grow “real food”!!!

There is an exciting new farmer movement – young people who realize that farming is sexy & that feeding people is where it is at – for survival into the next human phase.

SO-

Come on farmers – stand up & be counted!  WWOOFers, PERMACULTURISTS, TREE PLANTERS, Green Uprising Farmers all Farmers who go to Market or sell from a CSA…

Why do we need a farming revolution?  Yep, since the 1970’s (or earlier) we have been losing the ancient farm web – a structure that fed all of us for millennia.  In just a few decades, we became dependant on Big Ag.  Large farms are not feeding us in a healthy way, they are part of the corporate food complex, creating obesity & health concerns with the use of fields & choice of crops.   Too bad for everyone…  It is about Government Farm Subsidies as much as anything else.

A decade ago, an American woman’s waist, on average, was close to two inches smaller than it is today. Eighteen year olds are at least 15 pounds heavier than they were in the 1970s.   That is a bad start on adult life & habits.

One reason is federal subsidies for food production.
Check out these numbers:

• Meat/Dairy — 73.8 percent
• Grains — 13.2 percent
• Sugar/Oil/Starch/Alcohol — 10.7 percent
• Nuts/Legumes — 1.9 percent
• Vegetables/Fruits — 0.4 percent

That’s right – just 1.9 percent for nuts and legumes and 0.4 percent for fruits and vegetables. As a result, a salad often costs you more than a Big Mac.

Follow the money – & it should come as no surprise that federal subsidies for certain kinds of food will directly influence the production and subsequent consumption of that food.

As you can see in the list above, the US food subsidies are grossly skewed, creating a diet excessively high in factory-farmed meats, grains and sugars, with very little fresh fruits and vegetables or healthy fats from nuts and seeds.

The food crops currently subsidized are corn, soy, wheat and rice. What do you end up with?

A fast food diet!

It’s quite clear that the farm bill creates a negative feedback loop that maintains the status quo of the standard American diet, which is directly responsible for our current epidemic of diabetes & obesity.  By subsidizing the farming of corn and soy, the US government is actively supporting a diet that consists of these crops.  And, the food processing industry is using the bulk of these crops to either feed animals before slaughter or to be used as foodstuffs in their processed form – so what we are getting for all of our tax supported farm subsidies is a lot of high fructose corn syrup (GMO), soybean oil (GMO), and grain-fed cattle (GMO) – all of which are known contributors to obesity and chronic diseases.

(See my reminders that the vast majority of these two crops are also genetically modified, which in and of itself is a major health hazard that has hardly begun to play out in our lifestyle or timeline of health & genetics of future generations)

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is perhaps the most obvious example of how the farm subsidies are destroying our health, as opposed to promoting the production of food that is actually worthy of being called “food.”  I’ve done a few rants (posts) on this subject, http://anniegreenjeans.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=406

and it is all over the information field that this stuff is bad news.  I am traveling right now, and (am not in my normal zone of food selections – including homemade salad dressings, natural ice cream, carefully chosen foods – even is they are from the Grocery Outlet)…checking a few labels from my friend’s cupboards, I find that the proliferation of corn syrup is amazing!  It is truly in almost everything.  I am sure that when I was a kid – hot fudge syrup did not have corn syrup to sweeten it (of course we didn’t have it in our cupboards actually – only as an occasional treat from the dairy queen), so those recipes have been altered & I bet – are much cheaper to make without regular sugar.  Funny – to think we have come to a point where “sugar” is considered a “healthy alternative”.  Yikes!  Everyone – check those labels & refuse to buy that stuff…maybe we can get it off the shelves if we just don’t vote with our dollars.  Cheap food is not better if it kills us sooner…

Get involved with your food.  You don’t have to be an activist to make a few healthy choices at the grocery store.  Your budget can handle it.  Your kids will thank you when they don’t get diabetes.

Thanks to K Krizanovich for the fun photo that started this entire rant…

Jamie’s Food Revolution

Jamie Oliver is at it – again..this time in the USA…change the food, change the future…

See it on Hulu…just 5 minutes to get a glimpse of how we can all help!

http://www.hulu.com/watch/134896/jamie-olivers-food-revolution-5-things-you-need-to-know

The Garden Greenhouse

The Garden Greenhouse is being Built!

So exciting, the little greenhouse is happening!

Now we have dug & laid the paver floor, and are framing it out

…an 8×12 multi-use building on the western edge of the garden…

We have begun to clean up some repurposed windows for the West & South sides,

I have a full set of vintage patio doors & side lights to give elegance to playhouse entrance on the East side, with its “patio for having tea”. I am gong to plant climbing roses on both sides of the doors.

…the back wall is to be a solid wooden panel for hanging tools inside & hiding the handcarts outside.

Actually, it is much more imposing than I had thought.  I am not a builder, and in fact – now realize I cannot envision structures after they have become more than a door & simple walls.  It turns out the doors need “headers”, the roof requires eves, the walls have strong corner posts, all classic construction details that have somehow never come on my radar.

I helped Joel cut some wallboard – was just holding it steady, really, but have given a hand here and there in the process.

My job is more that of the designer of the overall garden space…

How to make best use of the tiny garden we urban folks have…compost piles, beds, fruit trees, nursery or greenhouse, plus a beautiful look to it all, & having fun!!!…quite the challenge!

I love the garden as it wakes up in the spring – the rose bushes look happy, their leaves all shiny & healthy, the early bulbs nod their heads in the breeze, the longer days seem to give everything beauty & hope!

Blessings of Spring to you All,

Annie

4 REASONS TO AVOID CORN SYRUP

4 REASONS TO AVOID CORN SYRUP

My last post pictured a basket of commercial snacks.  If we had looked at the labels, chances are – they ALL had high fructose corn syrup ingredients.   Here’s the story on that…

By now, you’ve more than likely seen one of the ads put out by the Corn Refiners Association. The ads tell the story of a “natural” sweetener made from corn. They go on to insinuate that high fructose corn syrup has been unfairly portrayed and that this truly American ingredient is fine in moderation.  But what are the facts about high fructose corn syrup? How is it made? Is it healthy in moderation to the body and the planet? Here are the facts…

1. The Process of Making High Fructose Corn Syrup is Pretty Weird

First of all, there’s nothing natural about high fructose corn syrup and it most certainly does not exist in nature. The process starts off with corn kernels, yes, but then that corn is spun at a high velocity and combined with enzymes: alpha-amylase, glucoamylase, and xylose isomerase, so that it forms a thick syrup that’s sweeter than sugar and VERY cheap to produce. That’s why it’s poured into a huge majority of mass produced processed foods.

2. High Fructose Corn Syrup – “CAN’T STOP EATING IT”…

High fructose corn syrup interferes with the body’s metabolism so that a person can’t stop eating. It’s truly hard to control food cravings because high fructose corn syrup slows down the secretion of leptin in the body. Leptin is a crucial hormone in the body that tells you that you’re full and to stop eating. That’s why it’s so closely associated with obesity in this country. It’s like an addictive drug.

3. There Might be Mercury in Your Corn Syrup

… according to MSNBC in one study, published in the Journal of Environmental Health, former FDA scientist Renee Dufault tested 20 samples of high fructose corn syrup and found detectable mercury in 9 of the 20 samples.

4. The Environmental Impact of Corn products & High Fructose Corn Syrup!

Corn is grown as a monoculture, meaning that the land is used solely for corn, not rotated among crops. Most corn is GMO,(genetically modified) so that toxic cocktail of pesticides is used to reduce the pests which love large monoculture crops. Monocultures can deplete the nutrients in soil and lead to erosion. In addition, the pesticides pollute our soil and ground water.

Skip the High Fructose Corn Syrup

Make Your Own Snack Foods…instead of buying the prepackaged variety. This way you can control your ingredients and use safer sweeteners. You can also save some major dough and reduce the amount of packaging that your family throws away.  You won’t be eating as many snacks because they take time to create. Make some homemade cookies together – it is fun!

Reference: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/avoid-fructose-corn-syrup.html

FOOD ‘CHOICES’ – ARE THEY CHOICES AT ALL???

FOOD (or Food Substances) ‘CHOICES’ – ARE THEY CHOICES AT ALL???

So easy to use our rational brain cells & think…  “we can make new food choices if we just know what to eat”.  From my experience it is not that simple at all.  Food choices are the result of a lifetime of taste preferences, habit, habit, habit, and availability and more…

Food selections during transition to a healthy diet requires at least ALL of the following:

WILL

DESIRE                                                                    

EDUCATION

BELIEF

ATTENTION

TASTE RE-EDUCATION

IMPRINTING

RE-IMPRINTING*

AVAILABILITY (of real food)

NON-AVAILABILITY (of ‘food like substances’)

ADAPTABILITY

INCOME PRIORITY FOR FOOD

MAKING DO WITH WHAT IS HERE

*(as much as 6 weeks of re-imprinting)

And – most of all – ENJOYING  the foods you eat!!!

Tackling the reduction of food addictions – which many of us modern eaters are dealing with – is a book in itself.  Each topic on this Transition List is a potential chapter in this “psychology of eating” book!!  I do not pretend to understand how to make this process work out.  It depends on the depth of commitment & deep-seated comfort that food & eating offers.  In my own pervasive “foodie” history – when offered a new way of eating in early adulthood, I changed my habits & choices instantly.  I had the desire, I used will power, I was getting an education in new foods & nutrition as a health foundation, I made availability a prime focus, I wanted to partly because of being surrounded by new friends whom I wanted to please & eat with!  It was 1970, and I became a Macrobiotic overnight.  I think it was a stroke of luck and changed the course of my entire life.

This option does not usually occur.   Especially nowadays – when highly processed, highly addictive foods are on every street corner in affordable and colorful bags… How can we resist if we are deeply unsatisfied & hungry after a day of ill-conceived nutrition?  These corporate ‘food like substances’ are always permeated with “Cravenol” – that indefinable something that keeps you munching until the bag is empty or your tongue swells up – which ever comes first…or – maybe you even keep eating although your tongue hurts!  Does the roof of your mouth ever feel like it is peeling off?  Oh, my – what has become of our food “choices”?

I admit to having gone over the limit so many times, and to think – I even have a degree in Health & Nutrition, I had a ‘real food’ childhood, I had an early start in good adult food habits – eating real food, enjoying simple tastes in the company of friends.  I of all people should be able to overcome temptation of corporate food like substances.  Why – I even have diabetes in my immediate family!  Note that “knowing” does not equate with “doing”.  Well, in fact – I do eat rather well almost all the time, with the exception of a desire for mid-afternoon sugar rush snacks …more true confessions later…

So – what can we do?  Certainly early education & availability of real food is the best starting point – school gardens & lunch programs could change the entire food landscape in a generation. 33% to 50% of these kids are at risk of diabetes, and that will change our Nation & Health care system in a way we cannot begin to imagine.  Watch the movie for inspiration:  FOOD, INC

Read Michael Pollan – any one of his books will do, the easiest is the newest – “Food Rules“.

So, let’s put our attention immediately somewhere – start by having good food at home.  Using crock pots & simple salads, a kitchen garden in every household, even the busiest of us can begin to transition.  Availability will go a ways toward helping the change.  The rest of that “Food Transition” List is going to be a lifetime work for each of us.  What a fix we have gotten ourselves into!  Nothing else to do but to go and have a nice meal & give thanks that we have waked from the nightmare & can see the road ahead.  See some HEALTHY Food movies with your family -  suggestions include -

“ALL JACKED UP” – Teens discover they are uncontrollably addicted to corporate foods

King Corn
Super Size Me
Fast Food Nation
The Future of Food
Our Daily Bread [meat industry - DO Not watch unless ready to become veggie]
Two Angry Moms [school lunches]

and – the exceptional – Jamie’s School Dinners – about lunches & gardens…

RIDING THE TRAIN ~ SAVING THE TREES

IT’S ABOUT THE JOURNEY…

I RODE THE TRAIN TODAY – NOT JUST ANY TRAIN, IT IS THE WORLD FAMOUS “SKUNK TRAIN” THROUGH ANCIENT REDWOOD FORESTS, AND AN ALMOST UNTOUCHED WATERSHED THAT BIRTHS the WILD SALMON for california’s MENDOCINO PACIFIC COAST.

IMAGINE this journey with me….

Close your eyes & take a window seat on a Vintage Rail Cruiser as we journey on one of the most scenic railroads in North America – the Skunk Train. Let’s journey back in time into one of the last temperate rain forests. We ride deep into the headwaters of the Noyo River Canyon & watershed. We stop to pray and ask for forgiveness from the Old Growth Redwoods that have been saved from the logger’s ax over & over in the last 100 years. The story of these trees is phenomenal, and transcends time. Some of them are 1500 years old. Some of them may be felled this next season.

Now open your eyes and look around you – your own beloved trees, your own beloved watershed and hometown with its potential developments & progress. What do you want for your own local community? What will you pray for? Work for?

~everywhere – The TREES ARE IN DANGER OF BEING CUT FOR LUMBER. THE SALMON ARE IN DANGER OF EXTINCTION. IT SEEMS THAT so many lives HANG ON The THREAD OF BELIEF, ON THE THREAD OF LOVE, ON THE THREADS OF RELATIONSHIP THAT WE create TOGETHER ON THIS FRAGILE PLANET WE CALL HOME.

I invite us all to dream together as the deepening dark draws us inward, as the bear begins her hibernation. let us dream of a nation united – a nation united by bands of steel & friendship, a nation we create in our hearts, a nation of one people. May we imagine our lives & the world as we want it to be – fir me – that is a future filled with beauty and peace, voices speaking & singing truth. May we blend our voices and speak for the biggest dream that we imagine – let’s sing the chorus of life – creating the future we dream by our speaking, our telling, our stories, our every action.

blessed bee,

annie Brigit waters

Garden Bed Composting

Annie’s Garden Bed Composting Method

When I compost directly in a garden bed,

I follow this procedure:

1- Make a small hole or depression in the soil & cover the waste with a bit of soil
2- Use a shovel to cut through both the soil and garbage several times…this cuts up whole cabbages, bad lemons, moldy squash, wrinkled apples, etc into smaller pieces ( naughty me for wasting such good food!)
-& mixes the soil into the old food mass, which lays a pattern of bioactive microbes into the center of the garbage. They do the work for you, even in the cold of Northern California Mountain winter ( it gets down to about 20 degrees here)
3- I also pile loose straw on top of the whole thing…then walk away from that area once it is pretty full, and use another part of the bed or even another bed…this takes a month or 2…
4- By spring the straw is still whole and dry on top, but has started to compost where it touches the soil, that gets mixed into the bed when I turn it and dig it…

Now, if you want to be a “no-dig” gardener, (Ruth Stout was my hero!)…this method does not work more than once for each garden bed…so, I am doing it only to start new beds, as I am a lazy gardener and want to double dig (John Jeavons style) only once, and then never re-dig the bed again!!!

There are 2 schools of compost style -
I am a compost “mixer, not a piler/stacker”…as mixing seems to speed it all up, reduce smell, etc…although I am now trying a stack method inside of a “box” made of old pallets this spring…using layers of yard waste, cardboard, newspaper layered with my kitchen scraps, I‘ll report on that in a few months!

PLANTING edible LANDSCAPES & GARDENS

The RED WAGON REVIEW

~~~

PLANTING edible LANDSCAPES & GARDENS

It was a beautiful Saturday morning on April Fourth!

Four teams of Little Red Wagons left the Willits Little Lake Grange ready to plant veggies in neighborhood garden plots. We were loaded with cuttings from an easy to grow staple vegetable – the “Tree Collard” & lettuce donated by Brookside Farm, also broccoli & chard starts donated by Emandal Farm. Potatoes from Michael Stewart’s garden were also offered as a planting option. Thanks to all of our wonderful sponsors, donors and hardy volunteers!

Why were we walking the streets with vegetables? The future of healthy food begins at home – local, fresh – best when harvested daily. We can segue into larger kitchen gardens by creating an Edible Landscape – beginning with the introduction of 1 or more food plants into an existing flower bed, or large container of perennials or any landscaped, watered & tended area.

On Saturday, We planted over 15 different locations with an assortment of veggies, with grateful household recipients standing by, or helping to shovel the holes out! Who didn’t want a free plant? Some renters or older residents declined, they couldn’t care for it or didn’t like to eat those foods, but – mostly – anyone who was home, wanted us to help them get started! I found that meeting a number of my neighbors was a very great thing, not to be underrated. I encourage anyone to take on this simple and fun opportunity – share a garden with your neighbors, especially the ones you haven’t met yet! It could change you, the community, the world.

-Submitted by Anne Waters Weller

Edible Landscapes

Edible Landscape…

With the prices of food, the uncertainties of the economics – it is certainly time

to plant some food no matter what way we live.

Edible Landscape…

I love this term!  Exactly what we need in this year of focus on

“Local Food and Gardens”…

fresh, juicy and delicious surroundings – the most local  of  all

foods – on our own lawns!

As spring arrives – I am looking at my yard with its different problems and opportunities.

I believe there is an edible or herbal plant for every situation – climbing, low, shade or sun,

dry or moist – in my garden patch… with some research, you can find plants for every situation in your location too! So – why plant just any old plant in your landscaping when you can plant something edible and make food and fun for your family & the future?

Read more: “Edible Landscaping for Beginners | beingfrugal.net”

I was also recently very inspired by the film “The Power of Community” – about how Cuba survived their

“power down” and loss of  imported food in  the ‘90’s…they planted food everywhere – on the balconies of

tall buildings, in old tubs on benches outside of Office buildings; it seemed that everyone helped to get more

calories and nutrition by planting small or large Organic “Victory Gardens” all over the place.

On that note – Let’s help promote a National Victory Garden Movement to support the transition of backyard,

front yard, window boxes, rooftops, and unused land into organic food production areas.

Starting with a White House Food Patch, we can all get started by taking action in our own communities.

Edible Landscape…

Back to your own food production – What do you like to eat?  Plant some! If you already have an established

flower garden or border, it is easy to interplant some delicious looking veggies like peppers or basil and maybe

strawberries as edible ground cover in areas you are already planting and watering.  Instead of putting in that neat

edging row of annual pansies, make it a row of low growing herbs such as Thyme. They will offer you cooking

condiments, tea, small flowers and as an added bonus – you won’t have to replant them every year!

While you are at it – offer your soil some compost or mulch, some soil enhancers like manure or bone meal to give

your veggies more oomph!

There are all kinds of great resources on planting properly with soil additives, and must at least add in nutrients that

the plants use up.  The benefits of permaculture and no-dig methods take you even a bit further into the realm of super great gardens and less work!

I’m all for that – so my winter reading included a number of books –

The #1 A+  book to get is this one -

Gaia’s Garden, A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture by Toby Hemenway

– as well as recommending the following:

* The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping by Rosalind Creasy;
* Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Landscape Naturally by Robert Kourik;
* Perennial Vegetables: From Artichoke to Zuiki Taro – A Gardener’s Guide to Over 100 Delicious Easy-to-Grow Edibles by Eric Toensmeier;
* Self-Sufficiency Gardening; Financial, Physical, and Emotional Security from Your Own Backyard by Martin P. Waterman;
* The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It by John Seymour
* How to Grow More Vegetables… – by John Jeavons
* The Ruth Stout No-Work Garden Book, Gardening Without Work for the Aging, the Busy and the Indolent, & How to Have a Green Thumb Without an Aching Back – all by Ruth Stout ( and out of print, I think)

Edible Landscape…

This spring I am replanting the borders of my yard with goji berries,olive trees, rugosa roses, elderberries, a fig,

medicinal herbs and even rhubarb – so pretty with its red and green colors…

I love rhubarb pie.

I am also excited about Polyculture planting…intermixing selected plants together by

broadcast seeding – such that

you end  up with a very diverse mix in your garden, a blend of varieties that defies pests

and ripens over time to

offer months of food – perhaps even self-mulches the area over the season.

If all you have is a balcony and an old plastic 1 gal pot filled with dried soil and a dead houseplant you are in luck!

Coffee grounds, tea bags, crushed egg shells can be added to that soil using an old spoon, and then planted with a

few things. Just shred up that dead plant and place in the bottom to help drainage and  over time it will nourish the

soil as well. Occasionally use the rinse water from your spaghetti or even leftover beer to water your garden and

you will be saving water and nourishing the plants too! Frugal measures are

fun and adventurous…

Here are some Container combinations – pretty and practical ideas:

* Curly parsley and yellow pansies (Violas)
* Red leaf lettuce with yellow and orange calendulas
* Red chard and New Zealand spinach
* Dwarf curly kale with dusty miller, pink nemesia, and dianthus
* Curly parsley with trailing blue lobelia
* Oregano with red chard and trailing white lobelia
* Curly parsley and strawberries

Edible Landscape…

Whatever you have time and room for – it  will be a bonus in  your life –

super nutrition & better quality food at a

lower price, a feeling of genuine happiness each day that your hands are in the soil,

and a sense of security that you

can provide for yourself, no matter what comes to pass in this uncertain time.

Try organizing  some community gardens -

I think there are grants out there just for this!

Edible Landscape…sounds a bit like the Garden of Eden, now doesn’t it?

Excuse me while I go munch some groundcover mint…

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