NATURAL ANTIBIOTICS AND ANTIVIRALS
Nature
truly provides the best medicines. It is time to start using our
gardens and wilderness areas as our pharmacies, as more and more people
seek alternatives to conventional antibiotics and other pharmaceutical
compounds. Using natural antibiotic and antiviral plants and extracts
is less expensive and much more empowering than seeking medical
attention for common infections and diseases.
If you
have always relied upon prescribed pharmaceuticals you may have many
hesitations in approaching a more natural approach to healing. There is
a lot fear if you choose to stray from the conventional path, however,
you will quickly discover the powerful wisdom and healing properties of
the plants all around us. If you know that antibacterial drugs began
with a common mold, perhaps you will be persuaded to seek some medicine
outside of the box.
Yes, that is right. Sir Alexander Fleming discovered the antibacterial agents of the mold
Penicillium notatum in 1928. Even though it was a natural healing agent
effective in destroying Staphylococcus aureus and other noxious
bacteria, the pharmaceutical industry got hold of nature's bounty and it
became -- along with multiple other Big Pharma inventions -- the
nightmare of modern antibiotics, causing as many problems for mankind as
they were supposed to help. Because of the overuse of antibiotics, super-bugs have developed that
are resistant to all but the most powerful drugs, whose side effects are
often dangerous.
So, with
this and all its implications in mind, lets look at some other natural
antibacterials and antivirals that can help with a small infection or
much more serious, life threatening conditions. My husband used a
simple tincture of neem and boneset to heal Lymes.
The truth
is that natural remedies are superior to laboratory produced compounds.
We must overcome the fears manufactured by the media and medical
industry. We must take our health and that of our families into our own
hands and hearts.
Here is a wonderful list compiled by Nina Nelson from http://www.sustainablebabysteps.com
Here is a wonderful list compiled by Nina Nelson from http://www.sustainablebabysteps.com
Antibacterial Herbs
Calendula (Calendula officinalis)
Calendula
can be used in first-aid to heal wounds, prevent infection and treat
pink eye. Calendula can be prepared a few different ways, including
infusions, tinctures, lotions and ointments. No known precautions.
Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum)
Cinnamon
warms the body, aids in digestion and is used for its antibacterial
properties. Cinnamon can be taken as a tea, added to food or the essential oil can be used. When using cinnamon essential oil, remember to use a carrier oil to prevent skin irritation.
Clove (Syzygium aromaticum)
Though clove is typically used as a topical analgesic, clove-infused oil or clove essential oil
can also be used to kill bad intestinal bacteria. For internal use, use
in cooking or make a cup of clove tea. If using topically, always
dilute in a carrier oil.
Garlic (Allium sativum)
As an antibacterial herb, garlic
is more effective against several types of bacteria than penicillin.
Garlic is also friendlier to the body than antibiotics because it
attacks the offending bacteria without wiping out the body's normal
flora. Garlic can be used as a tincture, capsule, infused in oil or
simply added to your diet. (If cooking with garlic, avoid heating past
130 degrees as that will decrease its potency.)
Echinacea (Echinacea angustifolia)
Taken at the onset of an infection, echinacea
can speed the healing process. Echinacea is most effective when taken
as a tincture over a long period of time. Do not use echinacea if you
have an auto-immune disease.
Oregon Grape Root (Mahonia aquifolium)
Oregon grape root
is a potent antibacterial herb, especially when combined with
echinacea. Do not take if pregnant, breastfeeding or if you have a
history of diabetes, stroke, hypertension or glaucoma. Take as a
tincture, but not for long-term treatment as it can decrease Vitamin B
absorption.
Marshmallow Root (Althaea officinalis L.)
In addition to pain-easing properties, marshmallow root
soothes, lubricates, softens and heals. Marshmallow root also contains
tannins found effective against bacteria found in urinary tract
infections. Marshmallow root can be taken internally as a tea.
Usnea (Usnea barbata)
This common lichen is antibacterial and antifungal. A powerful antibiotic, usnea
is used to treat urinary tract infections, strep and staph infections,
respiratory and sinus infections as well as fungal infections like yeast
and vaginosis. Usnea is best used as a tincture. No known precautions,
but consult an herbalist before using in pregnancy.
Uva Ursi (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi)
Uva Ursi
is often used as a tincture or capsule for treating urinary tract
infections as it contains compounds effective at killing pathogens
typically associated with UTIs. Because of its strength, it should not
be used continually for longer than 2 weeks. Not for use by children,
pregnant or nursing women or those with kidney disease.
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Tiny yarrow flowers
have a number of different uses. As a powder, they stop bleeding
quickly. Infused in water, it speeds the healing of canker sores. As a
tea, yarrow is used to fight urinary tract infections. Because it can
cause uterine contractions, avoid during pregnancy.
Antiviral Herbs
Astragalus Root (Astragalus membranaceus)
Astragalus
is one of the antiviral herbs that works by boosting the immune system.
Taken internally, either as a capsule, tincture or buy adding it to
soup, astragalus root is known to increase your body's defense against
viruses. Astragalus root is best used as prevention, so take it during
flu season or before going places with large crowds of people. Avoid if
you already have a fever.
Cat's Claw (Uncaria tomentosa)
In addition to being an antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral herb, cat's claw
is also known for boosting the immune system, increasing your body's
protection against illness. Cat's claw can be taken as a tea, tincture
or capsule. Do not take during pregnancy.
Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon)
Cranberry
is a potent defense against urinary tract infections due to its ability
to make the bladder lining too "slippery" to adhere to. Full of
antioxidants, cranberry also has antiviral properties and prevents
plaque formation on teeth. Cranberry can be taken in a capsule or as
juice (make sure it is unsweetened).
Elderberry (Sambucus nigra)
Elderberry
is used as a remedy for viral infections like the flu and common cold.
Elder stimulates the circulation, causing sweating, effectively
cleansing the body. Elderberry syrup is the common delivery method and
1-3 tablespoons can be taken per day during infection. Leaves, roots,
seeds, and berries of the raw plant contain cyanide-producing compounds
and should not be consumed without cooking properly.
Ginger (Zingiber officinale)
Ginger
is another herb known for its antiviral and antibacterial properties.
It is used to prevent and decrease duration of the common cold. Ginger
can be taken as a tea, in capsule form or added to meals.
Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)
An important volatile oil found in lemon balm
contains antiviral properties. Lemon balm leaf makes a tasty tea that
can also relieve upset stomach and promote calm. May be unsafe to
consume during pregnancy.
Licorice Root (Glycyrrhiza glabra)
Licorice
is antiviral and antibacterial. It is commonly used for gastric ulcers
as it kills H. pylori that causes ulcers without upsetting the stomach.
Steep these antiviral herbs as a tea and drink by itself or blended with
other herbal teas. Avoid during pregnancy.
Mullein (Verbascum thapsus)
Mullein-infused
oil is a great remedy for ear problems, including ear infection,
especially when combined with garlic. Use the mullein flowers to create
an infused oil.
Olive Leaf (Olea europaea)
As antiviral herbs, olive leaf
is used to treat the flu, common cold and herpes. Olive leaf can be
taken as a tincture, capsule or tea mixed with mint. Avoid during
pregnancy.
Oregano (Origanum vulgare)
In addition to adding great flavor to food, oregano also fights viruses and bacteria as one of the best antiviral herbs available. During an infection, oregano essential oil
(high quality only) can be taken in a capsule to speed healing. If
using oregano essential oil topically, use a carrier oil to prevent skin
irritation.
How to Use Antibacterial and Antiviral Herbs
Tea
Herbal teas are simple to make and require only a cup, hot water and a
way to steep your tea. To make an herbal tea, steep 1 tbsp of
antibacterial or antiviral herbs in 1 cup hot water for 5-10 minutes.
For children, use 1 tsp herbs in the same amount of water.
Infusion
Herbal infusions are simply antibacterial or antiviral herbs prepared in
water. They differ from teas in that they use larger quantities of
herbs, making a more concentrated preparation. They are steeped in water
for several hours in a tightly sealed jar. Using a quart-size canning
jar is best because they can hold up well to boiling water.
Once prepared you can drink them iced or heated, add them to baths for soaking wounds or sore muscles or used to make compresses or poultices.
Put a handful of dried herbs in your canning jar. Fill the jar to the fill line with boiling water. Secure the lid tightly and let it steep until the water has completely cooled. Strain out the antibacterial or antiviral herbs and enjoy.
Once prepared you can drink them iced or heated, add them to baths for soaking wounds or sore muscles or used to make compresses or poultices.
Put a handful of dried herbs in your canning jar. Fill the jar to the fill line with boiling water. Secure the lid tightly and let it steep until the water has completely cooled. Strain out the antibacterial or antiviral herbs and enjoy.
Infused oil
Creating your own infused oil is easy! You can do it with just a few minutes of prep time (the rest is done in the oven).
You'll need:
You'll need:
- An oven-proof dish
- Fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth
- 1 cup jojoba or coconut oil
- 1/2 cup antibacterial or antiviral herbs (one herb or a combination)
- Clean, dry jar(s) to store your oil in
- Labels
Heat your oven to 200 degrees, then turn it off. To your oven-proof
dish, add the oil and herbs, then stir them together. (If the coconut
oil is solid, let it melt first in the oven, add the herbs and stir).
Put the dish in the oven. After 3 hours take out the herbs and strain
the oil into your clean jar(s). Label and store in a cool, dark place.
(Infused oils are different from essential oils. Learn more about essential oils here.)
* AN EXCELLENT READ *
(Infused oils are different from essential oils. Learn more about essential oils here.)
* AN EXCELLENT READ *
Paradise Gardening by Joe Hollis
We want to save the world, and we want to save ourselves. It’s the same thing. The problems confronting us are enormous and at every level: personal, social, planetary. I will spare you a list. My aim is to suggest that they are all symptoms of one problem, and to propose a solution.
The problem: to find a way to live on earth which promotes our health and happiness / is conducive to the full development of our innate potential, and at the same time, is “democratic”, that is, available to all / not using more than our share, and harmonious with the biosphere’s evident drive toward increasing diversity, complexity, stability.
Our world is being destroyed, in the final analysis, by an extremely misguided notion of what constitutes a successful human life. Materialism is running rampant and WILL CONSUME EVERYTHING, because its hunger will never be sated by its consumption. Human life has become a cancer on the planet, gobbling up all the flows of matter and energy, poisoning with our waste. What can stop this monster?
Nothing. Just this: walk away from it. It is time, indeed time is running out, to abandon the entire edifice of civilization / the State / the Economy and walk (don’t run!) to a better place: home, to Paradise.
Paradise is, first of all, a garden. A garden in which everything we need is there for the taking.
2) And Paradise Gardening is a way of life which serves to maintain the garden, and is in turn maintained by it. Odum calls this the “ecosystem manager… an organism that utilizes a small fraction of the total energy budget and in return provides a service which aids the system in its function and continued survival.” ( The concept “illustrates the ideal which man should imitate in his attempts to manage a natural ecosystem.”) Genesis, with the characteristic compression of myth, says we were put into the garden ” to dress it and keep it.” Same thing.
3) Paradise gardening is not work. Work is a subjective concept: one person’s play may be another person’s work. It has nothing to do with effort: tennis, for example, is usually “play” ( unless you’re a pro), sitting at a computer terminal is frequently “work”. Work is whatever you are doing when you’d rather be doing something else. Paradise Gardening is not “work” in the same sense that what a bear does all day is not “work”. This is the distinction which the Taoists make between “doing” and “not-doing”. Genesis refers to the same matter in saying that only outside the garden do we have to earn our living ” by the sweat of our brow”.
4) Paradise Gardening is not agriculture. From chemical to organic agriculture is a step in the right direction, but only the first step. Agriculture itself is, after all, half of the one-two punch that knocked us out of Paradise in the fist place. (Good) farmers, to be sure, love nature: but they love her in the context of plowing her up every year and deciding what to grow next. Our addiction to annual species and disturbed habitats has put us at odds with the main thrust of the biosphere ( and ourselves).
Oh, Earth is patient and Earth is old
And a mother of Gods, but he breaks her,
To-ing, fro-ing, with the plow teams going,
Tearing the soil of her, year by year.
Sophocles, Antigone
Every spring, nature begins again to clothe the earth in beauty, the process of succession, the initial strands of the intricate web, rebirth of the Tree of Life. An every Autumn we scrape it off, rake it into barns, take it to market: we increase human diversity and complexity (butcher, baker, candlestick-maker…) by appropriating to ourselves processes which are meant to benefit all.
Paradise is a habitat and a niche. Eliade refers to a universal “nostalgia for Paradise”. Memories coded into our genes of our place, our fit. How, after all, does a bird (for example) select a place to build a nest? So many factors to consider (and such a small brain!). It just picks the most beautiful spot available. It was born with a “template” for Paradise. Concerning this the Book of Odessays “The twittering yellow bird, the bright silky warbler, comes to its rest in the hollow corner of the hill”, and Confucius commented “Come to rest, alights, knows what its rest is, what its ease is. Is man, for all his wit, less wise than this bird of yellow plumage that he should not know his resting place or fix the point of his aim?”
(Pound, trans.)
Like any other creature, we are our niche. By our physiology and behavioral programming we are born to live a certain kind of life. Paradise is our birthright and our duty.
Now, instead, we take up a niche in civilization. The premise of civilization is that if everyone is a less than complete human being (I’ll be the brains, you be the back), it will be the better for us all. This insulting premise has guided us for so long that we are unaware of an alternative. We equate “making a living” with “making money”. Thus we spend the best hours of our lives pursuing our careers, being part of the cancer.
But everything needful to be completely human is available to us in the environment – the garden and the neighborhood. We can rely on the truth of this because “human-ness” is a creation of the environment, the most recent manifestation of a coevolution between our genes and all the other genes out there that has been going on since the beginning of life on earth. Much chancier is the possibility that everything we need to be completely human is available to us in the city, or through money.
The last time we lived in paradise it was as “foragers”: hunters and gatherers, omnivorous, opportunistic exploiters of a variety of environments. Specialists, not of disturbance but of diversity.
This lifestyle has gotten a lot of attention recently ( at the very time that the last vestiges of it are being eradicated). The view that foraging is a superior (to agriculture) adaptation is now well established in academia and the same theme appears in popular literature (E.g. Bruce Chatwin, The Songlines and Varges Llosa,The Storyteller, both inspiring).
A revolution in the study if human niche was prompted by the realization that foragers, far from living on the brink of starvation, as previously imagined, actually had more leisure than anyone else (Lee & deVore, Man the Hunter). Boserup (The Conditions of Agricultural Growth) suggests that there have never been any “agricultural revolutions”, in the sense of a sudden invention of a great new way to produce food; but rather that increases in food production always come at the cost of even greater increases in labor (or fossil fuel) input, that the techniques were always well known to the producers, but resisted until finally demanded by the rising population ( or the demands of the upper classes for a surplus, a “cash crop”). “Agriculture permits denser food growth supporting denser population and larger social units but at the cost of reduced dietary quality [less diversity to choose from], reduced reliability of harvest [eggs in less baskets], and equal or probably greater labor per unit of food…agriculture is not a difficult concept but one readily available to hunting and gathering groups…” (Mark Cohen, The Food Crisis in Prehistory)
Agriculture, in turn, allowed population to expand more rapidly. Any attempt to live a foraging life in the modern world would seem to be only an interesting but ultimately irrelevant exercise of the “historic village” variety. That “there is no going back” is merely a truism. What those who recite it mean to say is that there is no changing direction, progress can be only a straight line – from an original home in nature to a world eventually completely human, domesticated, farmed.
At this point, I would rephrase the “problem” with which this essay began: How can we, with our contemporary tastes and population level, live and coexist as foragers (ecosystem managers)? “Caught in the devil’s bargain”, how can we “get ourselves back to the garden”? (J. Mitchell, “Woodstock”)
The strategy here proposed, Paradise Gardening, may be described as “intensified foraging”. David Harris, in a series of papers, explored “alternative pathways to agriculture”. Particularly valuable is his distinction between “agricultural manipulation and transformation…agricultural utilization may – and, if sufficiently intensive, usually does – lead to the transformation of a natural into a largely artificial ecosystem: the replacement of a tropical rainforest by plantation, of temperate woodland by wheat fields…But agriculture may proceed by a process of manipulation which involves the alteration of selected components of the natural system rather than its wholesale replacement- a method of cultivation which involves substituting certain preferred domesticated species for wild species in equivalent ecological niches and so simulates the structure and functional dynamics of the natural ecosystem”. Harris has recently edited a collection of papers (From Foraging to Farming) which which further explores the emerging realization “that many ‘non-agricultural’ peoples were in fact engaged in intensive and sophisticated plant practices which did not fit our idea of agriculture”.
Our goal is to “naturalize” ourselves in the environment. This will involve changing ourselves and changing the environment: convergence toward “fit”. Perfect fit means the free and easy flowing of matter and energy between ourselves and our environment; life lived as a complete gift – from the garden to us, from us to the garden.
But that is in the future, what we need now is a process, leading to that goal, which is justified on its own terms. Focus on the ideal Paradise Garden will tempt us to take shortcuts, perpetuating the same old pattern of selling out the present for some imagined “better” future. “No act is good unless its goodness is seen in the immediacy of the act. An act which justifies itself by appealing to a greater good… all appeals to reason, expediency, and necessity, are appeals to the very force that wreck all ideals. One must have courage and be willing to take risks”. (Wm. Thompson, Evil and World Order)
Ecology teaches that a “pioneer” (disturbed) environment favors life forms that are fast growing but short- lived, wide-spreading, “greedy”- designed to capture the maximum of sunlight and unoccupied soil. But eventually they are succeeded by the trees, which, because they invest energy in making wood, grow more slowly at first, but are more stable, longer-lived, and finally faster growing, more influential, the “dominant species”, towering above.
We have spread ourselves over the earth, and used or burned just about everything that’s easy to get. The age of the greedy ones draws to a close ( they don’t know it yet). At last, we may hope, the “competitive advantage” passes to the practitioners of permanence, rooted-ness, slow growth and steady accumulation, the vertical expansion of the human spirit into realms uncharted, or long forgotten. A tree derives its satisfaction from the view achieved.
The process of Paradise Gardening involves:
-Extricating our life-support system from civilization/the Economy (bluntly, money), and reattaching it to the natural world of garden and neighborhood. This will be a gradual process requiring a real analysis of our needs and expenditures. Thus, for example, cars and gasoline are not needs but only the means to the satisfaction of needs. The solution is not gasohol but reducing the reason for traveling (usually the getting and spending of money). Concerning this the Tao Te Ching says “The country over the border might be so near that one could hear the cocks crowing and the dogs barking in it, but the people would grow old and die without ever once troubling to go there”. (Ch. 80. See Needham, Science and Civilization in China, vol. II for a discussion of ” the political program of the Taoists: the return to cooperative primitivity.”)
The key to the self justifying nature of the process is this: things made or done by professionals or machines may be technically superior to one’s own efforts, but are generally lacking in a quality which following Castenada, I will call “heart”. Satisfaction from things bought usually peaks at the moment of purchase and declines rapidly. Needs which are met by the interaction of ourselves and nature are more deeply met, and there are wonderful surprises along the way. The truth of this will be evident to anyone who has ever made anything “from scratch”. What seldom occurs to us (Someone doesn’t want it to occur to us) is that an entire life can be constructed on this basis.
-The (re)integration of needs: not to the market for food, the spa for exercise, the doctor for healing, theatre for entertainment, school for learning, studio to create, church for inspiration, etc., but to the garden for all these at the same time.
-Enriching the garden by naturalizing useful and beautiful species and learning to incorporate them into our lives. We begin , of course, with the present and potential natural vegetation, to which may be added species introductions from similar areas worldwide; then slight modifications of the environment – micro-habitat enhancement – and the resultant possibilities for new species: a palette of plants, a Cornucopia* never available to previous generations.
A well-known biologist proposes “Planned biotic enrichment: It is within the power of science [you and me] not merely to hold down the rate of species extinction, but to reverse it. Among the principal topics of community ecology now under intensive study is the species packing problem…Theoretically, assertive equilibria can be planned that exceed any occurring in nature. Species might be drawn from different parts of the world…” (Edw. Wilson, “Applied Biogeography”). Wilson goes on to discuss ” the creation of new (biotic) communities” and “ecosystem manipulation: the ultimate game… the very size of the world biota is itself a challenge that only generations more of study will encompass. The possibilities for ecosystem manipulation…offer creative work that is orders of magnitude even more extensive…”
-Hand labor. We all have two hands, one lifetime, twenty-four hours in every day. These are “democratic” factors. Working by hand on a small piece of land we can create a Paradise with relevance for all. Money, machines can’t get us there any faster, in fact can’t get us there at all, lead us astray.
We live during a narrow “window of opportunity”. Having come, at last, to the realization that a revolutionary shift of consciousness and lifestyle is required, we find that we have only a few generations to do it in, before it will be too late to make a transition (environment degraded, resources depleted, species extinct, soils eroded/ polluted, population doubled…).
Our enemy is a paper tiger because it can’t deliver the goods. The world waits for examples; to be shown, not told, a better way. Paradise Gardening is vastly more meaningful than the “biodome” experiment, and anyone can play.
We have been putting this off for too many lifetimes now.
You see the beauty of my proposal is
It needn’t wait on general revolution
I bid you to a one-man revolution
The only revolution that is coming
(R. Frost, “Build Soil”)
*Cornucopia, S.Facciola. Kampong Pub., 1870 Sunrise Dr., Vista CA 92084. Astounding new publication. Three thousand edible species, many more thousands of cultivars, sources of supply and information for each entry.
***************************************************
This article was written about 20 years ago (which will account for a few dated references) – the result of several winter’s reading with the goal of developing a philosophy to underpin the garden-making project which I had already begun. I don’t have the heart to rewrite it, but in the interim have learned a few other things which bolster the argument, so I add them here:
What drives (over)consumption?
Civilization (in the original – latin – sense, from civitas, the state), mimics the natural ecosystem. Consider the ‘trophic pyramid’ – a large biomass of primary producers, above which a smaller mass of primary consumers, above that a still smaller mass of secondary consumers, etc. A lot of plants support a smaller number of cows, which support an even smaller number of lions…The civilized version of this has peasants and laborers on the bottom, above them succesively smaller layers of administrators and merchants, political leaders and capitalists
Consumption (other than a minor component of ‘basic human needs’ – whatever that may be) is about defining one’s place (status) in the hierarchy of civilization. Consumption is communication. I am indebted for this insight originally to Mary Douglas The World of Goods, but by now it’s pretty common knowledge – certainly to marketers. And, of course, the old saying ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ concisely expresses the same idea. Still, it’s useful to look at it baldly: consumption is communication, it’s about saying who we are, our status, our affiliations. But surely there is a way to communicate that doesn’t involve burning down the house?
“Civilization originates in conquest abroad and repression at home. Each is an aspect of the other…politically ‘weaker’ peoples were confronted with a single set of alternatives…This historical fact [conquest] is then reflected as a law of development; as civilization accelerates, its proponents project their historical present as the progressive destiny of the entire human race…
No matter how far we range in time and space, from Teotihuacan to Angkor Vat the tale is always the same…the history of civilization repeats itself not as farce…but as tragedy. In the shadow of this tragedy, the achievements of civilization are reduced to their proper proportion. They were intended for the use and pleasure of the very few at the expense of the skill and labor of the many…”
Stanley Diamond In Search of the Primitive: A Critique of Civilization
‘Primitive’ people never voluntarily ‘acculturate’ (become civilized) – they’ve got too much to lose – but civilized persons, exposed to the primitive, sometimes ‘go native.’
Twenty years on, I still hold firmly to the belief that the best way to address global warming, diversity loss and other planetary problems, the best way to address war, injustice and other social problems, and the best way for humans to live on the planet to realize our full physical, mental and spiritual potential are the same ‘way’. Mountain Gardens is an effort to act out this theory – we are actors in a piece of ‘visionary ecological theater’
http://mountaingardensherbs.com/
We want to save the world, and we want to save ourselves. It’s the same thing. The problems confronting us are enormous and at every level: personal, social, planetary. I will spare you a list. My aim is to suggest that they are all symptoms of one problem, and to propose a solution.
The problem: to find a way to live on earth which promotes our health and happiness / is conducive to the full development of our innate potential, and at the same time, is “democratic”, that is, available to all / not using more than our share, and harmonious with the biosphere’s evident drive toward increasing diversity, complexity, stability.
Our world is being destroyed, in the final analysis, by an extremely misguided notion of what constitutes a successful human life. Materialism is running rampant and WILL CONSUME EVERYTHING, because its hunger will never be sated by its consumption. Human life has become a cancer on the planet, gobbling up all the flows of matter and energy, poisoning with our waste. What can stop this monster?
Nothing. Just this: walk away from it. It is time, indeed time is running out, to abandon the entire edifice of civilization / the State / the Economy and walk (don’t run!) to a better place: home, to Paradise.
Paradise is, first of all, a garden. A garden in which everything we need is there for the taking.
2) And Paradise Gardening is a way of life which serves to maintain the garden, and is in turn maintained by it. Odum calls this the “ecosystem manager… an organism that utilizes a small fraction of the total energy budget and in return provides a service which aids the system in its function and continued survival.” ( The concept “illustrates the ideal which man should imitate in his attempts to manage a natural ecosystem.”) Genesis, with the characteristic compression of myth, says we were put into the garden ” to dress it and keep it.” Same thing.
3) Paradise gardening is not work. Work is a subjective concept: one person’s play may be another person’s work. It has nothing to do with effort: tennis, for example, is usually “play” ( unless you’re a pro), sitting at a computer terminal is frequently “work”. Work is whatever you are doing when you’d rather be doing something else. Paradise Gardening is not “work” in the same sense that what a bear does all day is not “work”. This is the distinction which the Taoists make between “doing” and “not-doing”. Genesis refers to the same matter in saying that only outside the garden do we have to earn our living ” by the sweat of our brow”.
4) Paradise Gardening is not agriculture. From chemical to organic agriculture is a step in the right direction, but only the first step. Agriculture itself is, after all, half of the one-two punch that knocked us out of Paradise in the fist place. (Good) farmers, to be sure, love nature: but they love her in the context of plowing her up every year and deciding what to grow next. Our addiction to annual species and disturbed habitats has put us at odds with the main thrust of the biosphere ( and ourselves).
Oh, Earth is patient and Earth is old
And a mother of Gods, but he breaks her,
To-ing, fro-ing, with the plow teams going,
Tearing the soil of her, year by year.
Sophocles, Antigone
Every spring, nature begins again to clothe the earth in beauty, the process of succession, the initial strands of the intricate web, rebirth of the Tree of Life. An every Autumn we scrape it off, rake it into barns, take it to market: we increase human diversity and complexity (butcher, baker, candlestick-maker…) by appropriating to ourselves processes which are meant to benefit all.
Paradise is a habitat and a niche. Eliade refers to a universal “nostalgia for Paradise”. Memories coded into our genes of our place, our fit. How, after all, does a bird (for example) select a place to build a nest? So many factors to consider (and such a small brain!). It just picks the most beautiful spot available. It was born with a “template” for Paradise. Concerning this the Book of Odessays “The twittering yellow bird, the bright silky warbler, comes to its rest in the hollow corner of the hill”, and Confucius commented “Come to rest, alights, knows what its rest is, what its ease is. Is man, for all his wit, less wise than this bird of yellow plumage that he should not know his resting place or fix the point of his aim?”
(Pound, trans.)
Like any other creature, we are our niche. By our physiology and behavioral programming we are born to live a certain kind of life. Paradise is our birthright and our duty.
Now, instead, we take up a niche in civilization. The premise of civilization is that if everyone is a less than complete human being (I’ll be the brains, you be the back), it will be the better for us all. This insulting premise has guided us for so long that we are unaware of an alternative. We equate “making a living” with “making money”. Thus we spend the best hours of our lives pursuing our careers, being part of the cancer.
But everything needful to be completely human is available to us in the environment – the garden and the neighborhood. We can rely on the truth of this because “human-ness” is a creation of the environment, the most recent manifestation of a coevolution between our genes and all the other genes out there that has been going on since the beginning of life on earth. Much chancier is the possibility that everything we need to be completely human is available to us in the city, or through money.
The last time we lived in paradise it was as “foragers”: hunters and gatherers, omnivorous, opportunistic exploiters of a variety of environments. Specialists, not of disturbance but of diversity.
This lifestyle has gotten a lot of attention recently ( at the very time that the last vestiges of it are being eradicated). The view that foraging is a superior (to agriculture) adaptation is now well established in academia and the same theme appears in popular literature (E.g. Bruce Chatwin, The Songlines and Varges Llosa,The Storyteller, both inspiring).
A revolution in the study if human niche was prompted by the realization that foragers, far from living on the brink of starvation, as previously imagined, actually had more leisure than anyone else (Lee & deVore, Man the Hunter). Boserup (The Conditions of Agricultural Growth) suggests that there have never been any “agricultural revolutions”, in the sense of a sudden invention of a great new way to produce food; but rather that increases in food production always come at the cost of even greater increases in labor (or fossil fuel) input, that the techniques were always well known to the producers, but resisted until finally demanded by the rising population ( or the demands of the upper classes for a surplus, a “cash crop”). “Agriculture permits denser food growth supporting denser population and larger social units but at the cost of reduced dietary quality [less diversity to choose from], reduced reliability of harvest [eggs in less baskets], and equal or probably greater labor per unit of food…agriculture is not a difficult concept but one readily available to hunting and gathering groups…” (Mark Cohen, The Food Crisis in Prehistory)
Agriculture, in turn, allowed population to expand more rapidly. Any attempt to live a foraging life in the modern world would seem to be only an interesting but ultimately irrelevant exercise of the “historic village” variety. That “there is no going back” is merely a truism. What those who recite it mean to say is that there is no changing direction, progress can be only a straight line – from an original home in nature to a world eventually completely human, domesticated, farmed.
At this point, I would rephrase the “problem” with which this essay began: How can we, with our contemporary tastes and population level, live and coexist as foragers (ecosystem managers)? “Caught in the devil’s bargain”, how can we “get ourselves back to the garden”? (J. Mitchell, “Woodstock”)
The strategy here proposed, Paradise Gardening, may be described as “intensified foraging”. David Harris, in a series of papers, explored “alternative pathways to agriculture”. Particularly valuable is his distinction between “agricultural manipulation and transformation…agricultural utilization may – and, if sufficiently intensive, usually does – lead to the transformation of a natural into a largely artificial ecosystem: the replacement of a tropical rainforest by plantation, of temperate woodland by wheat fields…But agriculture may proceed by a process of manipulation which involves the alteration of selected components of the natural system rather than its wholesale replacement- a method of cultivation which involves substituting certain preferred domesticated species for wild species in equivalent ecological niches and so simulates the structure and functional dynamics of the natural ecosystem”. Harris has recently edited a collection of papers (From Foraging to Farming) which which further explores the emerging realization “that many ‘non-agricultural’ peoples were in fact engaged in intensive and sophisticated plant practices which did not fit our idea of agriculture”.
Our goal is to “naturalize” ourselves in the environment. This will involve changing ourselves and changing the environment: convergence toward “fit”. Perfect fit means the free and easy flowing of matter and energy between ourselves and our environment; life lived as a complete gift – from the garden to us, from us to the garden.
But that is in the future, what we need now is a process, leading to that goal, which is justified on its own terms. Focus on the ideal Paradise Garden will tempt us to take shortcuts, perpetuating the same old pattern of selling out the present for some imagined “better” future. “No act is good unless its goodness is seen in the immediacy of the act. An act which justifies itself by appealing to a greater good… all appeals to reason, expediency, and necessity, are appeals to the very force that wreck all ideals. One must have courage and be willing to take risks”. (Wm. Thompson, Evil and World Order)
Ecology teaches that a “pioneer” (disturbed) environment favors life forms that are fast growing but short- lived, wide-spreading, “greedy”- designed to capture the maximum of sunlight and unoccupied soil. But eventually they are succeeded by the trees, which, because they invest energy in making wood, grow more slowly at first, but are more stable, longer-lived, and finally faster growing, more influential, the “dominant species”, towering above.
We have spread ourselves over the earth, and used or burned just about everything that’s easy to get. The age of the greedy ones draws to a close ( they don’t know it yet). At last, we may hope, the “competitive advantage” passes to the practitioners of permanence, rooted-ness, slow growth and steady accumulation, the vertical expansion of the human spirit into realms uncharted, or long forgotten. A tree derives its satisfaction from the view achieved.
The process of Paradise Gardening involves:
-Extricating our life-support system from civilization/the Economy (bluntly, money), and reattaching it to the natural world of garden and neighborhood. This will be a gradual process requiring a real analysis of our needs and expenditures. Thus, for example, cars and gasoline are not needs but only the means to the satisfaction of needs. The solution is not gasohol but reducing the reason for traveling (usually the getting and spending of money). Concerning this the Tao Te Ching says “The country over the border might be so near that one could hear the cocks crowing and the dogs barking in it, but the people would grow old and die without ever once troubling to go there”. (Ch. 80. See Needham, Science and Civilization in China, vol. II for a discussion of ” the political program of the Taoists: the return to cooperative primitivity.”)
The key to the self justifying nature of the process is this: things made or done by professionals or machines may be technically superior to one’s own efforts, but are generally lacking in a quality which following Castenada, I will call “heart”. Satisfaction from things bought usually peaks at the moment of purchase and declines rapidly. Needs which are met by the interaction of ourselves and nature are more deeply met, and there are wonderful surprises along the way. The truth of this will be evident to anyone who has ever made anything “from scratch”. What seldom occurs to us (Someone doesn’t want it to occur to us) is that an entire life can be constructed on this basis.
-The (re)integration of needs: not to the market for food, the spa for exercise, the doctor for healing, theatre for entertainment, school for learning, studio to create, church for inspiration, etc., but to the garden for all these at the same time.
-Enriching the garden by naturalizing useful and beautiful species and learning to incorporate them into our lives. We begin , of course, with the present and potential natural vegetation, to which may be added species introductions from similar areas worldwide; then slight modifications of the environment – micro-habitat enhancement – and the resultant possibilities for new species: a palette of plants, a Cornucopia* never available to previous generations.
A well-known biologist proposes “Planned biotic enrichment: It is within the power of science [you and me] not merely to hold down the rate of species extinction, but to reverse it. Among the principal topics of community ecology now under intensive study is the species packing problem…Theoretically, assertive equilibria can be planned that exceed any occurring in nature. Species might be drawn from different parts of the world…” (Edw. Wilson, “Applied Biogeography”). Wilson goes on to discuss ” the creation of new (biotic) communities” and “ecosystem manipulation: the ultimate game… the very size of the world biota is itself a challenge that only generations more of study will encompass. The possibilities for ecosystem manipulation…offer creative work that is orders of magnitude even more extensive…”
-Hand labor. We all have two hands, one lifetime, twenty-four hours in every day. These are “democratic” factors. Working by hand on a small piece of land we can create a Paradise with relevance for all. Money, machines can’t get us there any faster, in fact can’t get us there at all, lead us astray.
We live during a narrow “window of opportunity”. Having come, at last, to the realization that a revolutionary shift of consciousness and lifestyle is required, we find that we have only a few generations to do it in, before it will be too late to make a transition (environment degraded, resources depleted, species extinct, soils eroded/ polluted, population doubled…).
Our enemy is a paper tiger because it can’t deliver the goods. The world waits for examples; to be shown, not told, a better way. Paradise Gardening is vastly more meaningful than the “biodome” experiment, and anyone can play.
We have been putting this off for too many lifetimes now.
You see the beauty of my proposal is
It needn’t wait on general revolution
I bid you to a one-man revolution
The only revolution that is coming
(R. Frost, “Build Soil”)
*Cornucopia, S.Facciola. Kampong Pub., 1870 Sunrise Dr., Vista CA 92084. Astounding new publication. Three thousand edible species, many more thousands of cultivars, sources of supply and information for each entry.
***************************************************
This article was written about 20 years ago (which will account for a few dated references) – the result of several winter’s reading with the goal of developing a philosophy to underpin the garden-making project which I had already begun. I don’t have the heart to rewrite it, but in the interim have learned a few other things which bolster the argument, so I add them here:
What drives (over)consumption?
Civilization (in the original – latin – sense, from civitas, the state), mimics the natural ecosystem. Consider the ‘trophic pyramid’ – a large biomass of primary producers, above which a smaller mass of primary consumers, above that a still smaller mass of secondary consumers, etc. A lot of plants support a smaller number of cows, which support an even smaller number of lions…The civilized version of this has peasants and laborers on the bottom, above them succesively smaller layers of administrators and merchants, political leaders and capitalists
Consumption (other than a minor component of ‘basic human needs’ – whatever that may be) is about defining one’s place (status) in the hierarchy of civilization. Consumption is communication. I am indebted for this insight originally to Mary Douglas The World of Goods, but by now it’s pretty common knowledge – certainly to marketers. And, of course, the old saying ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ concisely expresses the same idea. Still, it’s useful to look at it baldly: consumption is communication, it’s about saying who we are, our status, our affiliations. But surely there is a way to communicate that doesn’t involve burning down the house?
“Civilization originates in conquest abroad and repression at home. Each is an aspect of the other…politically ‘weaker’ peoples were confronted with a single set of alternatives…This historical fact [conquest] is then reflected as a law of development; as civilization accelerates, its proponents project their historical present as the progressive destiny of the entire human race…
No matter how far we range in time and space, from Teotihuacan to Angkor Vat the tale is always the same…the history of civilization repeats itself not as farce…but as tragedy. In the shadow of this tragedy, the achievements of civilization are reduced to their proper proportion. They were intended for the use and pleasure of the very few at the expense of the skill and labor of the many…”
Stanley Diamond In Search of the Primitive: A Critique of Civilization
‘Primitive’ people never voluntarily ‘acculturate’ (become civilized) – they’ve got too much to lose – but civilized persons, exposed to the primitive, sometimes ‘go native.’
Twenty years on, I still hold firmly to the belief that the best way to address global warming, diversity loss and other planetary problems, the best way to address war, injustice and other social problems, and the best way for humans to live on the planet to realize our full physical, mental and spiritual potential are the same ‘way’. Mountain Gardens is an effort to act out this theory – we are actors in a piece of ‘visionary ecological theater’
http://mountaingardensherbs.com/
MOTHERS AGAINST GMOs
GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organism. Genetic engineering
is a process where genes from one organism are moved into the genome of
another organism. In the case of genetically engineered foods, genes
from bacteria or other plants or organisms are moved into foods such as
soybeans, corn, potatoes, and rice to provide herbicide-tolerance and/or
insect resistance to the plants. Plants aren't the only things that are
being subjected to this unrefined technology, trees and animals such as
salmon (AquAdvantage Salmon) are either in production or awaiting FDA approval.
GMO's are in approximately 70-75% of our foods, everything from milk, meat, cereals, crackers, and many more. Even foods labeled organic maybe contaminated from nearby conventional farms. The only true way to tell if it doesn't contain GMOs is to look for a label stating that the product is GMO free.
Mothers across our country are very concerned, as you should be. GMOs threaten the health of our children and the environment. There is no possible way to test the long term effects of these organisms and the chemicals that aid in their production. Perhaps they are one of the causes behind increased rates in autism and childhood developmental disorders. It is our job to protect and nourish our children. Let start simple with food. Lets aspire to feed our children organic whole foods. Lets aspire to know where our food is coming from. Lets aspire to view food as medicine and pleasure simultaneously!
We,
as Americans, need to stop consuming genetically engineered food
immediately AND stop supporting the systems and businesses, like
Monsanto, that profit from their manufacture and the destruction of the
environment. We
must be mindful of where our food is coming from and what chemicals
have been used to grow them. This is a frightening except from the site
Mother Earth News Glyphosate, Roundup's active ingredient, has been linked to birth defects in birds and amphibians, as well as to cancer, endocrine disruption, damage to DNA, and reproductive and developmental damage in mammals. Roundup-Ready crops are genetically modified to withstand drenching with this weedkiller.
GMOs are BANNED in the following countries.
GERMANY has Banned ALL GMOs
In 2010, the government instituted a ban on GMO eggplant due to this tragedy and further information provided by scientists and agricultural experts. The Bt Brinjal variety was banned due to concerns of the seeds contaminating other self-sustaining crops.
The Monsanto seeds are also “terminator” seeds, which require the farmer to purchase the seeds – at a price 1,000 times the price of a normal seed – each year from Monsanto. With natural seeds, farmers often produce their own seeds to plant the next year.
California’s initiative was barely defeated in 2012, and Washington State’s initiative in 2013 was also defeated. But the story doesn’t end there. In February of 2014, California State Senator Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) introduced Senate Bill 1381. This bill would require labeling for genetically engineered food ingredients exceeding 1% of content. Unlike California’s Proposition 37 defeated in 2012, this bill does not penalize unknowing participants in the form of farmers or retailers, and does not prohibit labeling a GMO-product as “natural.”
In April of 2014 the Vermont State Legislative House passed H.112 – requiring non-dairy and non-meat genetically-modified food products to be labeled. On April 24, 2014, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin said he will sign the bill into law. Many expect Monsanto to file legal challenges to the law.
Meanwhile, some 28 initiatives have sprung up in other states, and Connecticut passed the first GMO-labeling law in the United States. This law, House Bill 6527, passed on June 3, 2013. The law dictates that all GMO foods sold in the state must be labeled as such, but only if four other states in the New England region – with an aggregate of at least 25 million residents – also pass GMO labeling laws.
“Two of the five trigger states had to border Connecticut or be New York and New Jersey,” according to a Release from Governor Dannel P. Malloy’s office. Several US Counties Pass Anti-GMO Legislation
The law exempts research and health organizations in secured and controlled fields. The county council on the island (and county) of Kauai, Hawaii approved a GMO disclosure bill for the island (not a banning of GMOs), and this bill was signed into law by Mayor Bernard Carvalho on December 5, 2013.
On December 6, 2013, Billy Kenoi, Mayor of the “Big Island” of Hawaii (a county in the State of Hawaii) also signed into law a bill that would restrict GMOs from being grown on that island. While again not an outright ban, the “GMO” Bill 113 requires open air GMO cultivation to be registered with the county, and it exempts the cultivation of GMO papaya – exempting specifically: “Any person engaged in the open air cultivation, propagation, or development of genetically engineered papaya…” (Section 14 – Exemptions (2)).
On May 20, 2014, Jackson County Oregon voters passed a law banning the growing of genetically modified plants within the county. Neighboring Josephine County also passed a GMO ban, but this may be challenged in court because of Oregon’s 2013 bill 633 outlawing the ability of Oregon counties to regulate GMOs – or seeds and farming practices in general.
Yes, in some states, such as North Dakota, Iowa, Idaho, Indiana, Oklahoma, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Oregon and West Virginia, state legislatures have passed or moved to pass laws banning localities such as cities and counties in their states from passing their own GMO-free laws such as the ones discussed above.
And the U.S. House of Representatives have attempted to nullify the states’ rights to require GMO labeling with the King Amendment of the 2013 farm bill. While the King Amendment has been dropped, the attempts to nullify states’ rights to require GMOs continues.
The U.S. GMO-free battle rages on.
Ireland
GMO crops have been banned from growing in Ireland, and Ireland has a voluntary GM food labeling system.Austria, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg and Bulgaria
These countries have banned GMO crops and have banned the sale of GM foods in their countries.France
France has banned the growing of GM crops. As of May 16, 2012, France has re-instituted its ban on Monsanto’s MON810 GM corn from being grown in the country. A high court in France overturned a 2008 ban last year, but growing sentiment in France pushed the French minister of Agriculture to reinstate the ban this past May of 2012.Madeira
The island country off of Portugal banned growing GMO crops in 2010.Switzerland
The Swiss banned the growing of all genetically modified crops, as of 2005, and this ban has been extended through at least 2013.Mexico
As of October 2013, the Twelfth Federal District Court ordered the Mexican government to ban the planting of all genetically modified maize (corn), as well as halt all commercial pilot test plots. As to whether this will translate to a complete ban of GMOs in Mexico remains to be seen.Japan
Japanese law bans the growing of any genetically modified seeds or crops in Japan. However, Japanese food manufacturers are actively importing “Roundup Ready” GMO canola grown in Canada primarily to manufacture canola oil. As a result, scientists have found that the GMO canola variety is now growing wild along roadsides and ports that have been the supply line for canola importation.Australia
Australians have been successful in banning GMO crops from being grown in South Australia and in Tasmania.New Zealand
Kiwis have banned the growing of any GMO food in the country.Venezuela
Venezuela’s 1999 Constitution Article 127 prevents patents of the genome of any living organism. Since then the country has been active in preventing the growing of GMO crops within the country. In 2014, the Venezuelan government passed legislation updating the Law on Seeds, Products for Animal Production and Biological Inputs. This revision has effectively banned the cultivation of genetically modified seeds within the country.Brazil
Brazil is a big producer of GMOs but smaller growers have been pushing to ban GMOs. In 2012, a high court in Brazil ruled that Nestle – one of the largest brands in Brazil – must label any food with more than 1% genetically modified ingredients as a GMO – containing product. By virtue of the ruling, GMOs must be labeled in Brazil.India
India’s cotton farmers experienced a disaster with their 2007-08 crop of cotton when they used Monsanto’s GM cotton seed. Over 125,000 Indian farmers committed suicide because their crops were so bad that they lost their farm and homes to banks.In 2010, the government instituted a ban on GMO eggplant due to this tragedy and further information provided by scientists and agricultural experts. The Bt Brinjal variety was banned due to concerns of the seeds contaminating other self-sustaining crops.
The Monsanto seeds are also “terminator” seeds, which require the farmer to purchase the seeds – at a price 1,000 times the price of a normal seed – each year from Monsanto. With natural seeds, farmers often produce their own seeds to plant the next year.
Thailand
After GMO papayas began to contaminate other cropland in field trials, Thailand has been working to reduce their use of GMO crops. Japan then banned the importation of Thailand papayas (as well as papayas from Hawaii – which are now predominantly genetically modified).Georgia
In December of 2013, the nation of Georgia passed a law banning the importation of genetically modified seeds into the country without a specific license to do so. The country’s Environment Minister Khatuna Gogaladze stated:“The purpose of the bill is to create a single state system of bio safety that will regulate the use of living genetically modified organisms.”
United States of America
In the United States, several states have attempted to ban GMO crops or require labeling for GE foods but have faced legal opposition, with many having backed down from legal pressure – some say from Monsanto’s lobbyists and lawyers. Some states, such as California and Washington, have put GMO labeling on ballot initiatives.California’s initiative was barely defeated in 2012, and Washington State’s initiative in 2013 was also defeated. But the story doesn’t end there. In February of 2014, California State Senator Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) introduced Senate Bill 1381. This bill would require labeling for genetically engineered food ingredients exceeding 1% of content. Unlike California’s Proposition 37 defeated in 2012, this bill does not penalize unknowing participants in the form of farmers or retailers, and does not prohibit labeling a GMO-product as “natural.”
In April of 2014 the Vermont State Legislative House passed H.112 – requiring non-dairy and non-meat genetically-modified food products to be labeled. On April 24, 2014, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin said he will sign the bill into law. Many expect Monsanto to file legal challenges to the law.
Meanwhile, some 28 initiatives have sprung up in other states, and Connecticut passed the first GMO-labeling law in the United States. This law, House Bill 6527, passed on June 3, 2013. The law dictates that all GMO foods sold in the state must be labeled as such, but only if four other states in the New England region – with an aggregate of at least 25 million residents – also pass GMO labeling laws.
“Two of the five trigger states had to border Connecticut or be New York and New Jersey,” according to a Release from Governor Dannel P. Malloy’s office. Several US Counties Pass Anti-GMO Legislation
A number of counties in the U.S. have also passed anti-GMO legislation
Four counties in the California have banned the planting of GMO crops: Trinity, Marin, Mendocino and Santa Cruz. In December of 2012, Washington’s San Juan county passed Measure 2012-4, which bans the growing of genetically modified crops in the county.The law exempts research and health organizations in secured and controlled fields. The county council on the island (and county) of Kauai, Hawaii approved a GMO disclosure bill for the island (not a banning of GMOs), and this bill was signed into law by Mayor Bernard Carvalho on December 5, 2013.
On December 6, 2013, Billy Kenoi, Mayor of the “Big Island” of Hawaii (a county in the State of Hawaii) also signed into law a bill that would restrict GMOs from being grown on that island. While again not an outright ban, the “GMO” Bill 113 requires open air GMO cultivation to be registered with the county, and it exempts the cultivation of GMO papaya – exempting specifically: “Any person engaged in the open air cultivation, propagation, or development of genetically engineered papaya…” (Section 14 – Exemptions (2)).
On May 20, 2014, Jackson County Oregon voters passed a law banning the growing of genetically modified plants within the county. Neighboring Josephine County also passed a GMO ban, but this may be challenged in court because of Oregon’s 2013 bill 633 outlawing the ability of Oregon counties to regulate GMOs – or seeds and farming practices in general.
Yes, in some states, such as North Dakota, Iowa, Idaho, Indiana, Oklahoma, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Oregon and West Virginia, state legislatures have passed or moved to pass laws banning localities such as cities and counties in their states from passing their own GMO-free laws such as the ones discussed above.
And the U.S. House of Representatives have attempted to nullify the states’ rights to require GMO labeling with the King Amendment of the 2013 farm bill. While the King Amendment has been dropped, the attempts to nullify states’ rights to require GMOs continues.
The U.S. GMO-free battle rages on.
WE
MUST TAKE ACTION NOW. TAKE ACTION IN THE GROCERY STORE. . . PERHAPS
VISIT YOUR LOCAL FARMERS MARKET MORE OFTEN. TAKE ACTION POLITICALLY.
FIND OUT ABOUT GMO ISSUES SPECIFIC TO YOUR COUNTY AND STATE. TAKE
ACTION COMMUNALLY BY INFORMING FRIENDS ABOUT GENETICALLY ENGINEERED
PRODUCTS.
PLEASE JOIN MOMS ACROSS AMERICA AND MOMS AGAINST GMOs TODAY!
http://www.nongmoproject.org/
http://media.wholefoodsmarket.com/news/whole-foods-market-commits-to-full-gmo-transparency
http://www.ota.com/pp/regulatory/OTA-Position-on-GMOs.html
Garlic Magic: Raw Vegan Scape Pesto
As
garlic scapes continue to be harvested over the next week, here is a
delicious recipe to enjoy. Scapes are the flower stems that the plants
produce before the
bulbs mature. They are often removed to direct the plant’s energy
toward bigger bulbs. Scapes can be added to salads, hummus, stir-fry,
or any other dish to add a garlicky bite.
SPICY RAW VEGAN PESTO
SPICY RAW VEGAN PESTO
8 oz. chopped up scape (1-2 inch segments)
4oz. walnuts or pine nuts
1 1/2 cup olive oil
3 Tb lemon juice
Combine in food processor. Blend until desired texture is achieved. More nuts will make the pesto more mild. Add 1/3 to 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese for a delicious vegetarian pesto. My family has come to prefer garlic over basil pesto, which is fortunate, due to the abundance of the harvest. It is great with crackers, pasta, and cheese. This is a healthy, inexpensive snack, easy to make in large batches. Garlic scapes can be usually be purchased from farmers by the pound in June and July.
My husband and I are processing hundreds of pounds of scapes this season, transforming them into delicious pesto. Look for us at the Madison Farmers Market with Gunderson's Great Garlic. We have been working hard in the horse-plowed fields and in the community kitchen! We will also be selling both our vegan and parmesan pestos at The Hive in downtown Amherst, WI, and online soon.
4oz. walnuts or pine nuts
1 1/2 cup olive oil
3 Tb lemon juice
Combine in food processor. Blend until desired texture is achieved. More nuts will make the pesto more mild. Add 1/3 to 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese for a delicious vegetarian pesto. My family has come to prefer garlic over basil pesto, which is fortunate, due to the abundance of the harvest. It is great with crackers, pasta, and cheese. This is a healthy, inexpensive snack, easy to make in large batches. Garlic scapes can be usually be purchased from farmers by the pound in June and July.
My husband and I are processing hundreds of pounds of scapes this season, transforming them into delicious pesto. Look for us at the Madison Farmers Market with Gunderson's Great Garlic. We have been working hard in the horse-plowed fields and in the community kitchen! We will also be selling both our vegan and parmesan pestos at The Hive in downtown Amherst, WI, and online soon.
Gunderson's Garlic Farm
Amherst, WI
THE WISDOM OF WILDCRAFTING
Wildcrafting
is the harvest of plants from their natural habitat for food or
medicine. It applies to uncultivated plants wherever they may be found,
and is not necessarily limited to wilderness areas. When wildcrafting is
done sustainably with proper respect, generally
only the fruit, flowers or branches from plants are taken and the living
plant is left. If it is necessary to take the whole plant, seeds of
the plant are placed in the empty hole from which the plant was taken.
Care is taken to only remove a few plants, flowers, or branches, so
plenty remains to continue its natural abundance. Many of us probably began wildcrafting as children. I remember eating red clover blossoms, violets, and wild grapes from the backyard as a very young girl. My son LOVES eating anything he can pick himself. He is fascinated in what plants are used to make medicine or serve as a tasty treat. He likes the idea of being able to live in the woods and not having to go to the grocery store. We are always on the lookout for our wild, gathered feast when hiking through the forest or driving through the countryside. I believe these ancient propensities are found within all children and must be unlocked and nurtured.
Lets
explore the many benefits of wildcrafted foods and medicines, just to
motivate us to take action sooner than later. Collecting wild food
increases our connection to the Earth. It requires us to learn more
about the plants and other animals we share space with, a helpful and
rare skill these days. Surely, a worthwhile activity for our children.
We fall into the harmony (or discord) of our natural surroundings and
become more conscious stewards of the Earth. Also, it is free
(usually). You know exactly where your food is coming from and when it
was harvested, as opposed to store bought food. The health benefits are
Huge and immediately apparent when you adopt a wild foods diet.
It is very
important to make sure where you harvest has not been contaminated by
polluted water or dumping. Many times people are shocked at the
senseless contamination of large ecosystems near to their homes. We
must become empowered to help protect our natural surroundings through
political action and otherwise.
I find my
husband and myself wildcrafting dinner almost everyday now. It is a
relatively easy chore with a 6 month old slung to my hip and a curious 6
year old. I am amazed at the abundance of nettles, edible flowers,
sheep sorrel, wild onion, chickweed, rhubarb, and purslane in my little
village. I am sure you will be equally amazed when you start
identifying huge nettle patches and stumble across fields of sorrel near
you.
Here is a simple list of the different edible and medicinal greens, berries and flowers that can be found in the summer across the US.
nettles,
purslane, lambs quarters, chickweed, lemon balm, horsetail, mullein,
yarrow, blueberry, bilberry, wild strawberries, raspberries,
blackberries, valerian, Hawthorn berries, dandelion (flowers, greens and
roots), red clover, honey locust flowers (from tree), blue violets,
Saint Johns Wort flowers, elder flowers, blue and black elderberries,
rose hips, thistle, evening primrose, plantain, shepherds purse. . .
Here is a wonderful recipe for Essiac tea. The ingredients can be easily wildcrafted from in most eastern, midwest and northern states.
Here is a great tutorial on drying your wildcrafted finds:
We are what we eat. Simple. We all claim to know this.
Let's build our bodies out of superfoods and delicious, naturally grown fruits, vegetables, and grains. Let's keep our bodies pesticide and preservative free. Feeding
our children healthy, nutritious foods is absolutely necessary if we
expect them to enjoy a happy existence. It is our job as magical
mothers to provide a balanced diet for our little ones. Lets keep
Aspartame, Diphenylamine, Endosulfan, Mercury, and Fluoride out
of our children's bodies. Lets take direct action against childhood
obesity, diabetes, and mental illness. It is hard to find good food
sources. We must never forget that as mothers this is our
responsibility, we are responsible for the health and happiness of our children.
I
was amazed at the variety of foods my son enjoyed as a toddler. Raw
kale, broccoli, fish, olives, sharp cheeses, and sprouts. He liked to
eat what he saw me eat. He liked to eat the foods I ate while I was
pregnant and nursing. It made complete sense. I view his diet as the
most important aspect of his health. Even if he begs for unhealthy
foods, I know it is my responsibility to provide the healthiest option
available.
I am horrified as a mother to see so many children around me eat poisonous foods lacking any nutritional value. I am tired of hearing that a child is incapable of eating anything but macaroni and cheese and hotdogs. Increased awareness of where of our food comes from and basic health education are necessary for us to make vital decisions about our families' food. Our food habits directly effect our health. We have to start taking responsibility for our families' health. Lets start with food.
It
is easy to see the result of too much sugar and saturated fats in a
children, lets start experimenting with other foods. I have faith you
will see results immediately...enhanced cognitive abilities, physical
stamina, and stable behavioral patterns.
Here is a simple list of brain building foods that kids love.
Blueberries
Beans
Avocados
Oatmeal (whole grains)
Sage
Figs
Tomatoes
Pomegranates
Dark chocolate
Here is a list of amazing healthy recipes that take less than 15 minutes to prepare.
WILD RICE SALAD
KALE PESTO
PORTOBELLO CHEESEBURGERS
VEGETARIAN CURRY
PAPPARDELLE WITH ROCKET PESTO
TUNA FENNEL BEAN SALAD
Preparing food for those we love can be a most magical, fulfilling experience and offering. Lets take pride in the beautiful, healthy meals we create for our families! We can use food preparation as an art form, filling ourselves and children with the most beautiful colors, scents, textures, and tastes possible. Lets introduce the magic within our foods and food preparation traditions to our children as early as possible!
Oatmeal (whole grains)
Sage
Figs
Tomatoes
Pomegranates
Dark chocolate
Here is a list of amazing healthy recipes that take less than 15 minutes to prepare.
WILD RICE SALAD
KALE PESTO
PORTOBELLO CHEESEBURGERS
VEGETARIAN CURRY
PAPPARDELLE WITH ROCKET PESTO
TUNA FENNEL BEAN SALAD
Preparing food for those we love can be a most magical, fulfilling experience and offering. Lets take pride in the beautiful, healthy meals we create for our families! We can use food preparation as an art form, filling ourselves and children with the most beautiful colors, scents, textures, and tastes possible. Lets introduce the magic within our foods and food preparation traditions to our children as early as possible!
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