Buying Healthy Food

Buying healthy food is becoming quite a challenge.  It may surprise you to know that even baking powder can contain GMO.  At the bottom is a list of ingredients to be wary of from
http://responsibletechnology.org/ShoppingTips-2013.pdf?key=35730635
 
Studies in cell research have demonstrated the mechanism by which micro RNA from genetically engineered foods may alter organ function in humans.  This means that these studies have found that micro RNA can attach to the receptor sites of our DNA!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3351922/

Several stores have good reputations for selling Non-GMO.  Whole Foods and Costco should be praised for their efforts.  But just because the package says 'Organic' you may still be buying GM food.  This is because some foods come from China where there is no testing.  But in an exploratory fashion, Whole Foods Store goes the extra step by testing those foods!

I'm have mostly negative feelings about buying seeds from Seminis because even though they claim to sell Non-GMO seeds they are a subsidiary of Monsanto.  My preference is to avoid putting any money in Monsanto's pockets.  On the other hand if Seminis does well it may wake Monsanto to the fact that we prefer not to be poisoned.  Imagine that! 

Another reason to avoid buying from corporations like Seminis is they sell hybrid seeds.  These seeds are protected by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office or by the USDA’s Plant Variety Protection Office.  This means you can not and would not want to use the offspring seeds from your crop. While you may not plan to use the seeds you are still supporting world wide ownership of our food supply when you buy from a company that restricts further use of the seeds. Buying seeds from a company such as Redwood Seed Company  ensures the seed you plant are open pollinated (OP) so you too can save your own seeds.   Redwood encourages their customers to save seeds and even goes so far as to offer free classes about how to do it!  I like people who share and would prefer to see them excell because of their fearless trust in mankind and their product.

So here's the list.  Some of these may sound kinda strange.  Like baking powder.  I never knew it has corn starch in it.  As you can see GM comes in many products you might never suspect.  Right near the top is aspartame.  It contains phenylalanine which may be manufactured with the aid of genetically modified micro-organisms (escherichia coli). This process has been used industrially in the USA for many years.

Another wake up call about ascorbic acid – it is synthesized from corn syrup. - See more at: http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/is-your-vitamin-c-the-real-deal-or-a-gmo-wannabe/#sthash.j4uUQjaA.dpuf

Another wake up call is ascorbic acid.  I never would have guessed it is synthesized from corn syrup.  The problem with this unnatural Vitamin C is that is not discriminatory in its anti-microbial abilities as it also wipes out good bacteria or probiotics in the gut.  Whole foods based vitamin C does not harm beneficial intestinal bacteria in the same way as synthetic vitamin C does.

There are so many things that we've been lead to believe are good for us.  Well they may be, but if they are the product of GM, then we really need to know.  Would you have questioned vitamin B12, vitamin E, isoflavones or lysine? 

Another wake up call about ascorbic acid – it is synthesized from corn syrup. - See more at: http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/is-your-vitamin-c-the-real-deal-or-a-gmo-wannabe/#sthash.j4uUQjaA.dpuf

  ascorbic acid (vit C) Aspartame
 (also called
 AminoSweet®, NutraS-weet®,
 Equal Spoonful®,
 Canderel®,
 BeneVia®, E951)
 baking powder
 canola oil
 (rapeseed oil)
 caramel color
 cellulose
 citric acid
 cobalamin (vit B12)
 colorose
 condensed milk
 confectioners sugar
 corn flour
 corn masa
 corn meal
 corn oil
 corn sugar
 corn syrup
 cornstarch
 cottonseed oil
 cyclodextrin
 cystein
 dextrin
 dextrose
 diacetyl
 diglyceride
 erythritol
 Equal
 food starch
 fructose (any form)
 glucose
 glutamate
 glutamic acid
 glycerides
 glycerin
 glycerol
 glycerol monooleate
 glycine
 hemicellulose
 high fructose corn syrup
 (HFCS)
 hydrogenated starch
 hydrolyzed vegetable
 protein
 inositol
 inverse syrup
 inversol
 invert sugar
 isoflavones
 lactic acid
 lecithin
 leucine
 lysine
 malitol
 malt
 malt syrup
 malt
 extract
 maltodextrin
 maltose
 mannitol
 methylcellulose
 milk powder
 milo starch
 modified food starch
 modified starch
 mono and diglycerides
 monosodium
 glutamate (MSG)
 Nutrasweet
 oleic acid
 Phenylalanine
 phytic acid
 protein isolate
 shoyu
 sorbitol
 soy flour
 soy isolates
 soy lecithin
 soy milk
 soy oil
 soy protein
 soy protein isolate
 soy sauce
 starch
 stearic acid
 sugar (unless cane sugar)
 tamari
 tempeh
 teriyaki marinades
 textured
 vegetable
 protein
 threonine
 tocopherols (vit E)
 tofu
 trehalose
 triglyceride
 vegetable fat
 vegetable oil
 vitamin B12
 vitamin E
 whey
 whey powder
 xanthan
 gum
 Popcorn is NOT GM

Summer is the Time to Plant Winter Squash!

Winter squash takes about three months to mature.  For a September harvest it's time to plant!

Remember squash are heavy feeders so add plenty of compost below and around each plant

Time to choose your brassicas for late summer planting. 

Weeding

Ray has documented an experiment where he weeded one section of his garden and let the other go natural.  So what do you think?  Is weeding just for show or does it help your plants grow better?

This link will start his video at the point where he shows his experiment.
http://youtu.be/Zl_zxmqQ1EU?t=8m48s

Or you can watch the entire video about compost tea nutrient extraction which is different from brewing compost tea for microorganisms. 

Easy Tea Brewer

Last year I build a compost tea brewer that created a vortex. Time has taught me a few things and today I rebuilt the brewer to make the whole operation a lot easier.
The whole vortex thing is impressive and fun to watch but I really don't see the benefit.  If you are into the mystical power of vortex then this design is not your cup of tea  (Like the pun?)

Once the tea was made transporting to the garden became a choir that I disliked so much that the tea would often sit too long and ended up being wasted.  The trick was to make clean tea that I could pump through a hose to the garden beds. Experiments showed me that simply placing the compost in a strainer bag did not let sufficient water flow through the bag.

This new design uses an airlift pump to recirculate the tea water through a strainer bag filled with compost. The airlift adds plenty of aeration to the tea.

I built this from parts I had around and will change the 3/4" pipe going to the bag to a 2" pipe for even better flow.   A PVC Slip Coupling on this pipe holds the bag in place with the zip tie just above the coupling.

I also cut the container down to a depth that I can comfortably reach the bottom of.  Cleaning the 33" tall 55 gallon drum was quite difficult and messy since I had to place my head an shoulders into the drum in order to scrub it out.

I'm running the new design for the first time right now.  Cleanup will be easy as removing the bag of compost and wiping out the barrel.  Distribution will be done with a high powered sump pump.  I will be able to spray full strength tea on my plants and water them with an abundance of active microbes.

With this easy brewer I will be far more likely to brew very often.

For those who are looking carefully at the photos you may have noticed the 2" pipe connects through the bottom.  This adds stability to the pipes.  I might not have done this except the original design used this hole to create the vortex.  It think it is a good idea and may even replace the cap that I put on to seal the bottom with a 2" valve in case I should ever want to drain the barrel from the bottom.

Most of these pipes are not glued so they all come apart easily for cleaning.

After using this design I saw a way easily increase the flow so I extended the air lift all the way to the ground.  This design works just as well and turned out to be even quieter than the previous design.  Cleanup is not significantly more difficult so I will keep these changes,  In fact it is so easy that I would not have any trouble making tea every day.