researchers at the University of California, Berkeley did a 3 year study examining the difference between children who participated in a edible schoolyard program and those who didnt. Apparently the children who helped garden and helped cook the food they harvested ate 1 and a half servings more fruit and vegetables.

hmmmmmm, sounds a lot like what I did with my daughter. and I really didnt need an expert to tell me this.

it just seemed like common sense to me. In fact this was common practice in the old days.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/25/health/policy/25vegetables.html

kids eating a proper diet starts with the parents eating a proper diet. until then, the chain cannot be broken.

Via @nprnews: Egg Farmers At Center Of Salmonella Outbreak Speak Out | http://t.co/c2zDsXV

the egg farmer, who testified to the House Panel in Washington, believes the root cause of the salmonella may be 'meat and bone meal' found in the chicken feed?!

So, lets do a common sense exercise here. growing up as a kid, going to parks, visiting zoos, feeding the pigeons and ducks in the parks or watching those PBS shows, I really can't remember birds eating meat unless it was a predatorial bird such as an eagle, a hawk, a vulture, etc.......

I think the real question 'the house panel' should be asking the egg farmer is, 'why are you feeding the chickens bones and meat in the first place?

Now, Im not a farmer nor a poultry expert, but I really can't remember chicken eating meat. So now, if I was a egg farmer, I don't think i need to go to school to learn that I should not be feeding my chickens anything with meat in it.

and meat and bones of what animal? were the chickens fed other chickens? so is this what they do with all that stuff swept off the floor of a slaughter house? Have you watched food inc yet?

http://www.foodincmovie.com/

We like the clean white or brown eggs nicely packed in cartons, the red meat wrapped in clear plastic, all those fruits and vegetables trimmed and cleaned and nicely displayed, so we the shoppers don't have to give a moments thought as to just how it is it all got to the market.

so why pay for organic? why buy from a small local farmer?

what price is your health worth to you?

eat sensibly, live sensibly

If only our food were to be properly farmed, and most of the country were to eat properly, maybe we could almost eliminate the need for healthcare.

Its about time doctors do more than prescribe medicine that just numbs the pain, or prescribe surgery for the sake of surgery.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/dining/22doctors.html

I like the doctor's quote at the end of the article. As I mentioned on this blog, common sense is difficult to find in people these days. A little common sense can go a long way.

Creating a garden is about building an ecosystem.  You take your decomposed organic material (grass clippings, kitchen organic material) to mix into the soil which provides the nutrients for the plants. A rich soil provides food for earthworms. the plants grow and attracts insects, which provides food for birds and other critters, which help pollinate your plants. One sign that you have a thriving ecosystem is when you see earthworms and other insects that help your garden thrive.  You won’t find any life on a factory farm. The soil is basically dead from all the pesticide and weedicide. You’ll never see an earthworm. Its also void of any nutrients because organic material is never mixed in. Instead the soil is given its nutrients through chemical fertilizers which eventually renders the farmland dead.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/11/business/energy-environment/11solar.html

A healthy garden is full of life. Ladybugs are commonly used in organic farms to fight off insects that would eat your crop.

I'd like to harvest honey next.

We need to take a step back and think about just where it is our food comes from.

Healthy, rich soil is the Foundation to the Healthy Food you eat.

you are what you eat

Black gold. Anything from our kitchen that can be composted , is piled up with leaves, lawn clippings and whateverelse is available to make black gold. Think how much we could reduce our landfill if everyone just did a simple thing as this, composting. Even newspaper and cardboard, paper could be composted. I refrain from composting paper goods unless it was printed with non toxic ink. If only we could get all packaging material to be made from recycled material, compostable plastics, non toxic inks, we can basically eliminate the need for garbage pickups from suburban homes. Landfills could be drastically reduced.

I never understood why people spent so much time and money on fertilizing and weeding lawns. So proud of a green lawn? All that toxic fertilizer, pesticides and weedicide that gets washed into our sewers and water system.

We mow the lawns and put the grass clippings in garbage bags. We rake the leaves and take them somewhere to be composted, hopefully.

So much time and energy for what?

Is it possible to have a green lawn that's green? stay tuned!

I believe there’s a lot we can learn from growing or raising our own meals. Maybe we won’t waste what we eat and have more respect for the people who grow, raise and prepare our food as well as have more respect for our food itself. Also, maybe we can get our kids to eat a little better as well and have more respect for their food than our generation does.

Maybe we'll eat better because the food will taste better.

It’s still difficult to get my daughter to eat enough and eat a variety of vegetables and to finish her plate. However I do believe when she eats that tomato she picked or the sesame leaves she picked herself and watch grow, she appreciates the food more. As we eat I would remind her how long it took and how hard it was to grow that tomato. She would agree.