12 Steps to Whole Foods
Reaping a Gardener’s Rewards When you have tasted an heirloom tomato, you remember how God intended tomatoes to taste. They bear no resemblance to Monsanto’s high-yield, early picked, chemically ripened “tomatoes” sold in grocery stores. Another handful of companies, combined with Monsanto, control 98% of the world’s seeds. Those other agri-chemical companies include DuPont, Mitsui, Syngent, Aventis, and Dow. In the past 30 years, this conglomerate of companies has decimated seed diversity, squeezing the number of varieties of vegetables from over 5,000 to fewer than 500. We depend on biodiversity for our survival in natural calamities (such as drought or pest infestation) that can wipe out large swaths of agriculture. If you plant your heirloom crop within five miles of a hybridized farm, genetically engineered plants will crosspollinate with yours. Then, Monsanto’s secret police can find out if your crop has Monsanto’s patented genetics and take you to court against their lawyers and deep pockets. You will have to hire expensive genetic testing and legal counsel, as other farmers have had to do, driving them into bankruptcy. I would like to encourage you to take a little extra time to find, purchase, plant, and store heirloom seeds only. (Heirloomseeds.com is one place you can still acquire non-hybridized seed.) This is just one way you can take a stand against the unethical, profiteering, deadly practices of Monsanto, and preserve the great things of our past. Store a few years' worth of seeds in sealed cans in cold storage. Knowing what we face in the coming generations—as Monsanto may increasingly control our institutions, including the entire industry of farming, and our policy-making government—may motivate you to get your hands in the dirt and take an important step to control the food you eat. The Seed Savers Exchange web site is www.seedsavers.org. I agree with their mission statement, which begins with this premise: “The future of our planet depends on a genetically diverse food supply.” Also please take the time to educate your lawmakers and take a stand against Monsanto’s practices and agenda. Europe has banned Monsanto products. We should take our agricultural policy back from greedy corporations and put it back in the hands of the people who have nourished us for thousands of years: small farmers and anti-trust laws that protect the free market system. At the time of this writing (2011) over 60 small companies have joined together to file a class-action lawsuit against Monsanto for a variety of egregious practices. 122 12 Steps to Whole Foods © Copyright Robyn Openshaw
Reaping a Gardener’s Rewards Where to Put Your Gardening Efforts—And How Many gardeners love to grow vegetables and then wonder what to do with it all when the plants offer up a yield. In this chapter, gardening tips are minimal, and I stick to the basics related to getting whole foods on the table economically rather than giving a detailed how-to of the science of gardening. The main goal of this chapter is to give a beginning or intermediate gardener a few suggestions, to offer new ideas for ways to use some garden vegetables grown easily in U.S. climates, and to convey a description of why, nutritionally, each one is a great addition to your family’s menu. Covering every vegetable is impossible; thus, I have included only those I find (a) easy to grow, (b) very high in nutrition and yield, and (c) harder to think of uses for. Secondarily, I chose vegetables to include in this section that yield great benefits when grown at home because the store-bought vegetable is often chemically sprayed and nutritionally inferior. What to Plant I find broccoli difficult to grow, with a low yield. Pumpkins take a massive amount of space, and peas are low yield, high effort. Thus these are not featured in this chapter, though you may wish to grow them. Onions are in many of the recipes in this book already, especially main dishes coming in Chapter 6 (page 157). Garden staples tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, radishes, and corn are easy to grow, well known, and a snap to use raw in virtually any salad—including recipes in Chapter 2 (page 53)—as well as salsas. Many people don’t know that radish tops are edible, so don’t throw them away, and try them in your green smoothies. Raspberries and strawberries are also great perennial additions to your garden, if you have the space, and you can use them in everyday green smoothies as well as desserts. An excellent resource for gardeners wanting hundreds of recipes and color photos for 30+ garden vegetables is Marian Morash’s Victory Garden Cookbook. Many communities offer gardening space for free, or for a very small fee, so ask your city about its resources. When my husband and I were college students and living in apartments, we still had huge gardens, because one year we asked an elderly neighbor with unused garden space to let us use it, and another year we used the university community garden plots. These are foods I recommend growing, depending on the space you have: Beets Corn Lettuce Spinach Bell Peppers Cucumbers Onions Strawberries (perennials) Cabbage Goji Berries (perennials) Radishes Summer Squash Carrots Green Beans Raspberries (perennials) Tomatoes Chard Kale Spaghetti Squash Zucchini © Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 123
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Reaping a Gardener’s Rewards<br />
When you have tasted an heirloom <strong>to</strong>ma<strong>to</strong>, you remember how God<br />
intended <strong>to</strong>ma<strong>to</strong>es <strong>to</strong> taste. They bear no resemblance <strong>to</strong> Monsan<strong>to</strong>’s<br />
high-yield, early picked, chemically ripened “<strong>to</strong>ma<strong>to</strong>es” sold in grocery<br />
s<strong>to</strong>res. Another handful of companies, combined with Monsan<strong>to</strong>,<br />
control 98% of the world’s seeds. Those other agri-chemical companies<br />
include DuPont, Mitsui, Syngent, Aventis, and Dow.<br />
In the past 30 years, this conglomerate of companies has decimated seed<br />
diversity, squeezing the number of varieties of vegetables from over<br />
5,000 <strong>to</strong> fewer than 500. We depend on biodiversity for our survival in<br />
natural calamities (such as drought or pest infestation) that can wipe out<br />
large swaths of agriculture. If you plant your heirloom crop within five<br />
miles of a hybridized farm, genetically engineered plants will crosspollinate<br />
with yours. Then, Monsan<strong>to</strong>’s secret police can find out if your<br />
crop has Monsan<strong>to</strong>’s patented genetics and take you <strong>to</strong> court against<br />
their lawyers and deep pockets. You will have <strong>to</strong> hire expensive genetic<br />
testing and legal counsel, as other farmers have had <strong>to</strong> do, driving them<br />
in<strong>to</strong> bankruptcy.<br />
I would like <strong>to</strong> encourage you <strong>to</strong> take a little extra time <strong>to</strong> find, purchase, plant, and s<strong>to</strong>re heirloom seeds only.<br />
(Heirloomseeds.com is one place you can still acquire non-hybridized seed.) This is just one way you can take<br />
a stand against the unethical, profiteering, deadly practices of Monsan<strong>to</strong>, and preserve the great things of our<br />
past. S<strong>to</strong>re a few years' worth of seeds in sealed cans in cold s<strong>to</strong>rage.<br />
Knowing what we face in the coming generations—as Monsan<strong>to</strong> may increasingly control our institutions,<br />
including the entire industry of farming, and our policy-making government—may motivate you <strong>to</strong> get your<br />
hands in the dirt and take an important step <strong>to</strong> control the food you eat. The Seed Savers Exchange web site is<br />
www.seedsavers.org. I agree with their mission statement, which begins with this premise: “The future of our<br />
planet depends on a genetically diverse food supply.”<br />
Also please take the time <strong>to</strong> educate your lawmakers and take a stand against Monsan<strong>to</strong>’s practices and agenda.<br />
Europe has banned Monsan<strong>to</strong> products. We should take our agricultural policy back from greedy corporations<br />
and put it back in the hands of the people who have nourished us for thousands of years: small farmers and<br />
anti-trust laws that protect the free market system.<br />
At the time of this writing (2011) over 60 small companies have joined <strong>to</strong>gether <strong>to</strong> file a class-action lawsuit<br />
against Monsan<strong>to</strong> for a variety of egregious practices.<br />
<strong>12</strong>2 <strong>12</strong> <strong>Steps</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>Whole</strong> <strong>Foods</strong><br />
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw