TheMondayGarden.com, Eco-gardening at its best
May 8, 2006, Issue 205
This week I received in my email two organicconsumers.org quotes (reprinted below), courtesy of Stamford Herbalist Laura DePreta (also a certified Master Gardener and an organic home-farmer). We can enjoy life more while burning calories rather than fossil fuel. Don’t drive to the store, especially to buy imported (from California) food with low nutritional value. Rather, walk to the garden and farmers market. Be healthier and better looking too!
picture: A pot of seed-grown lettuce on my balcony-- 3 full salads or several sandwiches -- squeezed into between the primroses and violas. Stamford CT May 2006; a second pot, sowed 2 weeks later, is "in training".
"HOW TO BE AN ENVIRONMENTALIST: GOTTA GIT A GREEN THUMB: If you don't have one already, there's no better time than the present to start your own vegetable garden, whether it's on your own land or in a local community plot. According to the latest data from the US Department of Agriculture, the level of home food production is at its lowest point in US history. With the average food traveling more than 1500 miles from farm to fork, the environmental impact of big agribusiness foods is at an all time high. Concerned about global warming and peak oil? Consider the fact that it takes 400 calories of fossil fuels to transport a single 5 calorie strawberry from California to East Coast supermarkets. What's more, that flavorless non-organic strawberry was grown with methyl bromide, a carcinogenic and ozone depleting pesticide. In contrast, a perennial patch of strawberries in your yard grows back on its own every year, requires no fossil fuels and no pesticides, and tastes a whole lot better. The environmental benefits of growing some of your own food are staggering. The Organic Consumers Association is developing a new campaign to help turn every thumb into a Green thumb. : Learn more at organicconsumers.org
picture: This eco-"house chili", developed by the Texas Pepper Man (See Issue 113) grows on the window sill in the winter and on the balcony in the summer. Stamford CT May 2006
picture: My 10 foot x 5 foot balcony, which receives only morning sun in the summer, also hosts this fine pot of spring radishes, a permanent. large pot of wonderful chocolate mint for tea, and a spring -fall pot of cilantro, as well as assorted bonsai and vacationing houseplants. Generally, it's too hot and shady on the balcony mid-summer for the primroses, violas, and cilantro, so they go to my mother's garden in June. Stamford CT May 2006
"ORGANIC VS. COMMERCIALLY GROWN: Just because they are bigger than they used to be, doesn't mean they're as nutritious. According to data collected by the USDA, non-organic vegetables have fewer vitamins and minerals than they did 50 years ago. On an overall scale of all produce tested, protein has declined by six percent, iron has declined 15 percent, vitamin C has dropped 20 percent, and riboflavin has fallen by 38 percent. An analysis of the nutritional drops was published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition and suggests the loss is due to the increased cultivation of crops that were bred for high growth and production and not for nutritional value. Learn more at organicconsumers.org.
Speaking of enjoying life more, walk, walk, these two pictures from the Stamford CT Mill River Park explain why.
Picture: Corner of Washington Blvd and Broad Street, Stamford CT, May2006 and all that most drivers see of the Cherry trees. Jim Cameron of the CT Metro-North / Shore Line East Rail Commuter Council was recently quoted about people sitting in the smog on I-95 in SUV's that cost more than college tuitions, on their way to buy expensive organic milk. You could just walk and get to see what's in this park.
Picture: Now if you were walking like these two young people, look what you would be enjoying: Stamford CT, May 2006
Photo credits: Sue Sweeney
© Sue Sweeney 2006