Apple Harvest

“Give me spots on my apples.

But leave me the birds and the bees.

Please!”

- Joni Mitchell

One of the joys of the fall season is harvesting apples. There is nothing quite as invigorating as being out in the crisp, fresh air on a sunny fall day picking organic apples. Free organic apples.

A year ago I discovered an apple tree on the land surrounding my home in rural Nova Scotia. I have been looking forward to this moment since the end of my first harvest. On that harvest I picked a few months worth of apples, an amount that I equalled again this year.

While the two apples pictured above represented the most perfect specimens of the whole lot, most had blemishes of the type you never see in stores. 

The reason store bought apples are so perfect is because they are one of the most sprayed foods in the produce section. Nature is messy, and it takes a lot of poison to clean things up. Those toxic chemicals are not good for people or other living things, like pollinators, so I prefer cleaner, more interesting apples of the organic variety. 

The tree where I gather my apples is an ecosystem to itself. These are not for the exclusive use of human beings, so the fruit is enjoyed by many species. From deer to worms to fungal diseases to birds, many living things live and dine here.

This is no for-profit industrial chemical wasteland. This wild tree is free to feed all that come to it in search of sustenance. Come winter, this apple harvest will be sustaining me.

It doesn't get any fresher than this.

Irradiated Food: Would You Like Cancer With That?

If you see this symbol on food packaging, or on the shelf by the food (or if the food is glowing),... don't buy it. 

Don't think you have had enough radiation exposure already in your lifetime? Don't think that medical exposure through X rays and other diagnostic procedures have given you enough? How about Chernobyl or Fukushima fallout? Or the global effects of thousands of nuclear bomb tests? Or natural radon gas in your basement?

Still not enough? You want more? Someone must be asking for more, because that is what we are getting. Now the industrial food industry is giving you a dose, and wants to give you more. Yes, right in the foods you eat every day.

Would you like a bit of cancer with those irradiated fries?

Over the weekend I was reading that my government has just approved ground beef for the irradiation process, and Health Canada would like Big Meat to consider other products for the same treatment. I don't eat meat, so didn't feel affected.

However, my false sense of security evaporated quickly with a bit more research.

I found out that irradiation is already used in Canada to treat foods like potatoes, onions, wheat, flour, spices and some seasonings. In this nuclear attack on our food, industrial food processors bomb their products with radiation in order to kill bacteria and parasites, and extend shelf life.

Dr. Samuel Epstein, chair of the Cancer Prevention Coalition, is quoted as saying, "Every man, woman and child who takes a bite of irradiated food increases their chance of getting cancer. It is no exaggeration to say that our government has turned people into guinea pigs."

But it will increase profits, so it is approved. Pure insanity and greed running rampant. It is as insidious as nuclear fallout. What we really need is to end industrial food processing, or at least clean up this notoriously dirty and unsustainable method of food production so that blasting our food with radiation does not even need to be considered.

Eat me! I'm radioactive.

By this time, everyone who should know does know, unless they are in deep denial, that there is no safe level of radiation. Period. Radiation kills.

It may kill slowly, and you may not be able to conclusively link it back to a particular radiation exposure (that is the beauty of it for the whole nuclear industry), but it is a killer, and this has been known for many decades.

It is hard not to feel like there is some one, or some thing, consciously trying to kill me. And you. But we can fight back.

Organic products can not be irradiated. Food you grow yourself, or is grown sustainably by people you know, is also a good bet. It will contain radiation from many of the sources listed above, but at least it won't have more added to it just before you and your family consume it.

In Canada irradiated products are supposed to show the benign looking symbol that appears to be similar to something good and green, like recycling. Don't be fooled. Such products should have to sport the truth, which would be something more like the international symbol indicating radiation danger.

With proper food growing, processing and handling, irradiation is not required. At all. Ever. No thank you - I do not want an increased risk of cancer with my meal.

The truth about irradiated foods. Danger!

1. Irradiation damages the quality of food.


2. Irradiation produces toxic byproducts in the food.


3. Irradiation using radioactive materials is an environmental hazard which exposes workers and consumers unnecessarily.


4. Irradiation is a quick fix with long-term consequences.


5. Irradiation doesn't solve the problem, it just covers it up.

First Harvest

Radish greens come early, and make a tasty fresh salad. These were from thinning a row.

While our new raised bed got off to a slow start, we enjoyed our first harvest today - radish greens. Let the 5 Meter Diet begin in our Zone 7, southern Nova Scotia garden.

We have a row of radishes that is coming along nicely, and needed to be thinned. I experimented with a few and transplanted them to see if they would survive. Other thinnings I cut off at ground level and collected the greens for a salad.

The occasional small, crispy hot radish was eaten as well for the 'just picked freshness' experience. It is hard to beat the first radish of the year for the sheer impact it has on your very being. What a connection to your little spot on the earth. What a vegetable.

Radish is one of the earliest foods to mature in a veggie garden. All parts of this amazing food are edible. Previously, when we have grown radish, I had only eaten the most nutritious part, the root. Now I know that the greens make a nice crispy, slightly hot salad all on their own, and should never be discarded.

The seeds and flowers are also edible, and reports are that they are slightly hot tasting like the root. We may leave one or two plants to mature so we can see and eat the flowers and seeds. It is always one big green experiment.

Now we wait on the continued growth of the carrots, kale (red russian and curly leaf), chard, peas, beans, sunflowers, marigolds, beets, basil, summersavory, and cilantro. We probably have room for some discounted greenhouse plants, like squash. Or cucumber.

What a joy to nurture our own food out in the fresh air and sunshine. There are many health benefits to a garden before you even get to the eating stage. But the best part is the eating.

Goodbye to sprayed, wilted 6000 km veggies that have passed their best before date before they even reach the store, and hello to fresh produce I can watch growing from my kitchen window, and can harvest with my own two hands.

Our first harvest in a long while was very exciting, tasty, economical and nutritious. I hope your garden is thriving. Or if you don't have one, that you may get one soon.

Why wait? Food isn't getting any cheaper.

Are You A Granola?

If you make your own granola you might be a granola.

Labelling other people is probably not very productive. At best it isolates us from each other, and at its worst it demeans and destroys core values. Such labelling is often used to get rid of movements that threaten the status quo.

Hippie was a derogatory label for young people that dared to think differently. The youth of the day represented a radical threat to the system and were actively discouraged from continuing their push for change. Same with the more recent Occupy movement, suppressed in real time by an extreme show of authority that sent a strong message to anyone else thinking of stepping out of line.

Another more recent label that would make me laugh if it wasn't used so disparagingly is "granola". Linda and I have both been called "granolas", which like hippie or occupier, I would begrudgingly accept as a compliment.

Not that I am "a kind of breakfast cereal consisting of rolled oats, brown sugar or honey, dried fruit, and nuts." However, I have eaten a lot of this cereal in my days, and have gone as far as to make my own granola and granola bars, so maybe I do fit the label.

So how do others see people they call granolas? The most highly rated definition on urbandictionary.com follows:

granola  

An adjective used to describe people who are

•  environmentally aware (flower child, tree-hugger)

• open-minded, left-winged, socially aware and active

• queer or queer-positive

• anti-oppressive/discriminatory (racial, sexual, gender, class, age, etc.) 

• with an organic and natural emphasis on living 

• will usually refrain from consuming or using anything containing animals and animal by-products (for health and/or environmental reasons)

• limits consumption of what he or she does consume, as granola people are usually concerned about wasting resources. 

Usually they buy only fair-trade goods and refrain from buying from large corporations, as most exploit the environment as well as their workers, which goes against granola core values.  

The choice of not removing body hair and drug use are not characteristics that define granola people, and people, regardless of granola status, may or may not partake in said activities. This definition is sometimes confused with hippie.

 How can this be bad? I think I am going to embrace the label, and embrace "granola core values". Who knows - I may start the Great Granola Movement of 2016. I wonder if that would be a threat to anyone? If so, I wonder if they would call me a Granolist?



"What do we want?"

 "Homemade granola bars!"

"When do we want them?"

"Now!"

"Oh ya, system change, too... and the end of simplistic labelling."

Ecotopia

"Let us embrace decay, for it is the source of all new life and growth." 
- Ernest Callenbach

In 2012, at the end of times, there is no shortage of nightmarish events, real or imagined. Decay is delicious, and sickness sells whether it is newspapers or entertainment.

Violent post-apocalyptic movies like The Hunger Games is what people want to see. The morose movie-going public vaulted that bad dream into several box office records.

But what about perfections for the pacifist, hope for the incurably hopeful, and caring for the compassionate? What about utopian visions that help us stretch our minds to consider outcomes of balance and beauty?

Unfortunately, utopian optimism does not seem to have the same box office draw as its darker, more chaotic sibling. Utopian visions are often accused of being pollyannaish, which is a belittling insult for being absurdly optimistic and unrealistically good-hearted, as if there is something wrong with that. 

Why is it so hard to believe that the world really could be a place where things work out, everyone gets along (more or less), and compassion toward all living things reigns?

Ecotopia, written by Ernest Callenbach in 1975, is one such vision, built on the principles of ecology and the concept of living lightly on the earth. And what is its 'absurdly optimistic' vision? Simply that of an ecologically sustainable society triumphing over one that continues on the path of death and destruction.

Although it has some excellent ideas, I admit that it may be overly optimistic to think that California, Oregon, and Washington State could ever split from the rest of the US to become an ecological utopia.

Or maybe not. Perhaps we could get British Columbia, Canada included in the new nature paradise (Cascadia as the real incarnation is called).

I first became familiar with the ecological novel when I came across Callenbach's The Earth's 10 Commandments online.

The Earth's Ten Commandments

1. Thou shalt love and honor the Earth for it blesses thy life and governs thy survival.
2. Thou shalt keep each day sacred to the Earth and celebrate the turning of its seasons.
3. Thou shalt not hold thyself above other living things nor drive them to extinction.
4. Thou shalt give thanks for thy food to the creatures and plants that nourish thee.
5. Thou shalt limit thy offspring for multitudes of people are a burden unto the Earth.
6. Thou shalt not kill nor waste Earth's riches upon weapons of war.
7. Thou shalt not pursue profit at the Earth's expense but strive to restore its damaged majesty.
8. Thou shalt not hide from thyself or others the consequences of thy actions upon the Earth.
9. Thou shalt not steal from future generations by impoverishing or poisoning the Earth. 
10. Thou shalt consume material goods in moderation so all may share Earth's bounty. 

I recently picked up Ecotopia at the public library, and have found that it is full of life-guiding ideas like The Earth's 10 Commandments. Others ideas that have piqued my interest so far are:

• Ecotoptians have TV, but use it very selectively. They do not let TV use them.
• All TV commercials are between programs, not during programs. Most are simple product descriptions and ingredient lists.
• Advertising can not use adjectives, nor appeal to 'specialists'.
• Before any product is built, regular people have to prove that they can repair the prototype themselves with simple tools.
• There is much more leisure time with a 20 hour work week.
• Bicycles and trains are the most popular modes of transportation.
• Before you build a house you have to spend time in the woods planting, and cutting trees.
• Fossil fuels were banned, and all infrastructure such as gas stations were dismantled.
• All food is grown organically and sustainably. 
• Individual cars are outlawed, and most streets have been converted to linear parks complete with creeks, trees, and wildlife.
• Community building is essential to the running of Ecotopia.
• Nature and happiness are more important than 'the economy'.

I realize you can't have the light without the dark, but I will probably never see The Hunger Games. I don't need its message of doom and despair.

I am holding out for more positive portrayals of a good old boring world such as Ecotopia where people get along with each other and with nature, and everything works just fine. Not that I think that sustainability is boring - quite the opposite. It is the ultimate adventure for a more hopeful future. 

Dystopian thinking leads us to believe that the worst is inevitable. Utopian thinking reminds us that a better world can be imagined and made real.

Ernest Callenbach returned to the earth that he loved so much in April of this year. He was 83. Ecotopia sold over a million copies and has been translated into several languages.

You can read a piece of writing found on Callenbach's computer after his death here. In it he hopefully says, "A vision of sustainability that sometimes shockingly resembles Ecotopia is tremulously coming into existence at the hands of people who never heard of the book."

An optimist to the end. Thank you Mr. Callenbach.

Food Security Monday

Conventionally grown faux foods contain
less nutrients than real ones grown organically

What Is Food Security?

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations defines food security as:

"a condition in which all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life."

Conventional industrial foods are bred and grown in conditions that increase profits, but decrease nutritional value. You may pay less for food produced on energy-intensive, fossil fuel based industrial farms, but you are also getting less. Less nutrients, but more harmful chemical residues.

From a food security perspective, industrial farms do not meet the goals of safe and nutritious food that meets our dietary needs for an active and healthy life. We have to approach what we eat with food security in mind.

We grow some of our own food. When buying food, we try to buy local and organic as much as we can. Considering the extra nutrients in organic food, the price doesn't seem as high compared to less expensive, less nutritious conventional foods.

You can do something today to increase your food security - join a community garden, plan a backyard garden plot, plant some containers with veggies, buy organic apples and potatoes from local producers, join a farm box program for local, fresh produce, join a food buying coop, grow some herbs indoors in a window, start some seeds... Get involved - it's fun.