Nature Cures Clinic on the Health Benefits of Organics

Nature Cures Clinic : A Naturopathic Clinic in Portland Oregon.

The timing is a perfect follow up to the last paragraph of my blog yesterday.  Some of the highlights:

• First off, the study says nothing about the health impact of daily exposure to residual pesticides and herbicides.
• It says nothing about the health impact of GMO foods, which are well established, even if they are not acknowledged by the FDA.
• And it says nothing about the detrimental health impact of the environmental degradation that results from conventional farming.

Add to the conversation – what do you think the health benefits are of organics?

Eco lunches

Peter's Eco Lunch. Homemade 100% canvas, REUSABLE, lunch bag featuring stainless steal cutlery and reusuable containers.

I’ve noticed lately two things:  1) there are a lot of tips to show you how to build a green lunch and 2) there is a lot of talk about how organic food doesn’t hold any more nutrition than conventional food.  The discussion that could happen based on these trends is amazing, and I would like to add a few points to hopefully further the discussion.

Canning

I’ve wanted to learn to can vegetables for quite some time.  I’ve grown tomatoes for three years (not consecutive), and my husband and I are slowly working out our routines.  We have been to the u-pick farms more this year and have had a greater variety of fruits, although I don’t believe we’ve yielded the same quantity as last year.  Regardless, we are slowly learning, and slowly we are working our budget down and eating more home-prepared foods.

How to get Free Mulch in the Portland Metro Area

Yesterday, I received an email from “Ben”.  Unfortunately, my reply bounced back.  Regardless, I said that when asked a question, I would post it here.  Ben was interested in more concrete places to get free mulch, and this is what I’ve set to tell him:

We got our free mulch from Asplundh, who I believe were contracted by P.G.E.  They trimmed our neighborhood’s trees when I wrote that post a few months ago.  They simply had a sign that read, “Free Wood Chips.”

I believe tree trimmers and arborists have to pay a fee to dump mulch, so they’d much rather give it away.  I’ve heard that some tree services have a long list of names, so it may just take some inquiring to find out.

As for a place to start…  I would contact these companies or agencies in addition to Asplundh:

• International Society of Arborists, Pacific Northwest Chapter:  http://www.pnwisa.org/ – they may have further direction.

• James Kinder, Green Options Tree Care, 5755 Willow Lane, Lake Oswego, OR 97035, Phone: 503-744-0914, Email: info@gotreecare.com, Website: www.GOTreeCare.com

• Mark Bourgeois, Arbor Pro Tree Experts, Phone:  503-473-TREE (8733), Website: www.arborpronw.com – this man specifically told me to call his company and they would maintain a list, and if in my neighborhood may be able to donate mulch.

Lastly, I’d call the Oregon City Hall to find out if they use a specific tree service and get that company’s name to call directly.

Cesar Chavez – A Street Renaming

Cesar Chavez needs to be truly honored. People need to see, hear, and read why he is important. Moreover, this can be done along any street. Imagine a teaching tool: a memorable, artistic series of drawings and sculptures teaching onlookers about the importance of food, respecting those who grow and harvest our food, and knowing where our food comes from. Those who want to honor Chavez could channel their efforts in organizing ideas, funding, and volunteers to create and install an educational memorial. These acts would foster direct involvement and bring people together. This alternative will honor Chavez more than renaming a street.

The memorial could be similar to the Japanese Interment Memorial at the Expo Center MAX Stop. Here, in an elegant way, the harsh truths of World War II are for all to see and ponder. One can read newspapers published, see the many tags issued, and get a sense of the atrocities carried out in the name of security and freedom. At the Expo Center, where people come together for many reasons, we have a teaching tool that makes one stop in awe and wonder, keeping history alive giving us a chance to correct wrongs from the past.

Correcting wrongs from the past would be accomplished better with a teaching tool. So, for Chavez, we could create a teaching tool along each MAX stop at one of two locations linking transportation to food to people. One location option would be along the Interstate Ave Yellow Line, beginning with the Overlook Stop (linking it with the Wednesday Farmer’s Market) ending at the Delta Park Stop. A second option could be along the new Green Line route in downtown Portland, running near PSU and the Saturday-Portland Farmer’s Market. Either place could host a series of artwork and information, delicately balanced with education. The art could show snapshots of Chavez’s life, explain why supporting labor and civil rights is important, and explain the origin of our food. Again, the teaching tool would capstone with linking the importance of food, knowing where it comes from, and honoring those that work very hard to ensure a better life for us all. Chavez’s supporters, rallying the community to engage in ideas, could organize the work with discussions about how to best display this honor and execute the work together. This type of memorial would do more to honor Chavez and his legacy.

If we continue to spend our precious time and money engaging in street renamings and the political rhetoric surrounding it, we tend to lose sight of the real point. When we fight for the idea of something, what we perceive it to be, instead of including a diversity of folks, engaging in compassionate conflict to resolve problems; we lose sight of the real point. Street renaming sounds like an honor, but the reality is a disservice to the public in foregoing an educational opportunity. An educational opportunity of this magnitude could show how we are Better Together, and that’s something that could truly Cesar Chavez.

Native Plant Lists to attract bees

Check out the Xerces Society’s native plant list:  The Xerces Society » Plant Lists.  Use lists like this to help plan your garden and attract pollinators.  We need those prescious

Frugal Food Prep

With the advent of social networking, I’ve been able to keep in touch with some high school friends.  One friend, Mackenna, wanted to contribute some ideas to the frugal side of life.  Here are some tried-and-true tips she uses or has gathered from the wisdom of her parents and grandparents.  Visit her blog at http://deliberate28.wordpress.com.

• Buy meat from local farmers.  You can get half a cow, etc. this way and many farms are organic nowadays.
• When you have a turkey roast or ham roast or whole chicken, use the remainder of meat by making soup or stew with it.  I use the ham-bone and 4-6 red potatoes and a little milk, garlic, salt, pepper, minced onion and parsley (along with a few dashes of flour) to make a mean pot of ham & potato cream soup that will feed my family for 2 more meals than just tossing the bone. When I’m done with that I take the bone and give it to the dog. I do the same with chicken and add some egg noodles and canned carrots if I am out of fresh.  I make turkey soup with whatever veggies I have lying around or in the freezer (frozen veggies are great for soup).  Well, all of it but give to the dog. They can’t have poultry bones.
• If you make dinner from 1.5 pounds of burger and only need >1 lb, cook up the rest separately, mark and freeze it, and use it later for a fast dinner.  Saves you on prep time when you only need enough meat for spaghetti sauce, etc.
• Enter into a ‘food trade’ with friends or family occasionally.  You know that stuff that is in your pantry but seldom used?  I will clean it out every 3 months or so and swap food items with my mom.  “We just haven’t been eating x,y or z thing lately… want to trade it for anything you aren’t eating there?”
• Use dried beans, legumes and barley to compliment your soups.  They cook up fresh and go a long way in filling up your family, so you can get farther for your buck.  Even adding 1 cup of dry barley into my soup makes it go so much farther.
• Stir fries are a great way to throw everything into a pot and go.  You have lots of misc. leftover little baggies of frozen veggies, you can combine them all this way.
• Create a list of every single thing you can cook that your family likes.  Then, make a menu plan for 2 weeks based on how frugal you need to be (some times are more strained than others), what you have in the house, what you have for coupons, etc.   I fed my entire family (WELL) for the last 2 weeks and I only spent $140 at the grocery store.  That included 2 cans of formula, a huge box of diapers, wipes, and baby food (I tried making my own but  my kid won’t eat most of it, so I have to supplement it with store-bought).  That included making a dish to pass at a family event and lunch and dinner on both sets of weekend days.
• Make your own French fries with oil and potatoes.  If you can grow your potatoes, it’s even cheaper, but I can buy a huge bag of potatoes for $2.50.  I plan for them in my meals and separate them out over the 2 weeks and usually have some leftover at the end.  This time I made soup, fries, baked potatoes and still have 4 left.  I make my own French fries in a frying pan with a thin layer of oil and a dash of salt.  My family likes them better than the Ore-Ida kind anyway.
• As I said before, canning is a limitless opportunity to save money.  While I haven’t’ canned in some time, I am going to get on that bandwagon this year without a doubt.  It means 3 busy weeks in the fall, but an entire year of lovingly cooked food for my family and a huge cost savings.
• Refill your water bottles [use something sturdier than #1 plastic from the store for health reasons].  Many people buy distilled water jugs at the store.  The stores will let you refill them.  It costs less and it is more environmentally sound.  Also, with little to go bottles, do the same.  Refill them from your tap.  It’s just water – it’s not like you’re going to get Ecol-i from it or anything if you re-use them.  We can make a case of 12 waters last a month or more by just refilling them.

Check out my green guide for the next two weeks to see a day-at-a-time installment of some green cleaning tips, also from Mackenna.

Local Harvest

Local Harvest / Farmers Markets / Family Farms / CSA / Organic Food

This is a fabulous website that supplies information for many local producers of food across the U.S.  Siimply tell them where you are located, then search for a local CSA, farmer’s market, meat producer, farms, and restaurants.  This is a must-have for anyone interested in ensuring their food is locally produced.

Free Wood Chips – Mulch This

If we really want to consider all aspects of sustainability, we must consider our economic contributions.  I’ve been thinking green for many years, and now is the time (more than ever) to continue to refine how I act green.

So, if for example, natural systems should produce and decompose to produce again, then we need to be thinking very locally.  If mulching is important in gardening, then what better source than truly local – mulch from your neighborhood or your own yard.

The City of Portland was trimming tree branches near electrical wires this week, and we saw the sign, “Free Wood Chips.”  So, we told the gentlemen we would like to take them up on the offer.  Friday, 10 cubic yards of wood chips were dropped on our driveway, the same spot that hosted 4 cubic yards of screened dirt three months ago.  Being able to sieze opportunities like this is crucial when thinking about going green.  How can we use what we have?  What options are within our reach that won’t cost us out of pocket anything?  Not only have we not paid for these, I’m comparing this to all the $3.50 bags of cedar-bark mulch we purchased from Lowe’s last summer; but we also got them delivered for free too!  Just think about it.