Experiments
on the rooftop parking lot of the office of The Evangelical Lutheran Church
in Chicago have proven the feasibility of growing high yields of vegetables
in children's plastic wading pools.
In 1993 Dr. Job
Ebenezer, Director for Environmental Stewardship and Hunger Education
at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chicago has proven that the use of
low-cost containers such as plastic children's wading pools is an easy,
affordable means by which to produce safe and nutritious food. The hope
was that the rooftop garden would serve as a role model for creative use
of urban space throughout the country. The need for such a project evolved
out of issues of food sustainability and several global trends: urban population
growth; farmland and forest land loss due to development; creative use
of wastelands in urban areas; recycling of food wastes in cities, and a
burgeoning community gardening movement that empowered poor people to grow
their own food in their own neighborhoods.
Shirley's
cauliflower growing in a crate on her rooftop garden (April 1988)
click
here to view more photos and articles about her rooftop garden
The demonstration garden has proved to be highly successful.
In 1997, gardeners harvested 984 pounds of vegetables from 38 pools in
an area measuring 1,625 square feet. One pool alone yielded an average
of 22.5 pounds of tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, zucchini and a variety
of greens. This is equivalent to about 26,800 pounds. per acre, which far
exceeds that of commercial yields in the state of Wisconsin and even the
national 1996 average yields.
This project demonstrates how fresh, healthy vegetables
can be grown inexpensively in containers virtually anywhere -- at the edges
of parking lots; along railroad tracks; on back porches; on rooftops; in
patios; in driveways; in vacant lots between buildings; in brown fields
or areas where there is a concern about soil pollutants; in areas where
soil nutrition is lacking -- just about anywhere there is a bit of space,
sun and access to water. These gardens use much less water than the amount
needed for conventional row planting in open fields.
Vegetable
Gardening In Containers If your vegetable gardening
is limited by insufficient space or an unsuitable area, consider the possibility
of raising fresh, nutritious, homegrown vegetables in containers. A window
sill, a patio, a balcony or a doorstep will provide sufficient space for
a productive mini-garden. Problems with soil-borne diseases, nematodes
or poor soil conditions can be easily overcome by switching to a container
garden. Almost any vegetable that will grow in a typical backyard garden
will also do well as a container-grown plant. Vegetables which are ideally
suited for growing in containers include tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, green
onions, beans, lettuce, squash, radishes and parsley. Pole beans and cucumbers
also do well in this type of garden, but they do require considerably more
space because of their vining growth habit. more
Container
Gardening If you don't have space for a vegetable
garden or if your outdoor space doesn't provide the necessary elements
to produce the flower garden you've always wanted, consider the possibility
of "container gardening." A patio, deck, balcony, or doorstep can provide
enough space for a productive, attractive display. If you live in an apartment
with limited outdoor space, you might consider doing a little indoor gardening.
By using sunny window sills, you can grow a number of herbs.
Container
Garden and grow flowers and veges on deck, porch, windowsill or rooftop
Do
it Yourself Weed Medicine
The medicine you really need may be growing in your back yard right
now!
Ditch those dangerous synthetic pharmaceuticals! The best medicine in
the world is created by nature, not greedy drug companies. Now you can
learn the secrets about natural medicine growing all around you as Granny
Earth reveals the little-known medicinal uses of plants you thought were
only weeds!
Are you still paying for medicine from a pharmacy? That's what the drug
companies want you to do because it earns them billions in profits. They
don't want you to learn how to get your medicine for free, straight from
nature, by learning the truth about how plants—not pharmaceutical factories—produce
the safest and most effective medicine in the world!
Meet Granny Earth N.D.—a 66-year-young naturopath and self-taught weed
enthusiast who is an expert in natural medicine that grows wild. She's
compiled a lifetime of knowledge of plant-based cures, remedies and treatments
in her new book, Do it Yourself Weed Medicine. Filled with illustrations,
drawings, remedies, recipes and words of inspiration, Granny Earth's Do
it Yourself Weed Medicine will move you beyond the limited realm of pharmaceutical
symptom-masking and into a world of true health, empowered by the medicine
nature intended you to use—the medicine found in plants! learn
more
Sustainable
Agriculture explores the ambitious program Cuba embarked on during
the ten years subsequent to the collapse of the Soviet Union, a program
which fed the country's population. By 1999 Cuba's agricultural production
had recovered and in some cases reached historic levels. While rural farms
and farmers contributed greatly to this success, a key component was the
emergence of urban farms and gardens as the principle source of fresh produce
in cities.
"In the early 1990's a strong urban agriculture was born in which thousands
of people produce food using organic methods that help supply basic foodstuffs
to urban families," said Dr. Funes. "The effectiveness of organic techniques
in urban gardening has been clearly demonstrated, and it is here that we
are possibly closest to the ideal of sustainable agriculture, due in part
to the prohibition of the use of chemicals because of the proximity to
dense human populations."
This is a story of resistance against all odds, of Cuba's remarkable
recovery from a food crisis brought on by the collapse of trade relations
with the former socialist bloc and the tightening of the U.S. embargo.
Unable to import either food or the farm chemicals and machines needed
to grow it via conventional agriculture, Cuba turned inward toward self-reliance.
Sustainable agriculture, organic farming, urban gardens, smaller farms,
animal traction and biological pest control are part of the successful
paradigm shift underway in the Cuban countryside. In this book Cuban authors
offer details-for the first time in English-of these remarkable achievements,
which may serve as guideposts toward healthier, more environmentally friendly
and self-reliant farming in countries both North and South.
Sustainable Agriculture and Resistance: Transforming Food Production
in Cuba includes the contribution of thirty-two of Cuba's leading agriculture
researchers, plus three American experts on Cuba agriculture, including
Dr. Peter Rosset, the co-director of Food First. It also includes a prologue
by Professor Miguel Altieri of the University of California at Berkeley,
and an epilog by Professor Richard Levins of Harvard University.
"To understand Cuban agricultural development we must first look at
the richness of detail in this volume. Then we have to step back and squint
to capture the truly novel pathway of development that Cuba is pioneering.
And then once again we have to focus in on the details, and glimpse the
processes through which Cuba is creating something truly new and hopeful
for all of humanity."
-Professor Richard Levins, Harvard University School of Public Health
More
on Cuba's Successful Organic Farms
Shirley's Award Winning Container Garden
---- 
Views
of my rooftop container garden in Holywood, April 1988
In
1987 my rooftop garden won the New American Garden Contest Special Merit
Award from the National Gardening Association. The National Gardening Magazine
featured a 6 page article on my container
garden. (other articles about my rooftop garden:
April
1988 issue 'Up on The Roof' - and also in the Futurist Magazine
March-April 1993 'Gardens in the Sky'). For 8 years
I grew a wide variety of fruits and vegetables such as grapes, corn, apples,
tomatoes, cabbages, blackberries, and much much more. Everything was grown
entirely in containers on the rooftop of my Hollywood apartment building.
By the 5th year, my container garden produced over one and a half ton (1500
pounds) per year of organically grown fruits and vegetables. click
here to view more photos and read the Special Merit Award article
from the National Gardening Association
I'm
harvesting grapes, grown in containers, on the building's rooftop
In a 1993 experiment, Dr. Job Ebenezer, Director for Environmental
Stewardship and Hunger Education also demonstrated how fresh, healthy
vegetables can be grown in abundance and inexpensively in containers virtually
anywhere.
I'd like to give credit to Rodale's
Organic Gardening Magazine for a wonderful source of information that
helped me learn about gardening. I read that Rodale was forced to spend
a fortune in legal fees to defend his right of free speech regarding the
health benefit of organically grown food. (The
FDA - Who Do They Really Protect? Anti-Constitutional Activities and
Abuse of Police Power by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other
Federal Agencies
by James DeMeo, Ph.D.)
Shirley is the author/webmaster
of Shirley's Wellness Cafe:
holistic health for people and animals
Solar
Cookers International
Solar Cookers International assists communities to use the power of
the sun to cook food and pasteurize water for the benefit of people and
environments. Many poverty-stricken families worldwide spend 25% or more
of their income on cooking fuel. Sunlight — solar cooker "fuel" — is free
and abundant. Money saved can be used for food, education, health care,
etc.
Solar cooking is the simplest, safest, most convenient way to cook food
without consuming fuels or heating up the kitchen. Many people choose to
solar cook for these reasons. But for hundreds of millions of people around
the world who cook over fires fueled by wood or dung, and who walk for
miles to collect wood or spend much of their meager incomes on fuel, solar
cooking is more than a choice — it is a blessing. For millions of people
who lack access to safe drinking water and become sick or die each year
from preventable waterborne illnesses, solar water pasteurization is a
life-saving skill. There are numerous reasons to cook the natural way —
with the sun.
Thirty thousand families in eastern Africa have added solar cookers
to their kitchens, freeing women from fuel gathering and fire attending.
Projects are typically 6-8 years from start to local sustainability through
local businesses. Widespread public awareness, quality consumer education
and local adaptation and production of attractive, affordable and accessible
cooker supplies are essential project components.
There are hundreds of millions of people around the world that could
benefit greatly from solar cooking and solar water pasteurization skills.
Perhaps a few million people already do. Solar
Cookers International team of global volunteers — along with a small,
dedicated staff — is working diligently to hasten the spread of vital solar
cooking technologies
Movable
Harvests : The Simplicity and Bounty of Container Gardens by Chuck
Crandall
"This is the only book I have found that covers growing vegetables
in containers. It is a good start. It provides just enough information
about the all important-soil recipes, companion plants, container sizes
and types, watering, pests, fertilizers and suitable crops." An amazon.com
Reviewer: Linda Ruiz from Southeastern Virginia, USA
Urban
Agriculture: The Potential of Rooftop Gardening
By Joseph St. Lawrence
This document explores one type of urban agriculture, viz. rooftop gardening.
Roof space immediately comes to mind when one considers opportunities for
urban agriculture. Rooftops are generally unused spaces, they often have
excellent exposure to sunlight and rain water, and they are found in the
centre of even the densest urban areas. The initial objective of the project
summarised in this report was to explore the economic potential of cultivating
these spaces.
How
to Grow More Vegetables : Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops
by
John Jeavons
If you have a small, flat rooftop, access to a bit of open space between
your house and your neighbor's, or any small patch of land, here's the
ultimate how-to manual for making the most of it to raise your own food,
including ways to enhance soil fertility and productivity, non-chemical
pest controls, where and when to plant what in your climate or location,
the tools you'll need, and the problem-solving skills essential to success.
This "ground-breaking" book is used by gardeners around the globe and is
as hopeful, inspiring, and motivating a gardening book as has ever been
written. --Mark Hetts
Container
Gardening
Even the smallest patio or porch can boast a crop of vegetables or a
garden of flowers in containers. Planter boxes, wooden barrels, hanging
baskets and large flowerpots are just some of the containers that can be
used. The container gardener is limited only by his imagination. Consider
the following guidelines when choosing your container: more
You may be able to get several crops of a quick maturing vegetable from
your container. see
guiding chart
The
Edible Container Garden : Growing Fresh Food in Small Spaces by Michael
Guerra
No space is too small to grow delicious and healthy food. Enjoying
tasty and fresh produce no longer requires a trip to the local farm stand
or gourmet grocery. With The Edible Container Garden as your guide,
everything from salad greens and savory herbs to luscious fruits and vegetables
can be as close as your patio, balcony, or rooftop. This book explains
how to plant, grow, and harvest vegetables, edible flowers, fruits, and
herbs, even when time and space are limited UK
folks: click here
Gardening
in Raised Beds and Containers for Older Gardeners and Individuals with
Physical Disabilities
by Diane Relf, PhD, H.T.M.
Almost anything that can hold enough soil to sustain a plant's growth
can be used as a planter. This quality makes container gardening a good
starting point for the physically disabled gardener. The major considerations
given to container gardening are the size of the container, adequate drainage,
and the re- quirements of the plants. Small containers such as ceramic
pots and large institutional food cans can be placed on benches for accessibility.
Larger containers such as wheelbarrows, baskets, barrels, old sinks, bathtubs,
and even modified hospital carts can act as small raised beds.
Square
Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew
This is a terrific book and I recommend it to anyone that even thinks
they might have an urge to grow. You can grow nearly all the veggies your
family of 5 can eat in less than 100 square feet, including corn. Some
things just take up too much room (potatoes, for example), but if you want
to eat it, you can probably grow it in your square foot garden.
New
video updates book, as Mel explains his latest ideas.
Fatal
Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture
by Andrew Kimbrell
Takes an unprecedented look at our current ecologically destructive
agricultural system and offers a compelling vision for an organic and environmentally
safer way of producing the food we eat. Exposes the ecological and social
impacts of industrial agriculture's fatal harvest
Unabridged Excerpt from Senate Document
No. 264, 1936, 74th Congress, 2nd Session.
Do you know that most
of us today are suffering from certain dangerous diet deficiencies, which
cannot be remedied until the depleted soils from which our foods come are
brought into proper mineral balance?
The alarming fact is that
foods—fruits and vegetables and grains—now being raised on millions of
acres of land that no longer contains enough of certain needed minerals,
are starving us—no matter how much of them we eat!
You’d think, wouldn’t
you; that a carrot is a carrot-that one is about as good as another as
far as nourishment is concerned? But it isn’t; one carrot may look
and taste like another and yet be lacking in the particular mineral element
which our system requires and which carrots are supposed to contain.
Laboratory test prove
that the fruits, the vegetables, the grains, the eggs and even the milk
and the meats of today are not what they were a few generations ago.
(Which doubtless explains why our forefathers thrived on a selection of
foods that would starve us!) No man of today can eat enough fruits
and vegetables to supply his system with the mineral salts he requires
for perfect health, because his stomach isn’t big enough to hold them!
And we are running to big stomachs.
No longer does a balanced and fully nourishing diet consist merely of so
many calories of certain vitamins or a fixed proportion of starches, proteins,
and carbohydrates. We now know that it must contain, in addition,
something like a score of mineral salts.
It is bad news to learn from our leading authorities that 99 percent of
the American people are deficient in these minerals, and that a marked
deficiency in any one of the more important minerals actually results in
disease. Any upset of the balance, any considerable lack of one or
another element, however microscopic the body requirement may be, and we
sicken, suffer, shorten our lives.
This discovery is one of the latest and most important contributions of
science to the problem of human health.
“Bear in mind,” says Dr. Northen, “that minerals are vital to human metabolism
and health—and that no plant or animal can appropriate to itself any mineral
which is not present in the soil upon which it feeds.
“We know that vitamins are complex chemical substances
which are indispensable to nutrition, and that each of them is of importance
fro the normal function of some special structure in the body. Disorder
and disease result from any vitamin deficiency.
“It is not commonly realized, however, that vitamins control the body’s
appropriation of minerals, and in the absence of minerals they have no
function to perform. Lacking vitamins, the system can make some use
of minerals, but lacking minerals, vitamins are useless.
“The truth is that our foods vary enormously in value, and some of them
aren’t worth eating, as food.
“Some of our lands, even in a virgin state, never were well balanced in
mineral content, and unhappily for us, we have been systematically robbing
the poor soils and the good soils alike of the very substances most necessary
to health, growth, long life, and resistance to disease.”
We know that rats, guinea pigs, and other animals can be fed into a diseased
condition and out again by controlling only the minerals in their food.
Experiment
A
10-year test with rats proved that by withholding calcium they can be bred
down to a third the size of those fed with an adequate amount of that mineral.
Their intelligence, too, can be controlled by mineral feeding as readily
as can their size, their bony structure, and their general health.
Place a number of these little animals inside a maze after starving some
of them in a certain mineral element. The starved ones will be unable
to find their way out, whereas the others will have little or no difficulty
in getting out. Their dispositions can be altered by mineral feeding.
They can be made quarrelsome and belligerent; they can even be turned into
cannibals and be made to devour each other.
A cage of normal rats will live in amity. Restrict their calcium,
and they will become irritable and draw apart from one another. Then
they will begin to fight. Restore their calcium balance and they
will grow friendlier; in time they will begin to sleep in a pile as before.
Many backward children are “stupid” merely because they are deficient in
magnesia. We punish them for our failure to feed them properly.
Certainly our physical well-being is more directly dependent upon the mineral
we take into our systems than upon calories or vitamins or upon the precise
proportions of starch, protein, or carbohydrates we consume.
It is now agreed that at least 16 mineral elements are indispensable for
normal nutrition, and several more are always found in small amounts of
the body, although their precise physiological role has not been determined.
Of the 11 indispensable salts, calcium, phosphorus, and iron are perhaps
the most important.
Here’s one specific example: The soil around a certain Midwest city
is poor in calcium. Three hundred children of this community were
examined and nearly 90 percent had bad teeth, 69 percent showed affections
of the nose and throat, swollen glands, enlarged or diseased tonsil.
More than one-third had defective vision, round shoulders, bow legs, and
anemia.
So it goes, down through the list each mineral element playing a definite
role in nutrition. A characteristic set of symptoms, just as specific
as any vitamin-deficiency disease, follows a deficiency in any one of them.
It is alarming, therefore, to face the fact that we are starving for these
precious, health-giving substances.
The minerals in fruits and vegetables are colloidal; i.e., they are in
a state of such extremely fine suspension that they can be assimilated
by the human system.
Sick soils mean sick plants, sick animals, and sick people. Physical,
mental, and moral fitness depends largely upon an ample supply and a proper
proportion of the minerals in our foods. Nerve function, nerve stability,
nerve cell-building likewise depends thereon.
[Dr. Northen say,] “Soils seriously deficient in minerals cannot
produce plant life competent to maintain our needs, and with the continuous
cropping and shipping away of those concentrates, the condition becomes
worse.
“A famous nutrition authority recently said, ‘One sure way to end the American
people’s susceptibility to infection is to supply through food a balance
ration of iron, copper, and other metals. An organism supplied with
a diet adequate to, or preferable in excess of, all mineral requirements
may so utilize these elements as to produce immunity from infection quite
beyond anything we are able to produce artificially by our present method
of immunization. You can’t make up the deficiency by using patent
medicine.’”
Fulvic Acid nature's
own best medicine for plants, animals, humans, and the Earth itself
Most soils have produced food for hundreds of years. The minerals in
those foods were eaten generations ago. Now depleted, the produce grown
is less nourishing and healthy. Fertilizers may increase growth rates,
but the produce has become a hollow food. In addition, synthetic fertilizers
may convert mineral ions into insoluble complexes, making it difficult
for the plants to absorb these essential minerals. Pesticides and herbicides
may kill or greatly inhibit the micro-organisms in the soil responsible
for solubilizing minerals so the plant roots can absorb them. Literally,
the minimal amounts of minerals left in the soil may become, to a large
part, insoluble and unabsorbable because of modem agricultural practices.
What are humic substances? They are the sum total of all once
living organisms, mostly plants, disassembled by nature’s brilliant decomposition
and recycling processes, then highly refined by millions of species of
beneficial soil-based microorganisms. Ultimately, microscopic plants such
as yeast, algae, mold, fungi, etc., finish up the process. These tiny beneficial
plants refine, purify, combine, and re-refine, until tons of once-living
matter are converted to pounds and ounces. Yet miraculously, when it is
all said and done, the end product is not inert basic "dead" mineral elements,
but is transformed into the world’s most complex and ultra-compact molecules.
Even the nucleic acids, RNA and DNA, of the earlier life-forms remains
intact. The molecules are ultra-condensed and highly functional, rolled
up into tight little balls that are supercharged biochemical and phytochemical
powerplants, similar to storage batteries or fuel cells. Where did this
supercharged power come from? It is sunshine light energy captured during
plant photosynthesis, and through decomposition it is converted and stored
within the interior of the world’s most refined and complex molecules.
Humic substances are considered nature's own best medicine for plants,
animals, humans, and the Earth itself. This lowly soil substance has the
ability to clean up the Earth’s environment, neutralize radiation and deadly
toxins, heal the agricultural lands, fuel the spark of life in living organisms,
disarm and kill infectious pathogens, destroy the deadliest viruses, prevent
most, if not all diseases, and even cure and restore diseased and damaged
tissues and organs in plants, animals, and man.
Humic substances consist of an immense arsenal and array of powerful
phytochemicals, biochemicals, supercharged antioxidants, free-radical scavengers,
super oxide dismutases, nutrients, enzymes, hormones, amino acids, antibiotics,
antivirals, antifungals, etc. Humic substances are found in rich
humus soil in trace amounts. They are also found in massive ancient plant
deposits, never truly fossilized, still remaining completely organic.
Nature has a way of processing and refining minerals called the Fulvic
Acid Phenomenon. Organic Fulvic Acids are created by micro-organisms in
the soil, for the purpose of transporting minerals and nutrients from the
soil into a plant. From there, complex photosynthesis reactions produce
the components of all the various parts of the plant. Muco-polysacharrides
(complex carbohydrate sugars) flow throughout the plant for nourishment.
Some is returned to the roots. There, the micro- organisms are nourished
and produce Fulvic Acid to complex with minerals and nutrients to restart
the cycle again.
Fulvic acid is a Humic substance or extract. Fulvic acid is the
end product of nature's Humification process, which is involved in the
ultimate breakdown and recycling of all once-living matter, especially
plants. Fulvic acid contains all of the phytochemical protective
substances, amino acid peptides, nucleic acids, etc., from the original
plant matter, highly concentrated, refined, transformed, and enhanced by
the actions of innumerable microscopic plants, such as fungi. The Humification
processes prevents the original phytochemical protective components from
completely breaking down and turning back into basic mineral elements or
gases. Even small strands of RNA, DNA, and plant photosynthetic materials
still remain intact. Many of the original components become complex enzymes,
which have seemingly miraculous function.
The majority of research and experimentation that has been done on fulvic
acid is in relation to plants. Yet human beings have been ingesting
fulvic acid complexes regularly for over 60 years in supplemental form,
and for thousands of years from natural food and plant sources. Accumulating
testimonials continue to show that the beneficial properties related to
plant studies and cell hold true in relation to animal and humans as well.
Clinical research on animals and humans is currently underway, and updated
information will be forthcoming. Preliminary findings show
that
the most prominent diseases and health problems of our day have been dramatically
effected in positive ways by supplementation or treatment with fulvic acid
and other preparations enhanced or created with fulvic acid.
Fulvic acid has proven to be a powerful organic electrolyte, serving
to balance cell life. Fulvic acid readily complexes with minerals
and metals making them available to plant roots and easily absorbable through
cell walls. If the individual cell is restored to its normal chemical balance
thereby turning its electrical potential, we will have given life where
death and disintegration would normally occur within plant and animal cells.6
Fulvic acid has the outstanding ability to accomplish this objective in
numerous ways.
Fulvic Acids greatly enhance the bioavailability of important trace
minerals. Regenerate and prolong the residence time of essential nutrients
in the cells. Modify the damage or toxic compounds such as heavy metals
and free radicals. Enhance the permeability for digestive, circulatory,
and cell membranes. Increase the metabolism of proteins contributing to
RNA and DNA synthesis. Increase the activity of a multitude of enzymes.
more
Soil
And Health Library
Health begins in the soil; Healing begins with hygiene; Liberty begins
with freedom.
This is a free public library offering a tightly focused collection
of books on holistic agriculture, holistic health, self-sufficient living,
and personal development. Most of the titles in this library are out of
print. Some can be quite hard to find; many of these books are old enough
to be public domain materials. Yet all are still of great relevance. Grasped
as an inter-related whole these books constitute a self-guided course of
study or curriculum that connects agricultural methods to the consequent
health of animals and humans, shows how to prevent and heal disease and
increase longevity. There are also smaller collections about homestead-based
lifestyles and about why globalized society is resistant to changing its
food and health systems.
Sewage
Sludge...A Dangerous Fertilizer
What's in Sludge?
According to researchers at Cornell University and a report of the American
Society of Civil Engineers, the following substances are typically found
in sludge:
-
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
-
Chlorinated pesticides—DDT, dieldrin, aldrin, endrin, chlordane, heptachlor,
lindane, mirex, kepone, 2,4,5-T, 2,4-D.
-
Chlorinated compounds--dioxin (TCDD) dichlorobenzene, trichlorobenzene,
tetrachlorobenzene, chloroaniline, dichloroaniline, dichloronaphthalene,
tetrachloronaphthalene, trichlorophenol, pentachlorophenol, chlorobiphenyl.
-
Polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons—chrysene, benzo(b)fluoranthene, benzo(k)fluoranthene,
benzo(a) pyrene, perylene, dibenzo(a,j)anthracene, indo(1,2,3,c,d) pryene.
-
Heavy metals—antimony, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, mercury,
nickel, selenium, thorium, uranium, vanadium and zinc.
-
Bacteria, viruses, protozoa, parasitic worms, fungi.
-
Miscellaneous—flame retardants (asbestos), petroleum products, industrial
solvents, iron, gold, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium
Composting
With Red Wiggler Worms
Recycling the organic waste of a household into compost allows us to
return badly needed organic matter to the soil. In this way, we participate
in nature's cycle, and cut down on garbage going into burgeoning landfills.
Worm composting is a method for recycling food waste into a rich, dark,
earth-smelling soil conditioner. The great advantage of worm composting
is that this can be done indoors and outdoors, thus allowing year round
composting. details
---- Composting
----
Worms for sale (do
a search for "worms")
ECHO—Educational
Concerns for Hunger Organization
"A walk through the ECHO farm is truly a walk through a world of practical
solutions to international hunger."
A non-profit, Christian organization actively involved in networking
global hunger solutions.They work with small rural farmers and urban gardeners
in the Third World.
The
12 Myths About Hunger
It is a myth that world hunger
is due to scarcity of food based on an article by Danielle Knight
Theology
Library: Hunger
World
Hunger : Twelve Myths by Frances
Moore Lappe
This book is one you've got to read if you care about world hunger.
It is well researched and well written about the myths of world hunger.
Three experts on food and agriculture expose the myths that prevent us
from effectively addressing the problem. Written in a straightforward,
easy-to-read style, "World Hunger" shakes many tenaciously held beliefs
Myths keep
us from ending hunger by Peter Rosset, Ph.D
One of the greatest obstacles to ending hunger is the way we think
about it. Popular myths immobilize us with guilt, fear and hopelessness.
The
Paradox of Plenty : Hunger in a Bountiful World by Douglas
M. Boucher
Through its original research, Food First has consistently shown that
there is more than enough food for every man, woman, and child on Planet
Earth, but all too often the poor do not have access to that food. Highly
recommended for personal, professional, academic, and public library collections,
The Paradox Of Plenty: Hunger In A Bountiful World is an outstanding compilation
of excerpts from twenty-seven of Food First's best writings designed to
provide food system activists and the non-specialist general reader with
an integrated overview of the world food system, how global politics affect
hungry people, and the impact of the free market on the growth, processing,
and distribution of foodstuffs.
Links:
The World Wide Hunger Crisis, including in the USA: Alternative
Views and What Some Groups Are Doing About It.
The Hunger Project is an
international organization committed to the sustainable end of world hunger
through the empowerment of women and communities, the stabilization of
population growth, the eradication of poverty, the preservation of the
natural environment and the universalization of access to basic health
and education
Oxfam
America is dedicated to creating lasting solutions to hunger, poverty,
and social injustice through long-term partnerships with poor communities
around the world. Oxfam, driven by a concern for social and economic justice,
has learned, after 30 years in their work, that poverty is not inevitable.
It is the consequence of social and institutional inequities, economic
exploitation, and unfair distribution of resources.
America's Second Harvest
is the nation's largest domestic hunger relief organization. Through a
network of over 200 food banks and food-rescue programs, they distribute
food to 26 million hungry Americans each year, eight million of whom are
children.
Other Natural Health Enhancers and Detoxifiers
that you should know about:
Nature's Perfect Nutrient
What health product contains all of the 22 elements that the human
body requires to function, provides you with 135 essential nutrients, a
vast array of vitamins, minerals, amino acids and more? What product boosts
the immune system, nervous system, reproductive systems and more? What
product has been described worldwide as a "Miraculous Rejuvenator?" What
product protects you against viruses and flu, boosts energy and stamina,
enhances mood and reduces stress, balances and regulates body systems and
hormones, suppresses cravings and unhealthy appetite, moderates body weight,
rebuild bones, tissue and muscle....and much more?
"Bee
pollen is often referred to as nature's most complete food. Human consumption
of bee pollen is praised in the Bible, other religious books, and ancient
Chinese and Egyptian texts. It has long been prescribed by traditional
health practitioners-including the fathers of Western medicine Hippocrates,
Pliny the Elder, and Pythagoras-for its healing properties. Bee pollen
rejuvenates the body, stimulates organs and glands, enhances vitality,
and brings about a longer life span. Bee pollen's ability to consistently
and noticeably increase energy levels makes it a favorite substance among
many world class athletes and those interested in sustaining and enhancing
quality performance." Steve Schecter N.D.
Salt
Deficiency: the cause of many serious diseases
When organic, unrefined
salt lack in your diet, weakness and sickness follow.
An abundance of the ingredients in unrefined real salt (not
common table salt) are as synonymous with life today as they were a billion
years ago before single cells appeared here. Lack of them is synonymous
with birth defects, organ failure, decay, diseases, premature aging and
death at a young age. more about real salt
Healing
Clay - Healing Earth
Clay is renowned to have many uses in promoting health in plants, animals
and humans. Bentonite, Pascalite, as well as other types of healing clays,
have been used by indigenous cultures since before recorded history.
The Native Americans call it "Ee-Wah-Kee" meaning "The-Mud-That-Heals"
Bentonite, as well as other types of healing clay, has been used by indigenous
cultures since before recorded history. "The Amargosians (predecessors
to the Aztecs ), the Aborigines, and natives of Mexico and South America
all recognized the benefit of clays. " "...healing mud not only draws toxic
material out of the body if taken internally, but also reduces pain and
infection in open wounds on both humans and animals."
Profound Life-Giving
Properties of Marine Phytoplankton
Dr.
Jerry Tennant, MD, from the Tennant Institute of Integrative Medicine,
explains that the micronutrients and electrolytes in marine phytoplankton
are exactly what human cell membranes need to carry out their metabolism.
Not surprisingly, the composition of human plasma, or fluid surrounding
cell membranes, is similar to that of sea water. For three billion years
Marine Phytoplankton has supported virtually all living creatures in the
Ocean. It contains a unique combination of life sustaining nutrients
including; Omega 3 essential fatty acids (EPA and DHA), protein, chlorophyll,
vitamins, minerals and trace elements. Overdependence on land-based food
sources often lead to deficiencies in micronutrients and trace elements.
Marine phytoplankton promotes and maintains optimum health by boosting
and supporting all systems within the body. When the body is missing critical
components, it is unable to maintain the balance of these systems, and
malfunctions (disease) result. Scientific research indicates that
Marine Phytoplankton may be the most important food on Planet Earth. It
is nature's gift to assist us on our journey to optimal health and wellness
through balanced nutrition. "The future of Nutrition is found in
the ocean" - Jacques Cousteau more
Healing with Holy
Thistle (Blessed Thistle) and Other Herbs
The
use of blessed thistle commonly known as holy thistle (Carbenia benedicta)
has been recorded as far back as the early sixteenth century for treating
smallpox, fever, anorexia, dyspepsia, indigestion, constipation, and flatulence.
Monks often grew Blessed Thistle as a cure for small pox. Historically,
blessed thistle tea has been drunk for digestive problems, liver and gall
bladder problems, headache prevention, respiratory ailments, memory improvement
and external problems such as sores, boils and itchy skin. The plant gained
the title "blessed" for its use in treating plague. Blessed thistle is
also used as a strong but gentle liver tonic herb, promoting metabolic
activities in the liver cells and toxin elimination. Especially noted as
a tonic herb for women. Some individuals employ this herbs, as they would
its cousin milk thistle, as a remedy for gallbladder and liver disorders.
more
A look at healing with nature. Nature
provides us with a simple, inexpensive, straightforward system for regaining
and maintaining superb human health and beauty.
Healing with Food: Most human illnesses
and diseases are due to a deficiency of vital nutrients. When you supply
your body with the proper nutrients, in a form that your body can use,
it knows how to repair itself.
Healing through Fasting: Fasting is the
world's most ancient and natural healing mechanism.
Healing with Water: Hydrotherapy has been
used for centuries to heal the sick
Healing with the Sea: There is no family
of foods more protective against radiation and environmental pollutants
than sea vegetables.
Healing with Sunlight: Sunlight helps
the body heal wounds and injuries and overcome virtually any illness.
Healing with Earth: Clay is renowned to have
many uses in promoting health in plants, animals and humans.
Healing with Urine: One of the most powerful,
most researched and most medically proven natural cures ever discovered.
Healing from the Hives: Bee pollen rejuvenates
your body, stimulates organs and glands, enhances vitality, and brings
about a longer life span.
Basic Healing Principles:
The body
has an innate capacity to heal itself. Self-healing can only occur once
the cause of the illness has been eliminated. Why elimination of
the symptom is NOT the same as elimination of the disease? Physicians
and surgeons
palliate symptoms instead of removing causes
Public health Alert!
Most
modern maladies are caused by prolonged exposure to a combination of negative
lifestyles and toxic environmental factors, including junk food and malnutrition,
pesticides, antibiotics, microwaves, chemical pollution of food, water
and air, lack of exercise and chronic stress. These factors are further
aggravated by the failure of modern medicine to recognize them as agents
of dis-"ease" and death and the consequent failure to take preventative
measures against them. What you don't know can hurt you." Here's
a partial list of topics:
Microwaved
food causes abnormal changes in human blood and immune systems.
Cell
Phones: Invisible Hazards in the Wireless Age: An Insider's Alarming
Discoveries About Cancer and Genetic Damage
Steroids:(cortisone,
prednisone): the sleaziest of drugs.Doctors tell you that steroids
only cause side effects after many years. But new research shows that permanent
damage is immediate and devastating.
NutraSweet
(aspartame). Aspartame accounted for more than 75% of all adverse reactions
reported to the FDA's Adverse Reaction Monitoring System. Aspartame is
a neurotoxin and teratogen (triggers birth defects). It also triggers lupus.
Dr. Roberts has declared aspartame disease to be a world epidemic. (Aspartame
is the technical name for the brand names, NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful,
and Equal-Measure.)
Newest
Research On Why You Should Avoid Soy:
Contrary to popular belief that
soy is a health food, evidence reveals that soy consumption has been linked
to numerous disorders,
including infertility, increased cancer and infantile leukemia, and
precocious puberty in children have been fed soy formula. (early maturation,
such as breast development and menstruation as early as 6 years of age)
Refined table
salt v/s organic unrefined sea salt
Bottom line, is that yes it can
be harmful to consume too much refined salt, but you cannot consume too
much natural unrefined salt.
Fluoride
poisoning and autoimmune low-thyroid epidemic:Karilee Shames, RN, PhD,
Assistant Professor of Nursing, points out that a major environmental trigger
of low thyroid is likely to be the fluoride added to municipal water
supplies.
Killer
Fats v/s Healer Fats: the difference between dangerous fats and fats
that can save your life.
Genetically engineered Bovine
Growth Hormone in your milk: why is it banned in Europe and Canada?
Dental
amalgam:contains highly toxic heavy metal mercury which is involved
in ALS and MS, as well as many other "diseases"
Infant
Circumcision: Circumcision is one of the most painful procedures that
can be performed on an infant.
evidence that soy consumption
has been linked to numerous disorders, including infertility, increased
cancer and infantile leukemia.
Genetically
Engineered Foods 1997 marks the entry of a wide variety of unlabelled
genetically engineered foods onto supermarket shelves. Genetic tampering
of our food supply threatens the health of consumers and of the environment.
AIDS/HIV/AZT:
lies, deceptions, genocide and profiteering
...and much, much more! Visit
Consumer Alert! for a resource of issues that concerns your health
and that of your love ones ENTER
Public
health Alert!
From
the Wall Street Journal, Friday, October 12, 2001
Worries About Safety Of Its Anthrax Vaccine Put the Army in a Bind
Soldiers Ordered Inoculated Against Biological Threat Claim Harsh
Side Effects."...But soon after his first inoculation in February,
the 29-years-old Mr. Nietupski showed up at an urgent -care facility with
sores all over his mouth and throat. "The side of my tongue was all raw
with little canker sores, and bloody mucus was coming 
out
of my nose, " Mr. Nietupski says. His maladies, ultimately diagnosed as
an autoimmune disorder in which his body accidentaly attacked itself, grew
worse as he got the next two installements of the six-shot regime. Mr.
Nietupski and several of the doctors who have examined him, believe the
anthrax vaccine caused his severe reaction and may also be to blame
for the blood clots Mr. Nietupski experienced in his legs months later."
more
on anthrax vaccines
Learn about therapeutic options for
the treatment and prevention of infections using herbal, homeopathic, and
nutritional remedies.
What
Every Parent Should Know BEFORE Their Childen Are Vaccinated! Why
are a growing number of parents and health care professionals around the
world questioning vaccination? The controversy stems from the thousands
of deaths and permanent disabilities attributed to vaccination annually,
as well as the many published medical studies, government statistics, congressional
testimonies, and other credible sources that directly contradict commonly
held assumptions about vaccine safety and effectiveness.
More pictures of vaccine damage available to view at the
CDC
website
"Bart Classen, a Maryland physician, published data showing
that diabetes rates rose significantly in New Zealand following a massive
hepatitis B vaccine campaign in young children, and that diabetes rates
also went up sharply in Finland after three new childhood vaccines were
introduced." Nicholas
Regush ABCNEWS.com
In fall 1997, two influential professional magazines featured articles
asking the question: Has the decrease of infectious diseases in childhood
through the mass use of vaccines been replaced with an increase in chronic
diseases such as diabetes and asthma? The Economist, a prestigious international
magazine read by world leaders in government, business and public policy,
and Science News, a magazine read by both health care professionals and
the general public, explored the reported links between vaccines and chronic
diseases in their November 22, 1997 issues. Learn
more about vaccine and diabetes connection --- asthma and
vaccine connection --- SIDS and autism and vaccine connection
--- "Shaken Baby Syndrome": the vaccination link Law
suit One hundred years ago, children received 1 vaccine (the smallpox
vaccine). Forty years ago, children received 5 vaccines routinely (diphtheria,
pertussis, tetanus, polio, and smallpox vaccines) and as many as 8 shots
by 2 years of age. Children now receive 52 vaccines, in the form of 15
shots, by the time they are 6 months of age if they receive all the recommend
shots, including the Prevnar pediatric pneumonia shot.
Congressman is calling for criminal penalties for any government
agency that knew about the dangers of thimerosal in vaccines and did nothing
to protect American children.
Congressman Dan Burton (R-Indiana)
during Congressional Hearing: "You mean to tell me that since 1929, we've
been using Thimerosal, and the only test that you know of is from
1929, and every one of those people had mennigitis, and they all died?"
For nearly an hour, Burton repeatedly asked FDA and CDC officials what
they knew and when they knew it. (Thimerosal contains a related mercury
compound called ethyl mercury. Mercury is a toxic metal that can cause
immune, sensory, neurological, motor, and behavioral dysfunctions.)
Please get informed!Enter the vaccine information
site
Homeopathy
can be used successfully to prevent and treat smallpox, measles,
whooping
cough, chickenpox, and other ailments.
Would you allow big brother to enforce vaccinations on your kids? Government
Enforced Vaccinations
Vaccination Tracking Registry - Government programs
that limit your choices -and your rights- in health care when it comes
to mandatory vaccination. These mandates last for 40 or so years
and they're impossible to repeal. Also, learn about Legal Requirements
and Exemptions
Are Vaccines Damaging Our Pets?
Routine Vaccination:
Is it really safe and effective? Most recently, an article
appeared in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association
entitled "Are We Vaccinating Too Much?"
Edible
Container Gardens
Optimum
Nutrition and Natural Health for Animals:
Natural
Health for Women:
Natural
Health for Children:
