Credit *clarity* via Flickr

I was recently caught in a discussion over organic food. Our family eats quite a bit of organic food everything from dairy, meat and most of our vegetables. We prefer to eat organic mostly for the health benefits and the reduction in chemicals use that goes into the environment and our bodies. But in a recent discussion the opinion was expressed that organic food was a marketing ploy and that we were being ripped off. I of course defended our choices by stating that organics are supposed to be safer and the certification process is supposed to protect that.

But the discussion did prompt me to think twice about organics, was organic food really worth it? Are we really just suckers of a current trend, like the Atkins diet craze a few years back? What if the organic certification wasn’t really being followed and we were consuming the same apples everyone else was albeit at a higher price?

While you can never be absolutely certain a producer isn’t circumventing the organic certification, there are some facts that have led me to believe my original reasons for going organic were the right choices to make.

Everyone acknowledges that current vegetables and fruits are sprayed with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. This is not a debate, this is a fact. What is debated is whether these chemicals have any effect on our bodies. Some say that these chemicals are benign and without them we could never have the abundant food harvests cultivated in modern farming. In addition using these chemicals are necessary if we are to feed an ever increasing global population.

On the other side of the argument the organic camp states that any amount of chemical ingested is bad for you. Children in particular are most susceptible due to their size and decreased capacity to process these chemicals. And the chemicals also pose an environmental threat as ground water contamination from run off.

So what is the risk from these chemicals?

Studies have show that many chemicals still exist in our bodies long after consumption. PCBs for example can be found in every person on the planet even those with no direct contact from this chemical. PCBs have been found amongst the most remote indigenous tribes to the upper reaches of the arctic circle.

In addition according to a Fast Company article posted earlier, it states that the chemical companies in the US are not regulated by a particular government body. That means the onus to prove that a chemical is safe rests solely on the chemical manufacturer’s shoulders. In the case of Bisphenol A the chemical manufacturers admit it’s bad for you, but again they revert back to the argument that it’s safe so long as it’s in small enough quantities. Studies have show that Bisphenol A can take some time to pass our bodies, during that period we are exposed to more Bisphenol A so it has an accumulating effect. With millions on the line and shareholders holding the executives accountable, how thoroughly are products like Bisphenol A being tested?

We know that chemicals are being sprayed on conventional fruits and vegetables, and we also know that there are some unanswered questions about the chemicals that surround us. While it’s true I can not proove inconclusively that organics practices have been followed, if there is a food option that has a higher likely hood to contain fewer chemicals I’ll take it. And when it comes to my child no price is too steep to reduce exposure to chemicals.

But what about the cost? Critics of organic foods also point out the increased cost of the everyday food items. This is not something I debate either, we definitely see a larger grocery bill than we did previously, but we also buy half if not more of our food as organic, I suspect we eat more organic food than the average consumer so our bill may be larger than the average organic consumer.

According to the USDA in 2006 the average American household spent 9.6% of their income on food. While this may seem like a lot of money consider these facts; India (39.4 percent) and Indonesia (49.9 percent) are among the highest when it comes to the amount of disposable income spent on food according to an article published in the Salem news. In reality most of us have the resources to purchase foods that are less likely to contain pesticides. While others may not want to spend that much, there are options.

For instance certain foods absorb more chemicals than others or are more susceptible to pesticides when sprayed. Start with the foods you eat that have the greatest risk and purchase only those as organic. In essence buy organic strategically, you don’t have to convert your shopping habits overnight. (For a list of the foods with the highest toxicity levels jump to the links below.)

While I realize not everyone can afford to purchase organic, if you can afford it, why not reduce your chemical exposure? I for one am happy to reduce our risk even if it comes at a higher cost, and I think my daughter will thank me for it later.

Let me know what you think in the comments, I’d love to hear about others opinions or experiences.

Click here for a list of which fruits and veggies have the highest pesticide loads.

List of sources:
Percent of us income spend on food
Article providing stats on income spent on food globally

King Corn

In King Corn Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis are two Ivy league grads who after analyzing their hair samples discover that the carbon in their body is mostly made up of corn. They also discover that they are the first generation to potentially have a shorter life expectancy than the previous generation. Both of these issues are directly related to our diet and what we eat.

Determined to find out how corn has become such a staple of the American diet they move out to Iowa to grow an acre of corn. After convincing a farmer to lend them an acre of land they set out planting a crop. Little did they know planting and growing the crop would be the easy part, once their acre of corn ended up in the commercial grain system it was easier said than done tracking it’s progress as it was processed into other products.

Wanting to find out exactly what happens to all this corn lead them to examine the underbelly of American corn production. They begin by explaining why America in particular produces so much corn, how it’s subsidized and how the corn differs from the corn we eat at the dinner table.

They also discover how corn has seeped into every corner of the food supply, from artificial sweetners, to hamburgers, all of it corn. The fact that just about everything we eat is corn based has drastically altered our health, and not necessarily for the better.

Watch the trailer here

Mark Bittman

New York Times food columnist and author Mark Bittman is interviewed in this NPR radio show. In it he discusses his move to a healthier diet and how it impacts not only his health but also the planet.

Mark Bittman found himself at a cross roads, his health was suffering from extra weight and after consulting with his doctor he was told to shift to a more vegetable based diet. At the same time he also became more aware that our meat and process food centric diet was not only unhealthy but that we needed to change our views of food. After reading the UN report “Livestock’s Long Shadow” Mark discovered that 18% of all greenhouse gases are produced by industrial livestock production, therefore almost a fifth of all greenhouse gases are produced by eating meat, Second only to energy production.

With this knowledge he made positive changes that not only helped him loose weight and become healthier but also help reduce his carbon footprint.

Listen to the interview here
Amazon page for Mark’s Cookbook: Food Matters a Guide to Conscious Eating

Credit: Daniel Morrison via Flickr

The Assiniboine Park Conservatory will be holding their “Seedy Saturday” event coming up on March 7th. The event is free to attend, there will be workshops, a speaker series, tool swap and more. A friend who attended last year was able to take part in their seed exchange. Here’s a direct quote on how it works:

You just have to bring couple packets of seeds and drop them on a communal table.  This gives you the right to pick up packets of seeds that others have brought, many of which are quite interesting and new.

Might be a good way to get some rare or hard to find vegetables for your garden! Below is the press release from the Friends of the Assiniboine Park Conservatory:

The majority of Winnipeg residents may not consider March the beginning of
gardening season, but the Assiniboine Park Conservatory is working to change
that through their Seedy Saturday event.  This year the Assiniboine Park
Conservatory is hosting their annual Seedy Saturday on March 7 from 10-3.  Free to the public, this event includes a speaker series, a seed and tool swap,
hands-on workshops and over 15 vendors representing various garden and food based organizations.  Gardeners will not be the only ones interested in this event, assures Bonnie Tulloch from the Assiniboine Park Conservatory, “We try and include all aspects of gardening, incorporating everything from birdwatching to local food.  People can come here for more than just seeds; they can get locally made soaps, dried herbs, teas, honey, botanically inspired clothing, as well as information and resources on various sustainability
issues.”

Seedy Saturdays have been popping up all over the country since the late
1980’s. The Assiniboine Park Conservatory started participating in the Seedy
Saturday movement back in 2001.  Many of the early Seedy Saturdays were
designed to create a space where seed savers could exchange heritage seeds with one another at no cost.  The purpose was to encourage more people to grow and save heritage seed varieties, so as to prevent them from going extinct.  Today, Seedy Saturdays often include a wider agenda that includes related sustainability issues.

The organizers of this year’s Seedy Saturday recommend getting there early if
you are planning on swapping seeds because gardeners are always eager to access new and exciting varieties.   The speaker series begins at 11 am with certified Horticultural Therapist Millie Richard, who will share her experience in this new and exciting field.  Julie Fine from Growing up Organics will discuss how her organization is increasing children’s access to organic food at 12 pm. At 1 pm David Hanson from Sage Garden Herbs and Karen Pearce from Assiniboine Park Conservatory will present on designing small scale ornamental and edible gardens.   The day will end with a hands-on seed starting workshop with the education staff at Assiniboine Park Conservatory.

www.friendsconservatory.com

My bread

Eating something you’ve made yourself just tastes better somehow, maybe it’s the satisfaction knowing that you created the food that’s on your plate. Whatever motivates you, be it eating local, eating organic or just because you like to make your own food; one thing is certain, fresh food you’ve either grown or prepared yourself is much better than anything you could purchase.

Recently I can across a recipe online to make bread, specifically it was called No Knead Bread. Now when I was a kid my dad made bread, it was a long arduous activity of kneading, putting it in a warm spot to rise, kneading again and so on and so forth. But this recipe is different, no kneading is involved so much of the hard work is removed. In fact preparing a loaf or bread took less than an hour of combined work, all you need is a little patience.

Released by a baker name Jim Lahey, in the New York Times the recipe took off with online baking groups. It became so popular you can now find variations of the recipe all over the internet. I’ve tried it myself a few times and I can attest it’s very simple. There are two key items, firs is time, you need to allow the dough to rise for about 18 hours. This eliminates the need for kneading. Second is to cook the bread inside a large (6 quart) casserole dish or pot with the cover on. Professional bakers have ovens that shoot steam at the bread while baking it, that’s what keeps the crust nice and thin. By baking a wet dough inside a pot you keep that high moisture content necessary for a light crackling crust.

The photo above is my first attempt at making the bread. I think I almost at the loaf in one sitting.

Here is the recipe and accompanying video, if you want to try other versions just search google for “no knead bread” and add the ingredient of your choice such as “100% whole wheat no knead bread”.

Happy eating!

Video talking about the process
Original recipe from the NYT

Farewell My Subaru

Farewell my Subaru: An Epic Adventure in Local Living, is a book that gives the reader the sense that change is possible, no matter the obstacle. And the reader could not have picked a better guide for this journey. Doug Fine is the kind of person that naturally finds the positive in the most difficult circumstances. You can feel his enthusiasm for his low impact lifestyle jump off the page. This energy empowers the reader, after a while you start thinking that installing a solar panel is something you could do too.

It’s a green living tale for those of us that aren’t Al Gore. Doug Fine strikes the reader as down to earth as they come, in his own words:

I started in Long Island, New York, growing up on concrete and Domino’s pizza. I didn’t see a real tomato probably until I was 18. I thought supermarket orange baseballs were what tomatoes were. I didn’t understand why anyone would eat solid pieces of wax. But I always wanted to camp out in the backyard, and knew that there was such a thing as an ecosystem.

Here’s the publisher’s summary:

In Farewell, My Subaru, Doug Fine vows to grow as much of his own food as he can, use only the sun to power his ‘Net surfing and sub-woofer, and consume little to no fossil fuel for an entire year — never mind that he’d never raised so much as a chicken or a bean. Or that he had no mechanical or electrician skills. Or that coyotes and mountain lions would like to treat his Funky Butte Ranch like a buffet line.

Beginning with a near-Biblical flood that makes Doug’s ranch in New Mexico resemble Noah’s Arc, and ending with a hilarious farewell to his beloved Subaru, Fine struggles at every turn with the contradictions and challenges of going green as his shopping list changes overnight from things like, “wasabi” and “pineapple juice” to “shotgun shells” and “goat syringes” (for the mischievous Pans he found on Craigslist).

Including practical resources for regular Americans who want to live greener and funny sidebars with facts you never imagined about the clean, local life, Farewell, My Surbaru is both a hilarious romp and an inspiring call to action; it’s a book for the reluctant environmentalist, the armchair traveler, and anyone who has ever wondered: do I really need that four dollar frappuccino from Kenya?

Farewell My Subaru is available Amazon, or if you prefer to lower your cabon footprint order from Eco-Libris, a portion of the book sale goes towards planting new trees.

Official webpage page for the book
Video promoting the book (Doug is great in this)
Eco-Libris link for purchase
Treehugger.com interviews Doug Fine