Fresh food will set you free! I hope the information on this blog will provide the reasons for a fresh, organic, live, local food diet and encourage you to make healthy food choices. Please don't take these posts as dietary advice but "food" for thought. There is a lot of information out there - do your homework!
Monday, December 17, 2012
Saturday, October 6, 2012
This is awesome!
An atlas of food: a cooperatively-created, crowd-sourced and crowd-funded project of guerrilla cartography and publishing.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
How to Create a New Relationship with Food
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San Diego Clinical Nutritionist and Holistic Health Counselor Christa Orecchio stops by to help you dive into your relationship with food and to teach you how to shift your perspective in order to break free from the programming lying at the root of unhealthy eating habits.
Learn more about Christa at www.thewholejourney.com
Click Here to Listen
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Recommended Documentary | Edible City
| Click to view trailer |
Click to here view entire movie for free on youtube
Monday, August 27, 2012
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Monday, August 20, 2012
We think this is awesome!
Growing Power is a short story of Will Allen who is the founder of "Growing Power Inc.".
Will Allen, our Chief Executive Officer believes, "If people can grow
safe, healthy, affordable food, if they have access to land and clean
water, this is transformative on every level in a community. I believe
we cannot have healthy communities without a healthy food system."
| Click to Play |
Monday, August 13, 2012
Sunday, August 12, 2012
We think this is awesome!
From the Department of Good News: Farmers' Markets Keep Growing
The worst
drought since the 1950s continues to wreak havoc on America's bread
basket, shriveling up commodity corn and soybean crops and driving up
food prices. But there is heartening news from the local agricultural
sector: Farmers' markets are booming.
Last week, the USDA released its annual update of the National Farmers
Market Directory*, which is now 7,864 markets strong. It's a 9.6
percent uptick since last year, and more than double the number of
markets since 2004.Newsletter 8/3/12
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Friday, August 10, 2012
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
We think this is awesome!
Homegrown Revolution - The Urban Homestead
(Award winning short-film 2009)
Homegrown Revolution is a short introduction to the homegrown
project that has been called a new revolution in urban sustainability.
In the midst of a dense city setting in downtown Pasadena, radical change is taking root. For over twenty years, the Dervaes family have transformed their home into an urban homestead and model for sustainable agriculture and city living.
(Award winning short-film 2009)
Homegrown Revolution is a short introduction to the homegrown
| Click to Play |
In the midst of a dense city setting in downtown Pasadena, radical change is taking root. For over twenty years, the Dervaes family have transformed their home into an urban homestead and model for sustainable agriculture and city living.
Newsletter 8/3/12
This Week's List | August 3rd - August 6th
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Monday, July 16, 2012
Sunday, July 8, 2012
The corruption of the Farm Bill, and why clean, organic food remains more expensive than conventional
(NaturalNews) If you have ever wondered why junk food is almost always
artificially cheap compared to healthy food, you need look no further
than federal agriculture policy. Little do most people know that the
federal government funnels billions of taxpayer dollars via the "Farm
Bill" into large-scale crop systems that primarily grow
genetically-modified (GM) soy, corn, cotton and other commodity crops
used throughout the highly-processed, industrial food supply.
Every five years, Congress reviews the guidelines of the existing Farm Bill, and comes up with new ways to allocate the nearly-trillion dollar sum typically apportioned for American agriculture programs. And since existing Farm Bill provisions are set to expire on September 30, 2012, the Obama administration is currently pushing Congress to pass a revised Farm Bill known as the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012.
Hailed as encompassing "the most significant reforms in agricultural policy in decades," the 2012 Farm Bill will allegedly end direct payments to farmers, end farm payments to individuals and entities whose gross income exceeds $750,000 per year, and consolidate risk management programs, among other things. But many of the provisions of the new bill still favor large-scale producers of mostly commodity crops at the expense of small-scale farmers, who receive little, if any, financial incentives or benefits.
"Every five years or so, Congress promises a new, improved farm bill that will end unnecessary subsidies to big farmers, enhance the environment and actually do something to help small farmers and small towns," writes Robert B. Semple Jr. from The New York Times (NYT). "But what it usually does is find ways of disguising the old inequities, sending taxpayers (sic) dollars to wealthy farmers, accelerating the expansion of industrial farming, inflating land prices and further depopulating rural America."
Direct payments, for instance, is a program that, since 1996, has been doling out payments to farmers for commodity crops regardless of market value or production levels. According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and others, these payments have been given to farmers regardless of need.
The government has also been providing insurance subsidies to farmers who grow commodity crops such as corn, wheat, soybeans, cotton, rice, and canola, which not only causes more farmers to grow these crops, but also puts these farmers at an unfair, competitive advantage compared to farmers who grow various other crops.
This year's Farm Bill, the Senate version of which was passed on June 21, is not really all that different from previous Farm Bills, as it still subsidizes industrial crops at the expense of non-industrial crops. This means that an organic farmer producing non-commodity crops like carrots, sweet potatoes, and beets, for instance, will not receive nearly the benefits nor the incentives that an industrial grower of GM corn will receive.
To make matters worse, large-scale growers in general are also given preferential treatment over small-scale growers, including small-scale farmers growing commodity crops. According to data collected by NYT, the top 20 percent of farm subsidy recipients between 1995 and 2010 received 90 percent of the overall allotment of subsidies, while the remaining 80 percent collectively received the remaining paltry 10 percent.
These and other inequities in the federal agriculture policy are what keeps America's food system both unhealthy and dominated by corporate, agricultural interests with no regard for human health. And they are the very inequities that groups like EWG are calling on Congress to address in this year's farm bill.
You can read more about EWG's ideas for a more equitable Farm Bill here:
http://www.ewg.org/agmag/2012/04/ewg-farm-bill-platform/
Every five years, Congress reviews the guidelines of the existing Farm Bill, and comes up with new ways to allocate the nearly-trillion dollar sum typically apportioned for American agriculture programs. And since existing Farm Bill provisions are set to expire on September 30, 2012, the Obama administration is currently pushing Congress to pass a revised Farm Bill known as the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012.
Hailed as encompassing "the most significant reforms in agricultural policy in decades," the 2012 Farm Bill will allegedly end direct payments to farmers, end farm payments to individuals and entities whose gross income exceeds $750,000 per year, and consolidate risk management programs, among other things. But many of the provisions of the new bill still favor large-scale producers of mostly commodity crops at the expense of small-scale farmers, who receive little, if any, financial incentives or benefits.
"Every five years or so, Congress promises a new, improved farm bill that will end unnecessary subsidies to big farmers, enhance the environment and actually do something to help small farmers and small towns," writes Robert B. Semple Jr. from The New York Times (NYT). "But what it usually does is find ways of disguising the old inequities, sending taxpayers (sic) dollars to wealthy farmers, accelerating the expansion of industrial farming, inflating land prices and further depopulating rural America."
Direct payments, for instance, is a program that, since 1996, has been doling out payments to farmers for commodity crops regardless of market value or production levels. According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and others, these payments have been given to farmers regardless of need.
The government has also been providing insurance subsidies to farmers who grow commodity crops such as corn, wheat, soybeans, cotton, rice, and canola, which not only causes more farmers to grow these crops, but also puts these farmers at an unfair, competitive advantage compared to farmers who grow various other crops.
This year's Farm Bill, the Senate version of which was passed on June 21, is not really all that different from previous Farm Bills, as it still subsidizes industrial crops at the expense of non-industrial crops. This means that an organic farmer producing non-commodity crops like carrots, sweet potatoes, and beets, for instance, will not receive nearly the benefits nor the incentives that an industrial grower of GM corn will receive.
To make matters worse, large-scale growers in general are also given preferential treatment over small-scale growers, including small-scale farmers growing commodity crops. According to data collected by NYT, the top 20 percent of farm subsidy recipients between 1995 and 2010 received 90 percent of the overall allotment of subsidies, while the remaining 80 percent collectively received the remaining paltry 10 percent.
These and other inequities in the federal agriculture policy are what keeps America's food system both unhealthy and dominated by corporate, agricultural interests with no regard for human health. And they are the very inequities that groups like EWG are calling on Congress to address in this year's farm bill.
You can read more about EWG's ideas for a more equitable Farm Bill here:
http://www.ewg.org/agmag/2012/04/ewg-farm-bill-platform/
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
The case for mandatory GMO labeling - even if you believe in limited government and the free market
(NaturalNews) Now that the GMO labeling ballot measure has been
officially accepted onto the California ballot, Monsanto is gearing up
its propaganda campaign that aims to convince people you don't need to know what you're eating! Trust us, we're the food companies! We never lie, do we?
For the record, I'm an opponent of most government mandates against individuals. When the government says you have to give your children vaccine shots, that's a violation of your liberty. When Mayor Bloomberg says you can't buy a 16 oz. soda in New York, that's a violation of your liberty, too -- even though I am opposed to soda consumption in general.
When the government says you can't drink raw milk, or you can't treat cancer with medicinal herbs, or you have to get EPA approval before building a house on your own neighborhood lot, those are all examples of government mandates against individuals gone terribly wrong.
But this GMO labeling ballot measure is not a government mandate against the People. In fact, it's quite the opposite: A People-powered mandate against the corporations.
For the record, I'm an opponent of most government mandates against individuals. When the government says you have to give your children vaccine shots, that's a violation of your liberty. When Mayor Bloomberg says you can't buy a 16 oz. soda in New York, that's a violation of your liberty, too -- even though I am opposed to soda consumption in general.
When the government says you can't drink raw milk, or you can't treat cancer with medicinal herbs, or you have to get EPA approval before building a house on your own neighborhood lot, those are all examples of government mandates against individuals gone terribly wrong.
But this GMO labeling ballot measure is not a government mandate against the People. In fact, it's quite the opposite: A People-powered mandate against the corporations.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Farmageddon Trailer
As consumers our rights are being taken away because big agribusinesses want to control and dominate the food and the way it's being grown. This is supposed to be the land of the free, yet our rights are being taken away every single day. We have the right to choose real foods instead of being forced to eat factory farmed and genetically modified foods. I'm pretty sure the big companies who are making these evil frankenfoods are sitting at home chowing down on some organic foods as we speak.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Organic Food Industry Bought Up by Corporations Like Coca-Cola
Organic Food Industry Bought Up by Corporations Like Coca-Cola (via http://www.occupymonsanto360.org)
by Anthony Gucciardi You may be wondering why some supposedly ‘healthy’ and ‘environmentally conscious’ companies deceive unknowing consumers into purchasing products with hidden additives and fillers. Perhaps one of the main reasons is that a large number of these pseudo-organic brands are…
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Friday, March 23, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Monday, February 13, 2012
Breaking: Monsanto Forced Out of UK by Activists
Anthony Gucciardi
It has been a truly rough week for Monsanto. After being slammed with a lawsuit by concerned farmers over their GMO crops and thrown out by China, now the corrupt juggernaut is being thrown out of the United Kingdom. In an unprecedented announcement, Monsanto announced a major departure from the UK due to “intense opposition” to genetically modified foods from activists.
As a result, the company is now closing its genetically modified wheat growing operation based in Cambridge. Monsanto officials even went on record stating that the move was a result of opposition against their own ‘Frankenstein Foods’.
Furthermore, the company is even looking to liquidate their GMO crop facilities based in Germany, France, and the Czech Republic. Monsanto is making a run for it, and food good reason. Nations have been openly voicing their opposition against the biotech mammoth, with officials and individuals nationwide taking a stand. France is one of many nations to call out Monsanto’s crimes, citing health concerns among the many reasons to reject Monsanto’s GMO crops
Monsanto Thrown Out Across the Globe
India has also joined the conglomerate of nations directly opposed to the agricultural corruption brought upon by bloated biotechnology giant Monsanto, declaring legal action against the corporation for a crime dubbed ‘biopiracy‘. Peru even went as far as to pass a monumental 10 year ban on genetically modified foods.
It seems that the United States officials are among the few who still swear allegiance to Monsanto, even allowing their genetically engineered hormone RBGH to run rampant in the U.S. despite being banned in 27 nations. Shockingly, the synthetic hormone (RBGH) is actually created using molecules and DNA sequences that are a result of molecular cloning. Are U.S. officials truly convinced that Monsanto’s GMO crops are truly safe, or does it have to do with the fact that many Monsanto employees are at the heart of the U.S. government?
Decide for yourself — click the image below to see the relationship between Monsanto and the U.S. government:
SOURCE
It has been a truly rough week for Monsanto. After being slammed with a lawsuit by concerned farmers over their GMO crops and thrown out by China, now the corrupt juggernaut is being thrown out of the United Kingdom. In an unprecedented announcement, Monsanto announced a major departure from the UK due to “intense opposition” to genetically modified foods from activists.
As a result, the company is now closing its genetically modified wheat growing operation based in Cambridge. Monsanto officials even went on record stating that the move was a result of opposition against their own ‘Frankenstein Foods’.
Furthermore, the company is even looking to liquidate their GMO crop facilities based in Germany, France, and the Czech Republic. Monsanto is making a run for it, and food good reason. Nations have been openly voicing their opposition against the biotech mammoth, with officials and individuals nationwide taking a stand. France is one of many nations to call out Monsanto’s crimes, citing health concerns among the many reasons to reject Monsanto’s GMO crops
Monsanto Thrown Out Across the Globe
India has also joined the conglomerate of nations directly opposed to the agricultural corruption brought upon by bloated biotechnology giant Monsanto, declaring legal action against the corporation for a crime dubbed ‘biopiracy‘. Peru even went as far as to pass a monumental 10 year ban on genetically modified foods.
It seems that the United States officials are among the few who still swear allegiance to Monsanto, even allowing their genetically engineered hormone RBGH to run rampant in the U.S. despite being banned in 27 nations. Shockingly, the synthetic hormone (RBGH) is actually created using molecules and DNA sequences that are a result of molecular cloning. Are U.S. officials truly convinced that Monsanto’s GMO crops are truly safe, or does it have to do with the fact that many Monsanto employees are at the heart of the U.S. government?
Decide for yourself — click the image below to see the relationship between Monsanto and the U.S. government:
SOURCE
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
San Diegans for Safe Drinking Water
San Diegans for Safe Drinking Water
I can't make it but this is an important issue for us...
Our next San Diegans for Safe Drinking Water meeting will be held in Hillcrest at the Joyce Beers Community Center on Saturday, January 28th from 2pm to 4pm. The center is located at 3900 Vermont St. 92103, near the Von's / Trader Joe's shopping center. There is plenty of free underground parking at the shopping center. The meeting agenda will include presentations, videos and discussions covering two main topics: First, effective filtration techniques at home; and second, what steps we can take to achieve an honest investigation into the matter of Industrial Fluoridation. You are making a difference with your letter writing, e-mails and phone calls so thank you! Keep it up but remember to keep your comments civil, fact based and demand “DUE DILIGENCE” from our City officials whom we are paying with our tax money! They work for us – why are we being subjected to this “solution to pollution”?
http://sdsdw.org/
SDSDW Meeting
Saturday, January 28th ~ 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Joyce Beers Community Center
3900 Vermont Street
I can't make it but this is an important issue for us...
Our next San Diegans for Safe Drinking Water meeting will be held in Hillcrest at the Joyce Beers Community Center on Saturday, January 28th from 2pm to 4pm. The center is located at 3900 Vermont St. 92103, near the Von's / Trader Joe's shopping center. There is plenty of free underground parking at the shopping center. The meeting agenda will include presentations, videos and discussions covering two main topics: First, effective filtration techniques at home; and second, what steps we can take to achieve an honest investigation into the matter of Industrial Fluoridation. You are making a difference with your letter writing, e-mails and phone calls so thank you! Keep it up but remember to keep your comments civil, fact based and demand “DUE DILIGENCE” from our City officials whom we are paying with our tax money! They work for us – why are we being subjected to this “solution to pollution”?
http://sdsdw.org/
SDSDW Meeting
Saturday, January 28th ~ 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Joyce Beers Community Center
3900 Vermont Street
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
7 Foods You Should Never Eat
4. The Farm Director Won't Eat: Nonorganic Potatoes
Jeffrey Moyer is the chair of the National Organic Standards Board.
The problem: Root vegetables absorb herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides that wind up in soil. In the case of potatoes--the nation's most popular vegetable--they're treated with fungicides during the growing season, then sprayed with herbicides to kill off the fibrous vines before harvesting. After they're dug up, the potatoes are treated yet again to prevent them from sprouting. "Try this experiment: Buy a conventional potato in a store, and try to get it to sprout. It won't," says Moyer, who is also farm director of the Rodale Institute (also owned by Rodale Inc., the publisher of Prevention). "I've talked with potato growers who say point-blank they would never eat the potatoes they sell. They have separate plots where they grow potatoes for themselves without all the chemicals." READ MORE
Jeffrey Moyer is the chair of the National Organic Standards Board.
The problem: Root vegetables absorb herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides that wind up in soil. In the case of potatoes--the nation's most popular vegetable--they're treated with fungicides during the growing season, then sprayed with herbicides to kill off the fibrous vines before harvesting. After they're dug up, the potatoes are treated yet again to prevent them from sprouting. "Try this experiment: Buy a conventional potato in a store, and try to get it to sprout. It won't," says Moyer, who is also farm director of the Rodale Institute (also owned by Rodale Inc., the publisher of Prevention). "I've talked with potato growers who say point-blank they would never eat the potatoes they sell. They have separate plots where they grow potatoes for themselves without all the chemicals." READ MORE
Thursday, January 5, 2012
USDA Certified Organics In the Crosshairs
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