THIS box, mine own sweet darling, thou wilt find
With many a varied sweetmeat's form supplied; The fruits are they of holy Christmas tide, But baked indeed, for children's use design'd. I'd fain, in speeches sweet with skill combin'd, Poetic sweetmeats for the feast provide; But why in such frivolities confide? Perish the thought, with flattery to blind! One sweet thing there is still, that from within, Within us speaks,--that may be felt afar; This may be wafted o'er to thee alone. If thou a recollection fond canst win, As if with pleasure gleam'd each well-known star, The smallest gift thou never wilt disown. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1807
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Do you think that spending money on organic food is a complete waste? Or is it just a new fashion that will fade away very soon? What is “organic” anyway?
1. The difference between organic and non – organic. Organic produce is made without:
Yes, I know, that the Government is saying that the pesticide level in all non-organic products, including household ones are under control and don't exceed any dangerous levels. All the same, it's worth to mention that Australian Pesticide manufacturing industry reported $1 billion of revenue in 2016 – 2017, with an annual growth of 2.1%1 and employing 5,760 people2. My point is: always maintain a healthy scepticism on whatever the government is trying to sell you. Let's consider now each of the points that differentiate the organic from the non-organic. Antibiotics What we are told: antibiotics are good, because they kill potentially bad parasites, bacteria etc. in livestock. In reality: constant consumption of traces of antibiotics is destroying the balance of beneficial bacteria in the intestine and create drug–resistant super–bug, for more information, please follow this link: chicken-meat-what-we-are-really-eating.html Then, the waste from antibiotic fed animals goes into the soil as a fertilisers, where the super-bugs find his way into vegetable, fruits, fish. And what is even more alarming; pathogenic bacteria can swap their genes with non-pathogenic. Synthetically created chemical pesticide and fertilisers. The term "pesticide" is a composite term that includes all chemicals that are used to kill or control pests. In agriculture, this includes herbicides (weeds), insecticides (insects), fungicides (fungi), nematocides (nematodes), and rodenticides (vertebrate poisons)3. Currently in Australia are registered more than 8000 pesticides, 80 of each are prohibited in 24 European countries 4 and labelled as dangerous. Examples of the most unsafe chemicals that are used in Australia for increasing production and making our food look beautiful are:
Synthetic Fertilizers are “man made” inorganic compounds - usually derived from by-products of the petroleum industry. Examples are Ammonium Nitrate, Ammonium Phosphate, Superphosphate, and Potassium Sulfate. They destroy beneficial micro-organism in the soil, deplete the nutrition and quality of food, leach into the water and destroys aquatic life. GMO Genetically Modified Organisms are product whose gene/s are changed using biotechnology with the aim to improve resistance to certain bacteria or herbicides, grow faster or improving nutrition value, making something that doesn't exist in the nature. In other words, its a mutant. Putting aside ethical and religious concerns, GMO is a very debatable topic now from a human health point of view, with a lot of unanswered questions. It was introduced so rapidly all around the world, without any proper preliminary scientific investigation and safety testing, that, I am afraid, we are all eating something that is on a “experimental stage” without our consent. Artificial dyes. We come across them every day: toothpaste, shampoo, cereals, yoghurt, lollipops, meat, juices, salmon, vitamins, soft drinks... the list is endless. Industries that use artificial dyes have been employing them for decades and increased 500 times for the last 50 years. What are your children most likely to eat for breakfast: colourless porridge or rainbow cereal? Meantime, artificial dyes are linked with:
The most of the artificial dyers are found in the junk food and this is one of the other many reasons to avoid it. Artificial sweeteners. They are bad as sugar, because they mess up your metabolism and as a result can cause:
Another point of concern, that some of the sweeteners are usually made from GMO (see above) products like corn, soy or sugar beetroot. Skincare range. About this topic I wrote a post few months ago, please follow this link organic-or-mass-market-cosmetic-what-is-the-difference.html and Animal welfare. All animals, that grow organically, should be free range to considered to be organic and they can access pasture all their life. Cages, stalls are not allowed. Animals have access to sunlight all day around. Antibiotics can be used only as a treatment. They can be fed only with organic food; no ground up animals parts or use of synthetic nitrogen supplements are allowed; growth promotants and hormones are prohibited. To put it short: organically grown cattle, birds, fish are kept without cruelty and as there is no dangerous chemicals involves (as in all organic produce, in general) its better for the environment as well. Yes, that right, by supporting organic, you are supporting the environment. Organic production and environment. Here is a rhetorical question: do you want to breathe fresh air, drink good water and walk on a land that is not saturated with dangerous chemicals? How does it link to support organic lifestyle? Let's consider it by turn. Air and water. Non – organic crop is dozed with tons of odourless pesticides continuously and it poisons not only farmers and workers, but also everything around as it drifts kilometres and kilometres. It destroys fauna, biodiversity and ecobalance by killing non – targeting species: bees, worms, good insects, frogs, small birds etc., while organic farming promotes biodiversity. Besides, decades of applying pesticides has created pesticide – resistant weeds and pests, making farmers to spray the fields even more with chemicals. Also all those chemicals, including waste from antibiotic and hormones treated animals are running off into the water (near by lake, river, pond) or penetrate to a groundwater (this process called leeching), destroying delicate water fauna and poisoning people who are using underground water. As a the Queensland and Federal Government's report states, pesticides have been found at toxic concentrations up to 60 kilometres inside the World Heritage area and at concentrations known to harm coral11. According to Environmental organisation Friends of the Earth (FoE) research, almost 200 pesticides have been detected in over 3,500 locations in Australian waterways over the years, 95% of pesticides used in Australia and detected in waterways do not have ecological guidelines, meaning that if traces of the pesticide leach off land and into waterways there are limited mechanisms, including legal means, available to determine ecological effect of the pesticide on the waterway and the legal consequences of such pollution12. Don't believe me? Drive to the Yarra River during summer. It decreases by at least 15% during watering hours in the evening and in the morning it back again to it normal level, full of chemicals and antibiotics wastes from the fields (I stopped buying river's fishes a while ago). Unfortunately, the data on how pesticides affects environment in Australia is almost non – existent, compared with other countries. Organic farming support biodiversity. Organic farming employs ecological-friendly methods to grow produce by avoiding toxic and dangerous chemicals, using inter planting, crop rotation, green manure, beneficial insects and other methods. This helps to protect balance in the ecosystem, creates a natural shelter for different species and avoid dominance of some species over other. Spraying crops with pesticides not only kills insects and animals, but also caused development of weed and bag resistant varieties and it means that conventional farmers need to increase the amount of toxic sprays year after year. Organic farming fights global warming and climate change. Non-organic farming contribute greatly to climate change as they use chemical pesticides and fertilisers that require a lot of energy to be produce. Conventional farming also depletes soil and releases carbon into atmosphere by using extensive tillage (or turning soil), and disregarding traditional methods employed by farmers thousand and thousand of years as crop rotation, planting legumes (they fix nitrogen in the soil), returning crops residues into the soil, using cover crops, inter - cropping and another carbon sequestration techniques. And besides, most of organic produce are grown locally as there is no preservatives and conservants are added to keep it for a long time and it also mean that there were minimum of transportation involve, plus you are supporting local community. **** I know, that non-organic farming have solved numerous problems around the world:
At what cost, however? Are we all going to have Parkinson decease, cancer, allergy and produce children with behavioural issues in a couple decades? Currently Australian Government spends yearly on fighting: And how much we are going to spend on impending and unavoidable ecological disaster? I realise that Organic farming, and style of life, in general, is more labour consuming and more expensive, but the price is a human life. 1https://www.ibisworld.com.au/industry-trends/market-research-reports/manufacturing/basic-chemical-product/pesticide-manufacturing.html 2https://industry.gov.au/industry/IndustrySectors/chemicalsandplastics/Pages/ChemicalsPlasticsManufacturingDataCard.aspx 3http://www.fao.org/docrep/w2598e/w2598e07.htm 4http://awsassets.wwf.org.au/downloads/fs025_a_list_of_australias_most_dangerous_pesticides_1jul10.pdf 5https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/parkinsons-disease-and-pesticides-whats-the-connection/ http://www.beyondpesticides.org/resources/pesticide-induced-diseases-database/cancer http://www.panna.org/human-health-harms/cancer http://www.autism-society.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Autism-and-Environment.pdf 6http://www.aihw.gov.au/media-release-detail/?id=6442472394 7http://www.cancer.org.au/about-cancer/what-is-cancer/facts-and-figures.html 8https://shakeitup.org.au/understanding-parkinsons/ 9http://www.autism-adhd.org.au/autism_prevalence 10http://www.medicaldaily.com/4-dangerous-effects-artificial-sweeteners-your-health-247543 11http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-13/great-barrier-reef-report/2837758 12http://www.foe.org.au/study_confirms_widespread_pesticide_pollution_of_australian_waterways 13http://www.parkinsonsvic.org.au/about-us/media-release/cost-of-Parkinsons/ 14http://www.cancer.org.au/about-cancer/what-is-cancer/facts-and-figures.html 15http://a4.org.au/sites/default/files/Synergies_costsofautism_FINAL_170511.pdf
I love lavender.
I love it because it's a statement in the garden. It's subtle, romantic and nostalgic. It's hardy. My bees love it. And it has a heaps of medical properties... Medical properties of lavender. This gorgeous flower consists of more than 100 compounds and the most important ones for our health are limonene, caffeic acid (doesn't have any relation to caffeine) and small amount of coumarin. - Limonene (also found in citrus peel) is great for our body as it had an amazing antioxidant and antiflammatory properties. It detoxifies our liver and help to prevent and fight cancer. - Caffeic acid considered to be one of the best performers within antioxidants group. Its very important to include in our diet products with this compound as it slows down body's molecules from being oxidized and, consequently, slows down the aging process. It's also famous for fighting fatigue and stress and because of that it can be often find in the supplements, taken by bodybuilders before working out. - Comarin that along other components of lavender, is responsible for it famous fragrance has a blood – thinning, anti – fungical and anti – cancer activities. Lavender is also famous for:
Lavender is also good with fighting the following: pain relief, rheumatism, colic, flatulence, headaches and treating stings, sprains and cuts. If you want to get an instant sense of tranquillity just rub some lavender flowers between you fingers and breath it for a few seconds, it works; I usually start my meditation this way. This flower is great if it's planted next to roses as it hides not very appealing leafless stem during the winter, and this is the spot where there are growing in my garden. Plus, bees are foraging on lavender's flowers and they are among the very few available during the winter in the garden. Remember, that bees are the pollinators and by having or attracting bees to garden you'll increase your harvest by 30% at least. Well, if I convinced you that without this awesome flower you garden is nothing but an arid desert here are the tips on how to grow it. How to grow lavender: Originally, lavender come from Italy. Roman soldiers used to carry their blossoms to dress their wounds and that how it spread around Europe. As a native to Mediterranean climate it likes a lot of sun, warm evenings and well - drained soil. The best place for lavender is where it will get eight hours of sun, well – protected, sheltered position and next to the fence or brick wall where it'll get evening radiance from their warmth. Well – drained soil is crucial. Lavender hates wet feet and can die overnight once waterlogged. If your soil is a clay, add some lime or plant it in a raised bed. Or, you can grow it in a pot. Choose the terracotta pot as they are porous and provide good drainage. If you opted for pot, you can arrange few of them in you veggie patch as strongly scented lavender is a good plant companion, it repels slugs and moths. You can grow your lavender from the seeds, as I did or propagate from the cutting. Prune you lavender, once established, by cutting 1/3 of the stem (and you can use this cuttings for propagating). Water it only during the spell, just don't overwater. How to dry lavender: Cut the flowers when ¾ of them open. Tied them and hung with their blossoms down in a shady, well – ventilated position. They are ready for storing in 10 – 14 days. Place them in a jar with a lid, or put into sachet. If you want to put them in the vase, don't add water as it makes the flowers to fall off very quickly. And here some interesting facts about lavender:
Don't you think its an issue of concern that $40% of children in developed countries suffer with allergies and in the last 20 years it has been increased by 20%?
While research still argues what are the triggers of the allergic reactions among babies and young children, they all agree that the main ones are environmental pollution and increased amount of chemicals added in baby's/children products, including skincare. So, what is an allergy? An allergy is a reaction of a body to a certain substance when it recognises it is a dangerous and overreacts to it. The easiest way to protect your children from allergies is to avoid the products that contain allergens. How do we do it? The easiest way is to READ THE LABELS! If you read very carefully the list of ingredients in baby cosmetics, you'll have a nasty surprise on how bad it is as it has no differences with standard cosmetics for women and contains irritating components like Sorbitan Laurate and Sodium Laureth Sulfate - which can be toxic and very allergenic for human skin (remember, that baby's skin, immune and nerve systems are not fully developed and very sensitive to irritants, plus, skin is the biggest organ of your child!). Cosmetics companies put preservatives into baby cosmetics that have been associated with allergic reactions and have a score of 7 out of 10 in the skin deep database which means restriction for use. No wonder, that in third world countries, the problem of children's allergies is almost non-existent. In those countries people don’t have money for baby cosmetics so they use natural soap or, more often, don’t use cleansers at all. So, avoid baby cosmetics if it is not organic as it can be a cause of allergy.
O thou whose face hath felt the Winter’s wind,
Whose eye has seen the snow-clouds hung in mist, And the black elm tops ‘mong the freezing stars! To thee the spring will be a harvest time. O thou whose only book has been the light Of supreme darkness, which thou feddest on Night after night, when Phœbus was away! To thee the spring shall be a triple morn. O fret not after knowledge. I have none, And yet my song comes native with the warmth. O fret not after knowledge! I have none. And yet the evening listens. He who saddens At thought of idleness cannot be idle, And he’s awake who thinks himself asleep. – John Keats |
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