New Ideas & Culinary Inspiration!

See our links - Noteworthy - off to the right for some new ideas on ideas for diverse healthy ingredients in your diet. Click on these links to view video or articles with new ways to cook mostly fruits & vegetables. Click on blog titles and link to more videos!

Walk around our society and see many obese, morbidly obese, and tired people. Many of our food systems have corrupted our bodies. Sedentary lifestyles induce early onset muscle atrophy.

We suggest you maintain homeostasis by sprinting, focusing on dark leafy greens and local farm products in your diet and always - read the ingredients of all food before you purchase. No synthetic substances are digestable!

These videos on health tips include
1.detox
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfBgVStqdxI
2.eating close to mother nature
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9fo3vyf2Rw
3.focus on the outcome you want
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4e1lupvCU8

Heirloom Seeds

Ordering Seeds

Our crops are all heirloom, which are actually cheaper than the hybrid patented variety sold by most seed companies.
http://rareseeds.com/seeds/


Seed Starting

We are lucky - several greenhouses start custom plants for us - seeds of our choice - that means heirloom plants! I think this is more economical and labor saving - we utilize the existing community resources without duplicating products and services.
http://www.marthastewart.com/article/seed-starting?lnc=4ef2dc5bfca40110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&rsc=showarchive_tv_show-archive

Harvest

We are "Natural Nutrient" driven - a balanced diet rich in fresh fruit and vegetables!!! Our focus is heritage and heirloom, organic, local, & authentic - Sustainable Agriculture! Our harvest is a great bonanza of nutritious heirloom tomatoes, soybeans, aqua duce fava beans, chiogga beets, nero di toscano cabbage, purple of Sicily cauliflower, golden batham corn, lemon cucumbers, blue de solaise leeks, long island cheese and marina di chioggia pumpkin, zucchino rampicante, cocozella di napoli, navet des vertus mart turnips, and more...

The Feeding Frenzy

What I knew about the feeding frenzy - than - began from a painting I saw, named "The Feeding Frenzy".

Today's feeding frenzy represents conglomerates - production of bad food - at the cost of obesity and diabetes - megabucks for overprocessed and artificially cheap commodities.

"People pay as much as 50 percent more for organic food. The modern organic movement in the United States was started by a handful of counterculture farmers looking to grow food using methods that they believed were better for the land and produced healthier food. It was a culture built on purity and trust that emphasized the relationship between the farmer and the customer...Organics has grown from an $11 billion business in the United States in 2001 to one that now generates more than $20 billion in sales, so the stakes for farmers, processors and certifiers can be high. But the agency overseeing the certifying process has long been considered underfunded and understaffed. Critics have called the system dysfunctional. A Maine blueberry farmer who does organic inspections, said agents have an incentive to approve companies that are paying them. Certifiers have a considerable financial interest in keeping their clients going." March 2009 NYTimes

”What can we do to limit the Feeding Frenzy? Be aware of what you eat by visiting the farms and processors that you buy from. Limit consumption of goods and services to real healthful and joyous products and services, like small farm products, spa and massage, artwork and travel. Encourage everyone to support - SMALL farms - by introducing them to a favorite product, and COLLECTIVELY we'll make better CHOICES! We'll grow nutritiously, care for animals humanely...and care enough for you and your family!

Working with Children to Become More Active

Surprisingly, as a farmer in an underserved rural area, I worked more with inner city children than rural youth. I was a youth softball coach for girls and we trained and practiced daily. One of the things that was effective- provide a different activity everyday - this promotes enthusiasm. Kids get bored doing the same thing everyday - who doesn't? Mentoring children is a great gift because it enlightens them to other lifestyles, professions, and opens new worlds to them! Noble pursuits such as healthcare, the arts and agriculture is often overlooked.

The program - Food Works linked here makes so much sense:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip3gZ5H7Vj0&feature=channel

Critical is providing physical activity for kids, especially the NON Athletes, farm to school food programs using my Farmers Frozen Food product design, teaching communication, as well as ecology. Last summer, we introduced over 12 rural children to farming, including putting up hay, planting vegetables, mulching, tying up tomato plants, and caring for animals! We are especially proud when they come back the next summer to help...

choosing nutrition, active lifestyles, and calm

Here's how to make dark leafy greens a greater part of your diet...Dark greens pack more nutrients into their leaves so you can feel better, naturally! Vitamins are abundant in leafy green vegetables. Derived from the term “foliage,” folate, is a member of the B vitamin family found primarily in dark leafy green vegetables, legumes, citrus fruits, beets, meat, and wheat germ. Dark greens' high concentration of chlorophyll, the green pigment in plant cells, provide higher levels of nutrients: The darker a green is, the better it is for you!

Arugula (Beta-carotene, iron, vitamin C) The potent peppery flavor. salad green.
Beet Greens (Beta-carotene, calcium, iron, vitamin C) Steam or Saute. salad green.
Collard Greens (Beta-carotene, calcium, folic acid, iron, vitamin C) Steam or Saute.
Dandelion Greens (Beta-carotene, calcium, iron) A member of the sunflower family. salad green. steam. saute.
Kale (Beta-carotene, calcium, folic acid, iron, vitamin C) Stalks and tough center ribs should be removed. soups. saute.
Mustard Greens (Beta-carotene, riboflavin, thiamine, vitamin C) sharp and peppery. Steam or Saute.
Broccoli rabe. Steam or Saute. Frittata. Pasta.
Spinach (Beta-carotene, iron, vitamin C) salads. steam. saute.
Swiss Chard (Beta-carotene, iron, vitamin C) member of the beet family. celery-like stalks that are usually white or red.

Lifestyle choices may reduce risk of cardiac death - be PROACTIVE - here is a list to live by and live well!

"NO SMOKING"

"a glass of red wine (or purple grape juice) — are helpful as well...with their antioxidant properties"

"have cholesterol checked, and be tested for high-sensitivity CRP...if CRP (C-reactive protein) is elevated, the risk of heart attack is too"
HSCRP is 1.6 mg/L or .16 mg/dL

"main sources of fat — olive oil and oily fish as well as nuts, seeds and certain vegetables ...improve cholesterol ratios and reducing inflammation...cook with canola oil and use more expensive and aromatic olive oil for salads"

"vegetables, grains, fruits, beans and fish were the dietary mainstays... cold-water fish like salmon, tuna and mackerel; flax seed; walnuts; and canola oil"

Nature hikes, hunting and fishing trips- forget store meats and fish - animals in the wild live healthier too!

"NO processed foods with synthetic ingredients or trans fats - “partially or fully hydrogenated oils - Ugh!

"The relaxation response twice a day by breathing deeply and rhythmically in a quiet place with eyes closed and muscles relaxed... massage, meditation, prayer, yoga, self-hypnosis, laughter, taking a midday nap, getting a dog or cat, hobbies"

"Brief bouts of exercise, even sprints can be helpful. ..accumulating short bouts — just three minutes each — of brisk walking for a total of 30 minutes a day improved several measures of cardiac risk as effectively as one continuous 30-minute session"

"oral hygiene - bacteria causes low-grade chronic inflammation. Regular periodontal cleanings, helps protect your heart as well as your teeth"

"manage diabetes or high blood pressure, if diagnosed, since risk of heart disease is well-established"


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/health/13brod.html?em

heirloom vegetables & heritage breeds

Browse these catalogs and websites !
Heirloom Seeds
open-pollinated seeds: pure, natural and non-GMO!
Heirloom seeds from the US and world have ancestral origins, preservve horticultural traditions, and celebrate cultural foods and original recipes - where the true melting pot began!

Heritage Breeds
we all know endangered species, well farm animals too are becoming extinct because of the reduction in farm families, the single minded commercialism of large farms, and the practice of breeding to optimize shipping and handling, production, etc. Caring for heritage breeds on our farms ensures their existance into the future.

united community farms and business

“All of us have realized that by working together we will be more successful as businesses,” said Tom Stearns, owner of High Mowing Organic Seeds. “At the same time we will advance our mission to help rebuild the food system, conserve farmland and make it economically viable to farm in a sustainable way.”