My lovely friend Bea has added me to her newsletter! Take a moment to check out Bea’s wonderful site. She is a master gardener and knows soooo much about herbs, organic farming and sustainability.
I am going to post the first part of the newsletter here:
A Magical May, Filled with Blooming Beauty!
All around us from the local farm stands in middle Tennessee to the glittered streets of large and busy cities~~
“Green” is the word of the year. Let’s keep the thought that it is here to stay.
I believe with all my heart and there is much data to reinforce my thinking…global warming/climate change is real and very frightening.
There are many ways we, as individuals can make a difference in the overall outcome. Most everything we do depends on the numbers to reap a good ending. So it stands to reason the more people we have doing more things to reverse the damage of negative habits, the more and better results we will see.
Here is a list of some very important steps any of us can pick from…all or one is better than none.
Composting
1. The average person throws out 1,500 pounds of trash per year, says Mark Harris, the author of Embracing the Earth (Noble Press, 1990). Expect to haul only 375 pounds of trash to the curb annually if you compost.
Adopt A No Chemical Lifestyle
2. Children who live in homes where chemical weed whackers and insect killers are used are four times more likely to develop cancer than their all natural counterparts, according to a 1995 study in the American Journal of Public Health.
Plant A Garden
3. During World War II, “victory” gardens planted in homes, schools, farms, and municipal plots across the nation supplied up to 40 percent of all vegetables consumed by American civilians.
4. Americans sure love their tomatoes, consuming 19 pounds per person per year—and that’s not counting the tomatoes used to whip up sauce and ketchup. In fact, the United States is second only to Italy in its consumption of tomatoes per capita.
5. One third of all garden plants sold in the United States are tomatoes, according to the Seed Savers Exchange.
Lawns Can Be Beautiful and Edible
6. In terms of surface area, lawns are the single most irrigated crop in the United States, say NASA eggheads. That works out to about 128,000 square kilometers or 40 million acres in total.
Do Something Good For Your Heart
7. A Greek study found that organic olive groves caused much fewer CO2 emissions than conventional ones.
A great link for everything you always wanted to know about olive oil:
http://www.evoliveoil.com/index.html (my choice of olive oil)
8. Consider starting a Community garden in your neighborhood if you simply can’t make space in your own yard. It’s a wonderful way to spread the word, encourage involvement, and have plenty of help to keep things working on schedule. Community gardening is awesome for children, teaching the importance of good and healthy food and at the same time respect for the earth’s resources and their fellow man.
The gardens at Sage Hill Farms are beautiful and full of abundance. We credit this to a no chemical practice, composted soil, cover cropping, and insect participation. Do you know that 40% of what we eat is pollinated by honey-bees?
Do stop in for a visit: http://www.sagehillfarmsandvintagestore.com (leave us a note or go shopping!)
Happy spring!
Which shows the spirals I see in seeds or the middle of flowers (as I see it…not so precise as fabulous nature can produce). I then took a moment and created it through a computer program as a bas-relief:
Looks like winter! or frozen flower-spiral…just for fun…actually it may be more fitting, because it is FREEZING here in Michigan!
