It has been a very sad August when we allow the media to affect us. Thousands of people dying unnecessarily, in war and conflict, in protests and on the streets, from Missouri to Gaza, from Kurdistan to Damascus, from Donetsk to Santiago, armies, states, police, brutally slaughter their perceived enemies. In Syria the latest count of deaths since the uprising begun has reached 170,000 people and with the ISIS the numbers are climbing. In Gaza 2,100 is the last count in a few weeks. In Ukraine it is questionable what the numbers are but lately different sides refer to 2,000. In Africa the numbers are never so important to the western media to report, until the Ebola epidemic came and the media took an interest as far as this epidemic may cause a threat elsewhere. Yet there is one constant statistic that not many are reporting in the mass media. Over 60,000 people a day, nearly half being children, are dying from the simple cause of the lack of nutrients and clean water. Meanwhile if one is to divide the annual world production of corn (alone) by the population one will find the corn produced alone can prevent death from hunger. An enormous amount of food is produced worldwide, maybe "too much" according to economists who are waged by corporations that benefit from the rise of the price of commodities.
Showing posts with label grains. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grains. Show all posts
Dec 9, 2013
The Monster is Right on Top of Us
Argentine Protesters vs Monsanto:
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The people of this working-class suburb of Córdoba in Argentina’s
central farming belt stoically put up with the spraying of the
weed-killer glyphosate on the fields surrounding their neighbourhood.
But the last straw was when U.S. biotech giant Monsanto showed up to
build a seed plant.
The creator of glyphosate, whose
trademark is Roundup, and one of the world’s leading producers of
genetically modified seeds, Monsanto is building one of its biggest
plants to process transgenic corn seed in Malvinas Argentinas, this poor
community of 15,000 people 17 km east of the capital of the province of
Córdoba.
Oct 7, 2013
Incredible Edibles! – Great “Grains”
Republished from http://blogs.extension.org/mastergardener/2013/02/25/incredible-edibles-great-grains/
Incredible Edibles! – Great “Grains”
Looking for something interesting and tasty to try in the vegetable
garden or landscape this year? Are you looking to add delicious fresh
ingredients to your meals? It’s time to take a look at some uncommon
plants that can have a big impact in the garden and on your dinner
plate. There’s a whole world of fantastic fruits, glorious grains,
verdant vegetables, and more that can bring excitement to the garden.
Think about experimenting this year and grow something new and
unexpected. This week, we’ll be taking a look at specialty “grains”
that can find themselves a home right in your own home flower or
vegetable garden. These plants are used much like our cereal grains
(corn, rice, oats, wheat, etc.), but are, in fact, broad leaved plants.
Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) and Amaranth (Amaranthus sp.)
We’ll talk about the first two together since they are closely related and have similar care characteristics. Quinoa
(pronounced Keen-wah) has been consumed as a staple in parts of South
America for nearly 5,000 years and is just now becoming popular in the
US. Some reports indicate that the growing demand in developed countries is increasing the price of the staple in its native regions.
The seeds, when cooked, have a creamy consistency and nutty flavor
and are often used in salads or cooked pasta/rice dishes. It is also
ground into a gluten-free flour. It is popular because its tasty
flavor pairs with its impressively high protein content. It is a
wonderful addition to the garden because the seeds come from
impressively showy flower heads that make a striking addition to the
flower garden.
Living off the land: How much land?
We are simply republishing this article and we are in search of similar. We have to eventually cross some of this information with other sources for validity.
Living off the land: How much land?
Suppose that you can no longer rely on any consistent source of food,
other than what you can grow on your own land. Your stored food
supplies have been exhausted. Some disaster has wreaked havoc with the
commercial food supply. How much land would you need to grow ALL of your
own food? For this particular article, I’m setting aside the question
of raising your own chickens, fish, goats, cattle, pigs, etc. For the
sake of simplicity, let’s consider how much land it would take to grow a
complete vegetarian diet, per person. Now I’m not a vegetarian, but I
eat a fairly healthy diet, and if the necessity arises, I’d adapt.
Certain assumptions are necessary to this type of calculation. For
example, we have to estimate the total calories per day per person, and
the percent of calories attributed to protein, fat, and carbohydrates.
[Technically, what we call 'calories' are kilocalories (kcal).] The USDA
nutrition labels assume 1800 kcal per day for an adult woman and 2200
kcal per
day for an adult man. So the average is that ubiquitous 2000 kcal diet
figure found on so many product labels. I suggest that this figure is
ridiculously low for anyone who is growing all of his or her own food,
largely by manual labor. My target for kcal per day is 2740, which is
one million kcal per year per person — a nice round figure, and plenty
of calories for a non-sedentary lifestyle. If you think that my numbers
are off by, say, 10 or 20%, you can easily increase or decrease the
final tally by 10 or 20% to get a result that you prefer.
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