Safe Seeds

Photo by missyredboots, morguefile.com

The Direct Gardening Association, formerly the Mail-order Gardening Association, has proclaimed January National Garden Mail-order month. It makes sense. When better to dream of one's garden than when snow blankets the sleepy ground here in the Midwest? But before gardeners can find joy flipping through seed catalogs during the dark days of winter, they have to do their homework.

Not only should a gardener pick varieties of plants that do well for the climate they live in, they should be seeking out the seed suppliers that support sustainable agriculture and care about safe and genetically stable seeds (non-GMOs). A good place to start is by selecting seed companies that have signed the Safe Seed Pledge.

The history of seeds is an extremely complex one and there is a huge network of seed companies doing business under one name but owned or managed by one of the largest seed companies, like Monsanto, DuPont, or Syngenta. Like me, the blogger over at Compostings has a "pretty thick anti-Monsanto streak." He explains how to hunt down the facts in this blog post.

After selecting seeds from reputable companies you may want to include Fedco's Generation to Generation seed education program in your homeschool studies. Fedco, a seed supplier since 1978, has signed the Safe Seed Pledge and hopes that "by growing gardens and saving seeds, young people can reconnect to past generations of farmers and gardeners, renew food and farming traditions in their own community and work together to plant a sustainable future."

The Story of a Shirt

Photo by Margarit Ralev, Ralev.com

For one of my daughter's Girl Scout projects we are studying the Human Footprint and ways we can reduce OUR footprint. For a field-trip, we had a wonderful tour led by the president of our local Goodwill stores last week, in which we got to see the inner workings of their wonderful organization.

As a project we have taken a deeper look at the simple t-shirt that can be picked up at a retailer for $5 on up, depending on the brand. (At Goodwill a gently used t-shirt will cost $2 to $3 depending on the size.)

A simple t-shirt is typically made from cotton (or some synthetic material). One third of a pound of chemicals and 528 gallons of water are used in the manufacturing of a plain cotton shirt. That's just mind-boggling. In order to understand what goes on behind the manufacturing process we visited Track My T, an interactive website created by Anvil Knitwear, Inc., a company using organic cotton, recycled cotton, and recycled polyester (from PET bottles).

In my Google search for additional information I ran across an extra credit assignment posted a little over a year ago on a blog run by two teachers from New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois. Part of the extra credit included picking "an article of clothing you are wearing today" and determining the country in which that item was manufactured. Then, one should "investigate the working conditions in that area." I glanced at the tag attached to the back of my shirt - a well-worn fleece shirt, at least two years old, from Land's End. Jordan.

I knew nothing of the working conditions in Jordan but another Google search brought up several recent articles of abuses to factory workers, especially women. Just this year Better Work Jordan, an independent workplace monitoring organization funded by the U.S. government, evaluated 24 factories operating in Jordan and found that "63 percent... coerced workers, 29 percent used bonded labor and 88 percent housed workers in conditions that were in some way deficient." Due to allegations emerging and the outrage from customers, Land's End and several other retailers stopped placing orders from the factories in question recently.

Had my shirt not been made from recycled PET, it would have started from two petroleum products: terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol. After several steps of processing the polyester product finally ended up as yarn which was dyed, knitted, cut, and then sewn into a shirt by poor factory workers halfway around the world. The shirt was then shipped thousands of miles to be offered up on a retailer's shelf. Later it ended up in my closet.

I think, had I been part of that class, I would have earned at least partial extra credit for my effort. However the impact of doing that extra credit assignment goes beyond a few simple points...

Hippocrates' Medicine Chest: Elderberry

Photo by Tony Williams.

With flu season upon us it is a good time to mention Elderberry (Sambucus nigra L). Elderberry has been used for centuries for medicinal purposes. Studies show that patients with flu symptoms who took elderberry lozenges for two days showed a decrease in congestion, fever, and headache compared to those who took a placebo. In another study, those who took elderberry syrup at the first sign of illness found their flu symptoms ended four days sooner than those on a placebo.

With very few people allergic to elderberry, it makes it a good choice for its flu-fighting properties. Those harvesting the berries should make sure they have identified the plant correctly and only harvest fully ripe berries that are dark bluish to black in color. Berries must be cooked before consuming.

If harvesting and cooking up your own syrup makes you nervous, you can buy elderberry in a variety of forms - from syrups to teas and lozenges to fizz tablets. My Ayurvedic friend recommends New Chapter's Immunity Take Care and Sambucol brand.

Sources:
Elderberry. University of Maryland Medical Center.
"Elderberry for Flu Season: Petite Berry Packs a Punch." Taste For Life, October 2011.

A squash here, a squash there, a squash everywhere...

In the last couple of years I have become quite fond of the squash. Winter, summer, it doesn't matter; I appreciate all of them. And, it is the time of year when they start showing up at the market in abundance. This week I had yellow summer squash staring me down. What to do? Make bread of course!

Yellow Summer Squash Bread

Photo by Michael Conners.

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 eggs
3/4 cup Sucanat
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup grated yellow squash

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat a loaf pan with butter and flour and set aside. Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl. Combine sucanat and butter in a large bowl and cream well. Add vanilla and eggs. Stir in grated squash and mix well. Add dry ingredients to squash mixture and stir until just moistened. Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake for approximately 50 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

And in case you want to tie squash into your homeschooling studies, click here.