Home-Grown Tomatoes

photo belongs to www.ShelleyGoldbeck.com
photo belongs to www.ShelleyGoldbeck.com

“The only things that money can’t buy are love and home-grown tomatoes.”

I heard this in a song last week and I believe it to be true.

There is nothing like the taste of home-grown tomatoes. The tomatoes we get in the stores are mere thick-skinned, tasteless, mealy, red orbs, even when we pay $4 per pound for the privilege of buying them “on the vine”. They’re designed to look pretty in the supermarket, all the same size and shape, and thick-skinned to survive travelling the globe.

Many Calgary gardeners picked bushels of green tomatoes off their plants prior to the first snow of the season, the summer season! We got several inches from September 8 to 11,

photo courtesy of Joyce Smith
photo courtesy of Joyce Smith

devastating our city’s mature deciduous trees.

I simply covered my tomatoes and prayed. They were late starting and had just begun looking promising after six weeks of decent summer weather. I thought we’d get a skiff of snow, some frost and then I’d uncover them and they would flourish in our two additional months of summer. Dreamer!

Almost a week later I have yet to uncover them. The snow was followed by several nights of serious frost. I’m frankly, scared to look.

For those who picked them all, here are some tips for getting the most out of your home-grown tomatoes.

  • Sort them. I put them one layer deep, not touching each other, in stackable boxes in a cool dark place. I tend to put the larger tomatoes together and the cherries, grapes and other minis together.
  • Check often. Tomatoes can ripen overnight, it seems. One day there are none. The next, there are too many to reasonably consume.
  • Eat them. In tomato season, I serve sliced tomatoes at almost every meal. They provide enzymes, vitamin C, lycopene, and taste so wonderful! A fabulous dish is tomato soup (see recipe) made with home-grown tomatoes. You’ll never go back to the canned stuff.
  • Freeze them. When the ripening tomatoes exceed our ability to consume them, I wash and dry the excess, pop them whole into freezer bags and freeze. Then when I need canned tomatoes for a soup, stew, or other dish, I simply run the frozen tomatoes under hot water. The skins peel right off and I throw the tomatoes into the pot, chopped or not. As canned tomatoes are quite salty, I usually add salt to the dish. Freezing is so much easier than canning tomatoes, less labour, heat, and electricity. I can use just one tomato or a number. (When I open a can, I have to use them all!) I rarely buy canned tomatoes: even the organic ones come in plastic lined tins, a source of toxins.
  • Share them! Non-gardeners have no idea how wonderful home-grown tomatoes taste. If you share this “candy*” with them, you might motivate them grow their own tomatoes.
photo belongs to www.ShelleyGoldbeck.com
photo belongs to www.ShelleyGoldbeck.com

It seems to me there would be more of the other thing money can’t buy, love, if more people knew the joy of home-grown tomatoes.

*That’s what my friend called them to get her reluctant Grandtoy to try her home-grown tomatoes. Grandtoy agreed and ate more!

Cheers for Cherries!

cherryCherry season says summer. And it’s here now!

For the next month or so, cherries are in stores, at farmers’ markets and impromptu roadside stands.

There is nothing like biting into a cherry and feeling the crunch of the crisp skin as it snaps between my teeth. The ensuing explosion of juicy flavour brings ecstasy to my mouth!

Cherries are among the healthiest foods on earth. They contain a plethora of nutrients including Vitamins A and C, anti-oxidants, and phytochemicals.

There are several studies suggesting that cherries prevent cancer.

But you won’t see that in a TV ad. The US cherry growers suggested on their website that cherries could prevent cancer. The statement is backed by solid scientific studies.

The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) successfully sued the cherry growers for making health claims. It doesn’t matter if they’re true; such claims are verboten!

Yet Subway makes “Eat Fresh” claims. Their lettuce arrives at the restaurant pre-chopped and it never turns brown! They obviously spray or soak it in something to preserve it. Is that something good for me? Does the FDA sue Subway? Of course not.

If we eat too much healthy food we won’t get sick. Our being sick is in the best interest of many companies. So unless we look for them, we will never learn the health benefits of eating cherries.

I suggest you eat as many cherries as you can in the next month. Organic is best but all fruit should be thoroughly washed.

From USDA
From USDA

Cherries don’t hang around long at my house so I have few recipes for them.

A great way to serve them, especially if they’re getting soft, is to stew them. Throw into a pot with a bit of water. Add sweetener (honey, maple syrup, agave, coconut sugar) to taste. Bring to slight boil. Turn down heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until fruit is soft. Cool slightly. Serve warm with a few tablespoons of coconut milk.

Warning: overeating raw cherries can lead to a few unpleasant side effects. Because they’re high in vitamin C and fibre, they can have a laxative effect. If you’re sensitive to them, it’s best to eat a few each day and work your way up to eating them by the case like I do!

Don’t forget to include sour cherries in your diet. Their nutritional profile is even higher than the ones commonly sold in stores. Sour cherries of some variety grow almost everywhere and their seasons vary. Sour cherries are great edible landscape plants.

So cheers for cherries. Eat ‘em while they’re here for they are too soon gone.

Sumptuous Strawberries: 4 Good Reasons to Eat Strawberries.

Photo owned by www.shelleygoldbeck.com
Photo owned by www.shelleygoldbeck.com

June is strawberry month. Some strawberries even have the name “June-bearing”; others are everbearing. (Better than overbearing!) But they all start in June.

1. Strawberries1 contain numerous trace minerals and vitamins including 71% of RDA* for Vitamin C, 18% of manganese, and 6% of folate.

2. Strawberries are 90% water and therefore, low in calories with just 33 calories in 100 grams. They make a satisfying snack.

3. Strawberries are also rife with phytonutrients, microscopic substances that have anti-inflammatory or anticancer properties. Their brilliant red colour contributes to their healthiness.

4. Strawberries are high in fibre, rivaling whole grains with their yummy taste. Strawberry consumption is associated with a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease.

Sadly, strawberries are among the most heavily sprayed crops. With reportedly up to 90 chemicals, they routinely make the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen2, 3 list of the most contaminated produce. Chemical sprays harm the soil, the water, the workers in the fields and the eaters of the fruit, including my grandchildren!

Grow your own strawberries easily. When they’re not part of a huge monoculture (fields and fields of the same plant), they suffer from few diseases. Birds and other creatures like to eat strawberries so you may need to cover them with nets to get your share. They self-propagate profusely so you can share plants with others and you can constantly rotate your beds.

If you can’t grow your own strawberries, I highly recommend buying organic. They cost more but you will immediately notice that they have more taste than the sprayed strawberries. I read recently that people who think they are allergic to strawberries are often actually allergic to chemicals used specifically on strawberries.

In our area there are a number of U-Pick strawberry growers. Picking berries is a fun family activity but I suggest you inquire about spraying before you expose your kids to the fields.

Remember that strawberries don’t ripen after they’re picked so choose bold red berries. They should be washed just before eating to prevent mold. They keep just a few days in the fridge. It’s rarely a problem for me as I will eat them for breakfast, lunch, dinner and everything in between!

Strawberries are delicious eaten plain. You can add some cream or coconut milk with a bit of honey, maple syrup or coconut sugar.

Strawberries freeze well. Soft berries can be pureed into sauces for desserts, added to smoothies or even added to sparkling water for a refreshing summer beverage.

My grandtoys and I invented “Fruities”, fruit “puddings”, which are really delicious when made with strawberries. It’s a great way to use less than perfect berries. See recipe.

Summer starts with strawberries. Savour some soon!

Beware of artificial strawberry flavoured products. Personally, I’ve never cared for artificial strawberry flavour. Now that I know that it comes from the anal glands of beavers, I am even less inclined to eat fake strawberry products.

*Recommended Daily Allowance: the amount of a nutrient you need to stay alive; you need more for optimum health!

 

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawberries

2. www.EWG.org Environmental Working Group

3. http://www.wholerealfood.com/dirty-dozen-2013-edition/

See Recipe

Tower Garden

Our Easter Sunday family activity this year was firing up our Tower Garden, a home hydroponic  system for growing fresh produce in a small space. It was very fitting since Earth Day was this week.

Tower Garden before planting Photo owned by www.shelleygoldbeck.com

We started our seeds a couple weeks ago. We had great fun “planting” the rock wool cubes into the net pots. A pump in the tub lifts water to the top where it showers the water and liquid nutrients down onto the plants.

I first saw Tower Gardens last summer. Since I am a huge proponent of our growing as much of our own food as possible I instantly saw the potential of this growing system. Our growing season in Calgary is a mere 90 frost-free days so it’s almost impossible to eat locally grown fresh food nine months of the year.

Tower Garden fixes that. We were able to start indoors six weeks before the last frost. The gardens have wheeled platforms that allow growers to move their towers inside before the first frost. I suspect with some grow lights, I can run my tower year-round.

My plan is to document and blog about my Tower Garden experience. I will measure and record the produce I harvest from it. If I can prove that this is a viable option for food growing with a reasonable ROI, I will shout about them from the rooftops.

Tower Garden2
Grow fresh organic vegetables, greens and even fruits in less than one square metre. Photo owned by www.shelleygoldbeck.com

In the meantime, if you’re curious or anxious to have one for yourself before I share my experiences, please visit this site: https://sg23190.towergarden.ca/

Let me know if you have questions about my Tower Garden experience. I invite you to have a conversation with me.

I believe we can change our lives and our world if we grow even a bit of our own food. It’s the best way to ensure food purity (organic, non-GMO, etc.) and to reduce our footprint on this earth.

Tower Garden seems to be part of the solution!

The Dirty Dozen 2013 Edition

DirtyDozenHave you heard of the Dirty Dozen? It’s the 1967 movie starring Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, and Charles Bronson, where a World War II US Army Major is assigned a dozen convicted murderers to train and lead into a mass assassination mission of German officers.

The modern mass assassination is even more insidious than in that old film, largely because the target is the most innocent among us: people who eat whole, real food in the form of fruits and vegetables. We know they’re good for us. Our grandmothers told us they were and the produce our grandmothers fed us WAS good for us. Usually it was grown in soils teeming with life and vital nutrients and bereft of toxic substances.

Modern agriculture has changed all that and rendered many of our most nutritious foods into enemies, largely through the application of chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. Unfortunately not all the pesticides used to kill bugs, grubs, or fungus on the factory farm wash off under the tap at home. Government tests show that many fruits and vegetables have a pesticide residue, even after washing.

Some pesticides are bred into the plant. An example is the insecticide Bt, which works by irritating insects’ stomachs. Bt is now bred into corn and there is evidence that humans may suffer from stomach ailments after eating Bt corn. A study of pigs fed GMO corn found they all suffered excess inflammation in their stomachs.

One alternative is to seek and eat organic foods but they are often appreciably more expensive than conventional produce. A good solution is to avoid the worst offenders or select organic and then buy regular versions of other produce.

Exposure to pesticides can be reduced by as much as 80% by avoiding the most contaminated foods in the grocery store, the modern Dirty Dozen, as revealed by the Environmental Working Group. Since 1995, the organization has identified which produce items have the most chemicals.

The EWG couldn’t pick just 12 so the Dirty “Dozen” is 14 for 2013.

1. Apples: In 2013, apples take the number one spot. In Michael Pollan’s book, The Botany of Desire, he explains that because we’ve lost much of the genetic diversity of apples they are disease and pest prone so the use of chemicals on them is deemed necessary. Up to 42 different chemicals are found in apples.

2. Celery: with up to 64 chemicals. Organic celery is often no more expensive than conventionally grown celery and in my experience it is far more flavourful. When I can get it on sale, I buy extra, chop it up and store it in bags in the freezer and use it in recipes where I would cook it anyway, like soups and casseroles.

3. Cherry Tomatoes: these are new on the list. It’s so unnecessary to spray tomatoes. They are among the easiest crops to grow in most climates.

4. Cucumbers: also new on the list. Also easy to grow without chemicals.

5. Grapes: 
Imported grapes (grown outside USA and Canada) make the 2013 Dirty Dozen list. Vineyards can be sprayed with pesticides during different growth periods and no amount of washing or peeling will eliminate contamination. Remember, wine is made from grapes, which testing shows can harbor as many as 34 different pesticides.

6. Hot peppers: Peppers have thin skins that don’t offer much of a barrier to pesticides.

7. Nectarines (imported): Up to 33 different chemicals are found on soft-skinned nectarines, making them among the dirtiest tree fruit.

8. Peaches: up to 62 chemicals. Their soft skins make them susceptible to chemical penetration.

9. Potatoes: The Botany of Desire exposes the growing methods of potatoes and reveals that our demand for the perfectly elongated French fry is largely responsible for the monoculture that leads to the poisonous growing condition of potatoes.  Potatoes can easily be grown in your home garden without chemicals.

10. Spinach: Spinach can be laced with as many as 48 different pesticides, making it one of the most contaminated green leafy vegetables.

11. Strawberries: up to 59 chemicals, especially out of season, when they’re most likely imported from countries that have less-stringent regulations for pesticide use. When organic strawberries are in season, they are often as cheap as the chemical-laden ones and their flavour is far superior.

12: Sweet Bell Peppers: May contain up to 49 different chemicals. Also thin-skinned and susceptible to absorbing chemicals.

+ Kale /collard Greens: Traditionally, kale is known as a hardier vegetable that rarely suffers from pests and disease, but it was found to have residues of organophosphates and other risky pesticides. That’s why they are on the Plus list for 2013.

+ Summer squash, domestically grown: tests found that some domestically-grown summer squash – zucchini and yellow crookneck squash — contained residues of harmful organochlorine pesticides that were phased out of agriculture in the 1970s and 1980s but that linger on some farm fields.

Incidentally, the Clean 15TM, according to the Environmental Working Group, the least contaminated produce items are Asparagus, Avocado, Cabbage, Cantaloupe, Sweet Corn, eggplant, grapefruit, Kiwi Fruit, Mango, Mushrooms, Onions, Papaya, Pineapples, Sweet Peas (Frozen), sweet potatoes.

 

Sources for this article include:

Environmental Working Group: http://www.ewg.org

Dirty Dozen Methodology: http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/methodology.php

http://www.NaturalNews.com

http://www.Organic.org

The Botany of Desire, by Michael Pollan

Got Milk? Just Say No

milkWhy Avoiding Dairy Might Be a Good Option

Food issues are complicated.

I recently ranted about butter vs margarine (see article here). I came out in favour of butter.

Now I have a confession.

I stopped ingesting dairy in January 2012.

Every year I try to make a change to improve my health. I decided to try eliminating all dairy products.

I was surprised at the outcome. I immediately stopped snoring, a condition of great concern to my light-sleeping husband. I also ceased to require deodorant (unless I have cheese. Then I stink the next day!)

Truthfully, dairy hasn’t agreed with me since I was a child. My grandparents had mixed farms, including a few dairy cows. We drank warm milk, fresh from the separator (a machine for separating cream (milk fat) from milk).

I never liked warm milk with the fresh froth on top. It tasted like cow.

In fact milk has always tasted off to me. (When my kids were little and drank milk I could never discern whether the milk in the carton was sour).

But buying into the “dairy is essential to good health” mantra, I sought palatable forms. I liked cottage cheese and other soft and hard cheeses, sour cream and ice cream. Cream didn’t bother me and I would pour it on my cereal instead of milk. I drank chocolate milk and added milk to soups in an effort to consume dairy.

One day about 20 years ago, I had a Dairy Queen strawberry milkshake, my favourite rare treat. Within an hour my intestines were twisting. I felt like I had a couple of sumo wrestlers in there. It lasted for several hours, tempting me to go to Emergency more than once.

I noticed discomfort with other ice cream so I eliminated it from my diet for five years. When I reintroduced it, it was occasional and only high-quality varieties.

By the time I gave up dairy, I was eating cheese once per week, cream on berries occasionally, ice cream twice a month. I would add a tsp of butter to steamed veggies or to fry a free-range egg. A pound of butter would last a month or two.

Post snore, I find coconut oil is a suitable butter substitute. Now that I’ve tasted ice cream made with coconut milk I will never go back to dairy: no cow taste and no mucous! Almond milk is another product that I use. I find it works in most places milk is required.

I am conflicted. Butter is natural.

But is it really?

Modern dairy operations are CAFO’s (Confined Animal Feeding Operations).  Milk from grass-fed, hormone-free, pesticide-free cattle is nutritionally superior to milk from CAFO animals. It has more vitamins and more healthy fats.

Animals in CAFO’s are sick. They need antibiotics to survive like junkies need heroine. They live and produce for only a fraction of their natural life expectancy due to inferior feed and the stress of CAFO life.

I was taught that we don’t eat sick animals or their products. CAFO milk is sick. Therefore so is its milk fat (butter).

Modern dairy processing further renders milk indigestible and void of most of its celebrated benefits. Pasteurization and homogenization threaten enzymes, kill beneficial bacteria and change the structure of the milk and, some claim, affect our bodies’ ability to assimilate it.

Pasteurization is unavoidable for big dairy operations but small farmers can safely distribute unpasteurized products. The pro-biotic benefits of raw milk are real. Unfortunately, raw milk farmers are often persecuted in North America so it’s tough to find suppliers.

Some experts claim adult humans are not designed to eat dairy. After age four, the majority of us lose our ability to digest lactose. Asian and African populations have particular difficulty digesting dairy.

One researcher suggests one’s blood type may affect the ability to digest dairy, with B and AB tolerating better than A and O types. If that were true, I would be able to tolerate dairy. But just because it’s not true for me, doesn’t mean it’s not true for another.

When they learn I avoid dairy, people are alarmed. Where do you get your calcium? What about osteoporosis? I get my calcium from greens and nuts. Dairy isn’t the only food with calcium. Osteoporosis is higher in countries with high dairy consumption. The fact is milk causes acidosis and the body leeches calcium from the bones to neutralize the acid, causing bone thinning.

Calcium from cow’s milk is not very bio-available. The official recommended intake for calcium is high because the body can only use a small portion of calcium from dairy.  Incidentally, my latest bone scan indicated I have bones of a 20 year old. The technician raved that I must be a milk drinker. He was dismayed when I revealed the truth.

If you do consume dairy, seek products that are from grass-fed cows, unpasteurized, and organic, (no hormones, antibiotics, pesticides and no unnatural feeds like ground up carcasses). Ideally you know and support your local farmer.

Consider goat milk, which is more easily digestible than cows’ milk, having a molecular structure closer to human milk. Goats are not generally subjected to CAFO life and appear to leave a smaller “footprint” on the earth.

When I was in Arizona I drove by a dairy farm that was miles and miles of Holstein cows standing in their own feces, forlornly searching for food and stimulation, a black and white wall of despair.

There are many good reasons to avoid dairy but the most important is I feel better. I sleep better.

If you have mysterious illnesses for which you’ve found no solution, consider giving up dairy for a short while. You might find solutions to heath issues you don’t even know you have.

Many people I know have transformed their health by just saying “no” to, “Got milk?”

http://organicconnectmag.com/got-proof-the-myth-of-milks-benefits/#.UkzYnBzoOgg

Ban Bottled Water Bans

waterbottleRevised July 2013

I have a confession: I drink bottled water!

The recent vilification of bottled water drinkers is most disturbing to me. I’m not oblivious to its negative impact on the environment and the overall absurdity of paying for water.

Lately, news of the danger of plastic drink containers leaching harmful chemicals into their contents, the environmental costs of transporting water, and the problem of properly disposing of the containers (recycling) have caused some to re-examine the intelligence of consuming bottled water. Some jurisdictions are even toying with banning the sale of bottled water.

I embraced bottled water years ago, not for the fad but the taste of it. I despise soft drinks; too sweet, too fizzy (make me belch; not becoming) and loaded with harmful substances. I’ve never liked the taste of coffee or tea, except some herbal teas. So I drink water.

Before bottled water my request for water with my burger was met with a disdainful glazing of eyeballs. I had to endure tap water in wax-lined paper cups, invariably with ice that tasted of dirt and refrigerator.  Usually it was dispensed from the wash-up sink, an area of questionable sanitation. Depending on the season, there was an added cocktail of chlorine and dissolved organic matter that had surpassed the city’s treatment capabilities. I was often charged for this swill, because, I was told, of the cost of the cup!

I grew up on non-chlorinated well water so tap water smells (and therefore tastes) like a toilet or a swimming pool to me. The only way I can stomach the water I order in a restaurant is to get a lemon slice with it. Not every restaurant or vendor provides lemon (and one study found the germs from the bar staff’s hands contaminate the water via contact with the lemon skin).

I also object to the fluoridation of public water. Our city added this toxic industrial by-product to our water for 20 years. (Council recently voted to abandon the practice, citing cost savings).

My consumption of water greatly increased with the installation of a water cooler in my home. Sure, I could have a container with a filter in my fridge but I’ve been turned off by the mold on other people’s filters and that “fridge” taste of their water.

Now that I’ve defended my reasons for choosing bottled water, I want to know why has not one word has been breathed about banning soft drinks!

Soft drinks also come in plastic bottles capable of leeching noxious chemicals into their contents.  Perhaps nobody cares because soft drinks are already loaded with sugar or (neuro-toxic) artificial sweeteners and other chemicals like phosphoric acid, a known dissolver of bones and other mineral compositions in the body. Most also have caffeine, another culprit in the deterioration of our health, especially when over-consumed.

Why is there not a movement to save the environment by not transporting soft drinks? How much global warming could be reduced if there were no plants churning out thousands of bottles of pop each day? And no trucks delivering it to stores? Or no refrigerators to keep it cold, at the ready for thirsty customers?

Sure, the odd school board has banned non-nutritious beverages from their vending machines. But parents routinely fill their shopping carts with soft drinks and buy their children fast food meals, which often include a soda with their deep fried entrees. Then they wonder why their children are threatened with obesity. (Clearly good nutrition is not motivation for the average parent’s choices). Why aren’t they connecting the dots?

Significantly more bottled soft drinks are consumed than bottled water but there is no squawking about all the non-recycled pop bottles or the cost of transporting that product. Perhaps it’s because shutting down Coke and Pepsi is not an option: too many people own their stock and rely on their products to get through the day! Their consumption is so pervasive in the general population that banning soft drinks would be akin to banning coffee.

Admittedly, not all bottled waters are created equally. Some water comes from springs and other so-called natural sources, but nobody is required to measure the purity of it. That muddies the waters, so to speak, for me. Other brands are filtered tap water; some taste better than others.  Coke’s Dasani is filtered tap water with salt, which accounts for its odd taste.

It may seem stupid to you that I pay for filtered water; I will admit it is arguably rather frivolous. But if that’s what it takes for me to drink the recommended eight or so glasses of water each day, nobody should have the right to tell me I can’t take delivery of it in a bottle, just like my colleague’s Diet Coke.