King Corn!

We finally saw the movie KING CORN! Woooha!

After seeing Food, Inc. and Supersize Me, King Corn is a great film that takes you to the root of the problem. How, why and where corn is used in our food system- which is everywhere! Yup, it's making us fat!

This film is entertaining and informative - it traces the complete life cycle of corn, from seed to grain elevator to soda and your cheap hamburgers. College friends Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis decide to move from the East Coast to Iowa for one year - to find out what it takes to grow and acre of corn, and where it goes.

Besides the facts about corn it is very interesting to see the lives of farmers in Iowa, and how they have changed over the last few decades due to politics and how America has come to use high fructose corn syrup in everything. None of the corn grown is edible right off of the plant - it is bred to be high in starches, and must be processed into myriad forms in order to be consumed.

I also loved the graphs, charts and little stop motion animated segments illustrating facts about corn farming and how it has grown. The time and detail put into these handmade features perhaps says something about how much time these guys had to sit around waiting for their one acre of corn to grow.

Now.. the challenge... eat nothing with corn in it for a full month! I am tempted to try...although I feel my options will be quite limited!

Food Inc.

We have a joke in our house. When I offer my husband some organic whole wheat bread or organic pop tarts, or he washes up with the soap made right here in Massachusetts by bicycle power, he often asks, "Why is everything in this house gay?"

Of course what he means by gay is hippie. Or eco friendly, whatever. My response is always the same: "Because you're gay." And the discussion ends with a lot of laughing.

But we just went to see an amazing movie - one that finally puts together all of the peices about the food industry and why it is a system that is collapsing in on itself. If you eat food, you should see this movie: Food, Inc. http://www.foodincmovie.com/ And I am going to guess that, yes, you eat food.

This isn't a movie that preaches about being a vegetarian or vegan, they don't even mention the fact that going veggie is a great eco friendly move. Properly raised meat has it's place ina healthy ecosystem, too. They simply present the facts - the extremely disturbing facts - about where our food comes from and how it gets to the table. Factory farmed meats are the most controversial and disgusting part of the picture, but of course the movie also touches on the evils of giant corporations patenting genetically modified seeds, and suing small farmers for keeping their own no modified seeds instead of buying from them.

But instead of never eating ever again, following the green rules will help to create healthier planet with healthier people - buying local, buying organic, and demanding better laws protecting our food sources. www.takepart.com/foodinc is a great place to start!

Planting has begun!

I know it's a bit late - but it's been COLD here! So finally, this 85 degree weekend, I got outside and planting.

So far, lettuce, swiss chard, bush beans, and snow peas should be sprouting within a week or so. Since I have been busy planning a wedding, and had no luck growing it myself last year, i bought some already sprouted cilantro, and some scallions which I hope will mulitply.  Ok, I also got purple sage - not sure how to use it yet, but it is really pretty.

So we shall see how they fare on my back porch. I know lettuce likes the shade, but i am sure the others will enjoy a bit more sun. They have Osmocote vegetable slow release fertilizer pellets in with them to help them grow - I KNOW it's not officially "Organic" but, again, the time constraint - and it seems to be hard to find any organic slow release fertilizers. I also have Neptune's harvest liquid fertilizer as a supplement, and that is organic.

Woohoo! Pics to com as thes babies start to grow!

Groovy Green Tip

Keep It Growing!

It's Springtime! Well, officially it is, but here in New England, winter is still holding on. Even so, now is the time to start planning your garden! "What?" you say? You don't have a yard? Who cares! You don't need a piece of earth to have a garden! There are plenty of fabulous gardens all growing in containers.

So even if you have just a little porch or even a sunny windowsill, you can still start growing! How about a windowsill herb garden so that you always have fresh herbs on hand (they are so expensive at the grocery store!)

Or what about starting some lettuce or chard, for fresh salads and greens? They are easy to grow, and you can harvest them leaf by leaf, leaving the rest of the plant to continue producing.

Whatever you decide - check out freedomseeds.org These are pure seeds - no traces of genetic engineering or toxic chemicals here. They also offer a wonderful variety of 75 different types of vegetables. These seeds are brought to the marketplace by the Path to Freedom Foundation - who sow and harvest thousands of pounds of food each year on a mere 1/10th of an acre. 

So check them out and get your garden growing too!