Friday, May 25, 2012

Another Organic Gardening Blog


I found this on the Internet and it had some interesting looking articles on organic gardening.



Organic Garlic Growing: This Huge Mama’ll Be Ready in July

MAY 24, 2012 · 2 COMMENTS

Organic Garlic in My Garden




It’s another Garden Photo Thursday! I poked around in the garden the other day and noticed this purple beauty making an appearance. I planted about 18 heads of store-bought garlic last fall, and it’s supposed to be ready this summer. Yet, doesn’t this big garlic head look ready to eat right now? Yum. I covered it up with some dirt and decided to let it grow a bit more. Meanwhile, I’ll be having some garlic scapes with dinner soon.

Saturday, May 5, 2012

My 2 Cents on GMO

     I was thinking about the adverse effects of genetic engineering, or creating genetically modified organism (GMO). Years ago, if you liked a particular vegetable or fruit, you could go to the grocery store and buy that fruit or vegetable and use the seeds to plant in the garden. Well, a couple of years ago, I was trying to do that very thing. I grew a squash plant one time, and the squash turned out really weird. It looked a little like an acorn squash, but it was different. I actually was afraid to eat it. And if you noticed like I did, that potatoes no longer sprouted if you kept them too long. Somehow I figured out that most of our vegetables have had genetic engineering done to them. What happens now, if you buy a vegetable at the grocery store, chances are that you won't be able to use the seeds to replant the vegetable. I believe much of that is intentional. For if you are a smart person, you could just take the seeds from your vegetables that came from the grocery store and plant them and grow your own plants. Government interests have been the culprit for much of this going on.
  Have you ever seen a seedless watermelon? It was genetically engineered to keep it from having seeds. You, the customer, are happy with the watermelon not having seeds in it, while the food corporation is happy because you can't perpetuate their watermelon in your back yard! It took a while for us to figure this out. Now it is all coming to light and there are battles going on between customers and the big food industry owners.
   Last year, a person in our country got in trouble with the law, and you would not believe the reason why. It was because she had a garden and it produced a lot of vegetables and she was giving them away to her neighbors. Now a new law just came into effect that you can't grow a lot of vegetables at your house. Who is behind that? The big GMO companies. Monsanto is the biggest one, and it owns all the other food companies. Monsanto has patented their soy plants to be resistant to certain things, and legally you cannot take a seed from one of their soy plants and put it into your garden. You would go to jail if you got caught with a Monsanto patented soy plant in your back yard. One farmer did. He went to jail. I personally believe that one day, when Monsanto genetically engineers enough plants to be resistant to their herbicide, there will be planes or trucks, like the fogger trucks that used to go around and spray the mosquitoes. Let's say you are growing your own soy plants in your backyard or farm. If the fogger trucks come around and spray their herbicide into the air, guess what will happen to your soy plants? They will die. But the Monsanto soy plants will still live. That way, they have a monopoly on the food that we eat. It looks like they are trying to have full control over the food industry, and it is being worked out through their genetic engineering methods.
   This has been going on for the past several years, but now that it is in the light, we can take action. We can be thankful for people who have the vision to preserve our seeds. There are seed companies that produce what is called 'heirloom' seeds and seeds that are not genetically tampered with. There is a documentary out called, 'Food, Inc.' which goes into detail about how your meat is processed and how these companies are getting away with it. We can let the authorities know that we are not pleased with products being genetically modified and we can take action against it. We can support the local farmer too. There are laws in government waiting to be passed to do away with small farms. The government wants all food to be done on large factory type farms so that all the meat can taste the same, they can produce a lot of meat in a small space, and they can produce a lot of food to feed everyone without the quality that is necessary for the food to have. Ever since these large, factory type farms have been producing and selling meat, cancer has become epidemic. Meat that is processed today is really no good. Much of it has rBGH which is a growth hormone to make the animal have more meat on its bones or to produce more milk. The cattle have no place to roam and they have to stand in their feces. They are fed grain instead of grass (grain is much cheaper). They are given antibiotics as well. Then they are slaughtered and the meat is very unsanitary. So, bleach water is used on the meat to clean it. By the time it gets to your house, it is completely altered from the original way it was intended to be.
   This is not so with grass-fed organic beef. You can actually get nourishment, good nourishment from a piece of grass-fed organic beef. So, we can see that not only seeds are tampered with, but also meat and eggs as well. And the reason isn't necessarily so that many people can eat. It is processed this modern way, so that a product can be made in mass quantities. That way, the big food corporations can make a lot of money. But if people threaten them with their little gardens and farms, they are not happy. Nothing can interfere with their ability to make the big buck! And that is my 2 cents on GMO for today.