3 organic super-vegetables that cost less than $2 | MNN – Mother Nature Network

Have you ever felt like you were on the right track with your diet, only to have someone completely derail your progress with a simple comment? It happens all the time. You may eat a diet filled with fresh fruits and vegetables… but someone asks you, are they organic? Locally-grown? Ugh.

So you do your best to adjust, adding more organic produce to your diet, and after just a few days, you realize that you’re going broke.

I’ve seen this rollercoaster ride so many times before, and it often ends almost exactly where it started. This person who was trying so hard before, now throws her hands up and says, “This just isn’t working.” All her progress goes out the window because she was made to feel like she had to spend her whole paycheck on food in order to be healthy. Well, that’s simply not the case. [12 Tips for Eating Healthy on a Budget]

Not all vegetables are expensive, but they’re also not created equal. For example, iceberg lettuce is inexpensive, but it contains less protein, fiber, calcium, folate and vitamin K per calorie than its pricier counterpart, romaine. If you look at the lettuces in terms of penny per nutrient, instead of penny per calorie, romaine is the clear winner.

And speaking of nutritional winners, a study published in the journal PLOS One in May reported two clear winners in the overall cost-per-nutrient category: potatoes and beans (beans are classified as a vegetable by the USDA). [13 Easy Kitchen Fixes that Can Help You Lose Weight]

Researchers used a combination of nutrient profiling methods and national average pricing to create an affordability index, which was used to examine the nutrients in 98 individual vegetables as well as five subgroups. The fact that potatoes come out on top is surprising to some, but potatoes are extremely rich in potassium, fiber, vitamin C and magnesium. And, they’re cheap too!

This report definitely sparked my interest because I think this is an important topic. So, I thought this might be a good time to review my personal favorite, budget-friendly organic vegetables that pack a healthy nutritional punch.

  1. Kale: This is one of the most nutrient-dense leafy greens you can get, and it’s cheap. The other day, I went to the grocery store just for some organic kale and I walked out with a big bunch. Guess how much I spent? It was well under two dollars, and I’d say I got more than my money’s worth. Just one cup of this raw leafy green has 206 percent of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A, and 134 percent of vitamin C.
  2. Green cabbage: At about $0.92 per pound, this organic vegetable is certainly affordable. But it’s also nutritious. One cup of raw green cabbage contains nearly a full day’s worth of vitamin K, and it has about half of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C. It’s also a good source of fiber, and is loaded with antioxidants.
  3. Baby carrots: At about $1.75 per pound, organic baby carrots make for a nutritious and inexpensive snack. And eating one mere ounce, will give you 77 percent of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A.

Deborah Herlax Enos is a certified nutritionist and a health coach and weight loss expert in the Seattle area with more than 20 years of experience. Read more tips on her blog, Health in a Hurry!

[tag 3 organic super-vege]

Natural News Blogs Sprouting Organic Mung Beans » Natural News Blogs

Sprouting Organic Mung Beans
image

Mung Beans have a shelf life of 3-5 years if kept in a cool, dark place such as a closet but not a hot garage. Mung beans will usually produce twice the amount of sprouts as seeds. Mung bean sprouts can last up to 6 weeks in the refrigerator if properly stored. As with anything in the fridge, if it smells funky in a bad way, don’t eat it!

Directions:

Put 1/3 cup beans into your sprout jar. Add 2 cups of water. Allow seeds to soak for 8-12 hours. Empty the seeds into your Sprout Jar. Drain off the soak water. You may use it to water plants. Rinse thoroughly with cool (60-70°) water. Drain thoroughly.Once I emptied out the water I set the jar upside down in a bowl to drain completely.

If you want to grow short, sweet Mung Beans – with 1/8 – 1/2 inch roots:

Rinse and drain every 8-12 hours for 2 – 3 days.

If you want to grow big, thick Mung Bean – with 1 – 3 inch roots:
Rinse and Drain every 8-12 hours for 4 – 6 days.

Just to be clear:
Soak for 8-10 hours. Rinse and drain. Leave the jar in a cool place with no direct sunlight for the next 8-10 hours (dry). Repeat. It is VERY important that you rinse and drain thoroughly.The great thing about my Sprout Jar is that it’s self-contained. I can soak, drain, rinse and let them sit all in one container.

Your sprouts are done 8-10 hours after the final rinse. Be sure to drain your sprouts as thoroughly as possible after the final rinse. Remove any left over hulls. Transfer your sprouts to a plastic bag or sealed container and put them in the refrigerator.

KS

Home-delivered organic produce

Residents of Atlanta have a new way to get fresh, non-GMO, pesticide-free organic fruits and vegetables. A new company called ColdLife Organics lets consumers place their orders online and have their groceries delivered directly to their home once a week.

ColdLife is more about delivery, though. The company is involved at every step of the way to make sure that customers receive the freshest produce possible. Their unique process starts right at their own certified organic farm in Florida. As soon as the produce is picked, it is washed in cold water and then placed into a refrigerated truck. After that it’s shipped to ColdLife’s 70,000 square foot refrigerated facility on Marietta Boulevard. As the company’s COO, Jason Sherman, explained to MNN, “the produce is never exposed to heat from harvest to delivery we insure that correct temperatures are maintained.” The fruits and vegetables — plus some meats and cheeses — are even delivered in a special, insulated box to make sure the contents stay cold during the journey between their delivery truck and your refrigerator. “The majority of our clients instruct us to leave their delivery outside as they are not at home,” Sherman says, and this method allows the products in the box to stay cool for up to eight hours. He says all of this work to keep the produce cool ensures that their products are both fresh and have a long shelf life.

ColdLife heirloom tomatoesThe company offers a variety of offerings, including a weekly fruit package for $39 and a box of “super greens” for the same price. (Pictured at right is a selection of heirloom tomatoes recently harvested by ColdLife at their organic farm.) There’s also a veggie lover’s family-size box for $59 and several other options. In addition to the standard selections, customers can create their own combinations or go to the website and add extra items to their regular, weekly deliveries. “We are in the process of expanding the online store to offer a full Organic and Natural supermarket menu of products,” Sherman says. “These new products are being added on a weekly basis.”

ColdLife just launched its website to customers a few months ago, but they are rapidly adding new clients and expanding their delivery area. Just this past week, they announced that they have added deliveries in Cumming, Conyers, Fayetteville, Lawrenceville, Peachtree City, Suwanee and Dacula.

And ColdLife will soon be expanding beyond delivery. “We are opening organic ‘grab n go’ stores featuring prepared organic foods and cold pressed juices,” Sherman says. They also have an organic juice truck that will serve juices, popsicles, salads and other foods within the Atlanta metro area.

For more information on ColdLife Organics, visit their website, or watch COO Jason Sherman in this appearance on ‘Atlanta & Company’ earlier this week:

On a budget? Try these affordable six superfood staples from Naturalfood.com

Buying organic bulk produce, grains, and beans and becoming your own chef will save you money by not selecting processed foods packaged at higher prices. Those only make you trade health for convenience.

You’re paying for the packaging, additives, and usually bad oils used in those foods, some of which may contain GMOs. Focus more on bulk items and do your own prepping and cooking.

A tip for those concerned about phytic acid or phytates in grains and beans that are reputed to inhibit mineral absorption: Simply soak whatever you plan on eating overnight or for several hours in purified water with added lime or lemon juice.

This process can significantly reduce phytic acid. To prepare, remove the soaking water and replace it with water for cooking.

Inexpensive healthy food staples you can buy in bulk

(1) Organic rice from bulk bins is cheaper and healthier than the packaged stuff. There are a variety of rices from which to choose. Basmati brown and basmati white are usually available in most. Then there are some more exotic choices as well.

Ayurveda practitioners usually recommend parboiled white basmati rice as a main staple. Parboiling is a method discovered in India to remove the outer husk and still retain most of the rice’s nutrients. You may have to seek out an Indian or other food specialty store for parboiled rice.

Rinse all bulk rices in a hand held strainer, rapidly shaking it side to side under a strong stream of water until there is no more cloudy water. There’s often a mineral oil coating to protect the rice that needs to be rinsed out.

You can create several combinations of white or brown rice with peas, beans, veggies, herbs, and spices that will offer your pallet the variety you think you’ve lost by moving away from processed foods (http://www.naturalnews.com/028007_food_shortage_costs.html).

(2) Soaking beans overnight is actually required for dry bulk beans, which are much cheaper and healthier than canned beans. It would take hours to cook beans that haven’t been soaked overnight. The one exception is lentils, which are inexpensive and high in plant protein.

Black or turtle beans require hours of soaking, but once any batch of beans is soaked, you can keep the soaking beans in the fridge for a couple or few days. Black beans are high in anthocyanins, which are strong antioxidant flavonoids.

All beans contain many nutrients, including protein, and they are high in fiber. Nutty flavored garbanzo beans (chick peas) require very little to create a tasty dish, hot or cold. You can make bean salads from cold cooked beans.

(3) For breakfast, buy a batch of organic steel cut oats from bulk at $1.50 or less a pound. Just before you go to bed, measure two to one water to oats in a pan and let is soak until you awaken. Then turn on the stove, bring the oats to a boil, cover snugly and turn off the stove. It’ll be ready in 20 minutes or less.

(4) Organic yams and sweet potatoes are cheap and nutritious. Peel and slice them into small pieces, then boil them. Try mashing them in real butter, a squeeze of lemon, and a little real maple syrup. Add some chopped nuts. Delicious!

(5) Greens and more greens from the organic produce section. Kale, chard, broccoli, and leafy lettuces should be an every day eating event steamed or mixed into salads. You can add avocado, a true superfood, to your salads. They don’t have to be organic. Avocados from Mexico are abundant and inexpensive.

(6) Now for the pricier part of better living through good whole food. The two healthiest oils for cooking and salads are organic cold pressed virgin coconut oil and olive oil.

Contrary to weight loss diet fad philosophies, our bodies need healthy fats. You should be able to afford them after saving money with bulk purchasing.

Seo

Garden turning brown from the heat? Here’s how you can save it | MNN – Mother Nature Network

It seems like summer is finally here. Finally! I don’t know about you, but I am ready, and this year, it feels like the weather isn’t waiting. Much of the country is already experiencing extreme heat. It’s a nice respite from the dark and the damp of winter, at least if you’re a human.

watering garden in summer

But if you’re a plant? Maybe not so much.

Like the good gardener that I am, I had my seedlings going way back in the earliest days of spring. Starts were in the ground as soon as the final frost had come and gone. My precious little plants, nurtured by my own hands, have been slowly and steadily soaking up sun and rain ever since. And through spring they thrived. You should see the height on my sunflowers!

But then, summer set in. We had a couple of scorcher days, and my poor plants begin to wilt. And we DIY home improvers in San Diego haven’t even had it as bad as other parts of the country. I was chatting with a friend from Baton Rouge the other day, who sadly laughed as she told the story of her poor arugula, which fought so hard for three weeks in record temperatures before, as she said “The arugula was finally just like ‘nope, I’m over it’ and collapsed in a little pile of surrender.”

If you’re battling this same sunny demon in your own garden, I’ve got a few tips that just may help you keep your plants from withering away into lifeless straw. Don’t give up before you give these a shot!

2. Water not only often, but deeply. For garden beds and in-ground plants, it’s important that the water penetrate deep into the earth to encourage the roots to continue to extend down. It’s cooler down there and the deeper the roots, the more likely your plant will survive extreme heat. So water often but more importantly, water for extended periods, to fully saturate the soil.

3. Don’t fertilize! In extreme heat, water is taken up very quickly by plants. This is great for thirsty plants, but it can be dangerous if you try to fertilize — which you may be tempted to do if your plants seem to be dying. Remember that fertilizer is also taken in very fast when it’s hot, so plants are easily burned in this weather. Focus on water; save the fertilizer for after the heat wave passes.

mulch summer garden

4. Mulch is your BFF. Mulch will have your back, for reals. A thick layer (a few inches at least) of organic mulch over your garden will greatly reduce moisture loss, as well as help to regulate soil temperature. It’s also an awesome stand-in for the fertilizer you’ll be forgoing, and will help return some much-needed nutrients to the plants. So don’t skip it — mulch is a life saver!

5. Try a little shade. You can build little tents or umbrellas (or better yet have a carpenter build a garden structure) to shade your tender greens and lettuces, which will help to delay bolting. They will bolt no matter what in extreme heat, but shade may give you a little more time to maximize your yield.

If you can implement all these tips, then you can probably save your garden from certain death in the summer sun. Now get out there and enjoy the heat!

Seo

Oprah Winfrey’s farm growing large in Hawaii | MNN – Mother Nature Network

After hinting last year through trademark applications that she was finally getting serious about venturing into the world of organic agriculture, Oprah Winfrey has given the world a peek at her farm in Hawaii — and the renewed joy she’s found by growing her own food.

“When I bought this property several years ago, I knew it had been farmland in the past, but I didn’t seriously imagine continuing that tradition,” she writes on her blog. “Then one day my friend Bob Greene said, ‘What if we give back to the land — and find a way to give back to Maui?’ His point was that about 90 percent of the food on the island is flown or shipped in from outside, which makes it very expensive to buy — not to mention the carbon footprint involved in getting it here. We realized if we could grow delicious food ourselves, we could share it.”

Winfrey designated 16 acres for a variety of vegetables like kale, tomatoes, potatoes and much more. Working with a local resource management group called Bio-Logical Capital, the 59-year-old also set aside one acre in the shape of a half-moon containing more than 100 species of fruits, vegetables and herbs. While one reason for this arrangement was to assess what might grow best, the other was to improve the diversity of crops — which can improve the soil and nutrient quality of the vegetables themselves.

“Here on Maui, our soil is now so good and so rich that we’re already producing 145 pounds of food each week,” she writes. “And everything grows five times as big as you’d expect. We can grow tomatoes all year long, and they taste like real tomatoes. We’re still figuring out the best way to make use of our bounty, but for now I walk down the road with bags of lettuce, going, ‘Hi, would you like some lettuce?’ I grew it! I feel like I can’t waste it.”

In a video posted to People, Bob Greene says that while they love giving the produce away “that’s going to change — we’ll start to sell it very soon.”

Oprah's farm in Hawaii

In trademark applications filed last year for names like “Oprah’s Organics,” “Oprah’s Harvest” and “Oprah’s Farm,” potential products from an Oprah agricultural empire include salad dressings, sauces, soups, dips, frozen vegetables and beverages. Bath and body products would cover soaps, sunscreen, massage oils, hair products and other personal care items.

And while she certainly owns enough land to scale up the production (it’s estimated she owns hundreds of acres on Maui alone), it’s unclear when or if this farming enterprise will ever expand beyond the local roadside stand or farmers market. Nevertheless, as reported in the Maui News, some established farmers have already expressed worry that Winfrey’s entry into the business could threaten their own livelihoods due to her fame and fortune.

“Some local farmers wondered about how they could survive in a market with Winfrey and her large financial holdings, while others worried about how her farm on Maui could drive up land prices and prevent small farmers from buying more land to expand,” the article shared.

Greene, however, says local farmers may find Oprah to be an asset, bringing attention to organic farming and boosting Maui’s agriculture industry. “The last thing she wants to do is put pressure on a business struggling,” he said. “We want more of these farms to thrive.”

Seo

Value of Washington organic farm crops rising, acreage shrinking

KENNEWICK, Wash. (AP) — For the first time, people seek out Gary Middleton to buy his organic fruit.

That’s something that has taken Middleton, who farms about 100 acres of organic apples, cherries and blueberries near Eltopia, about 13 years to accomplish, and is among the reasons he plans to continue to stay organic.

The number of organic acres farmed in the state is dropping, from almost 105,000 in 2009 to an estimated 88,100 in 2012, according to a recent study by Washington State University’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources.

But the value of the state’s organic crops is rising.

It grew by 20 percent from 2010-11, to $284.5 million, the study said. That’s the highest value in seven years.

Eastern Washington counties accounted for about 82 percent of that value.

Some of the drop in acreage may be because farmers have realized the amount of work, expense and challenge involved with farming organically, said Middleton of Middleton Organic Orchards.

Organic agriculture is more labor-intensive, requiring hand thinning and hand weeding, he explained. At the peak, when blueberries and cherries are harvested simultaneously, he’ll need about 250 people.

Organic prices have to be high enough to cover those increased costs.

“I love being an organic farmer, but it still comes down to economics,” he said.

Organic farmers don’t use herbicides, and are limited in the pesticides and fertilizers they can use.

Middleton uses compost for fertilizer, which requires more planning when it comes to nutrients. It doesn’t deliver as much nitrogen as fast as synthetic products.

But organic agriculture seems a good fit for stewardship of the land, he said. He’s noticed that the beneficial insects, including bees and ladybugs, have increased.

Most of the blueberries still were green last week, although a few showed a hint of a bluish-purple hue.

Middleton’s irrigation system was going on and off in a 15-minute rotation to cool his apples and blueberries and to suppress sunburn.

The blueberry and cherry harvests will likely start around the end of this month, Middleton said. Blueberries will be color-picked by hand, with the same bushes picked three to four times.

Middleton’s goal is to serve an “elite” fresh market, with stores like Costco and Whole Foods carrying his blueberries, he said.

Blueberry harvest can last a month, and cherry harvest can last for about 14 days, he said. His cherries, like others in the area, were hit by frost damage, slashing the expected yield.

After those harvests are complete, Middleton and his crew will move on to the Gala, Golden Delicious and Granny Smith apples. Frost also might affect those yields, but he said the blueberries seemed to come through the cold — which dropped as low as 23 degrees — just fine.

Increasing yields from fruit trees could be a part of why the value of the state’s organic crops continue to grow, said David Granatstein, a sustainable agriculture specialist at WSU’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Granatstein completed the WSU study with Elizabeth Kirby, a sustainable agriculture research associate.

It’s also possible that some fruit that was sold as conventional because of better prices is now being sold as organic, Granatstein said.

Sales and prices of organic crops continue to increase, suggesting that the market is not saturated, he said.

Grant County continues to lead the state in organic production with about 22,000 acres and a 2011 crop value of $87.8 million, up about 37 percent from the year before.

Benton County has the second most acreage, at about 7,800 in 2012, down about 10 percent from the year before. The 2011 crop value was about $25.8 million, up 17 percent from the previous year.

Franklin County had an estimated 3,200 acres in 2012, a 2 percent drop. Yet value climbed by nearly 37 percent to $18 million.

Organic acres and sales for other area counties were:

* Adams County, relatively unchanged at about 2,500 organic acres in 2012, with value growing by nearly 37 percent to more than $6 million in 2011.

* Walla Walla County, down by 4 percent to about 2,200 acres in 2012, with value up 10 percent to $22 million.

* Yakima County, up 5 percent at about 5,700 acres in 2012, with value increasing 23 percent to $23.4 million in 2011.

Seo