It is a process of fermentation that preserves all of the nutrients, minerals and trace elements contained in organic waste.

Once it is incorporated into your soil it quickly breaks down rapidly providing an excellent fertilizer for your organic vegetables.

Two weeks in a bucket and the bokashi is done

Unlike traditional composting that uses aerobic bacteria to breakdown organic matter, this method uses anaerobic bacteria.

There is no heat, methane or carbon dioxide produced during fermentation.This makes it much higher in carbon than traditional composting methods.
You do not need to turn it or add water and you never have to be concerned with carbon to nitrogen ratios!

Simply add your kitchen scraps, press them down firmly and sprinkle a covering of Bokashi Bran over the top and put the cover back on.

It does not get any easier than that!

Bokashi compost allows you to recycle all your organic waste!

As long as you are careful to keep your bucket’s contents as compacted as possible and covered in an airtight container at all times, you can compost every bit of organic waste that your household generates.

I mean every bit of it, from orange peels, small bones, cheese, fish scraps, hair and even nail clippings.

Starting your own Bokashi bucket will naturally process all of your households organic waste into a form that is easily broken down in your soil. It is the ultimate in recycling!

The secret behind Bokashi Bran is that it is inoculated with billions of friendly anaerobic bacteria in each square centimeter.

These are the same types of bacteria that are used in making pickles, bread, cheese, wine and even your favorite yogurt. They are totally safe!

Inside your bucket this bacteria ferments your organic waste instead of composting . Bokashi Bran is made by inoculating wheat or rice bran with EM-1 (the EM stands for “Effective Microorganisms”)

This is a proprietary formulation of several strains of yeast, photosythetic bacteria and lactic acid bacteria. EM-1 is pathogen free and does not contain any form of GMO’s.

Once it is introduced into your soil these microorganisms go to work helping your plants grow healthy while assisting in overpowering disease pathogens.

“Effective Microorganisms” is a term that was coined by Dr. Tuero Higa, who first discovered and pioneered the field of combining several species of bacteria and yeast in a single liquid culture.

That all happened while he was a professor at the College of Agriculture in Okinawa, Japan back in the late 1960’s. There are no other formulations that contain Dr. Higa’s discovery. (EM-1 is patent protected)

While relatively unknown here in the United States, Effective Microorganisms have been in use for a half of a century on nearly every continent and over a 150 countries around the globe!
When it came time to buy some to try for myself I went to Teraganix they are the only laboratory licensed to produce and distribute EM-1 in the United States and they have been doing so since 1992. And who better to get it from the the folks who invented it?

What can I expect with mybokashi bucket?

Your waste is not going to decompose, it will retain relatively the same bulk as it had when it went into the bucket.

It will not turn black or rot. Nothing is broken down and therefore nothing gets wasted. The entire contents will become inoculated with Effective Microorganisms.

Then it is ready to bury it in your garden where it then will break down very rapidly. When your bucket is full, press it down to remove excess air and then apply another slight layer of bran. Then set it aside for two weeks. That’s all here is to it!

When you remove the cover, you will probably notice white fungus growing on the top, this is a good sign! It is a visual indicator that it is fermented properly.

After two weeks you will see white fungus growing.

I do not fill my buckets all the way to the top because it is just too heavy to lift them. I dig a hole in one of my raised beds, empty a bucket, then cover it back up with about four inches of soil.
I have observed that after about two weeks, other than a bit of orange peel or a large piece that wasn’t cut up, there is little that I can see that hasn’t been decomposed. It is usually teaming with worms!

Finished Bokashi is also excellent for container gardening. Add a few inches into the bottom of a container and then cover the remaining space with soil and plant as usual. It will feed your plants all season long without the need for fertilizer.

Depending on how much you plan on using you can either purchase pre-made Bokashi Bran or you can save some money buy making your own! It is a very simple process and is actually quite an enjoyable project to involve the kids with as it is Non-Toxic!

Bokashi Bran Recipe: (Large Batch) Ingredients

• A small bottle of EM-1 from Teraganix (under $16)A 50 pound bag of either rice bran or wheat bran. You can find it at most any cattle feed store. I use the wheat bran because it is about half the cost of rice bran ( under $15 including tax)
• 3 gallons of distilled water (under $1 each)
• 1 bottle of molasses (under $5 at most grocery stores)

Instructions to Create your Bokashi Compost:

1. Place a tarp (8’x10’) on a flat surface such as your drive way or garage floor.
2. In a large 5 gallon bucket, empty the 3 gallons of distilled water. (Use distilled as the chlorine in drinking water may very well kill off all the microorganisms before you even get started and you don‘t want any other contaminants like fluoride either)
3. Mix 1/3 cup of your EM-1 (Effective Microorganisms) and 1/3 cup of molasses.
4. You can stir it up sufficiently in about 20 seconds with your clean washed hands.
5. Slowly pour the mixture over the wheat bran that you have spread out fairly evenly on the tarp.
6. Now the fun part! Simply mix it up well using nothing but your hands.

When it is all mixed you should be able to take a handful and squeeze it without anything dripping down your arm, if not mix it up little more. You are done when it is moist enough to hold its shape after you squeeze it yet somewhat crumbly.

Now that it is all mixed up start loading it into black plastic garbage bags being careful not to fill them in to heavy to lift safely or tear.

For added security, I double up the bags. Important, squeeze ALL the air out of the bag before you twist it up and tie it off! Remember we are growing anaerobic bacteria in there, excess air will only slow the process.
Once you have it all bagged up, put it in an undisturbed location and allow the microorganisms to inoculate all the wheat bran. I ended up with about 6 good sized bags.

Bokashi bran drying in the sun

After two weeks, lay out your tarp again and empty all your bags. Spread it out evenly and allow it to dry out in the full sun. Stir occasionally, three or four times over the course of the day.
Once it has dried sufficiently, put it back in a coupe large lawn & leaf bag and store it. I use a 35 gallon plastic barrel. The barrel has a removable top and a locking band that holds it in place. Remember to squeeze out all the air before you seal up your bag before you tie it off.
You now have enough Bokashi to keep a couple buckets going at all times throughout the year. You can also add Bokashi bran in with potting soil or directly into your garden to help replenish microbes in the soil.

Bokashi Bran Recipe: Small Batch Ingredients

• 2 ½ pounds of bulk wheat or rice bran from you favorite organic store
• 1 ½ teas spoons of EM-1
• 3 tablespoons of molasses.
• 3 cups of distilled water

Instructions:

1. Mix all ingredients together as detailed above. Store it in a couple large zip-lock baggie and then roll it up and put it in another bag.
2. Place in a warm, dark location for at least two weeks. Then empty the bag and spread it out to dry well before re-storing. Small batches are perfect for those with limited space or simply want to test a small batch before attempting a larger batch.

One summer a friend of my parents invited us up to his cabin for a vacation.  On his property, he had planted a corn field.  With instructions to his wife to get the pot of water boiling, we hiked out to his garden to harvest some sweet corn for dinner.  Each corn stalk sported one or sometimes two ears of corn.

 We plucked what we needed, and then we kids were given the ears of corn and told to run back to the cabin.  With all of us shucking corn, we were able to get the corn into the boiling water within 10 minutes of picking it.  It was so sweet, I remember it to this day, decades later. From the moment it’s picked, the sugars in corn begin turning to starch.  When you grow your own corn and can cook and eat it fresh, it is the sweetest corn you’ll ever eat.

Corn is an interesting crop. It’s best to plant it in blocks to facilitate pollination. Each ear of corn sends out silk. Each strand of silk is attached to an undeveloped kernel of corn on the cob. If that strand of silk does not get pollinated, that kernel of corn will not develop.

The pollen forms on the tassels at the top of the stalk.  It’s large and looks a little like wild rice.

When the wind blows, the pollen drops from the tassel onto the silk, which hold it long enough to pollinate the ear.  If you grow a single row of corn, it’s going to be difficult to pollinate, even if you do it by hand.  You can pull the loose kernels of pollen off of the tassels and sprinkle it onto the silks manually if you want to help it along.

You can plant corn in a staggered pattern that will yield 4 to 6 ears of corn a week for four weeks.  Here’s how:

To grow a little corn field in a 4×4’ bed, you’ll want to plant one row at a time for a staggered crop.

Corn likes to be planted deeply, so get 16 disposable cups that are about 6” tall and cut the bottoms out of them. Divide your bed into 16 square feet.

Beginning with the northernmost row, dig a hole in the center of each square so that you can put one of the cups in it, with the top of the cup even with your soil line.

Now, take a pencil and poke a hole into the dirt in the bottom of each cup so that it’s about 4” deeper than the bottom of the cup. Place two corn seeds into the hole, push them down with the pencil, and fill in the little hole at the bottom of the cup.

Fill the cup with water and move on to the next square. When the corn sprouts and grows above the soil line and the top of the cup, remove the cup and fill the hole in with soil.

If both seeds have germinated, cut off one of the plants below the soil line. You now have one row of corn planted at a 10” depth, which will give added stability to the plant.

As soon as the seeds germinate and the seedlings are about 2” high, it’s time to plant the second row. Don’t wait too long, or you’ll have pollination problems later.

Continue with the next 2 rows, planting as soon as the seedlings from the previous row germinate. What you’ll end up with is a tidy little corn field, with each row producing 4 to 6 ears of corn, and they’ll mature at a staggered rate as you planted them.

Corn loves nitrogen rich soil, and beans are a wonderful companion to corn. Beans develop nitrogen nodules on their roots and are considered a “green” manure.  As you plant your corn, you can plant 4 to 6 beans of the vining variety in a circle around each cup. The corn stalk will provide a support for the beans, and the beans will provide nitrogen for the corn. The corn stalk roots grow deeply; the bean roots are shallower so they won’t compete for space.

You will thank me for this if you do it.

Happy Gardening!

I am going to give you a basic biodynamic compost recipe. You can build it in a nice square anywhere, or in a designated location. I like to have all four sides of it, at least three, accessible. You can build it more evenly, get to it easier for good watering and really do conscious building of it with all the elements to get the best results come spring. Build a big one so you will get lots of great compost for a long time. And high enough to keep some of the animals out of the kitchen scraps that will go in the middle.

You want a “boxspring” base using branches, that will be edged with green matter, and the center filled with straw and manure with kitchen scraps in the middle.  All the ingredients are important to getting magical compost in spring so include them all. Watering the layers while you build it is important to get the composting process started once it’s all closed up….and important to start watering it again come spring.  You will be amazed at the rich soil that you will find at the bottom of this pile in spring when you make an opening at the bottom to shovel it out.

So here is my treasured compost recipe for you.

Compost Pile

• 80% manure and straw
• 10% green matter
• 10% food compost and topsoil mixed with blood meal and kelp meal

1. Create compost “box spring” with branches
2. Edge with green matter
3. Fill with straw and manure

Build in layers:

• Manure
• Green matter
• Straw
• Rew shovels of top soil mix with blood meal and kelp meal
• Spray with water well to soak
• Repeat process above numerous times
• Add food compost to center

let this sit all winter and in spring, start to water the pile

Dut a hole at the bottom on one side of pile to retrieve compost for garden

go feed your garden soil with this for a happy abundant garden

I really hope you will go out and build a compost pile. It is putting life force back into the ground, and there is magic in the dis-integration. Everything has a purpose under the sun, including us. I believe with all my heart that every answer to every question can be found in Nature.

Happy composting!

Farmers in coffee producing areas of the world, such as Latin America, South East and South West Asia, and the tropics of Africa, still are engaged in the use of many chemicals, such as DDT, that have been banned in the US. A lack of understanding of the effects of pesticides and herbicides and their correct use may be a secondary factor, but the primary reason many of these small farmers make use of such chemicals is purely economic.

When you are barely a step above sustenance farming, every little bit of extra income can contribute to the bottom line and the monoculture of coffee is at serious risk to many different contagions such as blight, rust, and insect (both native and imported) threats. One bad season of coffee rust can cause irreparable damage to a farmer’s entire crop for which he can lose his land and, in some countries, even jailed if he owes money and cannot pay.

Impacts

Both pesticides (chemicals that target insects) and herbicides (chemicals that target undesirable plant growth) have a devastating impact to those natural organisms that make up a healthy ecosystem with the soil. Although many folks are not aware as it remains relatively unseen, a healthy soil supports a huge bio-diverse ecosystem consisting of many forms of bacteria, fungi, nematodes, and worms.

• These organisms, when undisturbed, provide hundreds of benefits to plant life. The “good” predatory species keep the bad, plant damaging varieties in check by devouring the eggs, larvae, and adult varieties before they can cause much damage to vegetation.

• Many of the species directly or indirectly add nitrogen and other nutrients to the soil.

• Fungi work by breaking down old plant matter into “free” compounds that are usable by living plants.

• Some bacteria attach themselves to the roots of legumes (nitrogen producing plants) and form symbiotic relationships with their hosts and transform nitrogen from the atmosphere into soil born forms in exchange for sugars produced by the plant.

• Good nematodes kill other nematodes and bacteria that attack vegetation.

• Worms aerate the soil by providing tunnels that air and water can enter which ensures these vital compounds reach the rootstock. Moreover, they provide very high quality fertilizer through their waste products.

When these organisms are doused with pesticides and herbicides, these fragile ecosystems and be utterly destroyed, and coupled with monoculture, may allow a small problem to grow into a very large issue. In a more natural environment, a plant or two of a particular species may experience the ill effects of a disease with the remaining examples remaining unaffected. However, when there are no natural enemies left to combat it, the disease or other pest can grow exponentially, requiring more and more chemical products to be applied to combat it – creating a vicious cycle of pesticide/herbicide use.

Though slash and burn farming techniques, the surrounding vegetation in coffee growing areas are often stripped, leading to erosion and loss of top soil. This loose soil, along with the pesticides, herbicides, and excess chemical fertilizers, enter into the water supply and contaminate lakes and rivers leading to a whole host of other issues in coffee growing regions such as:

• Loss of potable water sources for humans and livestock.

• Birth defects from chemical exposure.

• Algae blooms from excessive nitrogen.

• Loss of marine life; the chemicals affect the plankton and other microscopic organisms that form the basis of the food supply.

These chemicals directly impact the lives of the famers, their families, and other people living in the area with high rates of cancer, birth defects, and respiratory issues. The famers and/or farm labor often do not use proper protective gear and often do not apply the chemical with proper procedures – many often cannot read the instructions as high illiteracy rates are systemic throughout many coffee growing areas.

Benefits of Organic Coffee

Farmers who produce organic coffee normally do so through sustainable methods such as multilayer crop practices which includes two or more harvestable plant species occupying the same fields to reduce monoculture environments, no use of man-made chemical products, and practices that encourage a healthy soil structure. These practices follow the natural systems of growth an decay to include a layer of mulch provided by a tree canopy which helps to reduce the requirements for irrigation. The second crop also helps to increase the income of the famer and the reduction of chemical costs increases the money in his pockets. However, the process to become certified takes, at a minimum, three years so a famer needs to have an expectation of higher prices for his products and this is where the practice of fair trade comes into play.

Steps You Can Take

Like Coffee? Take these steps to support small farmers who produce your beans with ecologically sound practices and improve the taste in your cup at the same time:

• Buy FRESH certified free trade and organic beans from trusted sources – either you local roaster or from internet based sources. Many of the roasters work directly with specific farmers to ensure that they are paid a premium price for their beans which allows them to farm in a ecologically and sustainable manner. Coffee beans should be use within two to three weeks of being roasted to ensure the best flavor. After this time period, the beans will become stale.

• Grind just before you brew. You’ll need a good quality burr based grinder designed to produce nicely consistent grounds. Do not skimp on this device – it is the most critical piece to ensure great flavor.

• Use a premium brewing device that properly blooms the grounds, applies hot water evenly at the correct temperatures, and is adjustable to dial in your brew.

Through purchasing certified organic and fair-trade coffee, you can improve the livelihoods of many people throughout the developing world and help to protect ecologically sensitive areas where coffee is grown. You can greatly improve the taste in your cup by purchasing these beans from companies who guarantee a fresh roasted product and through using the correct techniques and equipment to make your brew under optimal conditions.

So What is Organic Food?

The first thing to know about organic food is to understand how it is different from non-organic food. Why has organic food gained so much attention in recent years? The answer is simple. As the farming industry changes and shifts into using more artificial pesticides and turns to science to produce higher crop yields through artificial and industrial farming techniques, we have had to begin distinguishing between the foods that are harvested using these techniques and the foods that are not.

In the past decade, there has also been a rise in genetically modified foods (GMO’s). These are the same foods we are familiar with, but have been modified genetically in laboratories so that they will either be resistant to poisons and pesticides, repel insects that naturally feed on them in the natural ecosystem, or otherwise behave differently than they would in nature.

These farming practices are relatively recent in human history, and have already been shown to have significant impacts on human health, and the health of the ecosystem we rely on for our food and farming. This is why it is so important to understand the differences between organic and non-organic food sources, and their impacts

Nutritional Benefits

As there is an increasing amount of non-organic food on the market, it has become necessary to distinguish from organic foods to understand the impacts of these new farming and food harvesting techniques. As there are more and more non-organic foods on the market, it is now possible to begin observing the nutritional differences between organic and non-organic foods.

What studies are now beginning to show is staggering: organic foods not only have better flavour, but they are also higher in nutrients and vitamins. There are many reasons for this. Pesticide use decreases flavour, and many of the non-organic foods available on the market are also harvested before they are ripe and shipped across long distances. As a result, they are not mature and have less flavour and nutrients.

Environmental Benefits

Organic foods are not only about producing healthy foods, but they are also about doing this is harmony with the environment. Studies now show that organic farming causes less pollution by shipping more foods locally, and contributes less to the effects of dead zones in our oceans, which are caused by widespread use of pesticides that leach into the water supply and drain into rivers and oceans.

The impact of pesticide farming in the environment is huge when it comes to fruits and vegetables, but can also apply to meats and animal farming. Organically farmed foods do not rely on the use of antibiotics for animals and treat disease naturally, and also highlight the importance of treating animals with dignity. Organic meats are therefore not only more flavourful, but also more healthy for human consumption, and do not leach large amounts of antibiotics into our water supply through manure and other animal waste.

Health Benefits

Widespread intake of pesticides present in farming and non-organic foods is also toxic to humans, and can affect our health. There are studies linking non-organic foods, pesticide use and GMO’s with health issues such as autism, birth defects and reproductive problems in humans, among the most prominent health concerns.
There are so many reasons to value the importance of organic foods, so visit your favorite organic grocery store today!

There are many health and nutritional benefits to consuming organic foods on a regular basis rather than conventional or non-organic foods. Beyond the added bonus of improved flavour and health benefits, increased nutrients and absence of poisons such as pesticides or use of questionable practices such as genetically modified organisms (GMO’s) in our food supply, there are many reasons to go for organic food if you’re generally interested in reducing your ecologically footprint, or are interested in farming practices that are beneficial to the environment rather than depleting to the ecosystem.

Pesticide Use

Conventional farming relies heavily on the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, which can destabilize the ecosystem. When we buy non-organic foods, we encourage the production of these types of foods and the farming practices that make them possible. The danger with widespread pesticide use is not only that they are harmful for humans, but that they are then present in the environment and can be upsetting to the flora and fauna, while also affecting the ecosystem as a whole

Pesticides sprayed into farm land enter the water supply, and can trickle down into the rivers and oceans, affecting the animals along the way. This is a huge contributing factor to the dead zones in the ocean, where animals and plants die on a large scale due to the presence of these toxic chemicals in their environment.

Fortunately, it appears that these effects can be reversed over time once the pesticide use ceases, but this will only take place once we turn to organic farming and reduce the amount of these toxic chemicals in the environment. Buying organic foods helps encourage these more natural farming practices to reverse this toxic trend.

Local Organic Farming

Most organic foods are produced and consumed locally. This can have a huge impact on reducing your ecological footprint, simply by affecting the amount of transportation involved in getting the foods from the farm to your dinner plate. Locally grown foods are not only delicious, but by supporting local organic farmers you are helping reduce the overall trend of transporting under-ripened foods for miles and miles to be consumed once they have ripened outside of their natural environment.

The amount of pollution involved in transporting foods is staggering and even a small contribution to reducing this can have a huge impact on reducing green house gases, and preventing further depletion to the ozone layer of the earth, which protects our environment from harmful ultraviolet rays.

Reduce The Use of Water

It takes 10 times more water to produce non-organic foods as it does to produce crops organically. This is because of the need for irrigation and because organic farming works with the ecosystem and feeds the soil so that it retains more water. Organic farming practices work with the environment and reproducing the environment’s natural diverse ecosystem and produces stronger soils that remove the need for excessive watering. By choosing organic foods, you are also choosing to protect the use of clear water.

Reduce The Use of Grain

If you are meat-eater, choosing organic meats not only reduces the amount of water required to produce the meat source, but also reduces the amount of grain required to feed the animals. With organic farming, animals can feed more naturally off the environment and are also not over-fed to compensate for unhealthy farming techniques and the use of antibiotics which leach into the ecosystem and become integrated into the human diet.
Biodiversity

Finally, organic farming works with a more diverse and naturally occurring environment for crops to grow. Rather than having entire plantation of a single crop and using harsh chemicals to fend off insects, organic farming works with these conditions to produce healthy and fresh crops in a more biodiverse environment, which protects the environment from plantation disease and all the chemicals that are used to artificially remove them.

Even though further research needs to be done to gain a better understanding of the benefits of organic food, there is still much valuable information to share with you.

Before we discuss the actual health benefits of eating whole food, lets take a look at the advantages it has over non-organic food.

It’s a fact that this food is highly nutritious and contains higher levels of vitamins and minerals. Vitamin C and minerals like magnesium, calcium and iron are just some of the nutrients organic food contains higher amounts of.

Whole foods also contain higher amounts of antioxidants, which help reduce the risk of developing cancers.

You may be surprised to know, but the vegetables we eat today are nowhere near as nutritious as they were 50 or even 15 years ago. Farmers tend to take shortcuts when growing food, and the fastest way is generally not the best way to do something. This trend is expected to continue, so if eating highly nutritious food is important to you, looking into organic foods is something worth considering.

If you were wondering why organic food hasn’t exactly taken the world by storm, it’s mainly due to the extra cost associated with organic growing. Demand is greater than supply and as a result, you can expect to pay about 20% extra for this kind of food..

Numerous studies have been conducted to find out the benefits whole foods can provide us humans. Many results are still fairly inconclusive however there have been many reported cases of benefits when animals are fed organic food.

The reason for the vagueness in health benefits is due to many reasons such as: incorrect method of testing and the lengthy time it takes to determine results of this nature. However several studies have shown benefits such as:

• Decline in colds and other conditions
• Improves dental health
• Improves flow of your overall system
• Greater chance of sprains and fractures
• Reduces chance of injury
• Better over health

As mentioned, the subject of organic food vs non organic food is very iffy and many researches believe that this food provides little to no health benefits.

Thinking about it logically, surely food that has been grown as it was intended to and that contains no added toxic chemicals has to be considerably healthier for us.

Whether the extra cost associated with organic food is worth the money is entirely up to the person. There is insufficient evidence to say something like “eating whole foods will reduce the likelihood of getting heart disease”.

I thought it was a great question. This was one I had struggled with trying to make ends meet on a teacher’s salary as a stay-at-home mom. What was the difference between conventional and organic? Is it enough of a difference to justify the extra expense? I wanted to do what was best for my family, but wasn’t sure what that was at the time.

A Brief History of Organic

Up until the middle part of the last century, all food was organic. Chemical agriculture was just really catching on then, which changed the way farming was managed in this country. Up until that time, careful management of the soil and smaller crops were the norm, along with crop rotation or growing certain plants together to support the growth of the others. It was also common for each family to have their own garden. When chemical fertilizers made their way onto the scene, farmers could grow much more food with less effort. They could kill the pests that would have devastated their crops in the past. It seemed like a great plan.

But with the addition of the fertilizers, pesticides, and less attention to the quality of the soil, the net result was food that was no longer as nutrient dense, and had the added disadvantage of toxic chemicals. Micronutrients that used to abound in the soil were no longer present, which resulted in food that didn’t taste as good. Ask anyone who is older than about 50 if produce tastes different than they remember it tasting when they were young. Most likely, the answer will be yes. Nutrients taste good. That apple with no taste has very little nutrition.

During the 1980’s, the word organic began popping up in health food stores, but there was no standard for what could be called organic and what couldn’t. During the 1990’s, the first standards for organic foods were set. In 2007, more legislation was passed to more clearly define what was acceptable for organically grown foods and what wasn’t. In the meantime, organic foods have become big business and many companies that were formally conventional have now started organic lines, like Dole. The advantage was that organic foods were now readily available at most grocery stores. As organic became more commercially available, prices started to go down, but the intention behind the movement shifted into making money, rather than doing what was ultimately best for people and the environment. Consumer confidence in the organic label dropped as incidents formally known to only affect conventional crops started happening with the organic crops.

As a side note, some farmers are now producing what is called biodynamic produce. These crops are considered even better than organic and special attention is paid to the soil for optimal health of the plants and high nutrient content. Like organic, it also must be free from synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Organic is better than conventional, but biodynamic is even better than organic.

Why is organic better than conventional?

Chemicals used to protect food from pests are harmful to young children. Young children’s bodies have difficulty removing the chemicals ingested through food and children tend to eat more produce per pound of body weight than adults. However, the “safety” criteria often sited is based upon adults, not children. By eating several of the most contaminated produce in a day, your children are exposed to an average of 15 pesticides per day. You can reduce that by around 90% by simply eating more of the least contaminated foods. Organic food, by definition, must be free of synthetic chemicals. More attention must be paid to the soil in order for organic foods to grow, so they also tend to be more nutrient dense.

My favorite story about organics is taken from a zoo. They were feeding the monkeys a mix of organic and conventional bananas. The zookeepers discovered that the monkeys always peeled the conventional bananas, but ate the organic bananas whole, peel and all, which is normal for them. Even the animals know the difference!

Why are pesticides so bad? Don’t they just wash off?

Pesticide ingestion has been found to contribute to the following health problems, according to numerous animal and human studies:

• Cancer
• Fertility problems
• Brain tumors
• Childhood leukemia
• Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
• Hormone or endocrine system problems
• Nervous system damage

Read that last one again: Nervous system damage. Most pesticides are designed to attack the nervous systems of pests! I couldn’t understand how anything that attacks the nervous system could ever be considered “safe” for anyone, let alone children.

Keep in mind that pesticides are not just on the outside of fruits and vegetables, as is commonly thought, but are taken up inside the produce through the soil. Even when you wash the outside or peel the skin off, though this will lower the pesticide exposure, it will not remove all pesticides. However, by removing the skin, you are also losing valuable nutrients found in the peels and outside layer of the fruit or vegetable.