“Could nurturing your green thumb help you live to 100?”

Dan Buettner has studied five places around the world where residents are famed for their longevity: Okinawa in Japan, Nicoya in Costa Rica, Icaria in Greece, and Loma Linda in California and Sardinia in Italy.

People living in these so-called “blue zones” have certain factors in common – social support networks, daily exercise habits and a plant-based diet, for starters. But they share another unexpected commonality. In each community, people are gardening well into old age – their 80s, 90s and beyond.

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20181210-gardening-could-be-the-hobby-that-helps-you-live-to-100

If you need a reason why Valencia Community Gardens grows organic:

You Can Cut Your Cancer Risk by Eating Organic, A New Study Says
CNN
by Susan Scutti

https://www.cornucopia.org/2018/10/new-study-organic-diet-lowers-cancer-risk/?utm_source=eNews&utm_medium=email&utm_content=11.10.18&utm_campaign=FraudMORE

Rural America’s Own Private Flint: Polluted Water Too Dangerous to Drink
The New York Times
by Jack Healy

https://www.cornucopia.org/2018/11/rural-water-across-america-poisoned-by-agricultural-runoff/?utm_source=eNews&utm_medium=email&utm_content=11.10.18&utm_campaign=RunoffMORE

Braise 2 cups chopped green tomatoes, 1 chopped yellow onion, 6 hot green chiles, and 6 garlic cloves in some oil and a little water for 20 minutes. Puree in a food processor with 1/2 cup walnuts, 1 tablespoon amchoor, and 1 teaspoon salt. Let cool, then spoon into a mason jar. Keep in the refrigerator. Add to everything.

Thanks to Julie Spencer

Some of these might seem unfamiliar, some are fruits, and some are old favorites made new.

https://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/20-perennial-vegetables

Can Carbon Farming Reverse Climate Change?

The first kind of carbon farming is soil management, to reduce soil disturbance.

The other major category of carbon farming encompasses practices that increase the time in which plants are actively growing in the soil.

For details, see here:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/can-carbon-farming-reverse-climate-change

Make a spray using the following:
1 gallon vinegar
2 cups epsom salts
1/4 cup dish soap
Worth a try on foxtails and bermuda grass!

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has provided several articles on the new farm bill.  Here is the link:

https://www.ewg.org/agmag

Here is their introduction:

This month the House of Representatives will vote on a massive piece of legislation called the farm bill. This bill has a big impact on our food, air and water, but this year Congress is giving Big Ag exactly what it wants.

The proposed bill rolls back critical environmental protections, allows millionaire landowners to continue lining their pockets with taxpayer dollars and does nothing to help the millions of Americans struggling to put healthy food on the table.

Here are the titles:
6 Strikes Against the House Farm Bill

As House Weighs GOP Farm Bill, Subsidy Spending Keeps Soaring

5 Ways House Farm Bill Would Roll Back Protections from Pesticides

House Committee’s Farm Bill Would Make It Easier for Millionaires to Get Subsidies

Top 8 Farm Subsidy Loopholes

Sorry, the Azure Standard drop fell through.  Amy will bring a couple catalogs to the garden though.

Geri

https://www.azurestandard.com/

Amy Frank, whom I met recently at a pressure canning workshop, is trying to get an Azure Standard drop at the Belen Walmart parking lot. Azure Standard offers organic and non-GMO foods, plant starters, and organic animal feed. If you live in Valencia County and are interested, contact geriraf@nmia.com, and leave your contact information so I can pass it on to Amy. Put Azure Standard in the subject line. Above is the link to their website where you can see their catalog.

VCNB says NMSU’s Cooperative Extension Service specialist Gill Giese will be discussing “when, how and why to use cane versus spur pruning,” which is better in our climate, timing to mitigate spring frost damage, and impact of pruning on yield.  This free workshop is at Jaramillo Vineyard 300 Cam Nopales, Belen from 8:30 a.m.to noon.  Sign up at ggiese@nmsu.edu or 865-7340.

1.  Opposition to GMOs Is Neither Unscientific Nor Immoral (8 Jan. 2018)

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/genetically-modified-food-organic-agriculture_us_5a539e90e4b003133ecac8e1?yb9

This author shows the difference between organic and large-scale chemical agriculture and how hard it is to compare them. It doesn’t consider the harm from herbicides.

2.  GMO Myths and Truths (2014)
http://earthopensource.org/wordpress/downloads/GMO-Myths-and-Truths-edition2.pdf

The subtitle of this long article is “An evidence-based examination of the claims made for the safety and efficacy of genetically modified crops and foods.”

3.  The Future of Food (11 Oct. 2017)
https://www.thenation.com/article/the-future-of-food/

This issue of The Nation is guest-edited by Anna Lappé, founder of the Small Planet Institute and director of Real Food Media. She’s the daughter of Frances Moore Lappé, author of Diet for a Small Planet.

Amber and Scott’s kids heading off toward the weeds

Elisa brought empanaditas.

Food was good.

Joyce and Jan checking the census

Greens thriving in greenhouse

Folks enjoying an unseasonably warm late November day

Scott and Steve working on a frame for pump insulation.

Bethel, Joyce, and Ingrid readying the pump.

Deb and Mae

Bethel, Deb, and Michel

Liza, Amber, Mae, Molly, Joyce (back to camera), and Suzanne

Liza

Molly

Steve, Amber, and Scott

I’ve never had luck growing onions so when I saw onions at the community garden exposed on top of the soil a few years back I thought weird, but apparently, that’s how to do it.  I also learned onions are biennials, which explains why mine at home came up again the second year.

• Biennials are deemed short-lived perennials, typically taking two growing seasons to complete their life cycle. In the first growing season, plants produce only foliage. In the second, they produce flowers and set seed, often early in the season.

From this article I also learned yellow onions are the best to plant in our Zone 7.https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2017/09/29/growing-onions.aspx?utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art2&utm_campaign=20170929Z1_UCM&et_cid=DM159918&et_rid=68113205

This article has some good advice even though the video features a grower from down under, so don’t listen to the advice for when to plant except that the recommendation to plant after the first frost in our fall is a sound one, I think.

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2017/09/29/growing-garlic.aspx?utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20170929Z1_UCM&et_cid=DM159918&et_rid=68113205

Classes teach ancient growing methods

By Rosalie Rayburn / Journal Staff Writer

Saturday, August 5th, 2017 at 7:30am

Members of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center community collect ripe corn from the Resilience Garden during a past harvest. (Courtesy of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center.)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — This spring, the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center began offering gardening classes that demonstrate some of the centuries-old methods developed to grow traditional crops in the dry southwest climate.The Seasons of Growth classes take place from 9-11 a.m. on the second Sunday of each month; the next class is on Aug. 13. Those interested in learning the techniques can register to attend by emailing class organizer Bettina Sandoval at bsandoval@indianpueblo.org. Class size is limited to 20. There is a suggested donation of $5 per class.

The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center has had its “Resilience Garden” for several years and began offering the classes in March this year. Classes began with a focus on soil preparation and the basics of composting. In April, there was a presentation about traditional farming methods such as creating “waffle” gardens.

Sandoval said the waffle garden technique was developed at Zuni Pueblo. It involves forming a roughly rectangular earthen wall a few inches high to surround plant crops such as corn. The low wall helps conserve water by collecting the available moisture in a small area immediately around the plant.

“It really makes a lot of sense instead of having to irrigate a large area or bring water from a distant source,” Sandoval said.

The garden has an area with the traditional “three sisters” crops — corn, squash and beans — as well as modern vegetables such as asparagus, chard, tomatoes, lettuce, chile and bell peppers. There are also fruit trees and bushes.

The August class will focus on the history of corn, how it has changed, and the importance of saving seeds. Participants can take home their own indigenous seeds and seedlings.

On Sept. 10, Tiana Suazo of Taos Pueblo will lead a workshop on canning methods to preserve vegetables. In October, those who have attended at least three classes can harvest vegetables, then cook and eat the fruits of their labor.

Contact the writer.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1043541/classes-teach-ancient-growing-methods.html

ancient growing methods