Gardening – Page 3 – Green Lifestyle Market

Eco-Friendly Landscaping: Helping Ensure the Future

For many people, landscaping is a form of personal and artistic expression. It’s also a desire to improve the quality of life for the entire community. Lush beautiful gardens are a delight to those taking neighborhood strolls, and more than one life-long friendship has begun with appreciation of natural beauty freely shared and the exchange of gardening secrets. Landscaping is also a great way to incorporate more of the beauty of nature into urban environments.

A combination of events such as increasing energy and water costs and global warming have caused homeowners to consider the far-reaching benefits of eco-friendly landscaping. To make your landscaping more eco-friendly, there are a number of things you can do. Eco-friendly landscaping doesn’t just reduce global warming and the cost of yard maintenance, though. It usually reduces the amount of work required for upkeep, which leaves more time for enjoying your yard.

Replacing Traditional Lawns

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “…maintenance over a 20-year span for a non-native turf grass landscape can cost almost seven times more than the cumulative costs of maintenance for a native prairie or wetland.” The high cost of maintaining a traditional lawn isn’t just economic, though. Research shows that lawn maintenance produces greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.

The fertilizer and pesticides commonly used are also a source of potential pollution of groundwater. As public awareness of the negative environmental impact of traditional lawn maintenance has increased, many states have begun providing information for their residents on how they can make their own home environments as healthy as they are welcoming.

For those who love greenery and the look of a lawn, one alternative is planting clover. Clover contains natural insect repellents and competes well against weeds, reducing the need for pesticides.

Native Plants

One way to reduce water costs and honor the particular environment you’ve chosen as your home is by using plants that are native to your area. Native plants require less maintenance and they have developed a natural resistance to common pests and diseases, reducing the need to use pesticides. An additional benefit is that they attract beneficial insects and local wildlife.

Xeriscaping is a set of seven design principles introduced in Colorado to help people utilize native plants to help conserve water. Some critics claim that these principles limit their choices too much. However, if plants native to your area don’t provide enough variety, there are many disease-resistant plants available that provide beauty as well as variety.

Garden Plots

Growing concerns about the health effects of genetically modified foods is another reason many people are choosing to replace at least part of their lawns with low-maintenance garden plots that produce fresh organic fruits and vegetables. According to experts, drip irrigation systems deliver water directly to your plants with 90 percent efficiency, compared to the 50 to 70 percent efficiency of traditional sprinkler systems.

This new trend has led many communities to begin gardening cooperatives in which each member grows one or two items, and everyone comes together to trade items after the harvest. One advantage is that everyone is able to enjoy a wide variety of fresh vegetables without the difficult task of creating multiple soil conditions and planting and watering schedules for different plants. Fruit trees provide shade in addition to fresh fruit, and also raise real estate values. Deciduous trees that drop their leaves in the fall can help cool your home in the summer and provide compost for flower beds. Trees typically don’t require much maintenance so there’s really no reason you should skip on planting some in your garden!

Natural Pesticides

Unlike chemical pesticides, natural pesticides won’t seep into the ground water causing contamination of drinking water. One natural pesticide, made from the pyrethrum plant (Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium) is rated highly effective against a large number of insects.

Another natural pesticide can be made by soaking ground onions or garlic in warm water overnight. After straining, the liquid is sprayed on flowers and fruit trees. This natural insecticide is especially effective against aphids and apple borers.

These examples of eco-friendly landscaping prove that we can help preserve the earth without sacrificing beauty or variety.

Sources:

Growing Chili Peppers at Home – Infographic

Chilies make a beautiful and satisfying crop. The colors are stunning: reds, purples, yellows and oranges, and there is a chili to suit every taste, from the delicate and fruity to the heart-stoppingly fiery. You can grow them all yourself as long as you can find a sunny corner for them. They are great plants for growing in pots on a warm patio, and will be even happier in a conservatory or cool greenhouse.

Hot History

Chili peppers, or “chili peppers” in the UK, originated in South and Central America, traveling to warm parts of Europe and Asia from around the 16th century onwards. They have become a huge part of many Asian cuisines and varieties have developed independently wherever they are grown. Chilies contain natural chemicals called capsaicinoids, which when eaten, cause a burning sensation. Increased heart rate, perspiration, and a rush of endorphins follows. The heat of a chili pepper is measured on the Scoville Scale, a method of measurement created by American pharmacist Wilbur Scoville in 1912. The test is not entirely accurate, depending as it does on whether the heat in dilutions of the particular chili can be detected by a panel of tasters (the higher the figure, the higher the dilution at which it was sensed), but it gives a rough idea of the pepper’s relative fieriness.

Growing Chilies

Chilies are not the easiest plants to grow, but if you can master their cultivation you will have grown a crop that is packed full of flavor and that will improve a wide array of meals. The problem for many growers is that chilies originate from such warm places, where the season is long and hot and the plants have more time to grow, flower, fruit, and ripen.

Those of us who can’t expect these kinds of conditions have to use a few tricks to fool them into flourishing. These tricks are designed to lengthen the season, even where the season is naturally short and cool. Start sowing early in the year. It feels like an odd time to be sowing the seed of such heat lovers, but they really do need to be sown in February or March if you hope to see many fruits. The need for heat starts early; your seeds will struggle to germinate if they are in a cool or temperature-fluctuating environment. A heated propagator creates the perfect environment. These small closed cases are cheap to buy and to run. They are plugged into an electrical outlet and emit a gentle but constant heat that seeds find irresistible. If you don’t have a heated propagator, then a sunny windowsill may be your next best bet, though the fluctuation between night and day temperatures is not ideal, particularly on cold nights. You may get better results if you move your pots of seeds to a warmer spot at night.

Once you have germinated seedlings, pot them up into individual pots and keep them somewhere warm and sunny. A greenhouse or a conservatory is ideal but if you have neither of these, then a sunny windowsill will do until the weather warms. It is important to pot your chilies into larger pots regularly: other plants such as tomatoes and cucumbers make it obvious when they need to be potted on, growing leggy and over-balancing their little pots, but chilies do the opposite – they sit and wait for a bigger pot before they grow. So keep on potting on and prompt them into growth. Their final pot should be generous. You can also plant them directly into the ground in polytunnels and greenhouses.

When all chance of frost has passed and the weather is reliably warm, you can plant the chilies out in the open ground. Ideally they should be protected from cold nights by a glass cloche. All plants that have been started indoors will need a period of hardening off to slowly get them used to being outdoors. Start with a few hours outdoors during the day for a few days, then leave them out a full day, followed by a day and night as long as they are well protected. Chilies should not be outdoors unprotected at night until June, and even then, they will be happier with night-time protection.

The Five Chili Species

Domestic chilies are cultivars originating from 5 species

Capsicum annuum (e.g. Jalapeno, Chipotle, Cayenne)
Capsicum frutescens (e.g. Tabasco, Thai)
Capsicum chinense (e.g. Habanero, Ghost Peppers, Carolina Reaper)
Capsicum pubescens (e.g. Rocoto)
Capsicum baccatum (e.g. Aji)

With luck and a sunny summer your plants will grow happily. Don’t be tempted to prune them – some gardeners nip out the first shoots to encourage their chilies to bush out. There is really no need and you will just delay the development of the first fruit. They have a naturally bushy habit, so let them develop it. However, they may not prove to be entirely self-supporting as they grow, and can benefit from having a stout cane pushed into the ground near the base. Tie the main stem to the cane to prevent toppling.

Keep plants reasonably well watered over the summer (but not waterlogged) and start feeding with a high-potash fertilizer once the flowers appear. A high-potash fertilizer is one that encourages flower and fruit production. Tomato fertilizers are good examples and will work perfectly for chilies. It is worth feeding your plants with them regularly, at least once every week.

Once the fruits start to ripen up, you have the choice of whether to leave them on the plant to grow to their full sweetness or remove them and encourage more fruits. Those removed will carry on ripening, but they do it best on the plant. You have a race to ripen: just as seedlings need protecting at the beginning of the season, so will plants be affected by the colder weather towards the end. In a greenhouse or conservatory, plants will go on into autumn but outdoors they will start to suffer. Any fruits that are hit by frost will turn to mush. Protect outdoor-grown plants with horticultural fleece or cloches, and carry pot-grown plants indoors to a sunny room.

Drying Chilies

One great way to preserve chili peppers is to dry them out. Drying works best with waxier peppers, and they will stay for years. You can also pickle your peppers, make jellies, and more! Below, we cover three awesome ways to dry your chilies.

Once the fruits start to ripen, the real fun begins: you will have chili con carne and curries to your (slightly faster-beating) heart’s content, and the knowledge that you grew the most important ingredient yourself.

WRITTEN BY

Lia Leendertz is an award-winning garden writer based in the UK. She is a regular writer for The Guardian and The Telegraph and for most of the major gardening magazines. She has a town garden and an allotment in Bristol, England and loves growing flowers, vegetables, and fruit. – Author Profile

How to Grow Your Own Superfoods This Winter

(NaturalNews – Carolanne Wright) No need to bypass all the health perks of fresh superfoods this winter — simply grow them inside on a sunny window ledge. As the weather turns colder, now more than ever it is important to fortify the body with nutrient dense foods. What better way than with unprocessed superfoods? An economical and fun undertaking, cultivating a micro-superfood garden is easier than you may think.

With food costs skyrocketing this season, consumers are looking for novel ways to stay nourished on a budget. Windowsill gardens combine the virtues of space saving French intensive gardening with easy to grow plants — providing a frugal solution for high food prices.

Top indoor superfoods

Effortless to grow, these four superfoods are perfect for an indoor garden. Simply utilize the French intensive technique of ultra-rich composted soil, compact planting and consistent harvesting and you are good to go.

Arugula

Sometimes referred to as rocket, arugula is a mildly spicy, fast growing superfood. An exceptional source of vitamins A, C and K, this green helps to protect against skin, lung and oral cancer along with Alzheimer’s disease. High in B vitamins, arugula will boost energy and calm the nervous system. Additionally, arugula contains diindolylmethane (DIM), a compound that discourages the human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical dysplasia. Arugula is teeming with copper, iron, phytonutrients, chlorophyll and fiber too.

Cilantro

Cilantro is an exceptional herb that controls blood sugar, detoxifies heavy metals and possesses strong antibacterial properties. Research has shown that diabetics can benefit from cilantro consumption since it helps to increase the secretion of insulin and lowers blood sugar levels. As a mighty detoxifier, cilantro removes heavy metals like mercury by binding to the toxin and escorting it safely from the body. Cilantro is a prime source of dodecenal, a potent antibacterial agent. Scientists discovered that dodecenal was more effective in combating salmonella food poisoning than the commonly used antibiotic gentamicin. This tasty herb also eases hormonal mood swings, urinary tract infections, arthritis, liver complaints and digestive upset.

Oregano

The great Greek philosopher Hippocrates used oregano for its germicidal qualities and as an tonic for digestive upset. Science has proven what Hippocrates intuitively sensed — oregano contains powerful bioactive compounds that ward off infections, parasites and inflammation. Mexican researchers found that consuming oregano is effective against the parasitic infection giardia. Topically, it relieves cold sores and acne. Oregano is antioxidant rich — ounce for ounce, it contains 42 times the antioxidants of apples, 12 times more than oranges and four times more than blueberries. Also loaded with vitamin K, iron, manganese and fiber, oregano is one of the healthiest foods you can eat.

Watercress

Ancient Persians and Romans recognized the exceptional benefits of watercress and harnessed its healing properties to enhance brain function, soothe the nervous system and even boost libido. Considered an anti-aging superfood, watercress is full of eye protecting lutein and antioxidants. Watercress is an outstanding source of iodine — important for protection against radiation and maintaining a healthy thyroid gland. Moreover, watercress is rich in vitamins A, B, C, D, E and K along with calcium, phosphorus, potassium, iron, copper, silica and zinc.

Forget ornamental houseplants — cultivate an indoor mini-garden instead. With these four top-notch superfoods, keeping healthy and within budget is a nutritious delight this winter.

Sources for this article include:
“Arugula nutrition facts” Nutrition and You. Retrieved on October 16, 2012 from: http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/arugula.html
“Arugula: Health Benefits, Tips and Recipes” Jennifer Valentine, One Green Planet, May 3, 2012. Retrieved on October 16, 2012 from: http://www.onegreenplanet.org
“Health Benefits of Cilantro” James A. Duke, PhD, Global Healing Center. Retrieved on October 16, 2012 from: http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/benefits-of/cilantro
“Oregano: 10 Natural Health Benefits & Healing Uses” Mark’s Daily Apple. Retrieved on October 16, 2012 from: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/oregano/#axzz29SZN17YC
“Health Benefits of Oregano” Gardening Channel. Retrieved on October 16, 2012 from: http://www.gardeningchannel.com/health-benefits-of-oregano/
“Watercress: A garnishing green that provides bountiful health benefits” Paul Fassa, Natural News, September 11, 2011. Retrieved on October 16, 2012 from: http://www.naturalnews.com
“Potential Health Benefits of Watercress” Watercress.com. Retrieved on October 16, 2012 from: http://www.watercress.com/pdf/pot_health_benefits_of_WC_09.pdf

Amazing Homesteading Ideas to Help You Become More Self-Sufficient

(NaturalNews – Jonathan Benson) Self-sufficiency has gone mainstream, which means that more and more people, including many urban dwellers, are looking for easy and effective ways to produce food and care for their families without having to rely on the system for sustenance. Since knowing where to start with all this is half the battle, here are some amazing homesteading ideas to get you and your family on track to becoming more autonomous in an increasingly centralized and unstable world:

1) Build an aquaponics system for high-output vegetables

It might seem daunting at first, but raising fish and using their waste to grow food crops without soil, a process more popularly known as aquaponics, can actually be quite simple. Raising fish in small water tanks generates ammonia-containing waste, which can then be converted into nitrite for fixation in growing soils. Nitrite is then converted into both nitrobacter and nitrospira, two substances that are crucial for maintaining the necessary nitrogen cycle, which promotes plant growth.

“Fish excrete ammonia in their wastes and through their gills,” explains aquaponics expert Rebecca Nelson in a piece for the Aquaponics Journal, which explains how to build your aquaponics system at home. “Nitrifying bacteria, which naturally live in the soil, water and air, convert ammonia first to nitrite and then to nitrate… [which] is used by plants to grow and flourish.”

Since pre-built aquaponics systems can cost thousands of dollars, building your own may be the preferable option. Nelson’s article explains how to build a simple aquaponics system for around $100 that, depending on its size, can stow away nicely in a space as small as the floor of a closet:
http://aquaponics.com.

2) Construct a backyard chicken coop for fresh eggs

In many ways, owning chickens is a lot like owning a dog, except chickens do not need to be walked and aren’t really interested in playing fetch. And what they lack in terms of love and companionship, they easily make up for with their eggs, the unique, golden yolks of which are unmatched by the commercial imitators sold at your local supermarket.

Contrary to popular belief, chickens require a surprisingly small amount of space to roam — although the more you have, the better! Studies show that chickens raised on pasture or backyard grass, where they are free to roam and peck at worms and insects, produce eggs that are more nutritious, higher in beneficial omega-3 fatty acids and tastier than eggs from chickens raised on factory farms.

“They’re omnivores and will eat just about anything that comes out of the kitchen, including meat,” says Andrew Malone of Funky Chicken Farm in Melbourne, Florida, as quoted by the Green American.

Websites like BackyardChickens.com offer ready-made coops and all sorts of other resources to get you started on your journey to obtaining fresh eggs daily from your own backyard. Or if you’re feeling particularly handy and willing to take on a small project, building your own backyard chicken coop is another option that could save you money:
http://www.backyardchickens.com.

Culture your own vegetables, dairy products and healing elixirs

If you’re noticing a trend here with food recommendations, it’s because proper nutrition is an absolutely essential component of long-term survival, especially in an “off-the-grid” situation where local grocers may or may not have a ready supply of food. And one of the best ways to maximize your nutritional input is to culture, or ferment, nutrient-dense foods using traditional methods, many of which date back centuries or even millennia.

More of an art than a science, the fermentation process not only allows for the extended preservation of food — fermented and cultured foods do not require refrigeration if properly prepared and stored — but it also unlocks key nutrients that simply cannot be attained from commercially prepared foods, including beneficial bacteria that maintain a healthy gut and promote optimal digestion.

“Getting started with fermented food and beverages is an important step to incorporating Traditional Diet in one’s home,” writes Sarah Pope of TheHealthyHomeEconomist.com, which contains more than 20 instructional videos and other resources on how to make things like yogurt, kefir (fermented dairy), kombucha (fermented tea), kvass (fermented beverage made from bread), kimchi (fermented vegetables), miso (fermented, high-protein seasoning) and much more:
http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Fermenting Foods by Wardeh Harmon, which is recommended by the Weston A. Price Foundation, is another excellent resource to get you started on your journey to culturing and preserving your own nutrient-rich foods at home:
http://www.westonaprice.org.

Knit your own fabrics for making clothes, blankets

The availability of cheap clothing made by grossly underpaid workers at third-world sweatshops has become the norm in much of the developed world, obscuring the rich and artful histories of fabric production that have long sustained civilizations. Knowing how to knit a coat or blanket might not seem like much of a marketable skill in today’s globalized economy, but should the lights suddenly go out and the heat stop running, possessing such a skill could save your life.

Once you understand the basics of how to knit and create fabric, this powerful skill can be expanded to include the crafting of materials like rope, matting and even walls and roofing for shelter. Each of these items is essential to long-term survival, and knowing how to make them yourself is an invaluable skill that should not be underestimated.

The Homesteading Handbook: A Back to Basics Guide to Growing Your Own Food, Canning, Keeping Chickens, Generating Your Own Energy, Crafting, Herbal Medicine, and More by Abigail R. Gehring is just one resource out of many to this end. It also contains a wealth of other useful information for homesteaders, both urban and rural:
http://www.amazon.com.

You can also access the free resource The Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency by John Seymour, in PDF form at the following link:
http://thehomesteadsurvival.com.

Sources for this article include:
http://www.viralsoma.com
http://aquaponics.com
http://www.backyardchickens.com
http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com
http://www.westonaprice.org
http://www.amazon.com
http://thehomesteadsurvival.com
http://www.greenamerica.org
http://science.naturalnews.com

Five Reasons Why You’re Totally Crazy If You Aren’t Growing Your Own Food

(NaturalNews – Mike Adams, the Health Ranger) As things get ever crazier in the world, there are more reasons than ever to grow at least some of your own food. In fact, I say you’re crazy if you don’t grow some food!

Here are five huge reasons why…

#1) With food prices skyrocketing, you’ll save money by growing your own

Have you priced organic romaine lettuce recently? Or beautiful red peppers? With food prices continuing to skyrocket, the economics of growing your own food make more sense than ever before.

Growing food costs almost nothing in terms of actual dollars — it’s the labor input that represents the greatest input cost. But with container gardening, square foot gardening, simple hydroponics systems and even countertop sprouting, growing your own food doesn’t have to be a labor-intensive activity. You don’t even need dirt or a yard to do simple things like grow window sill herbs or countertop sprouts (alfalfa, mung bean, chickpeas, clover, broccoli, etc.).

Ever better, the much higher nutritional value of home-grown food (compared to processed factory foods you buy at the grocery store) actually saves you money on long-term health care costs. By eating your way to good health, you are eliminating your future need to buy expensive prescription medications and undergo costly doctor visits (or hospital procedures).

It’s true: Growing your own food saves you money both today and tomorrow.

#2) The end of cheap water is making food more scarce and difficult to produce

The end of cheap, easy water is upon us. Thanks to extreme weather events and runaway drought conditions in food-producing states like California, underground water aquifers are being rapidly pumped dry.

The end game of all this isn’t difficult to see: Today’s food-producing hubs will become tomorrow’s Dust Bowl regions. Without cheap water, there is no cheap food. And as water becomes increasingly scarce, food will become increasingly expensive, vastly outpacing price inflation rate for other product categories.

In addition to water scarcity, modern mechanized monoculture (chemical agriculture) also destroys soils, rivers, trees and healthful microbes. There is no long-term sustainability of modern agricultural practices, which are focused on “poison and pillage for profit” rather than growing nutritious food to nurture a civilization toward a better future.

The era of scarce, expensive food has already begun. You’re witnessing its beginnings right now, and as the march of human agricultural destruction accelerates, real food is only going to become harder and harder to acquire.

#3) Home-grown food is far more nutritious and medicinal

Stated plainly, nearly all the food you buy at the grocery store is little more than a mere shadow of real food. Processed, packaged food provides empty calories and little else. Dairy products are almost universally homogenized and pasteurized, and even the fresh produce that claims to be “ripened on the vine” was actually cut from the plant — with the vine still attached — weeks before it reached its peak nutritional potency.

Even more, the soils in which these foods are grown are nutritionally depleted and utterly lacking any real quantities of trace minerals. When you buy food or produce at the grocery store, you’re mostly buying the illusion of food — which is also why you’re always hungry for more of it. It’s never satisfying because it doesn’t provide the real nutrition your body craves.

When you grow your own food in nutrient-rich soils, you are producing the world’s healthiest foods and medicines right at home. Every edible plant in the world naturally synthesizes its own medicines to keep itself alive (and free from infections). These medicines are at their peak when you harvest vegetables, fruits and herbs after they achieve full readiness… and that’s something grocery stores can never do because they have to pick everything prematurely to account for transportation and distribution time.

In terms of minerals, phytonutrients and natural medicines, home-grown food is the world’s best source for nutrients. That’s why home-grown fruits and veggies also taste better — your tongue is telling you the truth about real food!

#4) Growing your own food strengthens your self-reliance and preparedness

You probably already know our world is headed for some extraordinary challenges ahead. Political strife, social chaos, weather radicalization and even prospects of war are all very real risks throughout the world. When regions are destabilized, food supplies are almost immediately wiped out or seriously disrupted.

Having the ability to grow your own food provides protection from the unexpected. While riots or war can wreak havoc on supplies of traditional grocery store foods, they usually have no negative effect at all on home gardens and a home food supply. Even better, if you’ve practiced the skills of growing food, harvesting food, saving seeds and nurturing healthy soils, those skills are immediately applicable no matter what scenario comes your way.

Ask yourself this question: If the food trucks stop delivering to the grocery stores, would you rather find yourself standing in a government food line, or popping open a jar of home-canned salsa that you grew yourself? Care to guess which food is healthier?

#5) When you can produce your own food, you can’t be easily controlled by others

The real danger of being entirely dependent on government for emergency food supplies is that you will simultaneously have to obey the government’s unreasonable demands. Depending on the circumstances, those demands might include giving up your tools of self defense, surrendering your personal property or even abandoning your own home and being relocated to a refugee camp of some sort.

Throughout world history, food has often been used as a weapon against the People. Even today, every dictator knows that the easiest way to control the people is to first control the food. (Just ask anyone who hasn’t yet starved to death in North Korea…)

In the days of ancient Rome, raiding forces are rumored to sometimes punish a conquered land by plowing the soils with salt, destroying the ability of that land to produce food. [1] This would make the conquered region beholden to the victor for food. Remember: He who controls the food controls the people.

The U.S. government increasingly criminalizes home food production

Growing your own food is one of the greatest expressions of freedom and liberty. This is precisely why governments across the United States frequently seek to criminalize those who engage in home gardening, small-scale farming or raw milk production.

Julie Bass of Oak Park, Michigan, for example, was threatened with jail time for growing vegetables in her front yard. Read about my interview with Julie Bass at this Natural News article.

Similarly, in 2012 the government of Tulsa, Oklahoma, deliberately destroyed the herb garden of a woman named Denise Morrison. Their goal? To make sure private citizens cannot independently produce their own food and natural medicine.

Government officials in both the USA and Canada have also frequently conducted armed raids on indoor vegetable grow operations, destroying indoor cucumber farms and terrorizing innocent families. As Natural News previously reported:

…the Harte family of Leawood, Kansas, was literally held hostage at gunpoint by law enforcement goons who ravaged their house and tore apart hydroponic growing equipment that they falsely believed to be part of a nonexistent marijuana grow operation in the family’s basement.

Just this year, another SWAT-style police raid on a home garden was conducted in Georgia, where law enforcement officers are apparently too stupid to know the difference between okra and marijuana. In a televised interview, Georgia State Patrol Capt. Kermit Stoke literally said on camera: “We’ve not been able to identify it as of yet. But it did have quite a number of characteristics that were similar to a cannabis plant.” (Seriously? People who live in Georgia don’t know what okra looks like?)

One of the red flags of knowing you’re living in a police state tyranny, in fact, is when government criminalizes home gardens and conducts armed raids on vegetable growers. That day has already arrived in America, where being arrested as a “criminal” only requires that you attempt to grow your own nutritious garden vegetables. And that’s all the more reason to grow them anyway… in defiance of the government insanity that seeks to jail home gardeners and force everyone to eat processed factory foods that promote disease and cognitive decline.

Learn how to grow your own food with these resources

Geoff Lawton teaches permaculture
www.GeoffLawton.com

Marjory Wildcraft shows you how to “Grow Your Own Groceries”
www.MarjoryWildcraft.com

The Square Foot Gardening Foundation:
www.squarefootgardening.org

Sources for this article include:
[1] http://www.dl.ket.org/latin2/historia/republ…
[2] http://www.naturalnews.com/047360_marijuana_…
[3] http://www.naturalnews.com/044529_armed_raid…
[4] http://www.naturalnews.com/036234_edible_lan…