No time to garden? No place to garden? There’s an easy solution — plant your garden in containers.

There are a variety of benefits to container gardening, as well as many options. Figuring out what’s best for your available space can be challenging, since there are so many different types of containers and plants from which to choose.

A free class, “Container Gardening Made Easy,” will be offered at McShane’s Nursery & Landscape Supply in Salinas, coming up on Saturday, Oct. 15. It’s a way to get started in container gardening, which does have a few differences from regular gardening.

To read the entire article, visit: The Monteray County Herald | by KATHRYN McKENZIE >>

Boost your daily nutrition intake by preparing and enjoying a fresh salad packed with greens and protein.

Too many of us still look at salads and think they are a garnish to add a little colour to a meal. The Australian government’s guide to healthy eating and The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggest eating five to nine serves of vegies a day as an effective strategy in prevention and treatment of chronic disease. Evidence also suggests antioxidants are best acquired through whole-food consumption and not as a pill.

MANCHESTER, Conn. — WHEN KEITH WEARNE goes grocery shopping, checking out with a cashier is worth the few extra moments, rather than risking that a self-serve machine might go awry and delay him even more.

Most shoppers side with Wearne, studies show. And with that in mind, some U.S. grocery store chains are bagging the do-it­yourself option, once considered the wave of the future, in the name of customer service.

“It’s just more interactive,” Wearne said during a recent shopping trip at Manchester’s Big Y Foods. “You get someone who says hello; you get a person to talk to if there’s a problem.”

Big Y Foods , which has 61 locations in Connecticut and Massachusetts, recently became one of the latest to announce it was phasing out the self-serve lanes. Some other regional chains and major players, including some Albertsons locations, have also re­duced their unstaffed lanes and added more clerks to traditional lanes.

Market studies cited by the Arlington, Va.-based Food Marketing Institute found only 16 per cent of supermarket transactions in 2010 were done at self-checkout lanes in stores that provided the option. That’s down from a high of 22 per cent three years ago.

Overall, people reported being much more satisfied when they used traditional cashier­staffed lanes. Supermarket chains started introducing self-serve lanes about 10 years ago, touting them as an easy way for shoppers to scan their own items’ bar codes, pay, bag their bounty and head out on their way. Retailers also anticipated a labour savings, potentially reducing the number of cashier shifts as they encouraged shoppers to do it themselves.

The reality, though, was mixed. Some shoppers loved them and were quick con­verts, while other reactions ranged from disinterest to outright hatred — much of it shared on blogs or in Facebook groups.

An internal study by Big Y found delays in its self-service lines caused by customer confusion over coupons, payments and other problems; intentional and accidental theft, including misidentifying produce and baked goods as less-expensive varieties; and other problems that helped guide its decision to bag the self-serve lanes.

Wearne, 39, a Tolland resident who owns a power-washing service, reluctantly used a self-serve lane at the Manchester Big Y to ring up granola bars and a 12-pack of Miller Genuine Draft but had to wait while a clerk checked his identification.

If he hadn’t seen the clerk standing there immediately ready to help, he said, he would have used the traditional lanes, as he usually does.

But for time-crunched Greg Styles, a self­described “get-it-and-go type of guy,” the top priority is paying and leaving without linger­ing in a checkout lane.

Styles, a 47-year-old South Windsor resi­dent, says the convenience of the self-serve lanes fits into his busy life as a college la­crosse coach and father of 7-year-old twins.

“I’m not happy about it, not at all,” Styles said of the change, ringing up baked goods and chicken breasts on a recent afternoon at Big Y’s Manchester store. “I like to get in and get out. These lanes are quick and really easy, so I use them all the time.”

He’s not the typical shopper, though, ac­cording to research. While some chains are reducing their self-serve options, others say they’re keeping it in place along with the traditional lanes because they think giving shoppers that choice is an important part of customer service.

“Our philosophy is giving customers op­tions. People shop in different ways and we want to accommodate their preferences,” said Suzi Robinson, a spokeswoman for Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. , which has self-serve lanes in about 85 per cent of its nearly 400 stores in the Northeast.

Another chain, Boise, Idaho-based Albert­sons LLC , has said it’s phasing out self-service lanes. Kroger says it’s keeping the self­service option because customers like it, although one remodelled store replaced it with another quick-checkout method that uses a cashier.

Phil Lempert, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based food industry analyst, noted that supermarkets have a few other motivations to get rid of the self-serve lanes beyond custom­er service.

They will eventually need to replace their checkout computers to read newly emerging types of bar codes, so there’s little business sense in keeping and re­placing those self-serve machines if they’re not well-used anyway, he said.

Perhaps more important, he said, the growing trend toward using bar code­reading programs on smartphones is like­ly to change everything in supermarket shopping over time.

Some scholars who follow the retail food industry say decisions by Big Y and others to do away with the self-serve checkout lanes aren’t necessarily the death knell of the trend. Home Depot and some other businesses, which cater to customers with a do-it-yourself mentality, report success with their self-serve lanes.

But not all supermarket shoppers share that mentality, and whether they embrace or reject the self-serve option may come down to demographics — such as whether they’re in a tech-savvy region — and other factors the supermarkets cannot control.

source:  thechronicleherald.ca

Rising rents are intensifying fight for survival, while a traders’ group says markets are struggling to attract new stallholders.

For generations the bustling local market has offered cost-conscious shoppers fresh fruit, meat and vegetables served by traders, and many have had the same family stall for years.

But now, market stallholders say they face a battle for survival as shoppers turn to supermarkets or online shopping.

According to the National Market Traders Federation (NMTF) – founded in 1899 by South Yorkshire market traders – people have simply forgotten how to use a market.

Traders continue to suffer two years on from a parliamentary select committee report that concluded that the majority of the country’s estimated 3,000 general markets were in decline.

In Mexborough, near Doncaster, traders have started legal action to stop rents being quadrupled. The minimum rent at Mexborough market will rise from £15.72 to £36.68 a week and eventually to £78.60 a week by 2014. Landlords Doncaster council says the rents have not increased in more than 15 years and the extra money would fund investment that would attract more shoppers – but some traders have hired solicitors and surveyors to look into the matter.

One trader, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “If the rents go up like that we might as well just pack up and go home – we just couldn’t afford to stay here, we don’t make enough money. We’re valued by our customers but we’re just not profitable enough.”

Rents are also contentious at Europe’s largest indoor market, Kirkgate, in Leeds.

Cliff Hocken runs a stall selling seafood, sandwiches and refreshments with his wife, Michelle. The family have run the business for 130 years. Michelle subscribes to the theory that better management of the facilities would bring more people in.

She said: “Market traders often bend over backwards for their customers – if people ask us how to cook stuff we can help them and offer that personal touch. People are becoming more discerning and want fresh produce and to know where it’s come from — it’s that kind of thing we provide, but I wonder how many people are aware of that.”

The campaign group Friends of Leeds Kirkgate Market fear the council is looking to gentrify the facilities and change its character – a charge denied by Leeds markets champion councillor Gerry Harper, who says things cannot stay the same forever.

He said: “Some people seem to think we’re trying to close the market, we’re not. We genuinely want to make this the best market in the country,” Harper said.

But the NMTF has said one of the biggest issues facing modern markets is attracting new stallholders.

Communications manager Roy Holland said that stalls that had been in the same families for generations were now closing because the younger generation does not want to take them over. The NMTF is hoping an apprenticeship scheme will encourage youngsters to think of the markets as a viable way of earning a living.

But Holland remained upbeat that, ultimately, shoppers will start to find markets again. “There is a very strong future for markets,” he said. “I don’t accept there’s a terminal decline here. But the people who run the facilities need to understand what it is they’re running, and they need to be promoted better, which is down to the traders as well.

“Some shoppers have forgotten how to use a market, it’s a mindset that you just now go to the supermarket and get everything there. We need to promote ourselves as a place where you can get fresh good quality products where stallholders offer a personal touch.”

source:  guardian.co.uk

Can a nutritional supplement suppress multiple sclerosis symptoms? Check out the September 30, 2011 news release, “Glucosamine-like supplement suppresses multiple sclerosis attacks.” The University of California, Irvine study shows the promise of metabolic therapy for autoimmune diseases.

And in the Sacramento-Davis regional area, The University of California, Davis also studies multiple sclerosis. See the article, Nerve and Brain Cell Research. Check out the article on the research at UC Davis, “A possible new target for treatment of multiple sclerosis.” That study is published in Nature Medicine online, 27 March 2011, doi: 10.1038/nm.2324. Also see the study, “A reversible form of axon damage in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and multiple sclerosis.”

In New Study, Dietary Supplement Suppresses the Damaging Autoimmune Response of Multiple Sclerosis: oral N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc)

In the latest University of California, Irvine study of September 2011, researchers found that a glucosamine-like dietary supplement suppresses the damaging autoimmune response seen in multiple sclerosis, according to a UC Irvine study. The University of California, Irvine’s Dr. Michael Demetriou, Ani Grigorian and others found that oral N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), which is similar to but more effective than the widely available glucosamine, inhibited the growth and function of abnormal T-cells that in MS incorrectly direct the immune system to attack and break down central nervous system tissue that insulates nerves.

Check out the full study as the results appear online in The Journal of Biological Chemistry. Earlier this year, Demetriou and colleagues discovered that environmental and inherited risk factors associated with MS — previously poorly understood and not known to be connected — converge to affect how specific sugars are added to proteins regulating the disease.

“This sugar-based supplement corrects a genetic defect that induces cells to attack the body in MS,” said Demetriou, associate professor of neurology and microbiology & molecular genetics, according to the news release, “making metabolic therapy a rational approach that differs significantly from currently available treatments.” Virtually all proteins on the surface of cells, including immune cells such as T-cells, are modified by complex sugar molecules of variable sizes and composition. Recent studies have linked changes in these sugars to T-cell hyperactivity and autoimmune disease.

In mouse models of MS-like autoimmune disease, according to the study, Demetriou and his team found that GlcNAc given orally to those with leg weakness suppressed T-cell hyperactivity and autoimmune response by increasing sugar modifications to the T-cell proteins, thereby reversing the progression to paralysis.

The study comes right after other scientists showed the potential of GlcNAc in humans. One study reported that eight of 12 children with treatment-resistant autoimmune inflammatory bowel disease improved significantly after two years of GlcNAc therapy. No serious adverse side effects were noted.

“Together, these findings identify metabolic therapy using dietary supplements such as GlcNAc as a possible treatment for autoimmune diseases,” said Demetriou, associate director of UCI’s Multiple Sclerosis Research Center, according to the news release. “Excitement about this strategy stems from the novel mechanism for affecting T-cell function and autoimmunity — the targeting of a molecular defect promoting disease — and its availability and simplicity.”

He cautioned that more human studies are required to assess the full potential of the approach. GlcNAc supplements are available over the counter and differ from commercially popular glucosamine. People who purchase GlcNAc should consult with their doctors before use.

Lindsey Araujo and Dylan Place of UCI and Nandita N. Naidu and Biswa Choudhury of UC San Diego also participated in the research, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. For more UCI news, visit the site UCI Today.

source:  allvoices.com

The word ‘vitamin’ has its root in ‘vitamine’ that means very important amine. Nutritional vitamins are highly effective organic compounds found mainly in the food that we eat. Nutritional vitamins are essential for all human beings because they help cells and tissues to carry out fundamental functions. Basically, vitamins are required for the growth of the body.

There are two forms of vitamins- the water soluble nutritional vitamins and the fats soluble vitamins. Fat soluble nutritional vitamins are also called hormones. All the commonly recognized vitamins are water soluble vitamins, of which vitamin C or ascorbic acid is essentially the most common. Earlier it was believed that every one these vitamins belong to at least one group known as B complicated as they had been all found in the identical source. Later they were categorized as totally different vitamins.

Vitamin A, B1, B3, B5, B9, D, E, H, K, P, Choline and Inositol are some of the other vitamins. Few of these vitamins are identified by their biological names, like vitamin B1 is called thiamine and vitamin H, Biotin.

Nutritional vitamins kind a vital part of the balanced food regimen that we eat. People with persistent diseases are suggested to take vitamin supplements by their doctors. Pregnant girls and other people affected by bowel issues have to be careful their vitamin intake. Bowel disorder retards the absorption of fats soluble vitamin. Folic acid is prescribed for an individual suffering from thalassaemia. Patients with pernicious anemia need to be given injections of vitamin B12 because of its acute deficiency in their body.

We need small amounts of those vitamins on regular basis to help the body function easily and remain healthy. These nutritional vitamins assist the organs to hold out their individual functions. Within the absence of those vitamins, our physique falls sick and suffers from vitamin deficiency diseases. There are sufficient vitamins present in our foods but when we don’t eat a balanced weight loss program the external supplements will do the needful.

Vitamins are useful and mandatory for the body, however excess of the whole lot is bad. Even vitamins taken in extra may cause severe injury to the body. As an illustration, the body wants only 400 to 800 models of vitamin D in a day. If this quantity is exceeded, an excessive amount of calcium gets absorbed by the bloodstream, which may damage the kidneys. Furthermore, supplements can never change the healthy diets, so it’s higher to take vitamin-wealthy eating regimen than take supplements.

Final phrase of warning: Don’t take vitamins by gathering info from here and there. Consult your doctor. Keep in mind, little information is a harmful thing.

For info in relation to vitamin, swing by Trip Bretuiop’s internet site this minute.

source:   plgmea.com

The agriculture industry has been graying in recent decades, prompting younger farmers to seek ways to make farms financially sustainable. Meet two such families: the Colemans of Mountain Run Farm and the Lindebergs of Native Spring Farm.

In an industry where the average age hovers around 60, Ben and Carly Coleman are decades shy of that and already veteran farmers.

The operators of Mountain Run Farm in northern Bedford County are as much idealistic as they are realistic. The couple have created a 30-acre agricultural utopia around their home that greets visitors, where chickens scurry underfoot and dogs boisterously announce their presence. It’s comforting and serene, yet lively.

But it also shields guests from a harsher reality of modern agriculture, one that includes difficult days, discord with neighbors, potentially tens of thousands of dollars in financial losses and a graying population.

From 2002 to 2007, the number of principal farm owners younger than 45 in the United States declined 21 percent, according to the 2007 Census of Agriculture, the most recent available. Of those, only 38 percent farm as a primary occupation, and 81 percent also work off the farm to earn income.

Mary Ahearn, an economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, pointed to hurdles that make it difficult for younger generations to start their own farms or transition into family farms. She said having the market opportunity to buy or rent suitable land can be a struggle, as is having capital to acquire land on a large enough scale to be profitable.

Beginning farmers, many of whom are younger, make up about one-fifth of all farms nationally, according to the USDA’s Economic Research Service.

Mountain Run Farm’s working property, near the couple’s own 30 acres and covering about 1,000 acres, was purchased two decades ago by Ben’s father, A.C. “Buzzy” Coleman. The farm, now a limited liability company, consists of several pastures, home to a herd totaling 430 head of cattle, and spans the land between the tree-covered mountains near Sedalia. The Colemans raise livestock that is grass-fed from start to finish, and no antibiotics or growth hormones are used.

According to the agriculture census and the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, farming has an annual economic impact of $55 billion in Virginia and incorporates more than 47,000 farms. Like the Colemans’ Mountain Run Farm, the large majority of farms in the state are owned and operated by individual families.

Ben Coleman, 37, didn’t grow up a farmer but has had a lifelong love of animals and the outdoors. His father was a construction contractor, a profession that Ben’s older brothers continued. Ben said he was in and out of college for six years pursuing an agriculture degree while spending summers farming.

Buzzy Coleman invested in the Sedalia property in 1991, and that is one of the main reasons Mountain Run Farm can exist at all.

“The opportunity I have to do this life and job is because he worked somewhere else and bought this land,” Ben Coleman said. “It wasn’t left down in the family, and I’m not a fourth-generation farmer. I’m a first, trying to build a start that I can give to my kids that have grown up on it.”

Wealth is in the land

The Census of Agriculture shows that the average market value of farmland in Virginia is $4,200 an acre. That constitutes a potential seven-figure investment that Ben and Carly Coleman didn’t have to make themselves.

Across Virginia, the average size of farms is 171 acres, the census shows.

“The hard part is for the young couple and person to get the land in the first place,” Ben Coleman said. Otherwise, “I cannot afford to have done this, period.”

Elaine Lidholm, communications director for the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, agreed that it requires substantial assets to succeed at farming.

“It can take hundreds of thousands of dollars or more to buy land, build barns and sheds, acquire equipment and/or livestock, and few young people have these kinds of resources,” Lidholm said.

And, she said, because transitioning a farm from one generation to another can be complicated, many farmers do not prepare adequately. Tax issues, stewardship, people’s emotions and family decision-making can create hurdles in the process.

Lidholm said the state’s Office of Farmland Preservation can provide resources for younger generations looking to take over a farm. The USDA, too, provides help and in conjunction with the state agency and other organizations has a regional workshop planned for early next year.

Property transition is a big concern, said W.P. Johnson Jr., county executive director for the USDA’s Farm Service Agency in Pittsylvania County. “We can assume that families would transition to their sons or daughters, but that’s not a guarantee,” he said.

Johnson is in line to take over his family’s nearly 500-acre farm in Chamblissburg. His father works full time on the property, which has been in the family for about a century, and grows hay, wheat and soybeans. Johnson works on the farm part time.

He sees many young farmers struggling with land availability, market flow and financing, while his family’s farm has another primary concern: labor.

“Labor’s a huge thing, especially for me being off the farm part time,” he said.

To cope with the weight of startup costs, Ben Coleman said he and others are advocating that new farmers consider leasing land instead of buying outright. The 2008 federal Farm Bill provides incentives to retiring farmers with land coming out of the Conservation Reserve Program to rent to beginning farmers, Ahearn said.

Another approach is sharing the cost. Nathan and Lindsay Lindeberg, who own Native Spring Farm in Giles County near Staffordsville, opted to split the land costs with family.

Nathan Lindeberg also falls into the 81 percent of young farmers forced to find a full-time off-farm job – in his case, after the birth of son River last year.

While the extra income helps the couple get by, his sporadic shifts at Lowe’s make it difficult for them to plan large projects and work consistently toward planting and harvesting goals. And the lack of manpower can be emotionally and financially draining, Lindsay Lindeberg said.

“In a way, it makes it easier on us,” she said, “but in a way, it’s also a lot harder because it’s just me here.”

The Lindebergs – he’s 31, she’s 30 – met as students in Virginia Tech’s horticulture program. They bought their 50-acre property with Nathan’s parents in 2004.

Without that financial help, “We wouldn’t have been able to buy property at all or, at least, to get this much acreage,” Lindsay Lindeberg said.

On the handful of cleared acres that the property offers, the first-generation farmers have crops that are Certified Naturally Grown, an alternative to the USDA’s National Organic Program. The Lindebergs started slow without the aid of much large machinery before setting their sights on the Blacksburg Farmers Market, where they’re in their third season of selling produce and other products.

Family, friends, natural-food stores and restaurants such as The Palisades are also customers of the vegetables, berries and handcrafted bath and body products that Native Spring Farm offers.

Lindsay Lindeberg said the farm is profitable and that diversifying its offerings has been part of their success. They not only grow products for their customer base but also are trying to become self-sufficient. That includes being able to sell soap and tomato-based products such as marinara sauce year-round.

“You got so many farms that are growing tomatoes that when they come into season, everybody has them,” she said. “There’s no sense in even trying to sell them.”

She said the farm continues to try out other value-added products, most recently homemade ice cream under the label Big Lick Ice Cream Co.

The couple are still trying to settle on a long-term financial plan that would allow Nathan Lindeberg to return to the farm and would offer a solution for having to change the products they market widely from year to year.

“This is working for us now. If we had more space, I would probably choose more crops to really specialize in,” Lindsay Lindeberg said.

Evolving strategies

Back in Bedford County, the Colemans took a blank slate and built a farm that not only has cattle but also hogs and dozens of chickens being raised for laying and slaughter. The gravel driveway wraps around a stocked pond. The couple have two children, Gilliam and Noah, and Carly, 35, is pregnant with a third.

Each morning, Ben Coleman follows a routine of first tending to the chickens and milk cows. Then he heads over to the land his father bought and tends to the cattle and swine that live there.

These routines have changed significantly over time.

Their first years on the farm, they used industrial agriculture, incorporating antibiotics and other synthetic substances in raising their livestock. But the Colemans say that method eroded both their bottom line and their enthusiasm. Instead of raising cattle for live sale, they decided to be more involved in the slaughter and sale of the meat.

Their pasture use is drawn on the system of Holistic Management International, which Ben Coleman said promotes a “triple bottom line” of financial, social and environmental sustainability. It’s a system not widely accepted or used, but the couple feel it’s the best path for them.

The Colemans used to have multiple herds spread throughout their land but now have one large herd that grazes on about 10 acres a day. This gives the remainder of the land adequate time – as much as 60 days – to rest. More importantly, it means Mountain Run farm has no need to augment the grass with chemicals.

Ben Coleman said his pasture system has allowed him to go from feeding hay 150 days a year during the winter to feeding it for just 55 days – a savings of $50,000.

He said in the past he’s also burned 3,000 to 4,000 pounds of fuel a year but has reduced that to virtually none. Coupled with some of the highest cattle prices ever and a dwindling number of head across the country, the Colemans are making a dent in their losses.

Any savings helps. The farm isn’t making money – in fact, the operation lost tens of thousands of dollars last year. But the couple get money monthly from other family members who are investors. They push forward with the farm because they believe in what they’re doing, and the process pays off a little more year after year.

“You can farm without going to the bank or without going into debt,” Ben Coleman said. But it isn’t easy.

Reaching the customer

The retail side of Mountain Run Farm – along with farm tours that are offered occasionally – is handled on Ben and Carly’s portion of the property. Deep freezers are stocked with meat sold under the entity Mountain Run Meats LLC, and tables are covered with stacks of “No Farms, No Food” stickers and other items for sale.

Lidholm, who has been with the state agriculture agency for nearly 20 years, has seen a trend among young farmers toward direct marketing, cutting out the cost of a middleman. She noted that they lean toward offering pick-your-own operations and selling at farmers markets, through Community Supported Agriculture networks or directly to restaurants.

Such direct marketing can limit the need for money spent on advertising.

Advertising and other marketing efforts at Mountain Run Farm are primarily word of mouth, though it does have a website and a Facebook page.

“The meat sales and the direct marketing was the only way to do it,” Ben Coleman said. “It’s the only way I see for a farm to be a business that’s viable – sell directly off the farm. You be the breeder, the manager, the producer, the middleman, the marketer, the salesman, customer service. We have to take all those roles.”

When you throw in the insurance and other costs, it can be a struggle to pay the bills, he said. But things are improving.

They’ve found that their niche needs to be high-end, chemical-free meat.

Early in their transition from selling live cattle to selling meat about five years ago, their research led them to believe that, financially, they couldn’t sustain a system of “props and Band-Aids,” referring to the synthetic substances used to assist animals’ growth.

Instead, Mountain Run Farm spends money on good-quality salts and minerals, which can also be expensive. It’s still a “prop,” just a more natural one.

“Let’s get the kind of cattle that our grandfathers actually had when they didn’t have the money or the resources to give them any supplements,” Coleman said. “And you might lose a few animals, but if you just cold-turkey quit everything, you’re going to end up with a herd that’s built for your land and resilient to anything.”

He insists that his herd is healthier than it’s ever been, and reduced costs on his end means savings for the consumer.

“If I save,” he said, “then you save.”

source:  roanoke.com

n the summer debt ceiling deal, Congress set up a “supercommittee” to find $1.2 trillion in additional budget cuts over the next decade. The panel began work — and so did the lobbyists. Among the most energetic are those defending farm subsidies.

The wholesale elimination of the nation’s agricultural programs won’t happen. Yet it should be possible to push through two important reforms: Terminate annual cash payments and create an effective income cap to curtail subsidies for wealthy farmers. As a bonus, one might even hope for an end to ethanol subsidies.

Cash payments are outlays based on acreage and historic yield, and they are paid whether farmers grow anything or not. Cost to taxpayers: nearly $5 billion a year.

Blake Hurst, president of the Missouri Farm Bureau, says the program should continue, partly because many farmers still depend on those checks. Hurst says he understands that agriculture will face cuts this year, but he would prefer that all programs continue, even at lower amounts.

That, however, would make it easier for lawmakers to add money to those budget items later. Eliminating a program entirely ensures that the savings continue.

The Obama administration agrees that cash payments should cease. Even some farmers no longer support them. Craig Lang, president of the Iowa Farm Bureau, told The New York Times that with the economy so weak, he could not justify taking the money.

Lang’s perspective is apt, given that the farm economy and the overall economy have spectacularly diverged. The last decade had five of the best years for farm income, and this year is projected to be another blowout — a 30 percent increase in farm income from 2010 to nearly $104 billion.

No one begrudges the nation’s farmers this good fortune, but the budget crisis requires substantial cuts. How can Congress support the current level of farm spending when many of these “farmers” don’t live on the land? The Agriculture Department says $394 million went last year to recipients who lived in cities of 100,000 or more.

A second big improvement would be a realistic income cap, meaning subsidies would stop for farmers with incomes above the cap. The current limit is $750,000 — ridiculously high. Some have championed a limit of $250,000, which seems more than generous. To most Americans, those with incomes at that level are rich. Nothing wrong with that, but they don’t need money from taxpayers.

That isn’t all the supercommittee could do. It should cut the ethanol program, which costs billions and diverts 40 percent of the corn crop to fuel production, boosting prices for consumers.

For many farmers, crop insurance has become the most important source of taxpayer cash. It, too, needs reform because it encourages farmers to plow marginal land, knowing they’ll be paid whether they produce a crop or not.

Nearly two thirds of the nation’s farmers — growers of fruit, vegetables, nuts, beef and poultry — do without direct subsidies. The budget crisis is a signal that it’s time for the rest of the farm sector to get along with a lot less of what amounts to corporate welfare.

source:    kansascity.com

Pomegranates were around centuries before their juice became the it drink about a decade ago. While a longtime favorite in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean countries, pomegranates were once mostly grown for decorative purposes in the U.S., incorporated into holiday garlands, wreaths and cornucopias.

Such a misunderstood fruit, and for good reason. Its leathery skin, although a gorgeous deep red to purple, does not get the salivary juices flowing like an apple, peach or banana. And when you finally do break into the skin, you’re met with hundreds of seeds encased in a spongy mass, which for the uninitiated looks far from appetizing.

Except for some, pomegranates are the nectar of the gods. The seeds are really arils, a yummy sac of juice that encases a tiny edible seed. Bite into an aril and you’re met with a one-of-a-kind sensation: A burst of juice, sweet yet slightly tart.

The nights are crisp, the colors are beginning to change, and it’s time to enjoy the harvest. At farmers markets and The Growing Place, you can find a large variety of edible pumpkins and gourds.

Pumpkin can be used in soups, breads, pies, cookies, muffins and more. One favorite snack is roasted pumpkin seeds.

To read the entire article, visit: Naperville Times>>

A new study has suggested that eating plenty of fruits and vegetables can help teenagers beat mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety .

The study of 3,000 adolescents has found that those who had poor diets filled with junk and processed foods were more likely to suffer mental health problems.

“The results of this study are consistent with what we have seen in adults but we think it could be more important because three quarters of psychiatric illnesses start before adulthood and once someone has depression they are likely to get it again,” Stuff.co.nz quoted Dr Felice Jacka, from Deakin University’s Barwon Psychiatric Research Unit Dr Jacka as saying.

To read the entire article, visit: Times of India >>

Make your own soap or natural toner with sage, thyme, citrus or even blueberries.

Everyone knows that eating fresh fruits and herbs can enhance both health and beauty, but you may be surprised to learn that they also make excellent ingredients for beauty products.
Melt-and-pour soap is fast and easy to make, if you have fruit or herbs that are nearing their expiration date.

To read the entire article, visit:  oldnortheast-patch.com>>

Poor vision has many causes and treatments, and as you grow older, you will likely experience some type of vision loss or reduction in visual performance.

For older adults, bright lights, glare while driving at night and even blindness can dramatically affect quality of life, but the treatment isn’t just glasses or a stronger prescription – it’s also nutrition and supplementation.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness for Americans older than 60, according to the American Optometric Association. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates 7.3 million people are at substantial risk for vision loss from AMD. Other estimates indicate that as our population continues to rapidly age, as many as one in three could be diagnosed with AMD in the next 20 years.

AMD deteriorates central vision, affecting everything from seeing faces clearly to literally having no central vision at all. Key risk factors for AMD are age, family history, smoking (past or present), low macular pigment, light skin and eyes, obesity and Caucasian women are also at slightly higher risk.

Macular Pigment Optical Density (MPOD) is a brief, non-intrusive exam performed by many optometrists throughout the country, which measures macular pigment in the back of the eye.

Think of macular pigment as “internal sunglasses” for the back of your eye – they absorb harmful blue light that can adversely affect eye health. Internal sunglasses protect the photoreceptors in the back of the eye – specifically the cones, which are responsible for central vision, color, sharpness and sensitivity to bright light, among others. Two key carotenoids, Zeaxanthin (zee-uh-zan-thin) and Lutein, comprise the internal sunglasses, which can become thin as we age, unable to block or absorb harmful blue light. In order to keep the internal sunglasses thick and dense, it is important to replenish Zeaxanthin, the predominant carotenoid in the area where the concentration of cones is the highest.

Zeaxanthin is very scarce in the average daily diet, and vegetables like kale, corn, collard greens, spinach, and peppers naturally provide nutrients to help maintain macular health, but supplementation is often necessary. For example, one would have to eat approximately 20 ears of corn to get a recommended dosage of 8 to 10 milligrams of natural dietary Zeaxanthin per day.

To read the entire article, visit: LasVegasReview Journal.com>>

Cuba is a world leader in ecologically sustainable practices. It is the only country to have begun the large-scale transition from conventional farming, which is heavily dependent on fossil fuels, to a new agricultural paradigm known as low-input sustainable agriculture.

Thriving urban organic farms feed and beautify Cuba’s cities, strengthen local communities and employ hundreds of thousands of people thanks to government support.

These farms provide about 80% of the fresh fruit, vegetables, herbs and medicinal plants consumed by urban residents. They are now being complemented by “green belts” on the urban fringes aimed at local self-sufficiency and ecological sustainability.

To read the entire article, visit: GreenLeft.com>>