Call me odd, but I don't own any part of this planet. I hold it as a responsibility, a gift and a trust, for the children of the future. Everything I do must be coached in those terms.
My personal and political choices, my views and beliefs, my business practices and interests, all affect this world. I cannot make a major corporation or a government change it's patterns of behavior. I can't force anyone to do what I think is right. Nor should I.
What I can do, I will.
I will be vocal about things that affect this world so that the children are left with good choices and healthy bodies. I will make as small a mark as possible, taking into consideration that I still need to live. Because I believe, strongly, that at the end of my life I will be held accountable for this stewardship.
The future is not to be taken lightly. I will not be here, but this does not mean I have any less responsibility for the results of my choices. Some people believe that what they do in this life ends with them and the future is none of their concern.
Fifty or one hundred years from now, will the seed stocks all be purchased from international corporations with patented gene complexes? I hope not. Will all choice of what we eat be gone, given over to those who are making a profit off of it? I hope not.
Whether GMO's are eventually proven to be safe or not, we still have to take into consideration the end result of the current trends. The corporations want their profit, and the government wants to continue collecting taxes on that profit. If the corporations are put ahead of the people, or even ahead of the will of the people, there will come a time when we have no more control. The control will be all in the hands of those who decide what we eat, what we wear, how we live. If we give up the right to decide a simple matter of labeling, it gives more power to those who want our money without accountability.
So do we allow the mega corporations to do as they please with our food supply?
They want to take our choices away, because face it--people with knowledge and choices are not going to mindlessly give all their food money to one mega corporation, and swallow the massive price increases that come with lack of competition.
Or maybe they will. I hope not.
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
My garlic is sprouting!
Yes, another garlic post (ad nauseum).
I have a serious problem with this stuff. Either I have too little or too much. Still, much better to have too much than too little.
In the last few (say, five or ten) years I've started planting garlic. I tried growing it inside, but that didn't work well. Instead I save the largest cloves and plant 120 + outside each fall to grow through the winter. It's harvested in late June or early July.
So a few days ago I looked at my stored garlic and it was sprouting! In January?!
Good grief.
No one's been sick this year (at least not the kind of sick that garlic can help) and we haven't been cooking nearly as much. About once a month I sit down at the kitchen table and crush up a bunch of garlic in olive oil, then we cook with that. Simple and quick, still fresh, and SOOOO good.
So I have several pounds of garlic that are starting to sprout. I took a bunch of it to church to give away and I'm trying neighbors and friends, but I still have a lot. I'll keep searching out the sprouts and drying/crushing/giving them away.
I went looking online for ways to keep the stuff from sprouting, but apparently once garlic decides it's time to sprout nothing short of cooking or freezing will stop it.
One site said to keep it between 40 and 60 degrees, saying that temps lower than this will encourage sprouting and higher temps will delay spring sprouting. Nope. Sorry. Wrong answer. We keep our house at 68-72 degrees and it still starts sprouting in January.
Another site said keep it in the dark, but I've tried that as well with no luck.
I think the best answer was probably "There's really no way to do this, short of keeping the temperature at precisely 32 degrees, and even that is questionable." :)
My garlic outside is visible through six inches of snow, so obviously it's doing well. In spite of the "too much garlic" problem, I'm looking forward to my spring harvest.
I have a serious problem with this stuff. Either I have too little or too much. Still, much better to have too much than too little.
In the last few (say, five or ten) years I've started planting garlic. I tried growing it inside, but that didn't work well. Instead I save the largest cloves and plant 120 + outside each fall to grow through the winter. It's harvested in late June or early July.
So a few days ago I looked at my stored garlic and it was sprouting! In January?!
Good grief.
No one's been sick this year (at least not the kind of sick that garlic can help) and we haven't been cooking nearly as much. About once a month I sit down at the kitchen table and crush up a bunch of garlic in olive oil, then we cook with that. Simple and quick, still fresh, and SOOOO good.
So I have several pounds of garlic that are starting to sprout. I took a bunch of it to church to give away and I'm trying neighbors and friends, but I still have a lot. I'll keep searching out the sprouts and drying/crushing/giving them away.
I went looking online for ways to keep the stuff from sprouting, but apparently once garlic decides it's time to sprout nothing short of cooking or freezing will stop it.
One site said to keep it between 40 and 60 degrees, saying that temps lower than this will encourage sprouting and higher temps will delay spring sprouting. Nope. Sorry. Wrong answer. We keep our house at 68-72 degrees and it still starts sprouting in January.
Another site said keep it in the dark, but I've tried that as well with no luck.
I think the best answer was probably "There's really no way to do this, short of keeping the temperature at precisely 32 degrees, and even that is questionable." :)
My garlic outside is visible through six inches of snow, so obviously it's doing well. In spite of the "too much garlic" problem, I'm looking forward to my spring harvest.
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