Sparks in the Soil

Not Much, How 'Bout You?

Friends, I can't tell you how happy I am to be writing again in this space.  Happy, but overwhelmed, both with all that's happened since my last post back in August, and with the complete transformation my life has taken since last year at this very time.

You see, the thing is, Rob and I went through a four-year battle with infertility.  I have never written publicly about our struggle before, for reasons including wanting to avoid unwanted advice to wanting to keep infertility from infiltrating every part of my life to, later, a fear of alienating readers who may still be in the infertility trenches (I'm all too aware how reading, "We're pregnant!" can be tragic, even if the news pertains to a stranger.) Even now I'm clutching to find the right words to sum up the shattering, bottomless experience of tests, medications, procedures, disappointments, disappointments, and disappointments.

Except...exactly one year ago, I finally got to see two lines on the stick. And deep in the winter of 2010, our Ben was born.

Nothing I can write about infertility sounds right to me - everything I peck out seems either overwrought, insufficient, or too contained to capture the journey, especially in retrospect.  So I'm not going to try to pontificate on the experience or dwell on the details.  But I do want to finally whisper "thank you" to the group of bloggers (especially her, her, her, and her) whose writing has sustained me (correction: is sustaining me) in ways they'll never know. It takes courage and energy to write through such a process as infertility (and pregnancy after infertility...and parenting after infertility).  These women have both in spades.

So.  What does all of this have to do with my garden? 

Everything.

The "fertility" metaphor was powerful and all-consuming to me, to the point of imbuing my time in the soil with deep meaning....and all but shutting down my garden writing.  I was obsessed with all things that grow - or don't.  But the "why" of it all felt so huge, it ultimately choked out my ability to articulate any insights or feelings about it.

Later, once I actually became pregnant, I found myself so superstitious, so haunted by the spectre and possibility of loss, that my "pregnancy journal" was written on pages torn out of a yellow pad, one by one, so as to avoid having to face words written lovingly and excitedly in a fresh, expectant book.

And, I didn't even keep a garden journal last year, the first season in our lovely new backyard, because if things didn't go well with the pregnancy, I would have felt equally destroyed by either a lush or desolate vegetable patch.

But today, Rob and I set Ben up in his stroller, parked with a view of our three raised beds, and we planted seeds.  Not to put too fine a point on it, but we found ourselves reflecting on the process in a profound and emotional way.  Last time we sowed, thank God, thank God, thank God, we were able to reap.  Not that peas and lettuce are comparable to what we "planted" a year ago, but ultimately, a seed is a seed, right?  A spark in the soil. 

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Health Culture: Enough with the Antioxidants?

This summer, I went to my favorite bakery, maybe my favorite in the world, in Orleans on Cape Cod.  In the case amidst the cookies, brownies, pasta salads, and sandwiches was a tray of nut-and-flax-type bars that looked delicious and like they wouldn't set your body back much.  The sign in front of them cheerfully listed their name and price.  The price I can't remember, but the name I sure can--Anti-Inflammatory Bars.

Yum....?

Around the same time, Season 5 of The Next Food Network Star was airing.  Katie Cavuto, a personal chef and dietitian was a contestant proposing a healthy eating show for the network.  Only problem was, every time she made a dish, all she could talk about was "antioxidants" and "fiber," and the judges kept saying that those things just don't sound delicious.  They were right.  She went home.

This weekend, I was in Brattleboro, Vermont.  Strolling the town, I noticed an organic cotton and hemp clothing store.  The name of it made me keep on walking--Save the Corporations from Themselves.  Now to be fair, I later learned online that upstairs from the shop is an "Activist Attic" that houses literature and resources about sustainable living.  But still, I doubt I would have gone in.  It's just too....too....un-fun-sounding.

Perhaps this is just a phase in the consciousness-raising process, when we put aside the need to talk about why the good things about healthy living are good--we still need to work to convince people that healthy choices are necessary alternatives to the bad stuff that bombards us every day.  Free radicals are trying to attack your body!  Eat foods that are high in antioxidants.  Synthetic fabrics are filled with toxic chemicals!  Wear organic cotton clothing.  My joints ache!  Have an Anti-Inflammatory Bar.    

But though all of the above are true, healthy living should ultimately be about the joy of high-quality, mindful, authentic experiences, from exercise in the fresh outdoor air to food that's lovingly grown by a real person (or yourself) or otherwise made with real, pure ingredients to a home that's furnished with materials that are both easy on the eyes and kind to the planet.

Shouldn't it?  What do you think - do you find the healthy living culture to be more cranky than inspiring?  Or have I just been in the wrong places at the wrong times lately?

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How to Grow Fresh Air

Incredible concept, isn't it?  But when you think about fresh air as being an absence of CO2 and other toxic chemicals, and the presence of clean, new oxygen, it suddenly does sound like something you can "grow your own."  This video from New Delhi scientist Kamal Meattle shares the 3 indoor plants that literally saved his life--his lung capacity had been reduced to 70% by his city's thick, poor air quality.

Granted, you need several of each of these (4-6 per person in a household) for it to make a difference.  But it might just be the best decorating decision you'll ever make. 

Have you noticed a change in your home's air quality because of house plants? 

Farmers Markets at Hospitals

Uplifting news from hospital giant Kaiser Permanente--according to CNN, the company has opened farmers markets at 30 hospitals in Washington, Oregon, and California.  From the article:

"The focus on local food systems gives us food that's good for us, good for our children, good for farmers that grow it and it's good for the Earth," said Dr. Preston Maring, a family physician for 38 years who brought the concept of farmers markets to Kaiser in 2003.

Having locally grown fruits and vegetables next to a hospital gives people the visual connection between good food and better health, Maring said.

"It's clear to me over all these years what people eat is the single most important determinant of their overall health. It just struck me one day -- why not bring good food to a place where people get their health care to see if it could become a focal point for education?"

Can you imagine getting a bowl of fresh, local strawberries with your meal instead of an unidentifiable glop of "fruit salad?"  There are many steps before hospitals can universally boast completely healthy nourishment to go along with their health care, but it's inspiring to see how in addition to homes, schools, and of course houses of worship, hospitals are embracing the value of locally grown, seasonal produce.

(image via: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/06/03/farmers.markets.hospitals/index.html)

Gardening as a Depression Reliever

Any gardener can tell you that time with your hands in the dirt gives a boost to any day.  The focus on the task at hand, the simple sounds of nature, the rewards of watching something grow are more than mere physical activities, they are meaningful, uplifting experiences.

I came across a fascinating article yesterday from the BBC about a community garden in Swindon, England that has a therapeutic mission to help relieve the symptoms of those who are suffering from depression.  Read the article and be inspired.

But can gardening really help people cope with depression?  Yes, says Dr. Cosmo Hallstrom, a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.  He says, "It is a treatment of proven benefit.When you get depressed you stop doing things and get isolated which makes you more depressed. The theory is that if you do pleasurable things you will in time get better. Gardening is a pleasurable activity and it focuses you away from thinking about your health problems."

Do you feel gardening helps you manage your mood?

(image via: http://www.coventryinbloom.co.uk/Image_Gallery.htm)

 

In Defense of Conventional Bananas (Sort Of)

John raised a great point in my "green shopping tips" post about why he buys organic bananas: the pesticides used in conventional methods don't necessarily hurt the fruit or the eater (because of its thick rind), but the chemicals can hurt the people who grow and pick the bananas.

He's very right--and it used to be even worse.  In 2007, banana growers sued American companies Dole, Dow Chemical, and others because they claimed that in the 1970s, the companies negligently allowed workers to be exposed to DBCP, a toxic worm-fumigant known to cause infertility and cancer.  DBCP was banned by the U.S. in 1977, but other chemical fertilizers and pesticides are used to keep bananas "clean" yellow and free of bruises. This article makes a good case for organic banana-buying.

The problem is that organic bananas are $1.19/proud at my local Whole Foods Market, as opposed to $0.79/pound for conventional ones.  And I'll confess: I've been spoiled by the idea that bananas are smooth and yellow, not brown and spotted.  Organic bananas that I've eaten in the past have tasted starchy to me, been small, and often had rotten spots.  That's my anecdotal experience, granted, but there it is.

The good news is, there is a middle way for those of us who don't want to pay $0.40 extra at the market for food whose pesticide residue is unlikely to find its way into our bodies, yet who care about worker safety and health and want to feel that we're not hurting whole communities so we can have bananas in our morning cereal.

That middle way is the "Fair Trade" seal that appears on the $0.79/pound conventional bananas at my market. The seal means, among other things, that workers are:

a) Paid a living wage
b) Protected from human rights abuses like child labor
c) Given healthcare benefits
d) Not exposed to banned toxic chemicals
e) Given protective clothing (gloves, masks) as needed to prevent respiratory and skin absorption of chemicals
f) Working under environmentally sound conditions

Click here to sign a petition to urge your grocery store to stock fair-trade bananas. 

But first, please leave comments - do you buy conventional bananas?  Are you comforted by "fair trade" seals?  Or do you avoid bananas because of the carbon footprint required to transport them to your neck of the woods?

(Image from this interesting Babble.com post about how bananas are marketed here in the U.S.)

Mercury in High-Fructose Corn Syrup

I posted a couple of weeks ago about the corn syrup lobby and their absurd advertising campaign that suggests that high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is "ok in moderation."  The latest brick in that wall came late last week with the release of a study by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy that showed measurable amounts of mercury in 17 out of 55 products in which HFCS was the first or second ingredient. (Thanks, April, for pointing me to this story!)

There's much to debate about the study and its scientific merit.  For one thing, its findings have not yet been reproduced, they are not published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, and the type and levels of mercury are subject to (some) debate.  For more on the study, read this Washington Post article and this one from WebMD.

Two things here stand out to me.  One is this fact: 90% of the HFCS made in the U.S. is made by a process that does not use mercury, but many processed packaged foods are made with HFCS from other countries, making the extent of the contamination difficult to trace. Which makes the case yet again for knowing where your food comes from.

The second is in this comment from David Wallinga, MD, the author of the study: "We've got a safer, more efficient technology for making these chemicals that are part of the ingredients used to manufacture high-fructose corn syrup," he told WebMD. 

He's referring to non-mercurial ways of making "caustic soda," a chemical that's used to separate corn kernels from corn starch, an essential part of gleaning HFCS from corn. If ever you needed convincing that HFCS is not "food," though, just unpack that sentence and witness these words:

• technology
• chemicals
• manufacture

Um, yum? Continue reading this post for the list of the 17 products that were found to contain mercury.

The Peanut Butter Recall and Food Safety

In addition to the many environmental and culinary reasons why more and more people are growing their own food or buying locally at farmer's markets is food safety.  When we know who grew our dinner, or at least when we know that a person in our neighborhood grew it, we have more trust that that person is looking out for our health and welfare. 

There's an interesting article on Treehugger today about the growing popularity of farmer's markets (there are 5,000 of them!) in Japan.  The author's point rings so true to me: "People are apparently buying  [products for sale at farmer's markets] because they feel safer eating products made by farmers who aren't afraid to be identified."

Food safety is surely on all our minds following the news in the last couple of weeks about peanut butter and peanut "paste" products being recalled because of salmonella taint.  For a full list of the peanut products that have been recalled, visit this FDA website.