I have been thinking about why I grow my own fresh fruit and vegetable. It is part of my life to live as healthily as reasonably possible and as I am definitely in the Third Age now and doing rather well compared with many others it is time to reflect more on all the factors that come into it. The official line is targeting such things as
Don't smoke
Don't drink (to excess), I never touch alcohol
Plenty of exercise but not too violent in case of injury
A varied diet
Lots of fruit amd vegetables, 5 a day and all that
Enough rest and sleep
..and so on.
However there is lots more to it all than that.
Where does one look for further information.
For a start there is more to home growing of food than just exercise, freshness and vitamin content, a mental challenge. I cannot think of anything else that touches so many aspects of successful lifestyle than vegetable and fruit growing.
I have searched in vain in the BBC for a link between gardening and food, it just doesn't exist and the viewer and listener is all the poorer for that. To the BBC the food programme ignores the production of food by the person wjho eats it, on the other side food production is farming, on to farms, farming is livestock and that seems to bring us to cows, sheep and maybe pigs. So one looks at their gardening, on TV this boils down to flowers etc, vegetebles and fruit hardly get a lookin, on radio it's hardly any better, Greg and Charlie keep out of vegetable production, they did a series called veg out (Channel 4)where they toured allotments and got a lot of (mis) information then it all got forgotten.It seems that nothing can break this compartmentalisation
I am sure that there is lots to discuss and hope that you will feel free to participate.The success of this topic is up to us all, please contribute.
Regards
Allan
Healthy Living
Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter
As a kick-off you might like to read this one
Allan
Is farming good for health?
http://www.channel4.com/science/microsi ... rming.html
Allan
Is farming good for health?
http://www.channel4.com/science/microsi ... rming.html
Hmmnn. I don't think I necessarily agree with you on this one Allan. Whilst there may not have been many outright discussions on gardening programmes and food programmes about the benefits of good food production, there are many chefs and gardeners keen to discuss their opinions on the links between the two.
There's the Heaven Kitchen/Heaven Garden stuff. James Martin has 20 acres now and is involved with Garden Organic. Jamie and his school meals. Gary Rhodes and the British Veg Movement. Rick Stein and the Good Food Movement. Henrietta Green. Hugh Fearnley Whittingshall. Tamsin Day Lewis. Food Uncut. Good Food Live. Saturday Kitchen. Full on Food. The list goes on........
Beyond those there's Alan T, Monty Don, Sarah Raven, Joy Larkcom, Toby Buckland and others who are at the forefront of encouraging the everyday gardener to grow fruit and veg to eat.
And more.................
There's the Heaven Kitchen/Heaven Garden stuff. James Martin has 20 acres now and is involved with Garden Organic. Jamie and his school meals. Gary Rhodes and the British Veg Movement. Rick Stein and the Good Food Movement. Henrietta Green. Hugh Fearnley Whittingshall. Tamsin Day Lewis. Food Uncut. Good Food Live. Saturday Kitchen. Full on Food. The list goes on........
Beyond those there's Alan T, Monty Don, Sarah Raven, Joy Larkcom, Toby Buckland and others who are at the forefront of encouraging the everyday gardener to grow fruit and veg to eat.
And more.................
I think you have missed the point. Yes, there are many individuals on your list and beyond doing a lot of flag-waving but on an institutional level they just don't get through. For example Rick Stein on his programmes goes to a place and advocates what is already there but on the level of actually creating new resources if it isn't there already he does nothing about it. You quote Monty Don, if you look at this forum you wil see many complaints about the appallingly low coverage of the edibles on Gardeners' World programmes and the suppression of those allotment programmes on the excuse that they were unexpectedly too popular. I don't usually watch those programmes but,for instance, he sowed the peas in a shallow drill and that was it. In the real world if you do that the mice come along and eat those peas, but you bet at harvest time the BBC won't tell you about what you should have done to prevent that such as modules, paraffin, chopped gorse.
Re Joy Larcom. She is responsible to a large degree for the interest in hitherto little-known salad ingredients but only on a home production cca basis. That by its nature is incapable of making any impact at all on what you can buy on the High Street for those who cannot or will not grow their own.
Need I go on?
Here at home we can provide in midwinter a mid-day salading of tomatoes, beetroot, celery,chicory, watercress, montia, bean sprouts, which must be about as healthy as you can expect. We only buy in a cos lettuce from Tesco. A lot more could be done to make such a selection the norm on many more lunch tables.
I would like to show you the restrictive measures that the Welsh are bringing in on behalf of the EC for growers to fulfil to stay in business, the cost in time and money to be incurred. We shall have no choice but to ignore it, but it is bound to have a negative impact on the trickle of healthy food getting to Farmers Markets.
Re Joy Larcom. She is responsible to a large degree for the interest in hitherto little-known salad ingredients but only on a home production cca basis. That by its nature is incapable of making any impact at all on what you can buy on the High Street for those who cannot or will not grow their own.
Need I go on?
Here at home we can provide in midwinter a mid-day salading of tomatoes, beetroot, celery,chicory, watercress, montia, bean sprouts, which must be about as healthy as you can expect. We only buy in a cos lettuce from Tesco. A lot more could be done to make such a selection the norm on many more lunch tables.
I would like to show you the restrictive measures that the Welsh are bringing in on behalf of the EC for growers to fulfil to stay in business, the cost in time and money to be incurred. We shall have no choice but to ignore it, but it is bound to have a negative impact on the trickle of healthy food getting to Farmers Markets.
As a footnote, go into any shop that sells magazines and look at the number of magazines devoted mostly if not entirely to ornamental gardening as opposed to those with an emphasis on fruit and vegetable production which to the best of my knowledge is two!
Look at the house magazine of the Royal Horticultural Society and count the number of articles about edibles, you are lucky if there is one, I have only once noted two. Go to Malvern and see what prominence there is to fresh healthy food and things are no better, the National Vegetable society stall is dominated by those growing for show. I hope the new team on TKG will one day see their way to have a presence at Malvern in future years but they have missed the boat this time.
Allan
Look at the house magazine of the Royal Horticultural Society and count the number of articles about edibles, you are lucky if there is one, I have only once noted two. Go to Malvern and see what prominence there is to fresh healthy food and things are no better, the National Vegetable society stall is dominated by those growing for show. I hope the new team on TKG will one day see their way to have a presence at Malvern in future years but they have missed the boat this time.
Allan
Don't get me wrong. This topic is meant to look at more aspects than just food and how to grow it. to name one aspect,I hope to post some valuable pointers about vitamins, trace elements, supplements etc. in due course.
Meanwhile some more to browse from my favourite programme, clickonline, now called click, from the BBC, to whom I am indebted for this link. Lots about composting, various vegetables etc.
www.selfsufficientish.com
Have a nice day
Allan
Meanwhile some more to browse from my favourite programme, clickonline, now called click, from the BBC, to whom I am indebted for this link. Lots about composting, various vegetables etc.
www.selfsufficientish.com
Have a nice day
Allan
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Guest
We decided to attempt self sufficiency years ago and have lived, more or less like our parents did. No TV or newspapers, very little money, but bag’s of time to ourselves as we reject capitalism and prefer co-operation as a mode of living. We see most folk treat food as a small part of their lifestyle as they spend much effort finding the cheapest - as if the cheapest were best?
Most car drivers would never dream of putting cheep oil in their cars yet fill themselves up with lots of junk. Treating their cars better than their own selves or even their children is strange to watch - we gave up pointing out these obvious facts as none was really interested anyway. So we just got on and decided to set our own example and leave it at that.
Our children and now our Grandchildren are quite different from their contemporaries as they were also taught at home. They are much more rounded people for it and see and understand much that passes right over the top of most folk. As I have always made my own alcohol, country wine and beer so we all like a tipple here, Allan. All these thing coalesce to make our lives very happy day to day, unlike most folk who usually refer to being happy in the past tense as they always seem to look back on brief periods of happiness.
Life should be comfortable, both physically and mentally - our food has a direct consequence on both and therefore must be important. Unfortunately capitalism sets us apart from each other and therefore is an important element in how are lives are lived. We have done our best to keep its tentacles at bay, but like water it tents to seep in everywhere. I look forward to an interesting discussion!
Tom Parsons
Somerset
Most car drivers would never dream of putting cheep oil in their cars yet fill themselves up with lots of junk. Treating their cars better than their own selves or even their children is strange to watch - we gave up pointing out these obvious facts as none was really interested anyway. So we just got on and decided to set our own example and leave it at that.
Our children and now our Grandchildren are quite different from their contemporaries as they were also taught at home. They are much more rounded people for it and see and understand much that passes right over the top of most folk. As I have always made my own alcohol, country wine and beer so we all like a tipple here, Allan. All these thing coalesce to make our lives very happy day to day, unlike most folk who usually refer to being happy in the past tense as they always seem to look back on brief periods of happiness.
Life should be comfortable, both physically and mentally - our food has a direct consequence on both and therefore must be important. Unfortunately capitalism sets us apart from each other and therefore is an important element in how are lives are lived. We have done our best to keep its tentacles at bay, but like water it tents to seep in everywhere. I look forward to an interesting discussion!
Tom Parsons
Somerset
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Anonymous
Allan, you are leaning against an open door here with regard to TV gardening programmes. If its not ornamental its not worth broadcasting. There is nothing on analogue/freeview TV to do with growing edible crops!
valmarg
valmarg
Well we did the whole Good Life thing in the 80's and early 90's, with chickens, turkeys, ducks, cattle, lambs and sheep, goats, guinea fowl, pigs, drawing milk, making cheese, having spare eggs, but it doesn't pay the bills. We now have the best of all worlds - one high earner in the public sector paying top line tax, another who works from home paying taxes and getting nothing back for them, we grow all our own fruit and veg, we support local producers and any ethnic variation available - particularly Bangladeshi, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Thai and Pakistani and we're about to produce English wine for which we'll be taxed. Despite the constraints, we still believe it's the best place to live.
Happy days.
Happy days.
Thank you for the contributions, keep them coming.
Tigger, there are a lot of people try the livestock route and find it doesn't work out, our only excursion into that sector was rabbits and that never took off.It so happens that if you look round Hereford and ignore the supermarkets you can get many commodity-type edibles from other local suppliers. The local sprouts are top rate. Evan Aldi scores well on some items.
We have always grown what we can for orselves while I was working but on retirement it seemed sense to move into a bigger commitment and use our free tome profitably. There are strict limits on what one do on an allotment where public access for good or evil can never be totally stopped. However when one looks at the value of produce from the point of view of selling it one gets a totally different balance. Homegrown potatoes are very nice but rather than put all that effort in when one can buy very nice locally grown potatoes at rock bottom prices it pays us to grow a crop that stands out from the other commercial crops if it is available at all and spend the money on the potatoes etc. There are many crops like that. However on the other side fresh herbs get a very attractive price in the right market, even runner beans of selected high quality will sell when the market has a glut of stringy, limp bog standard beans that can't be given away. One more example, baby pumpkins small enough for an individual serving cannot be generally bought yet are one of the easiest crops to grow. We have a very high reputation for our vine-ripened cherry tomatoes ans Swiss chard in sealed bags sells well in all seasons.We had to abandon polytunnel-grown climbing French Beans as we found there was always a glut and the picking and packing took up too much time just when the effort was needed elsewhere. I wouldn't give up on salads for home consumption but they sell well anyway once you know your market. Therefore I say that a degree of self-sufficiency is fine but in the world we live in there have to be limits if one is to balance the books.
I have already given that link to the website for partial self sufficiency, do please explore there, the site owner has been informed of KG and all that and acknowledged our presence.To repeat,
www.selfsufficientish.com
Allan
Tigger, there are a lot of people try the livestock route and find it doesn't work out, our only excursion into that sector was rabbits and that never took off.It so happens that if you look round Hereford and ignore the supermarkets you can get many commodity-type edibles from other local suppliers. The local sprouts are top rate. Evan Aldi scores well on some items.
We have always grown what we can for orselves while I was working but on retirement it seemed sense to move into a bigger commitment and use our free tome profitably. There are strict limits on what one do on an allotment where public access for good or evil can never be totally stopped. However when one looks at the value of produce from the point of view of selling it one gets a totally different balance. Homegrown potatoes are very nice but rather than put all that effort in when one can buy very nice locally grown potatoes at rock bottom prices it pays us to grow a crop that stands out from the other commercial crops if it is available at all and spend the money on the potatoes etc. There are many crops like that. However on the other side fresh herbs get a very attractive price in the right market, even runner beans of selected high quality will sell when the market has a glut of stringy, limp bog standard beans that can't be given away. One more example, baby pumpkins small enough for an individual serving cannot be generally bought yet are one of the easiest crops to grow. We have a very high reputation for our vine-ripened cherry tomatoes ans Swiss chard in sealed bags sells well in all seasons.We had to abandon polytunnel-grown climbing French Beans as we found there was always a glut and the picking and packing took up too much time just when the effort was needed elsewhere. I wouldn't give up on salads for home consumption but they sell well anyway once you know your market. Therefore I say that a degree of self-sufficiency is fine but in the world we live in there have to be limits if one is to balance the books.
I have already given that link to the website for partial self sufficiency, do please explore there, the site owner has been informed of KG and all that and acknowledged our presence.To repeat,
www.selfsufficientish.com
Allan
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Happymouse
- KG Regular
- Posts: 185
- Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2006 7:14 pm
- Location: Sussex
We tried self sufficiency (chickens, ducks, goat for a week, ferreting for rabbits, fruit and veg anyway) We lived in a remote cottage in Scotland - until our children came along. Our cottage was surrounded by cows and sheep. In the winter we shared our garden with wild deer, rabbits galore and the sheep which huddled round our doorstep. I think it is "in the blood" I feel so in touch with nature and the universe gardening and being outside. Gardeners understand what I mean when I say this - nobody else does !
Make it a habit to be happy
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oldherbaceous
- KG Regular
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Dear Happymouse, i know exactly what you mean, i just can never seem to find the right words to describe what i feel about nature and life. 
Kind regards Old Herbaceous.
Theres no fool like an old fool.
Kind regards Old Herbaceous.
Theres no fool like an old fool.
If you are not totally averse to the idea of swallowing any pill you might like to check the range of food supplements available from Healthspan, also the free literature which is very interesting even if you don't buy anything.
www.healthspan.com
I have recently added glucosamine to my daily intake and I am of the opinion that its reputation for controlling the deterioration in ones joints is well founded.
Delivery time a few days. No added postal charges.
www.healthspan.com
I have recently added glucosamine to my daily intake and I am of the opinion that its reputation for controlling the deterioration in ones joints is well founded.
Delivery time a few days. No added postal charges.
-
oldherbaceous
- KG Regular
- Posts: 13878
- Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2006 1:52 pm
- Location: Beautiful Bedfordshire
- Has thanked: 294 times
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Cheers for that Allan, i need to try something new for my joints as three in one oil is starting to cost a fortune.
Kind regards Old Herbaceous.
Theres no fool like an old fool.
Kind regards Old Herbaceous.
Theres no fool like an old fool.