Home gardening offers ways to trim grocery costs [Survival Today, an on going thread]

Americans finding soaring food prices hard to stomach can battle back by growing their own food. [Click image for a larger version] Dean Fosdick Dean Fosdick

Home vegetable gardens appear to be booming as a result of the twin movements to eat local and pinch pennies.

At the Southeastern Flower Show in Atlanta this winter, D. Landreth Seed Co. of New Freedom, Pa., sold three to four times more seed packets than last year, says Barb Melera, president. "This is the first time I've ever heard people say, 'I can grow this more cheaply than I can buy it in the supermarket.' That's a 180-degree turn from the norm."

Roger Doiron, a gardener and fresh-food advocate from Scarborough, Maine, said he turned $85 worth of seeds into more than six months of vegetables for his family of five.

A year later, he says, the family still had "several quarts of tomato sauce, bags of mixed vegetables and ice-cube trays of pesto in the freezer; 20 heads of garlic, a five-gallon crock of sauerkraut, more homegrown hot-pepper sauce than one family could comfortably eat in a year and three sorts of squash, which we make into soups, stews and bread."

She compares the current period of market uncertainty with that of the early- to mid-20th century when the concept of victory gardens became popular.

"A lot of companies during the world wars and the Great Depression era encouraged vegetable gardening as a way of addressing layoffs, reduced wages and such," she says. "Some companies, like U.S. Steel, made gardens available at the workplace. Railroads provided easements they'd rent to employees and others for gardening."

[Would this work with chickens???]

http://www.humeseeds.com/mole1.htm

Mole Formula

Mole hill in a lawnIf you are having problems with moles (or other small animals) try using this formula to drive them out of your yard:

* 1/4 cup castor oil
*

2 Tablespoons of liquid detergent soap
*

Blend the two together in a blender (they won’t mix properly otherwise)
* Add 6 Tablespoons water.
*

Blend again.
*

Store this mix in a container till needed.

When you are ready to apply the solution to the area where the moles are active:

Mix 2 tablespoons of the solution into 1 gallon of water. Pour it into the problem area (all over the affected area, not just down the holes).

Good Gardening!

Other Mole Control Information

Mole Ranger

Discouraging Moles Electronically

Mole Traps

Getting Rid of Moles

Moles Revisited

Applying Mole Formula

Imperial Crown Lily

Applying Mole Formula

I recently had a huge mole problem. I had someone come out and lay traps. Fortunately they have so far caught 2 of those darn critters.My back yard looked like Caddy Shack. I would like to know if I can use your mole recipe as a preventive on a regular basis? Would I spray it all over my yard and if so, how often do you recommend? I realize I would have to use it more often in this rainy weather.

Ed’s answer:

I would only use it in the areas where the moles are working, as this is apparently where the insect population is located….that’s their source of food. I think it is more effective if you put it on with a sprinkling can instead of spraying it. Generally, the mix will last for 2 to 3 months.

http://www.taoherbfarm.com/herbs/resources/bugspray.htm

Home Made Bug Sprays

Alcohol Sprays
The idea of using rubbing alcohol as a spray for plants pests has been around for years. Can cause leaf damage on African Violets, and Apple trees.
Protection offered: Alcohol sprays work on aphids, mealybugs, scale insects, thrips and whiteflies. Alcohol sprays have been used successfully on houseplants and tropical foliage plants. Most of these have heavy, waxy cuticles that are not easily burned.
How to Make: Use only 70% isopropyl alcohol(rubbing alcohol): mix 1 to 2 cups alcohol per quart of water. Using undiluted alcohol as a spray is very risky for plants. You can also mix up an insecticidal soap spray according to the dilution on the label but substitute alcohol for half of the water required.
How to Use: Since alcohol can damage plants always test your spray mix on a few leaves or plants first. Tests results should show up within 2 or 3 days.

Tomatoe Leaf Nightshade family plants, such as tomatoes, potatoes and tobacco, have toxic compounds called alkaloids in their leaves. These toxins are water soluble and can be soaked from chopped leaves and made into home-made sprays. These sprays also work by attracting natural pest enemies. The good bugs follow the smell of the spray in looking for prey.
Protection Offered: Tomatoe leaf sprays have been used to protect plants from aphids. Also, spraying tomatoe leaf spray on corn may reduce corn earworm damage. The corn earworm is also called the tomatoe fruitworm, as it also attacks tomatoe plants. A scientific study has shown that corn plants sprayed with tomatoe leaf spray attracted significantly more Trichogramma wasps to parasitize the corn earworm eggs than the unsprayed did.
How to Make: Soak 1 to 2 cups of chopped or mashed tomatoe leaves in 2 cups of water overnight. Strain through cheescloth or fine mesh, add about 2 more cups of water to the strained liquid, and spray. For aphid control, be sure to thoroughly cover the leaf undersides, especially of lower leaves and growing tips of plants where aphids congregate.
How to Use: Spray plants thoroughly, particularly undersides of lower leaves and growing tips where aphids congregate. while this spray is not poisonous to humans on contact, use care in handling, especially if you are allergic to the nightshade family.

Garlic Oil Sprays:
Organic gardeners have long been familiar with the repellent or toxic affect of garlic oil on pests. when it is combined with mineral oil and pure soap,as it is in the recipe that follows, devised at the Henry Doubleday Research Association in England, it becomes an effective insecticide. Some studies also suggest that a garlic oil spray has fungicidal properties.
Protection Offered: Good results, with quick kill, have been noted against aphids, cabbage loopers, earwigs, June bugs, leafhoppers, sqaush bugs and whiteflies. The spray does not appear to harm adult lady beetles, and some gardeners have found that is does’nt work against the Colorado potaoe beetles, grape leaf skeletonizers, grasshoppers, red ants, or sowbugs.
How to Make: Soak 3 ounces of finely minced garlic cloves in 2 teaspoons of mineral oil for at least 24 hours. Slowly add 1 pint of water that has 1/4 ounce liquid soap or commercial insecticide soap mixed into it. Stir thoroughly and strain into a glass jar for storage. use at a rate of 1 to 2 Tablespoons of mixture to a pint of water. If this is effective, try a more dilute solution in order to use as little as possible.
How to Use: Spray plants carefully to ensure thorough coverage. To check for possible leaf damage to sensitive ornamentals from the oil and soap in the spray, do a test spray on a few leaces or plants first. If no leaf damage occurs in 2 or 3 days, go ahead and spray more.

Herbal Sprays
Many organic farmers are familiar with using sprays made from aromatic herbs to repel pests from the garden plants. Several recent studies confirm the repellent effect of such sprays. The essential oil of Sage and Thyme and the alcohol extracts such as Hyssop, Rosemary, Sage, Thyme, and White Clover can be used in this manner. They have been shown to reduce the number of eggs laid and the amount of feeding damage to cabbage by caterpillars of Diamond back moths and large white butterflies. Sprays made from Tansy have demonstrated a repellent effect on imported cabbageworm on cabbage, reducing the number of eggs laid on the plants. Teas made from Wormwood or Nasturtiums are reputed to repel aphids from fruit trees, and sprays made from ground or blended Catnip, Chives, Feverfew, Marigolds, or Rue have also been used by gardeners against pests that feed on leaves.
Protection Offered: Try herbal sprays against any leaf-eating pests and make note of what works for future reference.
How to Make: In General, herbal sprays are made by mashing or blending 1 to 2 cups of fresh leaves with 2 to 4 cups of water and leaving them to soak overnight. Oor you can make a herbal tea by pouring the same amount of boiling water over 2 to 4 cups fresh or 1 to 2 cups dry leaves and leaving them to steep until cool. Strain the water through a cheesecloth before spraying and dilute further with 2 to 4 cups water. Add a very small amount of nondetergent liquid soap (1/4 teaspoon in 1 to 2 quarts of water) to help spray stick to leaves and spread better. You can also buy commercial essential herbal oils and dilute with water to make a spray. Experiment with proportions, starting with a few drops of oil per cup of water.
How to Use: Spray plants thoroughly, especially undersides of leaves, and repeat at weekly intervals if neccessary.

“Hot” Dusts
Black pepper, chili pepper, dill, ginger, paprika, and red pepper all contain capsaicin, a compound shown to repel insects. Synthetic capsaicin is also available for feild use. Researchers have found that as little as 1/25 ounce of capsaicin sprinkled around an onion plant reduced the number of onion maggot eggs laid around the plant by 75%, compared to a control plant.
Protection Offered: Capsaicin-containing dusts repel onion maggots from seedlings, as well as other root maggot flies from cabbage family plants and carrots. Pepper dusts around the base of the plants help repel ants, which is desirable in a garden where ants often protect and maintain aphid colonies on plants.
How To Make: It can be rather expensive to buy enough packaged pepper dusts to sprinkle throughout your garden. However, if you grow and dry your own red peppers, chili peppers, or dill, you can make lots of dust at low cost. Use a mortar and pestle to grind the peppers, or dill, including the seeds, to dust. Be careful handling the hot peppers because they irritate sensitive skin.
How to Use: Sprinkle along seeded rows of onions, cabbage, or carrots, in a band at least 6 inches wider than the row or planting bed. A fine sprinkling will suffice, but the more dust you use, the better the effect. Renew after a heavy rain or irragation. To protect plants from ants, sprinkle around the base of plants in an area as wide as the widest leaves.

Pyrethrin
The dried, powdered flowers of the pyrethrum daisy, Tanacetum cinerarifolium, were used as early as 1880 to control mosquitoes. The popularity of pyrethrum insecticides waned when synthetic insecticides were introduced, but they are now enjoying a commercial comeback. Many new products formulated with natural pyrethrums are available. Pyrethrins are the insecticidal chemicals extracted from the pyrethrum daisy. Do not confuse them with pyrethroids, the term for a new class of synthetic pesticides. Pyrethrums, which are mainly concentrated in the seeds of the flower head, are a contact insecticide, meaning the insect only has to touch the substance to be affected. Pyrthrins have a quick knockdown effect on insects: Flying insects are paralyzed. pyrethrins can be applied up to one day before harvest because they are quickly destroyed by light and heat and are not persistent in the environment. Pyrthrins will kill lady beetes but do not appear to be harmful to bees. They are toxic to fish and to the aqautic insects and other small animals that fish eat. Pyrethrins do not seem to be toxic to birds or mammals.
Protection Offered: Pyrethrins are registered for flowers, fruits, and vegetables, including greenhouse crops. they are effective on many chewing and sucking insects, including most aphids, cabbage loopers, celery leaftiers, codling moth, Colarado potaotoe beetles, leafhoppers, Mexican bean beetles, spider mites, stink bugs, several species of thrips, tomato pinworms, and whiteflies. they are especially good against flies, gnats, mosquitoes, and stored products pests. Flea beetles are not affected, nor are imported cabbageworms, diamondback moths, pear psylla, and tarnished plant bugs.
How to Make: If you grow your own pyrethrum daisies, you’ll have the main ingredient for a make-it-yourself spray. The concentration of pyrethrums is at its peak when the flowers are in full bloom, from the time the first row of florets open on the central disk opens too the time all the florets are open. pick flowers in full bloom and hang them in a sheltered, dark spot to dry. Once the flowers have dried thoroughly, grind them to afine powder, using a mortar and pestle, old blender or small hammer mill. Mix with water and add a few drops of liquid soap. Store in a glass jar and keep the lid tightly closed, because the mixture looses activity if left open. You’ll have to experiment with the amount of water to add, because the concentration of pyrethins in the flowers is an unknown variable. If the spray you make does not seem to kill insects, use less water the next time you make the concentrated spray. Also keep in mind whole flower heads stay potent longer so do not grind until ready to use.
How to Use: Pyrethrins are more effective at lower temperatures, so for best results, apply in early evening when temperatures are lower. Spray both the upper and lower surfaces of the leaves, because spray must directly contact the insects such as thrips that hide in leaf sheaths and crevices. The first spray will excite them and bring them out of hiding, the second will kill them. Never use pyrethrin products around waterways and ponds.

Nicotine
One of the top three insecticides in the 1880s, nicotine in several forms is still widely used. Nicotine comes from the tobacco plant and is extremely toxic to insects. The great advantage of home-made nicotine tea is that it is very short ived, retaining its toxicity for only a few hours after spraying. It is relatively nonhazardous to bees and lady beetles because of its short persistence.
Protection Offered: Nicotine is effective against ground and soil pests, especially root aphids and fungus gnats, and on many leaf-chewing insects, such as aphids, immature scales, leafhoppers, thrips, leafminers, pear psylla, and asparagus beetle larvae.
How To Make: You can brew your own batch of nicotine tea by soaking tobacco leaves or cigarette butts in water to make a spray. Soak 1 cup of dried, crushed tobacco leaves, or an equivalent amount of cigarette butts, in one gallon of warm water with 1/4 teaspoon pure soap added. Strain the mixture through cheesecloth after it has soaked for 1/2 hour. The solution will keep for several weeks if stored in a tightly closed container.
How to Use: For soil pests, pour the spray mixture onto the soil in the area of the stem base and root zone. for leaf pests, spray leaves thoroughly, especially the undersides. Nicotine can be absorbed by plant leaves and remain there for several weeks. to be safe, use nicotine only on young plants and only up to one month before harvest. It’s probably safest not to spray nicotine on eggplant, peppers or tomatoes. While most tobacco cultivars now grown are resistant to tobacco mosaic virus, nicotine sprays could contain the pathogen, which will infect nightshade family crops.

Tobacco teas are sometimes prepared by home gardeners to control garden pests, and while not as toxic as nicotine sulfate sprays, any nicotine solution toxic enough to kill insects can also be harmful to humans” (http://www.agweb.okstate.edu/pearl/hort/ornamental/f6433.htm)

Resources: Rodale’s Chemical-Free Yard and Garden

How to make homemade bread (white):

Grease a breadpan, and (optional) shake in some cornmeal around the bottom, dumping out the excess.

Put one cup of lukewarm water into a glass bowl, then add two teaspoons of sugar, stir to dissolve. Add a tablespoon of yeast, stir in with wooden spoon and set aside. The yeast will dissolve, multiply, and raise up a “sponge” of bubbles, as it sits.

In a large bowl, put 3 cups of flour, one teaspoon of salt. Stir to mix thoroughly. When yeast mix has about a half inch or more of bubbles on top (called the “sponge”) pour it into the flour mix. Add two tablespoons of softened butter or other oil. Mix thoroughly, dough will be very thick. Use the dough to sweep the flour off the sides, until the bowl is nearly clean.

Turn dough out onto floured surface, and knead vigorously for at least 9 minutes (I use a timer). If dough is too sticky, add flour a bit at a time until it no longer sticks.

When kneading is properly finished, the dough will be very smooth, almost satiny, and it will spring back a bit if you poke it with your finger.

Then, brush the entire dough ball with a bit of oil or butter, and put it back in the mixing bowl. Cover it with a damp towel, and sit it in a warm place until the dough has approximately doubled from the original size.

“Punch” the dough down, and shape it into a loaf. Put it in the breadpan, cover it again with a damp cloth, and put it back into the warm place to rise again. Do not add any flour after the first rising, it will not cook well.

When the dough has again risen to double the size it was when you put it in the pan, place in the oven at 350 degrees until it’s warm brown on top, approximately 45 minutes, depending on the oven. If you take it out too soon, the middle will be raw.

Sit the bread in the pan on top the stove. If you want a soft crust, brush it with butter while it’s hot. If you prefer crunchy crust, let it cool with no butter.

If you try to slice hot bread, it won’t work well. Of course, that never stopped my family—they just tear off chunks and butter them, eating them hot.

Just a note: the smell of baking bread is so wonderful, people will be popping in and out of the kitchen asking how soon it will be done. Tell them you’ll let them know. :D

Suggestion: after the bread has cooled, if you have any leftover, slice it and toast it. It’s almost like baking it fresh again....

Variation: for Italian bread, add oregano, rosemary and sage to the flour before adding yeast. Use olive oil.

For french bread, use real butter, and for second rising, stretch dough into two thick sticks onto a cookie sheet, use it for the baking also. Before baking, brush tops with egg white or milk.

Other: Add grated cheese to the flour, and knead it in with the flour. Brush the top with egg whites, and sprinkle sesame seeds, poppy seeds, finely chopped garlic, or all three onto the tops before baking.

General thoughts: Yeast produces the gas that makes bread rise. Contact with metal will kill the yeast, so always use wooden spoons and glass bowls. Yeast can be frozen, and kept nearly forever that way. However, if you don’t get a yeast sponge, your bread will not rise. If you want to shape the bread, for instance into a braid, do it after the first rising and before the second. The smell of baking bread is a visceral feeling of “home.” There is peace and comfort in it.

http://www.alpharubicon.com/kids/homemadeberkeydaire.htm

good photos......

*Home Made Berkey Water Filter*
By: Daire
22 January 2008

I have a large family and our current home does not afford us much space for water storage. While we are able to store some, our contingency water plan centers around the two stormwater holding ponds near our home. However, this water is standing water that mainly is supplied by runoff from the parking lots of our townhouse complex. So, thorough filtering is required to remove the variety of contaminants that are likely present in the water.

The best option for this situation is the proven Berkey water filter. Berkey filters are gravity filters that use cleanable micro-permeable ceramic filter elements. These filters are extremely effective, long-lasting and require no electricity. The only drawback is that they are expensive, and money saved is money that can be spent on other preps. You can save about $175-200 or more by making your own.

This article will guide you through the construction of a filter equivalent in performance to the Imperial Berkey that sells for about $300. My total cost was $122

Gather the necessary components. You will need the following:

* two 5-gallon food grade buckets (got mine from Lowes for $5 each)
* two lids for the buckets (got mine from Lowes for $1.50 each)
* a pair of Black Berkey filter elements (ordered mine on Ebay for $99 which included free shipping and a free Sport Berkey filtered bottle)
* a food grade spigot (the kind used for large coffee pots or water coolers is perfect, ordered mine from jamesfilter.com for $10)

Drill two 1/2” holes in the bottom of the upper bucket and two matching holes in the lid of the lower bucket.

Drill a 3/4” hole in the side of the lower bucket toward the bottom. Make sure that the hole is up just far enough for the spigot to clear when the filter is sitting on a flat surface

Assemble the lower bucket by installing the spigot and the lid with holes.

Install the filter elements in the upper bucket through the holes in the bottom.

Assemble the filter by placing the upper bucket on the lower. Be sure to line up the holes so the tubes extend through the lid of the lower bucket. Place the remaining lid on top.

To use the filter, fill the upper bucket with water and wait. If you are starting with dry elements, it will take quite a while before the water starts dripping into the lower bucket. It takes up to several hours for the clean water to drain into the lower bucket. This process can be sped up considerably by frequently topping off the water in the upper bucket. This maintains maximum pressure on the elements.

Notes:

* I had no scientific way to test the water quality; however, the filtered water was clear, had no odor, and tasted similar to distilled.
* The specifications of the Black Berkey elements can be found here: http://berkeywater.com/BerkeyLight/BB_Purification_Elements.html
* There are a number of ways to make this even cheaper: Use free buckets from a grocery store bakery or restaurant. I have found the same type of spigot for $5 since making this one. Super Sterasyl elements can be substituted for the Black Berkey elements. They cost about $84 a pair.
* The filter can be made considerably larger by using any two stacking containers suitable for water, trash cans or 30-gallon water barrels for instance. The flow rate can also be increased by adding more filter elements.
* The filtered solids remain on the outside of the filter elements and will eventually interfere with the rate of flow. Therefore, it is important to prefilter through a dense cloth (we use cloth diapers) if your source water is particularly cloudy. The elements can be scrubbed clean with a plastic scouring pad. The Black Berkey elements last for about 3000 gallons each (6000 gallons for the pair).

Daire

www.alpharubicon.com
All materials at this site not otherwise credited are Copyright © 1996 - 2008 Trip Williams. All rights reserved. May be reproduced for personal use only

http://www.alpharubicon.com/survpage/thinkingoutof.htm

Thinking Out Of The Box*
By: Warlord
7-1-02

Newspaper Stories amaze me... Every day, in any given Newspaper there are stories of needless deaths and suffering by victims that didn’t have to be victims. To these victims, “having their back against the wall” means just that, “No Options”. When begging doesn’t work, they die... needlessly in many cases.

Thinking Out Of The Box is important in Survival situations and everyday life. However, Learning to think clearly under pressure is important before Thinking Out Of The Box can do you any good, and it’s a skill you must practice.

There is a saying in some Martial Arts about “Trained Spontaneity”.... it sounds like an oxymoron, but it’s not really. Practicing any given subject trains not only your body, but your subconscious mind. When a threat is faced, the mind now has more “instant options” available to it due to training. You’ve practiced so much that you don’t even have to think about it, you just DO IT.

One way to practice thinking clearly in stressful situations is to do just that, practice it when you are under pressure. The next time you’re nervous about a teen coming home late, or your boss chewing your butt, or whatever, play the “what if game”.

“What if an earth quake hit right now?”
“What if a terrorist attack happened right now?”
“What if I lost my job?”

Think these mental scenarios through and make detailed plans... this not only teaches you to think under pressure, but it allows you to take your mind off a current problem that you can’t do much about.

Once you start getting a handle on thinking under pressure, then learn to “think out of the box”

A recent Newspaper article lamented the death of a woman that was the victim of a home break in. She lived in a mobile home and heard the break in occurring. She had obviously retreated to a small windowless bathroom and, being “trapped” in there, she tried to hide... she was raped and killed.

This was a mobile home, not Fort Knox. She was separated from freedom by some thin sheetrock, a layer of fiberglass insulation, and some vinyl siding... one good kick to the inner wall would have created an instant escape route to the outside, but in her mind it was a wall, and that was that.

As silly as it sounds, another man was robbed in his home by a club wielding attacker... when asked about the shotgun in his bedroom, he said it was for “Hunting”.. DUH!

Yet another man was stopped in his car at an intersection by a group of “kids” with baseball bats in a bigger city. They beat him almost to death... He was sitting in a 4000 pound weapon, simply hitting the gas would have stopped that attack at the onset. To him it was “just a car”, not a weapon.

Recently during the flooding out west, another man was rescued by National guardsmen after sitting on his roof top for several days... one of the rescuers commented that there was a large Plastic “Kids pool” floating nearby, complete with 4 sandbox shovels, plastic pails, etc”... sounds like a boat and 4 paddles to me.

How ‘bout the man found frozen to death in his car during a snow storm last year? Why not cut the car seats up and use them for body insulation?

Learn to think “Out of the box”. Is a wall really a wall? During your “What if” scenarios, look around at what is available to you and find creative uses for it.

In parting, let me tell you about the friend that had a leak in his kitchen ceiling... did he stick a bucket under it? Nope, he used some kite string and a thumb tack. He stuck the thumb tack in the ceiling at the leak, tied the kite string to it, and then ran the kite string over to the kitchen sink... the drip ran down the string and into the sink, saving him from having to empty a bucket every few hours until the rain stopped. THAT is thinking “out of the box”
Warlord

http://www.alpharubicon.com/med/scurvyargus.htm

Scurvy, What you don’t eat CAN hurt you:

Micronutrients and refugee preparations

By:Argus
10 February 2006

This is not intended to be an exposition on food preparation or storage. There is ample material on that subject. Instead, this article will serve as a reminder of some considerations you should make when selecting food for storage and use during emergency situations, based on nutrients the body needs in minute amounts in order to function properly (”micronutrients”.)

It is easy to collect a couple of 50-pound bags of beans and rice, some cans of SPAM, and a barrel of water and call yourself prepared. While there is nothing inherently wrong with any of these items (unless you have an aversion to SPAM as most people do), without the micronutrients supplied by a variety in your diet or appropriate supplements, over the long haul a restricted diet can lead to a number of health problems and impair your ability to function, or worse.

This article will cover several of these problems, and make some suggestions on what to include in your preparations in order to avoid them.

I am not a doctor, and I am not proposing to give medical advice or diagnose any illness here. Rather, my purpose is to raise awareness of some nasty things that are out there that will bite if you don’t put some thought into your preparations.

Now, before anyone gets up in arms over the use of the term “refugee”, I am not speaking of the unprepared population that heads for the government handouts during and after natural disasters and such, aka “Sheeple.” In this article a refugee is one who is taking refuge and for any number of reasons exists off of stored or emergency food sources. For those who practice preparedness, this could be us.

There are a number of medical conditions that are common among individuals living off of restricted diets, known as micronutrient deficiencies. Your belly may be full, but that doesn’t make you healthy. For the most part, these are common in underdeveloped countries, refugee camps, and individuals who for other reasons do not have access to proper nutrition. In a SHTF scenario, that latter could be us without proper preparation. Listed below are some of the more common micro-nutritional disorders, common symptoms and consequences, and recognized preventative measures.

* Scurvy: Far from dying out after discovery by naval doctors in the age of exploration, scurvy occurs today in individuals who have a deficit of Vitamin C / ascorbic acid in their diet. It is common in teens that have a diet high in junk foods. Some symptoms are recession and bleeding of gums, corkscrew hair, and small hemorrhages around the fingernails. Lack of vitamin C also impairs the body’s ability to use protein and diminishes circulatory health. Prevention involves consumption of fresh fruits (especially citrus) and most vegetables.

* Pellagra: Common in people whose diet consists mainly of corn and starch, pellagra is caused by a lack of the B-complex vitamin Niacin (B-3) and the amino acid tryptophan. Pellagro may cause skin sores, inflamed mucous membranes, diarrhea, confusion and delusions. Eggs and dairy products, poultry, fish, lean meat and nuts are good sources of Niacin, and to a lesser extent legumes and enriched grain products.

* Rickets: Caused by a deficiency in Vitamin D, rickets affects growing children by impairing skeletal growth. Breast-fed infants and dark-skinned individuals are most at risk. Largely wiped out by Vitamin D supplementation in milk, rickets is a concern particularly where Vitamin D deficiency is aggravated by lack of exposure to sunlight on the skin. Vitamin D is a fat soluble nutrient found in cod liver oil, salmon, mackerel and tuna, and can also be synthesized in the skin through exposure to UV rays in sunlight.

* Vitamin A deficiency: This is one of the most common micronutrient deficiencies found in refugee populations, often in conjunction with protein-energy malnutrition. Eyesight is linked directly to Vitamin A consumption. Lack of Vitamin A can cause deterioration of eyesight, night blindness, blindness, susceptibility to infection, or death. Green leafy vegetables, carrots and yellow fruits and vegetables are rich in Vitamin A.

* Iron deficiency anemia: Another of the top three deficiencies, this is most often caused by a lack of dietary iron, but may also be caused by parasitic infestations. Preschool children, adolescent girls, and women in child-bearing years are most at risk. The disorder causes retardation of mental and motor development in children, and in adults fatigue, loss of work capacity, and dangerous blood loss during childbirth. Consumption of red meat and fish, in conjunction with Vitamin C to enhance absorption is commonly recommended as treatment.

* Iodine deficiency: The third of the three most common deficiencies, and the greatest cause of preventable mental retardation in the world. Less common in the developed world since the introduction of iodine into table salt, visible goiter, impaired physical and mental development, stillbirth and birth defects are some results of this deficiency. Seafood consumption and supplemental iodine in salt are the most common and effective methods of prevention.

* Beriberi: A deficiency in Vitamin B-1 (Thiamin), beriberi is common among populations whose diet consists mainly of milled white rice. Common symptoms include fatigue, apathy, irritability, drowsiness, and depression, and in advanced cases can cause congestive heart failure. Whole grains, lean pork and legumes are good sources of Thiamin. Freezing does not affect thiamin, but heat and pasteurization destroy it.

* Zinc deficiency: Commonly associated with increased mortality from malaria, diarrhea, and pneumonia, zinc is important for the healing of wounds, healthy skin and proper immune function. Because zinc is not stored in the body, regular zinc intake is crucial. Men require roughly 30% more zinc than women. Early signs of deficiency are decrease in taste and poor immune function. Common sources of dietary zinc include meat, beans, lentils, nuts, yeast, and whole-grain cereals.

As you can see, little things in your diet can make a big difference in key survival functions such as energy level, wound healing, immune function and vision. For children and adolescents, micronutrients are crucial to proper mental and physical development, and contribute to pre- and post-natal survivability and health. Whether making food selections or adding vitamin supplements to your list of supplies, micronutrients should be a top consideration when choosing food preparations.

Studies by the United Nations, World Health Organization, Red Cross and others consistently point to limited dietary variety and lack of appropriate supplements as major causes of malnutrition and associated illnesses, resulting in elevated mortality rates and decreased productivity in refugee populations.

Prepare now, don’t let it happen to you.
Argus

www.alpharubicon.com

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