Except full nationalization and mega bailout, he does not seem to have any other suggestion. In a way, he is more or less clueless on what the real solution should be.
He is just scared sh*t. <<<
As usual, Tiger is right on the target.
Folks are getting so scared that it is not going to be a surprise at all, they will all know that it is coming.
Thanks for posting the link.
9th small quake hits northern edge of O.C.
March 16th, 2009, 5:05 pm · posted by Gary Robbins, O.C. Register science writer-editor
The series of earthquakes that have been occurring in and around the Western Hills Golf and Country Club in the Chino Hills area, on the northeast edge of Yorba Linda, continued today with a 2.3 quake at 5:13 p.m., following by a 2.5 quake in nearly the same spot at 6.34 p.m. and a 1.9 quake at 6:53 p.m., says the U.S. Geological Survey.
All three quakes occurred near the Western Hills Golf and Country Club in the Chino Hills.
As we’ve reported in earlier posts, the shaking is occurring west of the Chino Hills fault, and not far from the Yorba Linda trend, the seismic zone that produced a 5.4 quake last July.
These are the latest two quakes since the weekend, when 3 quakes occurred at the golf course in a 19 hour period.
Source: http://sciencedude.freedomblogging.com/2009/03/16/7th-small-quake-hits-northern-edge-of-oc/21877/
—
Check out http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/
Mysterious window shaking resumes in O.C.
March 16th, 2009, 3:33 pm · posted by Gary Robbins, O.C. Register science writer-editor
Residents from San Juan Capistrano to Huntington Beach have reported hearing and feeling windows and doors in their homes shake and rattle today between 3 p.m. and 4:15 p.m. — an eerie repeat of the unexplained door and window rattling that startled and frightened thousands of people in Orange County on March 3.
The readers include a person named Tracy in Corona del Mar, who said, ” OK we felt these on March 3rd same creepy window shaking one then the “aftershock” , but what about the past hour March 16th between 3;15 and 4:15? Just now? Crazy! Would really like to know what is going on… military testing in Camp Pendelton? Any one have any Ideas?”
The quick answer is that we don’t know what’s happening. Camp Pendleton recently announced that it would be conducting artillery training at different times around the clock. However, a Pendleton official said this afternoon that the Marines were not firing Howitzers during the period in which Orange County residents reported feeling shaking in their homes. And the U.S. Geological Survey says there haven’t been any earthquakes today that would produce widespread shaking across Orange County.
Source: http://sciencedude.freedomblogging.com/2009/03/16/mysterious-window-shaking-returns-to-oc/21849/
—
Check out http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/
From Santa Barbara County, California
This is an interesting story that explains how
goats & dogs are being used to prevent wild fires
in this part of California.
But it doesn’t mention anything about the problem
of Foxtails.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/links/NS_001237311882/
I have also added this link to the folder above.
Bill Zardus
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Dogpark-National-News/
http://www.santaynezvalleyjournal.com/archive/7/10/4005/
THIS STAFF WILL WORK FOR FOOD
By Wendy Thompson, = wendy@ syvjournal.com
Staff Writer
03/05/2009
snip
“Meyer’s main staff consists of three fine dogs:
two Great Pyrenees and an Anatolian shepherd.
The dogs keep constant watch over the herd of
Boer, Lamanche and Kikos (Spanish breed) goats.”
snip
Brush Goats 4 Hire may be reached at 805-705-2554,
or visit their Web site, www.brushgoats4hire.com.
Reach Wendy Thompson at wendy@ syvjournal.com
———————— End Of Story ————————
Be sure to check out our Links Section at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/links
Please join our Discussion Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters_discussion/ for topical but extended discussions started here or for less topical but nonetheless relevant messages.Yahoo! Groups Links
To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/
RICE DISEASES - USA (02): QUARANTINE
************************************
A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org
Date: Sun 15 Mar 2009
From: Jack Woodall woodall@promedmail.org
On 6 Mar 2009, the University of Arkansas, Division of Agriculture,
put out a warning of potential problems because of bakanae disease if
Californian rice seed is imported into Arkansas to replace a shortage
of local seed [ProMED-mail post no. 20090313.1029].
It was said that this is a seed-borne disease and not known to be
present in Arkansas or other southern states. The fungus poses a high
risk to rice and also affects other crops. Letting it loose in
Arkansas would be a major, irrecoverable disaster. On top of that,
Californian rice varieties would be useless due to their high
sensitivity to Arkansas rice blast strains.
What concerns me is the further statement, “We’re not sure if other
states are preventing this risky seed movement at this time, although
our State Plant Board is advising them to be aware of the situation.”
I recall the sad story of the attempted eradication of _Citrus
tristeza virus_ [CTV] in California, where citrus growers refused to
fell their trees in order to protect their neighbors’ orchards, so
that now the disease is endemic (see ProMED-mail post no.
20080305.0899). In that update ProMED commented: “It appears that a
short sighted decision 10 years ago has led to the present problem.
As a result of ignoring scientific advice at the time, much more
expensive measures are now necessary to ameliorate the effect of CTV
on the industry than would have been needed to maintain the CTV-free
status of the trees used for providing budwood.”
Are we going to see the same short-sighted, self-serving actions from
Arkansas rice growers, who may be willing to risk importing diseased
seed rather than having no rice crop, regardless of what they will
let loose in the state, which could spread to other crops there
besides rice, and to every other rice-growing state? Are other states
going to refrain from somehow obtaining Californian seed and passing
it off to Arkansas as local grown? Is there going to be an efficient
plant quarantine this time? Precedent does not encourage optimism.
Perhaps concerned ProMED-PLANT readers would care to contact state
agricultural officials and insist on a properly supervised
[quarantine] ban. ProMED-mail would be interested to hear of any
developments regarding this particular problem.
—
Jack Woodall
Associate Editor, ProMED-mail
Rio de Janeiro
Brazil
woodall@promedmail.org
[To prevent introductions of plant pathogens or to attempt
eradication of new incursions, any official measures cannot be
effective without the informed cooperation and positive support of
growers and the general public (for example, see ProMED-mail post no.
20090206.0528 on successful eradication of citrus canker in
Australia). These are long-term commitments for the benefit of
national agricultural industries and depend on the individual as much
as governments. - Mod.DHA]
[see also:
Rice diseases - USA: quarantine 20090313.1029
Citrus canker - Australia: (QLD) eradicated 20090206.0528
2008
http://laist.com/2009/03/16/secessionist_california_pig_farmers.php
Secessionist California Pig Farmers Swear Revenge on ‘Hollywood Types’
Rural California is seceding from the urban coast? Well, if industrial pig farmers have anything to do with it, cities like Visalia, Tulare, and Fresno will soon be working to separate themselves from the heathen-vegan coast! The reason? It’s all because we took their chicken coops away from them — or, at least, because we fought against current agro-industrial standards for livestock health and welfare.
continued.....
http://veganhomemade.wordpress.com/2009/03/15/chicken-n-beer/
Chicken n’ Beer
March 15, 2009 at 7:40 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged apples, beer, seitan, vegan
I couldn’t think of a better title for this post, so I’m going with it.
My thinking for this meal went: I have four tart apples from my CSA that aren’t my favorite type for snacking on, I should make applesauce. People put applesauce on pork chops, right? I should put applesauce on some sort of meaty thing. Seitan cutlets would work, but I really didn’t like the recipe from VCON. How bout this recipe for chicken-style seitan cutlets? Okay, and I’ll have baked acorn squash and steamed collards on the side. That’s a whole lot of sweet in one dinner, what about something bitter to balance it out? I had good luck with the balsamic reduction for my stromboli, I wonder what a beer reduction would be like?
Thus was born Grilled Chicken-Style Seitan Cutlets with Savory Applesauce and Pale Ale Reduction.
It turned out pretty good, all in all. You can’t really see the reduction, the color blended into everything else. The seitan cutlets are great, I would highly recommend them. Good texture, and rolling them out with a rolling pin is MUCH easier than trying to stretch them by hand. There are some leftover in my freezer right now, and that makes me happy. The applesauce ingredients were minced red onion, garlic, ginger, coriander, cumin, cinnamon, lemon juice and peeled apples. It was very, very tasty. I loved the fresh ginger flavor that came through. The beer reduction…well…I wouldn’t recommend anyone make a reduction from beer unless they really like beer flavor to begin with. I used a pale ale, which was pretty hoppy and might not have been the best choice. It became very bitter as it reduced, so I added a bit of sugar and salt to help it out. It was okay. If I try a beer reduction again I’ll use a lighter, less bitter beer, maybe like a hefeweizen.
Speaking of beer, I was tickled to come home one night and find this selection of beer looking out from our fridge.
I have to admit that we normally keep a pretty decent amount of beers in the fridge, but not this kind of amazing selection. These were all either gifted to us, left at our house by a friend, bought as a single or the remainder of a six pack. As Homer would say: Mmmm, beer…
http://joannavaught.com/2009/03/new-seitan-cutlets-recipe-and-seitan-troubleshooting.html
[more tips in comments]
08
Mar
New Seitan Cutlets recipe and Seitan Troubleshooting
category: cookbooks, recipes
It breaks my heart whenever I read a thread on the Post Punk Kitchen forum where people having trouble with boiled seitan recipes. Seitan is a staple in our house, and for good reason: each serving packs over 15 g of protein at only about 50 calories. Did I mention that it’s versatile and delicious?
Here is my newest recipe for seitan cutlets, followed by a little seitan troubleshooting:
Chicken Seasoning
enough for 4 batches of seitan
I make my own chicken seasoning, because the stuff they sell at the grocery store has way too much salt and sugar; some of it even has MSG and high fructose corn syrup. No thanks! I already have everything I need in my pantry. If you’re not a fan of nutritional yeast, go ahead and leave it out, but then reduce the amount of seasoning per seitan recipe to 1 tablespoon.
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons rubbed sage
2 teaspoons garlic powder or granulated garlic
2 teaspoons onion powder or dehydrated onion flakes
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon thyme
Combine in a lidded container and shake until well-combined. Store at room temperature for up to two months.
Seitan Cutlets
makes 6-8 cutlets
dry:
1 cup vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup chickpea flour or all purpose flour
2 tablespoons chicken seasoning
wet:
3/4 cup cold water or vegetable broth
1 tablespoon vegetable, grapeseed, or light olive oil
cooking broth:
8 cups cold vegetable broth or water with 2 tablespoons miso dissolved in it
Place a large heavy-bottomed 4 quart pot on the stove and add vegetable broth.
Combine your dry ingredients in one bowl and your wet ingredients in another bowl. Add wet to dry and mix well, then use your hands to knead the seitan mix gently for a few minutes—just until uniform and homogenous.
Between two sheets of parchment paper, roll out golf ball sized pieces of seitan dough as thinly as you can. If a cutlet tears a little from being rolled out too thinly, no big deal! Just re-form it into a ball and have another go at it. When it’s very thin, slip it into the cold broth and repeat with the rest of the seitan dough. There is no need to be a perfectionist about this. You’ll probably need to replace the parchment sheets at least once before you’re done, since they get greasy and stop being effective.
When all the cutlets have been rolled out and placed in the pot, allow them to rest in the cold water for 10 minutes or so. Then bring the water to a low simmer, cover, and allow seitan to cook for an hour. It is crucial that you never allow the broth to come to a boil, as this will result in spongey seitan.
When you come back, all the cutlets should be at the top and some will be sticking together slightly. Don’t worry about that. Take the pot off the heat and leave them in the water for at least a half hour, until cutlets are easy to handle.
You can cook with them right away, but I prefer to transfer them at this point to a container, refrigerate them for a few hours or overnight, and then cook with them later.
You will need “cook” these before eating them. Think of them as you would raw tofu: it’s safe to eat right out of the container, but it needs to be flavored and cooked for maximum taste. I get the best results from draining the cutlets, squeezing out as much moisture as possible, and then pan-frying them lightly in a little bit of oil.
Seitan Troubleshooting
I can’t help you fix someone else’s recipe, but if you follow my recipe and you’re still having trouble, here are some troubleshooting techniques.
Seitan is too spongey or “brainy.” Turn down the heat. The seitan can never, ever come to a boil. The water shouldn’t go above a low simmer. If you think that you might not be able to tell the difference between a simmer and a boil, check out this guide. If you’re still not sure that you can tell, try cooking your seitan in a crockpot on the low setting for a few hours.
I check that it doesn’t get to a boil and I lower the heat, but when I come back an hour later, it’s still spongey! In that case: take off the lid. I have a glass lid on my pot, so I check it visually every 10 minutes to make sure that the temperature hasn’t risen. If you don’t have a glass lid, the temperature could be steadily rising and reaching a boiling temperature and you wouldn’t even know it. Eliminate the guesswork and take off the lid.
My seitan isn’t spongey, but it’s not firm, either. If you make seitan with 100% VWG, it will be way too rubbery, which is why nearly every seitan recipe uses another flour. The higher the protein content of the secondary flour, the more firm the seitan will be. Use chickpea flour, also known as besan. Bob’s Red Mill makes a chickpea and fava bean blend that I like a lot.
The texture is fine, but my seitan is water-logged. Thirty minutes after cooking, I move each cutlet to paper bags to drain straight out of the broth. If you’re going to store them, move them to storage after the draining step. If you’re going to cook with them right away, sandwich them between paper towels (like you would with tofu straight out of the package) and gently squeeze out the extra moisture.
If you’re doing everything “right” and the seitan still tastes off, it’s probably the vital wheat gluten. I use Bob’s Red Mill exclusively. I’ve never used Arrowhead Mills, but I’ve heard from a lot of people that it doesn’t taste very good or produce good results with seitan.
I hope this helps!
http://joannavaught.com/2009/02
I just made this for myself because, shocker, I’m sick. This was a regular of mine when I was a baby vegan, and now I only make it when I’m sick because I feel like I have an excuse to make a soup that only has 5 ingredients and takes 15 minutes. If you don’t have soy creamer, soak 1/4 cup of raw cashews in 2 cups of soy milk and then blend it until smooth.
Tomato Basil Soup
makes 4 generous servings
1 tablespoon olive or coconut oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 28 oz can organic diced tomatoes, drained (Baby, you know the fire roasted Muir Glen are worth the extra $1.)
6 oz can tomato paste
1 pint or 2 cups soy creamer
1/4 cup fresh basil
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Heat oil over medium heat in a soup pot. Add garlic and saute until fragrant. Add the drained tomatoes and the tomato paste. Bring to a low simmer and simmer for 15 minutes, covered. Move it off the heat and allow it to sit for five minutes. Add the creamer and then blend the soup until smooth. Transfer the soup back to the pot. Chiffonade the basil and stir it in, and then season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.
http://joannavaught.com/2009/01
Hoppin’ John Cakes
makes 10-12 cakes or 4-6 servings
Be sure to use short grain rice in this recipe: the extra starch is essential in the recipe for helping the cakes hold their shape.
1 cup uncooked short grain brown rice
3 cups cooked or canned black eyed peas
2 tablespoons chopped pickled jalapeno or 1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 cup vital wheat gluten
olive or peanut oil for frying
Cook the rice according to the directions on the package and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine black eyed peas, jalapenos or hot sauce, olive oil, salt, and liquid smoke. Use a potato masher or your hands to mash the peas, just until they’re starting to stick together and clump up — about half of the peas should still be whole. Stir in the cooked brown rice, onion, and parsley, and now really get in there with your (clean!) hands and mush everything together until it’s uniform. Be sure to use your hands only — do not under any circumstances use a food processor or other device, as this will turn everything to useless mush.
Finally, stir in the vital wheat gluten and use your hands to mix it in well. This should take the consistency to the point where if you form a patty with your hands, it stays in the patty shape very easily. If it doesn’t do that, work it for another minute or so and it should stick together better.
TIP: The vital wheat gluten in the recipe is an egg replacer and helps with the binding, but you’re not going for a seitan firmness here. After frying, the cakes should be tender enough that they fall apart easily when you stick your fork in them — no knife required.
Heat a thin layer of oil in a large skillet until it is bubbling slightly but not spitting. This will probably be medium-low, but depending on how heavy your skillet is and which oil you use, it could be lower or higher. Make a 2 sheet layer of paper towels on a large plate next to the skillet.
Form patties with your hands that are about 1/2 inch thick and 3inch across — a little smaller than the the size of your palm. Lay them gently in the oil, fitting as many patties as you feel comfortable having in the skillet at once. After a few minutes, check one of the patties for color: you want to flip it when it’s uniformly golden brown on the bottom. Use that timing to gauge how long the rest will take to get to the right coloring on both sides of the patties. When both sides are cooked, transfer to the paper towels to drain. Serve warm.
http://vegandad.blogspot.com/2009/01/sausages-in-works.html
I have been working on a tempeh/seitan sausage in an attempt to make a sausage that is a little more tender and a little less “gluten-y.” Sometimes I find that the steamed sausages come out a little tough, or give my stomach a gluten overload. So far, my results have been pretty good, but a little too soft, I think. They taste great and have a good texture right out of the steamer, but they turn to mush if placed in a sauce. I am kind of sausaged out right now, so I will experiment again in a little while.
[Lots of vegan recipes]
http://www.pr.com/press-release/138945
Pop Farming Helps Homeowners Make the Switch from the Organic Produce Section to Backyard Urban Farms
Inspired by Cuba’s organoponico movement, Portland Oregon social entrepreneur Dan Bravin teaches homeowners how to create sustainable backyard farms. Portlanders are known for for their “green” living and environmentally friendly attitudes, the perfect place for Bravin to find homeowners who need help installing and maintaining chicken coops or finding the right composting methods for their property.
Portland, OR, March 16, 2009 —(PR.com)— Reliance on foreign oil, dependence on fertilizers, economic crisis: these are all a part of America’s current reality. A similar situation was faced by Cuba in the 1970’s, when the fall of the Soviet Union led to widespread poverty and massive hunger across the island. In response to this challenge, Cubans developed a system of urban farms called organioponicos that were instrumental in maintaining their survival in the absence of foreign foods, oil, and fertilizers. Inspired by the way the Cuban people persevered during this economic collapse, Portland-based social entrepreneur, Dan Bravin, has used the organioponico model in creating his own agricultural consulting business. In 2009, Bravin introduced Portland Organoponico Project (POP) Farming to the greater Metro area with the ideal of creating an urban community fully sustained by its own food production.
Oregonians already have a propensity for buying locally produced and environmentally friendly products, but the current economic crisis is forcing many homes to choose between buying locally grown, organic foods and paying the mortgage. Through 2008 it was reported that organic foods were consistently 20 to 100 percent more expensive than conventionally produced foods (”Sticker Shock in the Organic Aisles, “New York Times). According to Bravin, the best way to meet this challenge is for communities to grow
their own food. “It’s the time to get back to basics in some very important ways. It’s time to bring back the family farm...and put it in your back yard,” says Bravin.
Bravin’s goal is to empower Portland Metro homeowners by giving them tools to create thriving urban farms within the confines of their own property: consulting on and installing plants including, fruits and berries, edible natives, vegetables, herbs, and grains on a micro scale; matching individuals with composting systems that meet their needs; and providing guidance on everything chicken, installing chicken coops and consulting on chicken breeds and care. There are an overwhelming amount of resources and classes that give people great information, but by consulting with homeowners at their
residence, POP Farming creates a personalized experience in order to maximize production, leveraging the unique characteristics of the property.
About POP Farming
Bravin has been featured in The Oregonian as well as the Wall Street Journal for his work with City Garden Farms, a local company established in 2008 that uses residential yards for food production that is harvested and sold at local farmers markets as well as delivered to monthly subscribers. POP Farming offers a variety of personalized backyard farming services. POP Farming offers any level of consulting services from a simple starter overview of your garden up to hands-on, in-garden tutorials. Their goal is to make your garden successful and productive. For more information, visit http://popfarming.wordpress.com.
###
Contacts:
Daniel Bravin, President Stephanie W. Cook
503.730.0981 503.224.3487
pop.farm.info@gmail.com stephanie@colourmarketing.com
http://popfarming.wordpress.com/
Interesting page, it appears that Portland is pushing Urban Gardening and even giving classes on it.
granny
http://trashfactory.net/sunrootgardens/
Sunroot Gardens
|||urban survival farming
announcement
Sunroot has no more shares for 2009 so check out:
“Calliope’s Table” Urban Gardens & CSA
“The future’s here. We are it. We’re on our own.”
[Bob Weir + John Barlow]
Ready to get serious about growing food for survival in these changing times? Here’s what Sunroot Gardens is doing:
* planting veggies in the city; in front, back & side yards, empty lots & anyplace else possible
* raising staple crops like wheat, beans & quinoa in large plots, in & out of town
* bartering produce & staple crops for land, labor, goods & services needed to farm (see wish list)
* harvesting & distributing to the people who contribute, from a central Southeast location
Sunroot Gardens is not a business or a non-profit, and is not affiliated with any political group, religion, or philosophy. It is simply an effort to feed as many people as possible by offering them ways to participate in the growing of the food.
[ this info as a hand-out flyer ]
Details
Sunroot Gardens is centered in the City of Roses, Cascadia. It is predominantly urban, utilizing over 30 plots in yards and other spaces around Southeast, plus acreage outside of town for staple crops. Sunroot Gardens avoids chemical pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, sprays, etc., and any (knowingly) genetically engineered seeds or plants. No need to poison the food.
Open-pollinated / heirloom seeds: Heirloom and other open-pollinated varieties of vegetables and herbs are generally grown rather than hybridized ones for considerations of seed-saving, variability, and flavor. Irrigation use is low; some plots recieve only rain for watering. Purchased soil amendments are vegan with the exception — new to 2009 — of fishmeal in the complete organic fertilizer recipe we mix up from ingredients we procure at Concentrates.
Seed-Saving: We are doing as much seed-saving as possible. Seed companies have been facing higher-than-usual demand over the winter of 08/09, and have been running out sooner. Next year, veggie seed is likely to be rarer and more expensive. Plus which, saved seed performs better than purchased seed if it is harvested correctly and is stored well. Like other tried-and-true farming methods, seed-saving is just good old-fashioned common sense.
Bicycles: Famously, Sunroot Gardens is a bicycle-based operation, over 90% car-free. This is (believe it or not) simply more convenient, less expensive, and (without a doubt) sexier and more fun than driving. We’re not interested in cycling as a snooty ideological preference; why saddle it with all that? Better to keep the ride light and free. Sunroot Gardens is not anti-car (or anti-anything else that happens to be present in our times).
Food Distribution
During 2009, starting around May Day and continuing until Winter Solstice, produce will be available at a central Southeast location twice a week. Wednesday will be for the people who paid US$ for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share. Friday will be for the land-lenders, laborers, friends-of-the-farm, etc. On both days, harvested produce will be set out like at a farmers market stand for people to help themselves. Sunday will bring Sunroot to a new farmers market that will be opening on Hawthorne. Hours for all days will be announced closer to that time.
Additionally, produce will generally be available for people on any day that they come help. We will, after all, be spending our time in gardens!
Sunroot Gardens is not a bicycle delivery service for produce. We have never said we were and don’t know why so many people keep saying it. Must be a yuppie “sustainability” fantasy, we suppose — fresh food brought to the manor by a peasant on two wheels, how cute.
The Staple Foods Project
When we do borrow a truck or fire up a big engine, it’s likely to be in service of the Staple Foods Project. Here the parcels are bigger (measured in acres rather than square feet) and the crops farmier: quinoa, wheat, and soup beans were the big stars of the 2008 Season. The wheat harvest was well over 600 lb. Participants at whatever stage — harvesting, threshing, winnowing — rec’d 1 lb. wheat berries (or flour) per hour worked, once the project was finished and all the time added up.
For 2009 we plan to expand to oats, rye, buckwheat, peas, flax and corn. We are also dedicating land to grow out seed for 2010 plantings. Who knows what seed availability will be like in the near or longer term — we can’t count on anything.
Barter Exchange
Produce will be offered in trade for labor, land, and goods/services that the farm needs. This decreases the reliance on money for everybody involved, which makes sense these days.
Past exchanges have included produce for farm work (by far the most common), and for garden plots, bicycle repair, heavy-load transportation, plant starts, seeds, homecrafts, scavenged wood or tools or special supplies. If you have something to offer for food, bring it up.
Wish List
The Sunroot Gardens operation is always seeking the following:
* land to farm, in the city or outside it
* the starshelp with garden work and farming tasks
* tools, used or new (even broken if fixable)
* bikes, bike carts, bike parts
* mechanical know-how, such as welding and small-engine work
* lumber for building
* windows/plastic for greenhouses & cloches
* metal stakes, PVC, cable & cordage
* boots, gloves, hats, rain gear
* manure & bedding from well-treated, non-poisoned animals. Can include chickens, rabbits, goats, horses, cows, etc.
* household compost — ask us where to bring it
* picking up coffee-grounds from local cafes, bringing it to compost piles (we already have cafes set up collecting it)
Contacting Sunroot Gardens
email: SunrootCSA (AT) riseup (DOT) net
phone: 5 0 3 . 6 8 6 . 5 5 5 7
http://www.fourseasonfarm.com/main/articles/articles/mother2.html
Gardening on the
back side of the calendar
By Eliot Coleman
A Garden For
All Seasons
[greenhouse and cold frame]
Good articles:
http://www.fourseasonfarm.com/main/articles/articles/mother1.html
http://www.fourseasonfarm.com/main/authentic/authentic.html
http://www.calliopes-table.com/links.htm
http://popfarming.wordpress.com/
There is a lot of information on gardening and growing food on these Urban Farm sites:
http://www.fao.org/unfao/bodies/COAG/COAG15/X0076e.htm
http://dp.biology.dal.ca/reports/simovic2st.html
A message to all members of Homeland Security Response Network
New Homeland Security Response Network Promotes Preparedness and Mobilizes Citizens for Challenges Ahead
Grassroots Network of Citizens and Community and Government Leaders Take on the Challenge of Readiness
PHOENIX, Ariz. (March 18, 2009) – While many U.S. citizens fear terrorist attacks and other threats to homeland security, very few are aware of basic emergency plans or strategies that could potentially save their lives, and the lives of those around them in the event of an attack or disaster. To help better equip citizens with the knowledge and resources they need to become more prepared, the creators of the National Terror Alert Response Center have launched the Homeland Security Response Network, an online, collaborative community of concerned citizens, and government and community leaders. The network is designed to promote discourse and community involvement, and help to create safer, more secure communities, with an emphasis on engaging citizens at the community level.
The Homeland Security Response Network is the first online, social networking community designed to foster interaction and dialogue between government officials, community and organization leaders and citizens. The site’s primary goals are to leverage technology and social media in preparing and organizing communities, and to bridge the gap between community preparedness and government preparedness. The developer of the site also hopes the Homeland Security Response Network will reintroduce preparedness into the national educational curriculum, and re-energize neighborhood and community preparedness partnerships and programs.
Read full release:
http://www.homelandsecurityresponse.com/notes/Press_Release
Visit Homeland Security Response Network at: http://www.homelandsecurityresponse.com
When Supremacism Uses A Religious Disguise
March 17, 2009
by Jeffrey Imm
Responsible for Equality And Liberty
http://www.realcourage.org/2009/03/disguise/
http://anti-jihad.org/blog/2009/03/disguise/
http://www.unitedstatesaction.com/blog/imm-articles/131.html
Prior to World War II, what if Adolf Hitler had tried to infiltrate the United States, not with a series of German “Bund” organizations, but with a series of groups claiming that they were “religious” organizations? What if American federal, state, and local government organizations then engaged with such groups, gave them respectability, and even offered government support for their propaganda mission for fear of offending such “religious” organizations? During the 1960s, what if the American federal government feared to act against the Ku Klux Klan, white supremacist organizations, and white supremacist segregation laws for fear of offending their “religious” beliefs?
Far-fetched? In fact, supremacist ideologies using the disguise of “religion” is one of the most serious propaganda threats to our human rights of equality and liberty today.
All Americans are entitled to freedom of speech and freedom of conscience.
But we must recognize that supremacist organizations have been leveraging these freedoms to gain institutional support within America by disguising their supremacist goals with “religious” identities. If we support the inalienable human rights of equality and liberty, our citizens and our government agencies should denounce supremacist organizations that promote hate, inequality, and even violence, regardless of their use of such “religious” disguises. The solution to unmasking such disguises is to honestly ask if such organizations support equality and liberty.
By looking at threats to our liberties from a human rights perspective, we can see threat patterns and avenues for public action in struggles with supremacist ideologies - past and present - whether we are dealing with Islamic supremacism, racial supremacism, Aryan Nazi supremacism, or other supremacist ideologies. We need to remember that our response must be a consistent responsibility to equality and liberty in defiance of such supremacism, no matter how it is disguised.
The Growing Islamic Supremacist Threat to Virginia
The Northern Virginia suburb of Washington DC has been growing as an Islamic supremacist haven. Amidst the many hard-working Virginians who serve our nation’s defense, civilian federal government, homeland security, and commercial businesses, Islamic supremacist groups, organizations, and institutions have quietly expanded and gained members. Northern Virginia has been home to a wide series of Islamic supremacist groups and leaders that have resisted investigations and challenge by the government and concerned citizens. For years, Northern Virginia has long been a target of a network of Islamic supremacist organizations.
Among these have included:
— Dar Al Hijra Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia - Freedom House has reported that Dar Al Hijra has had publications that spread hate, demanding that Islamic nations be given nuclear weapons “to face Israel and India,” (p. 46), and demanding segregation of the sexes (p. 64). Dar Al Hijra’s previous imam, Anwar al-Aulaqi, has been suspected of links to Al-Qaeda’s 9/11 jihadists, and has been described as an “inspiration” to terrorists, suspected in “plotting attacks against America,” reported as praising Palestinian suicide bombers, and posting an essay on “Why Muslims Love Death.” Dar Al Hijra’s subsequent imam, Sheikh Shaker Elsayed, has also been reported praising Palestinian suicide bombers, stating that “Jihad is a must for everyone, a child, a lady and a man.” Per Dal Al Hijra’s web site, this supporter of Jihad continues to preach to Muslims in Northern Virginia.
— Dar Al-Arqam Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia - also known as the “Center for Islamic Information and Education” was a place where Ali al-Timimi frequently lectured. Ali al-Timimi was convicted “on charges that he encouraged followers to join the Taliban and fight U.S. troops.” It was also a focal point for the “Virginia Jihad Network” that trained to support the Islamic supremacist Lashkar-e-Taiba group — the same Lashkar-e-Taiba suspected in the November 2008 Mumbai attacks and that is suspected of designs for attacks on the United States. According to the FBI, “eight individuals from Dar Al-Arqam ... either obtained jihad training from Lashkar-e-Taiba or otherwise associated with the group in Pakistan, another from Dar Al-Arqam who joined Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia in 2003, two specially designated global terrorists, and an individual suspected of being an aide to Abu Musab al Zarqawi and affiliated with Al-Qaeda of Iraq.” Al-Timimi and Al-Arqam have also been linked to terror groups in the United Kingdom.
— International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) in Herndon, Virginia - created from “seed money from the Muslim Brotherhood”... the same Muslim Brotherhood that calls for creation of an Islamic supremacist caliphate and whose motto is “Jihad is our way.” IIIT has been under investigation for financing terror organizations, and was part of the Operation Green Quest investigation. This is also the same IIIT, whose Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo has gone on to advise on Sharia Finance boards for the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones, and who last month advised on Sharia Finance (PDF of presentation) in a conference in Washington DC. This same IIIT provided a $1.5 million grant to Virginia’s George Mason University a few months ago to expand its “Islam studies program.”
— Muslim World League in Falls Church, Virginia - reported in 2005 that “U.S. agencies have been investigating the Muslim World League for years because of suspicions that it knowingly or unknowingly provided funds to Osama bin Laden.”
— The Institute of Islamic and Arabic Sciences in Fairfax, Virginia - where the Freedom House Center found “[s]everal hate-filled publications” (page 3), publications to “show that religious freedom is un-Islamic” (page 45), and promoting jihad (page 61).
This history should make Northern Virginia government officials and citizenry rightly concerned about the growth of Islamic supremacism in their area. The Washington Times has reported that those individuals in Falls Church, Virginia that have exercised their freedom of religion and have converted from Islam to Christianity live in fear.
But while federal government individuals are willing to challenge those Islamic supremacists in Northern Virginia who have clearly been documented in committing a crime (like any other citizen would be), there remains little willingness to challenge the anti-equality, anti-liberty ideology of Islamic supremacism itself, or even acknowledge that the ideology of Islamic supremacism exists.
So it should not be surprising that supermarkets in Northern Virginia sell pro-Jihad books, as Dave Gabautz has researched and found at the Halaco supermarket in Falls Church, Virginia a book that calls for:
— “It is, in short, time to identify the enemy and declare the Jihad.”
— “He who equips a fighter in the way of Allah, or looks after a fighters family at home is as good as one who fought”
— “Priests in their churches, unlike recluse worshipping monks, should, of course be killed without any exception. Nuns along with Monks, deserve killing even more”
— “Not taking the Jews and Christians as friends, not following their deen, not submitting to bid’a, neither its holidays (National Days, etc), nor in habits, not entering their places of worship, nor participating in their festivals-all this is vital in the prelude to the attack of a new Jihad.”
— “Strike at the time least expected. It follows that one should also strike at the place not expected. By extension, in light of the current situation, one may strike at several centres all at the same time, thus causing havoc in the enemy and in their response”.
In 2007, Virginia Governor Kaine appointed former Muslim American Society (MAS) president Esam Omeish to a Virginia state commission on immigration. This is the same Muslim American Society founded by the “Jihad is our way” Muslim Brotherhood. Not surprisingly, there were online videos available shortly thereafter of Omeish calling for “the jihad way,” which prompted his resignation. But two years later, we have a different story. Now this same jihad-supporting Esam Omeish is running for office for the 35th district of the Virginia House of Delegates, portraying himself as the all-American immigrant success story. Esam Omeish is meeting with voters at public libraries to discuss issues... but conveniently ignoring his background with the MB-founded MAS or his support for Jihad - asking voters to “meet and greet with Esam Omeish, and talk to Esam about the issues most important to you.” How about equality and liberty? How about defying Islamic supremacism?
It is in this same Northern Virginia, where Jihad books are sold in supermarkets, where Jihad supporters are running for public office, where Islamic supremacist organizations donate large sums of money to influence universities, and where Islamic supremacists can lead “houses of worship” largely unchallenged by the majority of the citizens and its government, that we also see a growing academy designed to indoctrinate youth with the ideology of Islamic supremacism.
In Fairfax County, Virginia, the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) has had a long and disreputable history, reported by the Washington Post as an institution whose “indoctrination begins in a first-grade text and is reinforced and expanded each year, culminating in a 12th-grade text instructing students that their religious obligation includes waging jihad against the infidel to ‘spread the faith.’”
This is the same Islamic Saudi Academy whose textbooks taught jihad to children, attacked all other religions, and told its children “As cited in Ibn Abbas: The apes are Jews, the people of the Sabbath; while the swine are the Christians, the infidels of the communion of Jesus.” This is what the Islamic Saudi Academy books previously read AFTER the hate and intolerance was removed from them.
As the Associated Press has recently reported:
“In December 2001, two former ISA students, Mohammed El-Yacoubi and Mohammed Osman Idris, were denied entry into Israel when authorities there found El-Yacoubi carrying what the FBI believed was a suicide note linked to a planned martyrdom operation in Israel. In 2005, a former ISA valedictorian, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, was convicted in federal court of joining al-Qaida while attending college in Saudi Arabia and plotting to assassinate President George W. Bush. Last year, the school’s then-director, Abdalla al-Shabnan, was convicted of failing to report a suspected case of child sex abuse. Last year also was when the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released a report saying the school’s textbooks contained several troubling passages, including one saying it is permissible for Muslims to kill adulterers and converts from Islam and another saying ‘the Jews conspired against Islam and its people.’”
During this time, the Fairfax County Government has leased the Islamic Saudi Academy facility to spread such hate and incite such violence. As the Mount Vernon Gazette has reported, “The school building at 8333 Richmond Highway, is leased from Fairfax County. That lease recently came up for renewal and was renewed for one year with an option for two one year extensions on a motion from Mount Vernon District Supervisor Gerald Hyland, in whose district the school is located.” Would the Fairfax County government have offered such leases to racial supremacist organizations? But when supremacism wears a “religious” disguise, there is no willingness to ask this question by local officials.
On March 12, 2009, the Islamic Saudi Academy has now claimed (once again) that it has now truly removed all of the hate and intolerance from its textbooks. However, AP reports that Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington Director Ali “Al-Ahmed, whose group monitors politics and education in the Gulf, said the revised texts now being used at ISA make some small improvements in tone. But he said it’s clear from the books that the core ideology behind them — a puritanical strain of Islam known as Wahhabism that is dominant within Saudi Arabia — remains intact. ‘It shows they have no intention of real reform,’ al-Ahmed said.”
The timing is not likely to be a surprise, since on Wednesday, March 18, the Fairfax County Planning Commission will be considering a “special exception” to zoning laws to allow a further expansion of the Islamic Saudi Academy. The Fairfax County government will be holding this meeting at 8:15 PM at the Board Auditorium of the Fairfax County Government Center, 12000 Government Center Parkway, Fairfax, Virginia 22035. Activist groups are encouraging local citizens to attend and speak out. I will be speaking as will others, who are opposed to the growth of Islamic supremacism intolerance, as represented by the history of the Islamic Saudi Academy’s teaching in Fairfax County.
This expansion of intolerant Islamic supremacism is not unique to Washington DC’s suburb of Northern Virginia. In Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Jersey, California, and states around the country, new beachheads of Islamic supremacism are developing. Many in Virginia and around the nation are not yet willing to act in the face of growing such havens for intolerance and Islamic supremacism. But lessons can be learned from dealing with other supremacist ideologies on the vital necessity to confront supremacist groups in communities and states, before they develop a stanglehold of fear and intolerance in an area.
Those struggling with the growing institutionalization and development of facilities to promote Islamic supremacism in Virginia and around the United States feel that they are dealing with a unique challenge. And in important ways, they are correct. The large-scale tolerance of Islamic supremacism disguised as “religious” freedom is unparalleled. But in other ways, we have seen this challenge before in defending human rights. Nazis and white supremacists have been using this tactic long before 9/11 to gain respectability, influence, and acceptance. Like Islamic supremacists, they remain a threat to equality and liberty. Like Islamic supremacists, those responsible for equality and liberty must defy their ideology and those who would appease them.
Our freedom of religion ensures that individuals will not be unfairly discriminated against because of their beliefs. Such freedoms are designed to ensure equal rights. But these equal rights - are simply that - rights of equality, not superiority. With such equal rights come the equal responsibilities to be accountable for intolerance, promotion of hate, and incitement of violence, like any other citizen.
Lessons Learned From Other Supremacist Threats
In Idaho, Richard Butler’s Nazi Aryan Nations organization maintained a 40 acre compound, where 300 to 400 Nazis joined Butler in his quest for a new “Aryan nation.” In a 1999 report, the FBI said the goal of Aryan Nations was to forcibly take five states — Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Washington and Montana — and form an Aryan homeland. Some of the Aryan Nations members broke into small groups that “carried out string of bank robberies, murders and counterfeiting activities.”
In a twisted move designed to gain further credibility for the Nazi organization, Richard Butler also created a “religious” organization for the Nazis called the “Church of Jesus Christ Christian.” This shows the danger in interpreting our religious freedoms as providing superior, rather than equal rights. While Adolf Hitler may not have thought of using “religious” organizations to infiltrate America with Nazi hatred, Nazi Richard Butler did. The “religious disguise” of a Nazi organization claiming religious protection for hatred, intolerance, and incitement demonstrates the folly of ignoring supremacist threats in “religious” disguises. The fact that the Nazi Aryan Nations had relatively small recruitment and success in its supremacist goals does not make it any less of a lesson on why a “religious” disguise must never be tolerated to mask supremacism - whether it is Nazi supremacism, racial supremacism, or Islamic supremacism.
As the people of Idaho were initially slow to respond, they paid a price for allowing supremacist hate and intolerance to grow in Idaho. Marshall Mend, a member of Idaho Human Relations Task Force, said “There are still people who will not come to Idaho because they think it’s a haven for hatred.” Tony Stewart, a political science professor from North Idaho College, warns “Never, never take the position that because there are few of them, they will not do harm.” Over time, the people of Idaho responded to this Nazi supremacist threat. The Aryan Nation Nazis eventually made a mistake, and when their security guards attacked a woman and her son, a court awarded a $6.3 million judgment against the Aryan Nations, bankrupting them and costing them their 40 acre compound in Idaho. The lawyer leading the lawsuit against the Aryan Nations, Norman Gissel, stated “Other than our professions and our families, that’s all we did for 15 to 20 years was fight the Nazis.”
Idaho is still recovering from the stigma of supremacism. The press later reported that “[t]he compound has been renamed Peace Park, Mend said, but northern Idaho’s image has not recovered.” “’It’s difficult to quantify the amount of the impact,’ said Jonathan Coe, president of the Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce. ‘But I can tell you for a fact, we lost business because of them. Some vacationers didn’t visit, businesses didn’t locate here, and people chose not to retire here.”
But the people of Idaho have a message for you on the seriousness of supremacism: “Please, please never remain silent. Please do not confine yourselves to a counter-rally, and please commit your life to the dignity of others.”
Other racial supremacists have tried the same tactics to gain credibility with a religious “disguise,” ranging from the white supremacist “Christian Identity” hate group, the white supremacist “World Church of the Creator” hate group, and absurdly even a Ku Klux Klan group that calls itself the “Church of the National Knights.” But the Indiana-based “Church of the National Knights” group didn’t have the people of Indiana laughing with a five acre property designed to promote Ku Klux Klan white supremacism and hatred. The LA Times reported that “[r]esidents there can hear the gunshots, the shouts and the screech of the public-address system the Klan has used at some ceremonies. When the corn is low, several can see the cross burnings from their backyards. Property values in this modest neighborhood are shot. ‘Our homes aren’t worth a plug nickel now,’ one resident said bitterly.”
Some may ask, what relevance such lessons have to such transnational challenges as Islamic supremacism. The relevance is not in the relative “legitimacy” of a “religious” disguise for supremacist hatred and intolerance. Nor is it in the degree to which such supremacism is widely adopted, accepted, or tolerated. The relevance is in what supremacists have in common and what those of us responsible for equality and liberty have in common.
Despite their differences and their different “religious” disguises, supremacists have one thing in common — hate. This hate is always the same hate — whether it is a Neo-Nazi “church” calling for hatred against Jews, whether it is a white supremacist “religious group” calling for hatred against blacks, whether it is the so-called “Westboro Baptist Church” desecrating the funerals of soldiers and calling for the death of homosexuals, whether it is the “Nation of Islam” group sadly tolerated and accepted by some traditional human rights groups while its leaders spread hate, intolerance, racial bigotry, and Islamic supremacism — or whether it is Islamic supremacists calling for jihad, calling Jews apes and Christians pigs, and oppressing women around the world.
Hate is hate. No matter what its color, no matter what its brand, and no matter what its “religious” disguise. Such hatred, intolerance, and incitement to violence deserves no “religious” disguise and “religious” protection. In every case, and every permutation, such hatred against equality and liberty is wrong - and is an attack on our inalienable human rights of equality and liberty.
There are plenty of important lessons to be learned in looking at these things that supremacists have in common, regardless of whether they use a “religious” disguise or not to justify hate and intolerance. The Nation of Islam’s Louis Farrakhan has been proud of being compared to Adolf Hitler, who he calls “a great man.” The Nazi Aryan Nation’s later leader August Kreis has praised Al-Qaeda and has said that “I want to instill the same jihadic feeling in our peoples’ heart, in the Aryan race.” The Nazi Aryan Nations gladly promoted the hate-mongering rants of ex-Nazi David Myatt, now Jihadist Abdul-Aziz ibn Myatt. And the list of the common campaigns of hate among supremacists goes on and on and on.
Such campaigns of hate and division are why it is so essential to recognize the common characteristics and goals of supremacism. This is why it is so essential to acknowledge them as “supremacist.” This is why it is vital that we do not allow “religious” characterizations to protect those who seek to promote hate, intolerance, and violence. While there are many who would employ euphemisms in describing supremacist organizations — such as calling racial supremacists as “nationalists,” or calling Islamic supremacists as “Islamists” (as it has currently been re-defined by Washington policy wonks, not as previously defined by the 9/11 Commission) — such euphemisms simply shield supremacist ideologies from the bright light of the truth of equality and liberty.
This challenge is further compounded by those who believe that supremacism that claims a “religious” origin is automatically exempted from scrutiny, criticism, and challenge. If we accept the inalienable human rights of equality and liberty within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the American Declaration of Independence, we must reject such false protections from those would turn our own freedom of conscience against us by claiming “religious” supremacism as an untouchable platform to promote hatred and the destruction of equality, liberty, and freedom itself. For Americans, we fiercely defend freedom of conscience and religion. But we also recognize that all citizens share both equal rights and equal responsibilities. The Free Exercise Clause of the American Constitution ensures that those claiming exercise of their religious beliefs are not singled out for discriminatory treatment — not that they have any superior rights or lesser responsibilities to the law from other citizens. We believe in equality for all.
For those religious individuals who worship a God of love, there should be no fear in challenging those who would leverage so-called “religious” beliefs as a safe haven and harbor for hate.
A New Hope - Our Common Bond of Humanity
Consistency in challenging supremacist organizations truly matters. Some traditional human rights communities have not grasped that challenging supremacist groups is the same problem — whether they claim to be empowered to spread hatred, intolerance, and violence based on a “religious” claim — or not. That must change. We must recognize the problem of supremacism itself as a monolithic threat to all of humanity’s equality and liberty. We must defy those who would give supremacism any other name and allow it to fester in the darkness of public inattention.
What supremacists believe is that they can endless draw upon the weakest parts of humanity, on hatred, on differences, and on divisions. Supremacists are dependent on our inhumanity to others. They believe that the truths that we hold self-evident that all men and women are created equal is a lie. They count on you questioning it too. They depend on our unwillingness to seek out the true essence of the goodness and decency in humanity. They live to exploit the divisions among us. They count on our FEAR. They hope to manipulate our fear over our hope in human rights. They seek to leverage our fear to further divide us away from each other as human beings and to get us to deny our shared human rights in equality and liberty. They play upon on our fear to deny that those of us who are different from each other may not deserve the same human rights.
But the fears that we have as individuals are smaller than the hope that we can offer one another by our shared consensus in the inalienable human rights of equality and liberty. When we say the words that “all men and women are created equal,” we tap into a force greater than ourselves as individuals by recognizing, just as supremacism has a common bond in hate, humanity has a common bond in the hope of equality and liberty for all.
Those responsible for equality and liberty have no choice but to oppose supremacism — to do otherwise we be to deny who we are as human beings and our common bond and destiny together.
This leads to the fundamental decision that all free people must make - you can’t hold two different standards on equality and liberty. You either support these inalienable human rights or not. In the same way, you can’t have two different standards in defying supremacists threatening equality and liberty - you are against them or you’re not.
There are no “but not in this case” clauses in the American Declaration of Independence’s support of the inalienable human rights of equality and liberty. There are no “exception rules” in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Everyone deserves equal rights, not just those who are like us, and not just people who we like. Everyone means everyone. The inalienable human rights of equality and liberty are for all of humanity. It is “ideological” to believe in the inalienable human rights of equality and liberty. It is the ideology of what humanity is all about.
The survival of our common bond of hope means setting aside our differences to stand united against the existential threat of supremacism. Supremacists of every kind share their common goal of spreading hatred and exploiting fear to divide and conquer all of humanity. The shared goal of supremacists is to enslave the human spirit and to crush the human rights of equality and liberty. Our responsibility for equality and liberty must be to defy supremacists and to deny them a safe haven or protection by using a “religious” disguise to spread hate and violence throughout society.
We have a new hope. That hope lies in a humanity that can reach out to each other and find the good and decent part within each other. That hope lies in our ability to remember the importance of respect and decency towards one another. That hope lies in humanity’s ability to reject blind hate and deny those who would manipulate us with fear to ignore the threat of supremacism.
But most of all, that hope lies in our common bond within a humanity that defends the inalienable human rights of equality and liberty. It is this new hope that will demand that we...
Fear No Evil. Because We Are Not Afraid.
[Postscript - see also Sources documents for additional reading and background information.]
http://www.unitedstatesaction.com/blog/imm-articles/sources_disguise.html
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If reposting elsewhere, please credit source of this research as UnitedStatesAction.com
[This post is full of hidden urls and do look at the links for his sources, it is full of articles, this is not a conspiracy post, Jeffrey Imm backs up what he says, look at the sources, the information is out there, but few will take the time to put it into one package....
granny]
This message consists of the following:
1. Cannondale Recalls Road Bicycles Due to Fall Hazard http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09155.html
2. State Farm(r) Recalls Good Neigh Bears(r) Due to Choking Hazard
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09156.html
3. Nordstrom Recalls Girl’s Shoes Due to Violation of Lead Paint Standard
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09157.html
http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2009/03/japanese-style-avocado.html
Kimberly from Hartke is Online, is hosting the first Natural Cure Blog Carnival today (a weekly happening). Isn’t that a great idea? I think that food can be one of our best medicines (and on the flip side, it can be our biggest threat to our health as well!). I love finding out the different healing properties of food. Take avocado. It’s a fiber rich fruit that is a great source of lutein, which keeps your eyes and skin healthy. It’s also full of healthy fats.
And who can beat that smooth, rich taste of avocado? Enjoy it to the fullest with the following recipe.
Japanese Style Avocado
2-4 servings
1 large avocado
soy sauce
olive oil
toasted sesame oil
1-To make, cut the the avocado in half and take the pit out. Leaving it in the peel, slice into thin strips (being careful not to cut through the peel). Take a large soup spoon and gently scoop the slices out onto a plate. Arrange in a pretty fashion.
2-Drizzle a little olive oil over it, then about the same amount of soy sauce and a small amount of toasted sesame oil. Enjoy.
Variations:
Joel’s Grandma would use Tabasco sauce to add a bite. Sono, his mother would add a light sprinkle of cayenne or a bit of a mild chili powder for the same result. Another delicious option is adding garlic powder as well. They would sprinkle the garlic powder and cayenne on before they drizzled the sauce on.
Karen 03.17.09 at 9:42 pm
I appreciate this new variation of yours on a favorite sauce that I tasted at a friend’s house over 30 years ago and have enjoyed ever since! Try equal parts of apple cider vinegar, soy sauce and olive oil. It makes a great sauce over an avocado (too) and a wonderful dressing for salads!
Napa Cabbage Sauerkraut
Fermentation Workshop Sparks Interest in Ancient Food Preservation Methods
Next week, I am planning to tell you about a workshop we held in Northern Virginia, where we demonstrated lacto-fermentation methods of preserving foods and making beverages. But, a blog reader and her mom who attended the workshop have already submitted a cool recipe and question that I can’t wait to share with you. Sophie’s mom has given up her family recipe for making sauerkraut. Enjoy!
Traditional Chinese Method of Making Sauerkraut
Thank you for the demonstration about sauerkraut. Great that this traditional food will be revived this way. I talked to you briefly about the sauerkraut that my grandma made. You won’t believe it is that easy to make. To be more specific, this recipe is a Northern Chinese sauerkraut, because of different weather conditions, different regions of China have different methods in doing this, although the basics are almost the same.–Sophie
1. choose a stoneware - no metals.
2. clean napa cabbages and put them as a whole in the stone ware, press hard downwards so that there is not much air left between leaves. Add one layer of whole cabbages and one layer of salt, so forth and so on.
3. add water, and put a heavy stone on top of the cabbage to prevent floating.
4. After 1 month, it’s ready to eat. It can be kept 3 or more months at winter room temperature - which is around 50F.
The cabbage leaves or core will not be split or separated. They just press the whole cabbage into the pot.
How much salt is added? I asked my mom but got no answer. In China, we don’t measure while cooking - you might know that. So all is depend on experience: error and trial.
After the long process, we have to cut the cabbage. It will not shred by itself. We usually cook it with fatty pork meat.
Question from Sophie
I read in many places that sauerkraut contains Nitrite, which can cause cancer. Is that true?
Answer:
from Sara Tung, the co-chapter leader of Weston A. Price Foundation in Reston, VA:
Nitrites occur naturally in fermented foods. Nitrites have been found to help preserve foods, which is why the food industry started adding nitrites to foods. High quantities of nitrites do cause cancer, although I don’t believe a study has been done that compares naturally occurring nitrites found in foods as a result of fermentation vs artificial nitrites added to processed foods. I would bet that the studies are done based on the nitrites used as an additive in processed foods.
Just like MSG is naturally occurring in certain foods like bone broth and cooking mushrooms, people don’t usually have health issues or reactions to the nitrites naturally occurring found in fermented foods. (Many people react to added MSG or chemical MSG but have no trouble with foods that naturally produce MSG during the cooking process.) This is the same debate of vitamin A & D toxicity — all the conventional studies show that A & D can be dangerous; yet, they are found to be crucial and dense in traditional sacred foods. Vitamins A & D have not been shown to be toxic when consumed in their natural forms and in the correct ratios found in whole foods.
The other thing too, is that there has been scientific studies that found that if left to pickle longer, that the nitrites disappear. I believe for sauerkraut, it’s something like after 20 days. I believe this is why our ancestors actually age their ferments much longer. I also think nitrites are nature’s way of preserving the foods before enough acid appears in the ferment to ensure that no bad microbes can spoil it. I remember reading that the Swiss villagers aged their breads 3 weeks. If you look into traditionally fermented foods the way our ancestors made it, the aging period is a lot longer. Many sauerkraut recipes will call for a room temperature ferment of anywhere from 3 to 7 days; however, I believe most ferments should age further in the fridge. Not only does the nitrites go away, the ferment goes through a maturation process in terms of taste and flavor.
If nitrates are a concern, you may want to find research and confirm the length of time before the nitrites disappear. If you find the answer, please come back and post it as a comment on this blog article. Thanks!
Our New Blog Carnival Logo
Our New Blog Carnival Logo
Fermented Foods can be used as part of a healing protocol. If you have experienced healing as a result of adding fermented foods to your diet, please join our Natural Cures blog carnival next Tuesday, and submit your healing story or recipe!
http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2009/03/17/the_urban_farm_store_or_omg
The Urban Farm Store; or, OMG BABY CHICKENS!!
Posted by Alison Hallett on Tue, Mar 17, 2009 at 9:30 AM
ccfb/1237306980-scaled.chick04.jpg
When I was a kid, I made extra cash every year selling baby guinea pigs to the local feed store (to be purchased by nice families who would love them and care for them and change the sawdust in their cages every day and give them lots of carrots and broccoli florets and most certainly would NOT feed them to snakes. WHAT.)
Upon wandering into the Urban Farm Store on Southeast Morrison over the weekend, I was immediately struck by how similar it was to the feed store we went to when I was younger, albeit selling organic dog food instead of the kind made with, you know, decaying horse hearts and kitten fetuses. It’s a very practical store, not boutiquey at all, stocked with bags of wild bird seed, chicken scratch, kitty litter, cat and dog food, organic garden seeds, and an edible plant nursery outside. And in the back? TINY BABY CHICKENS. They’ve got a few bins of chicks which have been selling like mad, according to Robert, the store’s owner (when I asked him where they come from, he said he orders them by mail and they arrive in “cheeping boxes” at the post office).
Future plans for the store include selling full-grown chickens, beekeeping supplies, and rabbits (for petting and loving and cuddling. Certainly not for eating. WHAT.). Oh, and goat feed: Apparently people are into raising and slaughtering their own goats these days? This I did not know. They also offer free chicken keeping classes, for all you aspiring urban farmers out there. (Robert was super helpful, too, even before I disclosed that I’m a media spy; when I asked if they sold cat treats, he said “not yet,” but ran to get me a cat food sample. It’s definitely a place I’d feel comfortable asking for help and advice.)
This store is great. And of course, business has been booming, because this is a brilliant idea at absolutely the right cultural moment. Check it out for yourself: 1925 SE Morrison, 234-7733, or visit their very comprehensive website, which even has a schedule of when new chicks will be arriving
http://perennial-food-crops.blogspot.com/
Chou Daubenton
Chou Daubenton is the first of the perennial Kale’s I will talk about and one of the more readily available perennial Brassicas.
Plants are naturally branching, and form quite a neat mound eventually attaining a size of 3ft x 3ft (’Daubenton’ is actually quite attractive as Kale’s go, and wouldn’t look out of place in an ornamental bed).
The plants live for 5-7 years and are easily propagated by semi ripe cuttings using the usual techniques (flowering is rare and seed is not available).
So far ‘Daubenton’ has been less affected by pests and disease than its biennial cousins, with Woodpigeon’s being a notable exception. Woodpigeon damage is however no worse than that found on other Brassicas, and can be controlled in the usual manner.
When eaten raw, as with most Kale’s, there is a slightly bitter overtone during the summer, but it is very slight and I find it quite pleasant. And like other Brassicas it sweetens after frost. I would say the flavour and texture is as good as ‘Ragged Jack’ and only marginally inferior to Black Tuscan Kale.
Cooked ‘Daubenton’ is as good as the best of them, and you can harvest individual leaves, or cut the individual heads and cook them whole. My personal preference is to harvest individual leaves as it doesn’t spoil the look of the plant; but they will re-sprout vigorously when the heads are harvested, so long as you don’t over crop individual plants.
And if all this isn’t enough to convince you that ‘Daubenton’ is worth growing, there is a variegated form with slightly grayer leaves and irregular yellow variegation around the leaf edges.
In all other respects it is like the non variegated form; perhaps a little less vigorous but no more so than could be expected from a variegated selection. It is a little more difficult to come by but well worth the effort.
‘Daubenton’ is available from Fabre-Graines (France), and PlantesPet Jardins (France), both sites are in French. You may also find other suppliers if you Google “Chou Daubenton”.
You may also want to read a rather informative post on perennial Brassicas at Homegrown Goodness. Just follow the link if you want to check it out:
http://alanbishop.proboards60.com/index.cgi?board=brassica&action=display&thread=1930