Having found out that agave is processed put a damper on our sweet tooth and our intake of "organic" ice cream. We found out the hard way that, although agave is a step down the glycemic index — meaning it doesn’t make your body spike as hard with the insulin as does sugar — it will nevertheless make your body produce enough insulin that one will put on weight, no matter what you eat. That’s what insulin does. It tells the body to store for a rainy day. Sadly, it’s akin to living in Seattle where it rains a lot. And the pounds accumulate!

So! What to do? more »

Since we are very interested in growing our own food, I thought I would write about what I’ve found. And the first thing for me to learn about is: what is the definition of organic soil?

So I went on the internet, a lovely thing to have access to, and found the following definition from aboutorganics.co.uk: more »

Passing the Assembly Appropriations Committee, SB 201 — the Fresh Milk Act of 2008 — travels next to the Assembly floor and then tothe Senate. And if it passes, it is sent on to the Governor to sign into law.

This proposed law effectively sets up a sane relationship between organic dairies and the CDFA, where the people of California who wish to consume organic raw milk can do so with a high level and expectancy of safety. It’s called confidence in the product, from a consumer’s point of view. Not only that, we can consume something that’s actually healthy for us because it hasn’t been processed down to near uselessness. more »

A law is taking shape in the State of California, which brings raw, organic and fresh milk to the people of California who wish to drink it. It’s unanimously passed two committees and heading for the next step toward becoming a law. It’s called SB 201.

Not only is this good for the people of our State, because we get to consume NON-processed milk, but it is also a time where we get to observe our State government legislate into existence a law on NON-processed milk based on up-to-date information that dispels a mountain of false information about raw organic milk. And we the people get to benefit from such a law. more »

A poster with a succinct idea concerning the why of local foods at yesterday’s Farmer’s Market (an especially pastoral picture captioned, HOMELAND SECURITY — Eat local foods), made me remember the Tufts University Food Awareness Project data:

"The average mouthful of food in the U.S. travels 1300 miles before it is finally eaten!"

At this Midsummer season of rising fuel and transport costs, buying from your local farmer will not only be more nutritious but less expensive, especially when you consider the environmental and social costs associated with eating non-locally grown foods. more »

Talk to almost anyone about raw milk, and you’ll probably be told that raw milk is "dangerous" — followed tentatively by … "Isn’t it?"

Thing is, people don’t know. We’re not all chemists or food-ologists. The presumption is that we consumers have been protected from various health hazards by the safety measures provided by pasteurized milk.

But I had also heard that the negative publicity about raw milk arose in the 1930’s due to poor sanitary conditions at an inner-city dairy at that time. So it was time to determine where this came from. Which is true? more »

Say what you will about raw milk, and there are naysayers — especially emanating from the smear-and-fear propagandists who work in the Food and Drug Administration — but Senator Dean Florez is spearheading a California State Bill 201 which will bring sanity into the safe production and selling of raw milk in California.

This follows the hubbub raised after the California Department of Food and Agriculture snuck through a middle-of-the-night unnannounced AB 1735, which required an arbitrary but low limit to the number of coliform bacteria (many of which are non-harmful/beneficial) in raw milk but no pathogen testing, then the passing of AB 1604 by the California Agriculture Committee the retraction of the blocking, followed by the April 15, 2008 joint hearing by California Senators Dean Florez and Abel Maldonado AB 1735 — to which the CDFA were invited but which the CDFA famously refused to attend. more »

A number of recent articles have warned us about the dangers of getting brain cancer from the use of cell phones, wireless phones and Wi-Fi. One such article, Dr. Mercola’s hard-hitting What’s More Important — Your Cell Phone Or Your Brain?, details the grim story of a gentleman who got a brain tumor, apparently from cell phone use. Given that I’d previously thought that any bad effects might be <fingers crossed> only from cell phones, and then only due to "heat" coming from the phone, I was distressed to learn that the offending items were all of the above — cell phones, Wi-Fi and wireless phones. Yes, that last means cordless phones.

Cutting down on electromagnetic radiation

As we had a number of wireless phones in our home, we decided to test by unplugging the one in our bedroom. One night’s sleep told me that there was less "disturbance" in the room, whatever that disturbance might have been. I arose the next morning to find all of our cordless phones piled neatly by the door, ready for disposal. more »