Category: Health & Gardening

Planting means preparing a patch of ground, fertilizing it and then planting seeds or plants, right? Yes, some people are still planting in gardening beds, and while those are still my favorite, I admit I’ve come to appreciate really nice, lofty, raised garden beds. Here’s why.

YOU’RE IN FOR A GARDENING TREAT

If you’ve never used raised garden beds before, you’re going to be pleasantly surprised. They have so many advantages over ground planting:

1. It’s a lot easier on your back and knees.
2. You can constantly improve the soil conditions to achieve perfect growing soil in your beds.
3. Your plants get some protection from critters and insects.
4. They give your garden a wonderfully neat, organized look.
5. There are fewer weeds in a raised bed.
6. Roots can grow deep into the soil to produce strong, healthy plants.

Does it sound good? Here’s how you can get started with raised beds.

EASY ON YOUR KNEES, BACK AND FEET

As you can see, it’s easy to walk around the raised beds to weed, water, harvest and just enjoy your growing plants. You don’t have to worry about bending, kneeling or walking through muddy planting beds.

Raised beds work for flowers, vegetables, fruits, shrubs and small trees.

TRY A COMBINATION OF GARDEN TYPES

Ideally, you should have a combination of ground plantings, raised beds and potted plants for a vivid, varied garden that you’ll enjoy every day.

WHERE TO GET THE BEST RAISED GARDEN BEDS

Raised bed gardening is even easier if you don’t have to worry about building the beds. The online store Wayfair has an outstanding selection of premade wooden planting beds.

Have you ever planted in raised beds? Did you enjoy it?

Originally published at: https://goodlivingguide.com/raised-garden-beds/

Garlic is one of the most delicious and versatile vegetables we can consume, with a myriad of potent medicinal properties, a unique aroma, and a distinguishing taste that are valued all around the world.

It is low in calories, but rich in essential nutrients, manganese, vitamin C, potassium, selenium, and calcium.

Garlic improves overall health in numerous different ways. Its consumption lowers the risk of heart disease and lowers cholesterol and blood pressure. It also reduces the risk of sickness by an incredible 62%, by strengthening the immune system.

According to Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DMN, CNS:

“Intensely aromatic and flavorful, garlic is used in virtually every cuisine in the world. When eaten raw, it has a powerful, pungent flavor to match the truly mighty garlic benefits.

Garlic is particularly high in certain sulfur compounds that are believed to be responsible for its scent and taste, as well as its very positive effects on human health.

At this time, there are more than 5,100 peer-reviewed articles that evaluated garlic’s ability to prevent and improve a wide spectrum of diseases.

Eating garlic regularly is not only good for us; it has been linked to reducing or even helping to prevent four of the major causes of death worldwide, including heart disease, stroke, cancer, and infections. Other than the most extreme, rare situations, I believe every person on the planet should consume garlic. It’s extremely cost-effective, super easy to grow and tastes absolutely fantastic.

The best way to reap the health benefits offered by garlic is to consume the organic one, which, fortunately, can be grown with ease at home.

The best time to plant your garlic is fall after the frost has passed and the soil is cool. You can also plant garlic in late winter when the soil thaws, but the ones planted in fall form larger and better bulbs.

Here are the details you need:

1. Take a larger pot and fill it with potting soil.
2. Break a bulb of garlic and place the cloves in loose damp soil, few inches deep, pointing upwards.
3. The garlic does not need much water, but keep the pot in an area exposed to the sun
4. Cut the greens when they reach 3-4 inches, and leave an inch so they can regrow again.
5. When the greens dry up and turn brown dig out the cloves, as each of them has formed a full bulb.
6. You can take a clove of the bulb and start this all over.

Now, you have an endless supply of garlic to enjoy its amazing healing properties!

Source: www.cleanfoodhouse.com

How ineffective are current Alzheimer’s disease treatments? Quite. So much so, in fact, that David Cameron, the Conservative former prime minister of the United Kingdom – a supposed BFF of Big Business and one can only deduce, Big Pharma – called out the pharmaceutical industry for its “failures undermining dementia research and drug development.” A huge multi-billion-dollar industry being called out by a world leader isn’t something that happens every day.

But then again, Cameron’s sentiments have plenty of merits. Per Scientific American, dementia drug research has failed miserably. In a mega-study investigating 244 drugs across 413 clinical trials, researchers found that just one drug was approved. In other words, 99.6 percent of the experiments amounted to nothing. Just this past January, another company discontinued not one but two Alzheimer’s drugs during the final stages of clinical trials.

So, what is going on? Well, it’s one thing for a politician to lambast an industry for their lack of progress and next-to-nil results; it’s quite another to pinpoint and act upon the catalysts of dementia. It certainly doesn’t help that the drug industry is so entrenched into the health care apparatus either, as this discourages looking at alternative methods of care. Mix in public ignorance about natural remedies (yes, including marijuana) and the outlook doesn’t appear favorable.

But researchers may just be edging ever closer to a real solution to the Alzheimer’s problem – and it isn’t in the form of an expensive pill. What is it, then? Well, if studies are to be believed, it’s the use of cannabis.

In this article, we’re going to discuss some interesting findings concerning the use of cannabis and Alzheimer’s disease. We’ll briefly touch on the problem of Alzheimer’s in today’s society as well as the problems posed by conventional dementia treatments.

ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE: AN OVERVIEW

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by a gradual loss of memory, learning ability, communication, and judgment. In some cases, these cognitive functions decline to a point where the person becomes entirely dependent on caregivers for daily activities.

Alzheimer’s is typically found in those over the age of 65, of whom approximately 1 in 14 adults are affected. The highest concentration of patients with the disease are those over the age of 80, with 1 in every 6 meeting the criteria for diagnosis. This type of Alzheimer’s, also known as Late-onset Alzheimer’s is the most common, accounting for nearly 90 percent of all cases.

Only 6 to 8 percent of patients develop symptoms before the age of 65 – a condition known as early-onset Alzheimers – with those affected having a family history of the disease.

The rarest form of Alzheimer’s is called Familial Alzheimer’s disease (FAD), which is believed to be wholly inherited. In affected families, members of at least two generations are found to have had Alzheimer’s disease. FAD accounts for less than 1 percent of all Alzheimer’s cases.

Alzheimer’s disease symptoms are classified into three categories: mild, moderate, and severe.

COMMON SYMPTOMS OF MILD ALZHEIMER’S INCLUDE:

1. Difficulty completely once-routine tasks
2. Impaired sense of judgment
3. Impaired sense of direction or getting lost
4. Increased anxiety and aggression
5. Lethargy and lack of purpose
6. Memory loss
7. Monetary difficulties
8. Poor decision making
9. Repeating the same questions

 MODERATE SYMPTOMS INCLUDE:

1. All of the symptoms mentioned above
2. Further deterioration of memory
3. Poor judgment and worsening confusion
4. Requiring assistance when doing simple tasks (e.g. bathing, grooming, using the bathroom.)
5. Significant changes in personality and behavior.

SEVERE SYMPTOMS MAY INCLUDE:

1. All of the signs mentioned above
2. Losing the ability to converse or speak
3. Complete dependence on others for many tasks
4. Declining physical abilities (e.g. inability to walk or sit up straight, rigid muscles, etc.)

PROBLEMS ABOUND WITH DEMENTIA DRUGS

It’s not just that so few drugs are approved for Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia; the problem is also that they are ineffective and downright counterproductive in just about every conceivable way. Let us briefly discuss the problems with current dementia treatment.

1. THEY’RE EXPENSIVE

First, Alzheimer’s prescription drugs are costly. While Medicaid covers much of the costs, prescription drugs for dementia can add up to hundreds of dollars per month. For seniors who live on a fixed income, this amount may be unattainable, forcing them to choose drugs over other necessities like food, or vice-versa.

2. THEY CARRY NASTY SIDE EFFECTS

Among the pervasive side effects of dementia medicines are abdominal cramps, bruising, confusion, constipation diarrhea, insomnia, muscle cramps, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and weight loss.

3. THEY’RE INEFFECTIVE (EXCEPT FOR ONE)

While the statistics may vary, they seem to agree on this point: Alzheimer’s prescription medications aren’t very effective at doing what they say they’ll do. In a meta-analysis of 41 randomized control trials published in Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy, the research team concludes that there is not one drug that reduces neuropsychiatric symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

Memantine is the sole dementia medication that carries significant benefits. In both the previous meta-analysis, and the second analysis of 30 studies published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, memantine (brand name “Namenda”) significantly improved learning, cognition, and memory. (Furthermore, compared with the other type of dementia medications – acetylcholinesterase inhibitors [e.g. donepezil] – memantine has relatively few and less severe side effects.)

CANNABIS AS AN ALZHEIMER’S AND DEMENTIA TREATMENT

“When we investigated the power of THC … we found that [it] was a very effective inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase. [We] also found that THC was considerably more effective than two of the approved drugs…” – Kim Janda, Ph.D. (source)

It’s a good thing that marijuana use is becoming less and less taboo – especially for those with medical conditions. To give you an idea of just how widespread cannabis is as either a primary or secondary treatment option, consider what it’s been thought to help treat:

1. Alzheimer’s disease (of course!)
2. Anxiety
3. Cancer (by killing cancer cells and slowing tumor growth)
4. Chron’s disease
5. Chronic pain
6. Eating disorders
7. Epilepsy
8. Excessive weight loss (in people with AIDS and cancer)
9. Glaucoma
10. Inflammation
11. Loss of appetite
12. Mental health conditions such as schizophrenia and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
13. Nausea and vomiting (from chemotherapy)
14. Multiple sclerosis (MS)
15. Muscle spasms

UNDERSTANDING ALZHEIMER’S

To understand how cannabis may help treat Alzheimer’s, we must first understand the underlying neurophysiology of the disease. To this point, researchers attribute the onset and progression of the disease to the buildup of a sticky plaque protein called beta-amyloid. It is thought that the protein disrupts communication between neurons in the brain and causes cellular death. It is these effects of the beta-amyloid, neuroscientists say, that causes both the cognitive and neuropsychiatric problems seen in Alzheimer’s patients.

An active compound in marijuana called tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) may help to remove the toxic buildup of beta-amyloid, say researchers from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California. Moreover, THC may also help to reduce inflammation in nerve cells. Dave Schubert, the leading neurobiologist at the institute, believes that his team’s study is the first of its kind to demonstrate these dual properties of THC.

Schubert’s team may have made another novel finding: the inflammation produced in the brain may stem from beta-amyloid buildup within the neurons – not immune-like cells within the brain as thought previously. Moreover, “THC-like compounds (within) the nerve cells themselves may be involved in protecting the cells from dying,” says Antonio Currais, a researcher in Shubert’s lab.

Schubert’s team attributes these the anti-inflammatory, beta-amyloid reduction properties to THC to activation of the brain’s “switches,” or receptors. Research has shown that endocannabinoids activate these receptors, causing intracellular signaling within the brain. As THC has similar molecular activity as endocannabinoids, they have similar effects of the brain’s receptors.

FINAL THOUGHTS

In related research, Schubert’s lab discovered that a potential drug known as J147 produces similar effects of beta-amyloid proteins and reduces the inflammatory response in the brain. Schubert’s team has found that the J147 drug works by manipulating a mitochondrial protein called ATP, which performs the role of providing cellular energy to neurons. As of this writing, J147 is said to be nearing clinical trials – the first step, albeit a long one, in gaining approval for mass manufacturing and distribution.

As of this writing, the Salk Institute is advancing its research on THC and endocannabinoids as a potential Alzheimer’s treatment.

Originally published at: https://www.powerofpositivity.com/cannabis-removes-alzheimers-protein-brain/

Hold the phone. I just found out you can regrow food in water without dirt. Could gardening get any better when you have two black thumbs?

I think not. And my black thumbs aren’t the only reason I’ve been hesitant to garden. It can be costly too, but ever since I found ways to water my garden for free, I’m all over it.

Then my step-mom showed me how to regrow food in water – she had a couple heads of lettuce in a bowl in her kitchen. But as it turns out, it’s just one of several veggies that can grow without dirt, and without much effort too.

It’s great news for those buying organic vegetables, but even if you aren’t, it’s a simple way to stretch those grocery dollars just a teeny bit further is to regrow food in water!

WHY SHOULD YOU REGROW FOOD IN WATER?

There are plenty of reasons to regrow food, but the most important ones to me are:

(1) IT’S ABSOLUTELY FREE.

You already bought the vegetable. All it costs is a few tablespoons of water – but if you’re smart about it, you can re-use water you’ve already used elsewhere, like from boiling pasta or water that you collected while waiting for the shower to get hot. Then it wouldn’t cost you a dime!

(2) IT’LL TRIM YOUR GROCERY BUDGET.

Little ways to save money really do add up to bigger savings, as long as you’re diligent about using them.

Now, you won’t get a huge harvest out of any of these items, but it is still food and every little bit helps. Even if it’s a few leaves of lettuce to scoop your tuna salad with, you can regrow food you didn’t have before and won’t have to buy.

(3) IT MAKES ORGANICS MORE AFFORDABLE.

Affording organic food just got easier! If you start with organic food, you’ll regrow food that’s organic… so you’ll reap the benefits of organic greens without actually paying for them!

(4) IT’S EASY.

Do I have to explain further? I mean, stick the plant in water and watch it grow. Really – it’s that easy!

I’ve listed below all the vegetables that can legitimately grow in water and water alone.

Sure, there are plenty more that can START in water and then be transplanted to soil. And yes, beans will sprout in water too – but unless the vegetable will grow into more vegetable that can be eaten as-is with only a cup of water, I kept it off this list.

GENERAL GUIDELINES TO REGROW FOOD IN WATER

1. You don’t need a lot of water – just enough to cover the roots. About 1/2″ of water seems to be sufficient otherwise the food can get moldy and slimy.
2. Be sure to check the water every 2-3 days to ensure that A) there’s enough water, and B) no rogue lettuce pieces fall off and slime up your bowl.
3. The size of container should be relative to the size of the food you’re growing. Lettuce and celery grows best in shallow bowls like these. Green onion and lemongrass can be in taller, skinny glasses like these.
4. You can regrow multiples of the same plant as long as you’re not overcrowding the area.
5. I haven’t tried this myself, but using a fertilizer could help with the yield when you regrow food – especially if this is more than a fun side project. I would recommend this Dr. Earth organic liquid fertilizer or a hydroponic fertilizer.

10 WAYS TO REGROW FOOD IN WATER

BOK CHOY

Cut off the bottom of the stalk and place in a small bowl of water. New growth begins from the center in 1-2 days with significant growth in less than a week!

CABBAGE

Place the root end in a shallow bowl of water and watch it regrow from the center. Be sure to harvest on the smaller side to get the best flavor.

CARROT GREENS

You can’t regrow an actual carrot, but you can regrow the carrot tops! Place the cut-off end of a carrot in a shallow bowl of water. Harvest the greens as they grow and add to salads. Better yet, make this amazing carrot top pesto and stop spending money on store-bought!

CELERY

Cut off the bottom 2″ of the stalk and place in a small bowl of water. New growth begins from the center in 3-4 days. It might take awhile for a full stalk of celery to grow, but you’ll get great growth in the center for flavoring dishes. If you don’t know what to do with the leaves, dehydrate them and make your own dried celery powder.

FENNEL

Cut off the bottom 1″ of the base so that the roots are intact and place in a small bowl of water.

GARLIC CHIVES

Garlic chives are the green that grows from a clove of garlic and can be added to dishes that traditionally call for green onion chives like salads and baked potatoes. Place a garlic clove in a small cup and add water to the bottom without submerging. Roots will grow in a few days and shoots will grow shortly after!

Tip: Garlic starts to lose it pungent flavor when the shoots grow, so if you find a rogue clove in your fridge or pantry starting to shoot, place it in a cup of water to grow chives instead of throwing the clove away!

GREEN ONION

Keep the white part of the onion with any roots that are in still intact. Place in a glass with water and you’ll have a never-ending supply of fresh green onion!

LEEKS

Cut off the bottom 2-3″ of the stalk and place in a cup of water. New growth will come from the center of the plant. Usually only the green part of the leek is used in cooking, but it can be used interchangeably with onions for a delicious, mellow flavor.

LEMONGRASS

Cut off 2-3″ from the bottom and place in a tall container with 1/2″ or so of water. New lemongrass shoots will grow from the center.

LETTUCE

Cut off the bottom of the head of lettuce and place it in a small bowl of water. New growth begins from the center of the in as little as 3 days and you’ll have a new half-head of lettuce in about 2 weeks. I’ve heard romaine re-grows best, but I’ve had success with green leaf and red leaf lettuce too.

GOT MORE SCRAPS TO REGROW FOOD?

There are plenty more vegetables that will regrow using just a small scrap of the original food. These listed below can be started in water, but should be transplanted to dirt for full growth and harvest.

1. avocado
2. basil
3. beets
4. cilantro
5. ginger
6. lemon balm
7. mint
8. mushrooms
9. onions (white/yellow/red)
10. parsnips
11. pineapple
12. potatoes
13. rosemary
14. sweet potatoes
15. turnips

And of course, you can save the seeds/pits from apples, cherries, lemons, nectarines, peaches, peppers (sweet and hot), plums, pumpkins and tomatoes to grow your own new vegetables!

We have several heads of lettuce regrowing on our kitchen table, which makes for a pretty and practical centerpiece! If you had a shelf near a window, you could keep all your plants there and just harvest when they’re big!

Just think – if we did all of the above ways to regrow food, we might not ever have to shop at the grocery store again!

Originally published at: https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/regrow-food-water/

Who would have thought you could find this self-sufficient beauty 15 minutes away from downtown Los Angeles? If you want to grow your own food and make sure that everything you put on the table is 100% healthy and free of any chemicals, take the example of this next L.A. based family. The Dervaes grows their own food and everything they consume in a year comes from their own household. The family owns a property of 1/10 acres where they grow over 400 species of plants, their own vegetables, poultry and they even have their own beehive. All their products are chemical free and green and their sustainable way of life is a great example to follow by everyone who wants to control what they are eating. Growing your own food also means saving a lot of money and the Dervaes managed to earn over $20000 last year. To learn more, check out their website here: https://urbanhomestead.org/about/

Storing fresh fruit and vegetables from the garden is an easy task in the summer months. However, once the cooler months roll around, the abundance of produce is so overwhelming that not even our fridges can keep up.

Utilizing fridges as our main source of food preservation isn’t always the best, either. There are several downfalls that come with using a refrigerator to preserve food. For example, the nutritional value of foods will decrease if kept for over several weeks, and if your home experiences a power outage, all of that food could potentially go to waste.

How Did Our Ancestors Preserve Food?

You might have wondered at some point in your life – how did my ancestors preserve a whole winter seasons worth of frost-intolerant produce? While the techniques vary widely across cultures, the main method of food preservation was by utilizing a root cellar, storing large amounts of produce in the cool underground. This allowed them to enjoy the benefits of fresh vegetables throughout the cold winter months and far into spring.

Historical records indicate that the Indigenous peoples of Australia were utilizing the technique of burying food in the ground to preserve it more than 40,000 years ago. The Incas historically introduced the production of chuños to South America – a way of preserving potatoes by exposing a frost-resistant potato variety to the very low night temperatures of the Andean Altiplano, freezing them, and then exposing them to intense sunlight during the day (1). By the 17th century, walk-in root cellars started to become popular in England.

With the variety of food preservation techniques around the world, it is clear that root cellars served an amazing purpose. Imagine storing a whole harvest’s worth of your food in an area that required almost no energy to power? Sounds pretty great to me.

What Is A Root Cellar?

A root cellar is basically an underground room for preserving fruit and vegetables for several weeks to months at a time. Many homes have them built in the basement, but they can also be structures separate from the home. When properly built, root cellars are cool in temperature, have the correct humidity levels and are well-ventilated.

While many cannot just get up and build their own old-world root cellars, a little common sense and wisdom of temperature and humidity guidelines will allow anybody to whip together an ideal plan for prolonging produce shelf-life throughout winter.

Keeping the rules of root cellars in mind, we should pay attention to temperature, humidity and air circulation.

1. Temperature

Cooler temperatures help to preserve produce by slowing the rate at which they release ethylene gas, thereby slowing the rate at which they go bad. While the ideal temperature of a root cellar varies depending on what fruit and vegetables you will be storing, it should be between 32 and 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Humidity

Humidity levels will also depend on how fresh your produce stays. Most produce stores best in an environment where the relative humidity is high – between 85-95 percent. Most root cellars are naturally humid, as they are constructed of the earth, but it is still a good idea to include a hygrometer (a device that measures humidity) in your root cellar. If the root cellar is too dry, you can increase humidity by sprinkling water on the floor, or by packing vegetables in damp sawdust. If humidity levels are too high, you can increase ventilation or add barrels of rock salt.

3. Air Circulation

Proper ventilation will allow for greater temperature control, as well as controlling the number of ethylene gases produced by the fruit and vegetables being stored. If these gases have no way of escaping, your entire root cellar will quickly rot. There should be at least two vents, one high and one low. Warm stale air needs to float out of the top of your chamber, as fresh cooler air makes its way through the bottom.

4. Darkness

Light accelerates the decomposition of fruit and vegetables. Storage in complete darkness is the best way to preserve the shelf-life of produce.

Many people have devised make-shift root cellars if they don’t have the resources to make an “official” root cellar that comes with some homes. The videos below describe just how to do so.

Types of Root Cellars

1. Trash Can Cellar

This homemade, inexpensive version of a makeshift root cellar is an easy way to store root crops. Potatoes, carrots, kohlrabi, beets, rutabagas, turnips, and parsnips are perfect for this type of storage. This cellar is made using a metal trash can and dug underground so that the mouth of the can lays flat with the top of the earth.

2. Barrel Root Cellar

A barrel root cellar is basically the same as a trash can cellar, except using a very large plastic barrel.

3. Straw Storage

Straw storage might be the easiest for most people. You put layers of straw followed by layers of potatoes (or other root veggies) in a large basket or wooden barrel. You can store this in a dark, cool area of the home, and they should last months.

How To Store Fruit and Vegetables Without a Fridge

If you’re wanting to extend the life of your fruit and vegetables, utilize the following tips. As a rule of thumb, do not wash any produce prior to storing. Washing them will reduce their ability to keep throughout the months. Instead, provide enough drying time for the dirt on the outside to dehydrate, and then brush off any large clumps.

When stored properly, all of the vegetables below can last a very long time. Most people think that only root vegetables like carrots, beets, potatoes, and onions can last several months, when in fact, tomatoes, cucumbers, and cauliflower can last just as long if properly stored.

Here’s how to store your fruit and vegetables long-term:

1. Apples
This fruit can be dangerous to store with other produce, because as they age, they release ethylene gas, which causes other produce to rot, too. Isolate apples in shallow containers with lids. They keep best in 80-90% relative humidity and prefer temperatures of around 32-40 degrees Fahrenheit. Check them often, and if you see any signs of rot, remove the bad apples immediately.

2. Beets
Beets can withstand more humidity than apples, but they prefer the 32-40 degree Fahrenheit range. Before hard frost hits, hoe dirt over the protruding shoulders, keeping the foliage exposed. As winter begins, add mulch to the rows with up to a foot of leaves, straw or hay (more for colder climates, less for warmer). This method can also be applied to carrots, parsnips, turnips, celery, rutabagas, cabbages, leeks, kale and with some success, spinach. The longer you keep cold-tolerant produce in the ground, the better. Cool fall and winter temperatures actually increase the sugar content in many vegetables like beets and carrots (thus, making them taste ten times better!).

3. Brussels Sprouts
This vegetable is very frost-hardy and can be left in the garden until late fall. They can be kept in a root cellar, but a lack of moisture will shorten their life span. Keep brussels sprouts at a temperature of 32-40 degrees Fahrenheit and a high relative humidity level of 90-95%.

4. Cabbage
Can withstand light frost when it is young, and moderately severe frost when mature. You can utilize the same method of mulching beets with cabbage. They prefer cooler temperatures of 32-40 degrees Fahrenheit, and high moisture levels of around 80-95% relative humidity. You can pull out the entire plant (roots included), and this will ensure the cabbage lasts a little bit longer. If a stump of cabbage is left in the ground for the following year, however, a smaller leafy cabbage will emerge the following season. If you decide to pull out the cabbage with roots included, you can store them by tying a sturdy string to the roots (like hemp cord) and then let them hang upside down in the cellar.

5. Carrots
As described above, carrots can be kept in the garden under mulch, much like beets. They prefer temperatures of 32-40 degrees Fahrenheit, and relative humidity of 90-95% in a root cellar. If you are storing in a cellar, harvest before the soil freezes and cut the stems close to the carrot. Store them in a bucket of leaves or sawdust with a loose lid.

6. Cauliflower
Prefer cool temperatures of 32-40 degrees Fahrenheit and very moist relative humidity levels of 90-95%. You can wrap cauliflower in leaves to extend their shelf-life.

7. Celery
Prefer cool temperatures of 32-40 degrees Fahrenheit and very moist relative humidity levels of 90-95%. They don’t tend to last too long into the winter months,

8. Celeriac
This vegetable, which is actually the root base of celery itself, is one of the best keeping vegetables during the winter months. Trim off the longer roots, making sure not to cut too close to the bulb. Store in damp sawdust, sand, or moss, at an ideal temperature range of 32-40 degrees Fahrenheit. They prefer a very moist relative humidity of 90-95%.

9. Garlic
This spice needs to be air-dried in a warm, arid area for 2-3 weeks before storage. Remove the root and store at 32-50 degrees Fahrenheit with 60-70% relative humidity and good airflow.

10. Leeks
Try to grow frost-hardy varieties if you’re wanting to keep for the winter months. They can withstand a bit of snow, and the mulching process (as described above with beets) may be used up until the ground freezes. Harvest with some roots still attached, and store upright at 32-40 degrees Fahrenheit, preferable in wet sand. Try not to wet the leaves during storage. They prefer relatively high humidity of 90-95%.

11. Onions
Require curing until the necks are tight before storing. To cure, spread them in a dry area with lots of airflow, or hang them upside down. They prefer temperatures of 32-40 degrees Fahrenheit, with a relative humidity of 60-70%. Make sure to store them in breathable containers like mesh bags or crates.

12. Parsnips
Store well in uncovered ground until a solid freeze, at which point they should be mulched. The frost improves their flavour for a delicious spring harvest. If you harvest during winter, store them in damp sawdust at 32-40 degrees Fahrenheit, and a high relative humidity of 90-95%.

13. Potatoes
Potatoes should be cured in a dark place for 1-2 weeks at 45-50 degrees Fahrenheit. After this, they prefer cold temperatures of 32-40 degrees Fahrenheit, and moist relative humidity of 80-90%. You can also store potatoes outdoors by piling an insulating material like straw or hay on top of unused winter garden space with a few inches of dirt on top. Keep a ventilation hole, clear of dirt, on one side of the pile and a drainage ditch around the perimeter equipped with a small runoff canal. Throughout the winter, you can reach through the ventilation hole and fish out the produce. If you have a tarp, you can cover the top of the pile (not the ventilation hole) to prevent the storage mound from eroding away. If you have lots of potatoes that need storing, and more than one pile is not an option, layer the pile with 4-6 inches of the insulating medium, followed by a single layer of potatoes, followed by 4 inches of soil. Repeat the layering process.

14. Pumpkins
Cure pumpkins as you would a winter squash (see below) with the stem attached and stored around 50-55 degrees Fahrenheit. Relative humidity should be around 60-75%.

15. Sweet Potatoes
These guys can be stored all the way till spring if properly cured and stored. To cure, let them air-dry in a warm humid environment of 80-85 degrees Fahrenheit and 90% relative humidity for 10-14 days. This will toughen the skin and improve its flavor. Sweet potatoes store best in an unheated room of 50-60 degrees, with a moderate relative humidity of 60-70%, taking great care not to let them drop below 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

16. Turnips
This root veggie should always be harvested before a heavy frost hits. Remove the tops, and store as you would carrots in a moist insulator such as sawdust, moss or sand.

17. Winter Squash
Should be harvested before a hard frost, when the skin is tough enough to prevent penetration from a pressed thumb. Allow the seeds to fully develop before consuming them. Leave the stem on the fruit and cure for 10 days at 75-85 degrees Fahrenheit. Store them in a moderately dry and warm spot, where the temperature doesn’t drop below 50 and preferably stays below 60 degrees. The best relative humidity for storage falls between 60-70%.

Sources:
http://www.offthegridnews.com/off-grid-foods/how-to-store-fresh-vegetables-for-months-without-a-refrigerator/
https://preppers101blog.wordpress.com/
https://realfarmacy.com/storing-the-food-you-grew/
https://www.almanac.com/blog/celestes-garden/root-cellars

Originally published by Carly Fraser at: https://livelovefruit.com/store-fresh-fruit-vegetables-without-refrigerator/

In India, plants, herbs and spices are often used to treat ailments and maintain healthWe look at five of the best and most popular ingredients used in Ayurvedic medicine

Ayurvedic medicine uses herbs, spices and foods to treat ailments and improve health. Photo: Alamy

India has a long history of using natural medicines to treat ailments.  

There is a belief that illness can be linked to habitual patterns, which in turn are closely connected to thought processes, emotional health and food preferences. Changing these patterns, practitioners claim, means using ingredients that address all three aspects.

Kavita Devgan, nutritionist and author of Ultimate Grandmother Hacks: 50 Kickass Traditional Habits for a Fitter You, believes that Indian spices and plant-based ingredients are packed with healing properties.

“Green leafy vegetables and sprouts have vitamins B and E, which help in digestion and also aid in excreting acid from the body. Barley grass, for instance, helps correct alkalinity and boosts the metabolism and immune system.”

Kavita Devgan, nutritionist and author of Ultimate Grandmother Hacks: 50 Kickass Traditional Habits for a Fitter You, is a big believer in spices and plant-based ingredients.

Here are five plant-based “healing foods”: turmeric, moringa, ashwagandha, garlic and ginger.

1. Turmeric

Turmeric takes centre stage in the masala dabba, or spice box. It is regarded as sacred, and is offered to deities and applied to newlyweds’ skin. It is customarily stirred into warm milk and drunk at bedtime to nurse colds and coughs. Fresh turmeric root can be preserved in a salt and chilli powder base.

Turmeric is a sacred spice in India and is known for its medicinal properties. Photo: Alamy

Devgan says: “Turmeric is apparently the original probiotic” which “when taken with high-protein foods, assists in digestion and prevents formation of gas”.In her book, Turmeric – The Wonder Spice, food historian and writer Colleen Taylor Sen discusses the merits of this spice and the role it has played in Indian, Chinese, and Indonesian medicine. It has over the centuries been used to treat gastrointestinal and pulmonary disorders, diabetes, atherosclerosis and bacterial infections.

A plethora of studies have been done to test turmeric’s benefits. A 2016 meta study of clinical trials of turmeric found evidence to support its efficacy in treating arthritis, though it concluded that the small size and poor quality of most of the studies “were not sufficient to draw definitive conclusions” about the spice.

Moringa is one of the most nutrient dense plants and has antibiotic, antimicrobial and antibacterial properties. Photo: Alamy

2. Moringa

Indians have for years used moringa in their cooking: the leaves are cooked in a soupy gravy with lentils and eaten with rice, fried until crisp and used to make dry chutneys, and mixed with spices and coconut for wet chutneys.POST MAGAZINE NEWSLETTERGet updates direct to your inboxSIGN UPBy registering, you agree to our T&C and Privacy Policy

The moringa tree is also known as the drumstick tree, the Miracle Tree, the Tree of Life and Mother’s Milk. Why? According to NGO the International Tree Foundation, it is one of the most nutrient dense plants.Five supplements you should consider taking to give your body a boost5 Mar 2019

Solomon Ternder, a moringa advocate and author of books on the plant, points to research carried out by the non-profit World Vegetable Centre in Taiwan that found moringa had the highest nutritional value among 120 foods studied. Ternder says that 100 grams of fresh moringa leaves “provides more protein than an egg, more iron than a steak, more vitamin C than an orange and more calcium than a glass of milk”.

In addition, Ternder claims that moringa has antibiotic, antimicrobial and antibacterial properties, and that its high vitamin B content aids in digestion.

The medicinal herb ashwagandha restores vigour and strength, revitalises tissue and muscles, fights asthma and reduces cholesterol. Photo: Alamy

3. Ashwagandha

Indian ginseng, or ashwagandha (in Sanskrit ashwa means horse and gandha means fragrance) has very strong smelling roots. Proponents claim that it restores vigour and strength, revitalises tissue and muscles, fights asthma and reduces cholesterol.

Sri Maa Sidh Sidhshakti Ji, “inner scientist” and founder of the Institute of Spiritual Sciences (IOSS) in India, says that ashwagandha is beneficial for the body and the brain.

“It has a rejuvenating and calming influence on the nervous system,” she claims. “It is used exclusively in Ayurveda (traditional Indian medicine), and is an ingredient in chyawanprash (a nutrient-rich, rejuvenative jam).”

However, Sri Maa warns that due to its potency, you should consult a doctor before using it. It can have severe side effects, from diarrhoea and gastrointestinal disorders to thyroid dysfunction. She adds that pregnant or nursing mothers, young children and people with severe kidney or liver disease should avoid the plant.

Several studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of ashwagandha, including one reported in the Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine in 2012 that suggest it might have a role in lowering stress.

Garlic has been used to treat colds and fevers, balance high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Photo: Alamy

4. Garlic

This pungent bulb, rich in vitamins and dietary minerals, has been used as a remedy to alleviate colds and fevers, balance high blood pressure and high cholesterol, improve digestion and enhance bone strength.

Devgan endorses the use of garlic, and recommends “one or two crushed garlic cloves with water on an empty stomach every day”. Garlic, she claims in her book, helps to prevent cancers, lowers cholesterol and protects the heart.

A 2014 review of the available scientific research into garlic’s potential therapeutic effects, published in the Avicenna Journal of Phytomedicine, said: “Different compounds in garlic are thought to reduce the risk for cardiovascular diseases, have anti-tumour and antimicrobial effects, and show benefit on high blood glucose concentration.”

A Chinese study published in the Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Oncology this year suggests eating allium vegetables such as garlic, leeks and onions might reduce the risk of colorectal cancer.

Ginger is known as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory agent, anti-nausea compound and anti-cancer agent. Photo: Alamy

5. Ginger

One of the most common “grandma remedies” in the Indian household is ginger juice mixed with honey, which can alleviate sore throat and coughs. It is packed with bioactive compounds, and some say it can help prevent indigestion and nausea.

According to Sri Maa, it is also effective for osteoarthritis. “Mix ginger, mastic, cinnamon and apply to painful areas.” For pain relief, Sri Maa also recommends applying a hot ginger poultice to affected areas, though not on broken skin.

In Herbal Medicine: Biomolecular and Clinical Aspects, researchers Ann Bode and Dong Zigang report on “the amazing and mighty ginger” – the title of the chapter which reviews the many studies into the evidence for its effectiveness as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory agent, anti-nausea compound, and anti-cancer agent, and its protective effect against other disease conditions.

They suggest that ginger’s “specific biological targets are largely unknown and remain to be determined”, and conclude that, “in spite of the lack of specific mechanistic information, use of ginger appears to be safe and its effects are mighty and amazing in its many applications”.

Devgan’s overall advice for good health mirrors closely the conventional messaging on foods from global authorities: avoid fatty, processed and refined foods, and cut down on caffeine. She is also a proponent of yoga and meditation for their numerous health benefits.

Originally published by Ranjini Rao at: https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3009712/five-indian-healing-foods-ginger-garlic-turmeric