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:
Take a larger pot and fill it with potting soil.
Break a bulb of garlic and place the cloves in loose damp soil, few inches deep, pointing upwards.
The garlic does not need much water, but keep the pot in an area exposed to the sun
Cut the greens when they reach 3-4 inches, and leave an inch so they can regrow again.
When the greens dry up and turn brown dig out the cloves, as each of them has formed a full bulb.
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!
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:
Difficulty completely once-routine tasks
Impaired sense of judgment
Impaired sense of direction or getting lost
Increased anxiety and aggression
Lethargy and lack of purpose
Memory loss
Monetary difficulties
Poor decision making
Repeating the same questions
MODERATE SYMPTOMS INCLUDE:
All of the symptoms mentioned above
Further deterioration of memory
Poor judgment and worsening confusion
Requiring assistance when doing simple tasks (e.g. bathing, grooming, using the bathroom.)
Significant changes in personality and behavior.
SEVERE SYMPTOMS MAY INCLUDE:
All of the signs mentioned above
Losing the ability to converse or speak
Complete dependence on others for many tasks
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.
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.
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.
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:
Alzheimer’s disease (of course!)
Anxiety
Cancer (by killing cancer cells and slowing tumor growth)
Chron’s disease
Chronic pain
Eating disorders
Epilepsy
Excessive weight loss (in people with AIDS and cancer)
Glaucoma
Inflammation
Loss of appetite
Mental health conditions such as schizophrenia and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Nausea and vomiting (from chemotherapy)
Multiple sclerosis (MS)
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.
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
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.
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.
You can regrow multiples of the same plant as long as you’re not overcrowding the area.
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.
avocado
basil
beets
cilantro
ginger
lemon balm
mint
mushrooms
onions (white/yellow/red)
parsnips
pineapple
potatoes
rosemary
sweet potatoes
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!
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/
North America’s biggest companies have seen their market values lose billions, prompting comparisons to dotcom bust
A customer sniffs a display sample of marijuana at a retail shop in Vancouver. Photograph: Elaine Thompson/APWilliam Turvill
Cannabis may be legal in Vancouver but visitors looking to score are likely to run into a seemingly counterintuitive suggestion: try the black market.
Recreational marijuana was legalised across Canada in October 2018. And yet on Reddit, the specialist forum website used by millions every day, many of Vancouver’s cannabis connoisseurs still swear by their underground supply.
This is one of the major issues facing North America’s marijuana companies, which experts say are in the midst of a dotcom-style market crash.
Canada and 11 US states have legalised recreational use of the drug, and a little over a year ago companies that cultivate and sell cannabis were seen by investors as one of the hottest tickets in town. Now billions of dollars have been wiped off the market values of the industry’s largest companies.Advertisement
The North American Marijuana Index, which tracks listed firms in the sector, has plummeted about 80% in the last year and is at its lowest value since 2016, before much legalisation had taken place.
The market capitalisation of Canopy Growth, the biggest firm in the sector by value, has fallen from $24bn in April last year to just over $6bn now, according to figures from the financial data firm Y Charts.
Around $2bn of that loss has come in the last week. Coronavirus fears, which have dragged down stocks across the globe, have not helped. But a large part of Canopy’s latest share price drop came after the firm was forced to admit that it was struggling in Canada.
The company announced last Wednesday that it would be closing two cultivation greenhouses in British Columbia – the western Canadian province where Vancouver is found – leading to 500 job losses. Canopy, which will be focusing on more cost-effective outdoor cultivation, also cancelled plans for a third greenhouse in Ontario.
Bosses blamed the cutbacks on Canada’s recreational market, which they said had “developed slower than anticipated”.
The consensus on Vancouver’s cannabis-focused Reddit feeds is that the legal market is struggling to attract buyers because its product is more expensive but lower in quality than the black market alternative.
“The government’s pot is too expensive. The government doesn’t show you a picture of what you’re buying before you buy it, so you cannot be informed as a consumer. The government weed has been full of bugs, mouldy or too dry in some cases, and often takes too long to get there,” one user said.
“The legal stuff is garbage,” said another Reddit user. A third said: “Friends don’t let friends smoke government weed.”
The sentiment is not confined to the realms of Reddit. Canadian government survey results released last month found that 40% of the country’s marijuana consumers admit to having obtained the drug illegally since legalisation.
Omar Yar Khan, national cannabis sector lead at the consultancy firm Hill & Knowlton, says legal sales have fallen short of expectations for a number of reasons. Legal prices – driven up by taxes – have been a factor in helping keep the black market “as rampant as ever”, he says.
But Khan, who advises several cannabis companies on public affairs, also believes firms have suffered in Canada at the hands of regulations that restrict their ability to develop brands.
There are strict rules around advertising for cannabis companies. Khan said: “It’s very hard to draw loyal consumers away from the illicit market to a legal market when there is very little brand identity amongst the consumer groups.”
Companies have also been held back in their efforts to open stores, often by local authorities that are against cannabis being sold in their areas.
“There just aren’t enough legal licensed points of sale across the country,” Khan said. “I think in Ontario now we’re up to about 30. But there are over a thousand beverage alcohol points of sale. So if it’s not convenient for consumers to access the product through the legal system, why would they ever leave the legacy illicit market?”
Anthony Dutton, a co-founder and former chief executive of Cannex – a US-focused marijuana firm that is listed in Canada and was recently renamed 4Front following a takeover – believes share prices in the sector have been driven down by certain firms overpromising to investors. He believes some of these companies are likely to collapse or be taken over by stronger rivals in the future.
Dutton, who remains a shareholder in 4Front and still advises the firm, likens the current woes of listed cannabis companies to the dotcom crash of the early 2000s.
“The market got ahead of itself, started to drink its own Kool-Aid, and it was a classic example of any bubble,” he said. “So what we’re seeing now, thankfully, is a lot of the companies that probably should never have been financed – and probably should never have gone public in the first place – are slowly withering on the vine and they’ll just disappear.
“Now there will be a consolidation around half a dozen strong operating companies, including 4Front, and those will be the companies that will take it into the next cycle.”
He added: “It’s just like in the dotcom boom. Oracle, Microsoft and other big companies were all around then, and they were profitable. And when the little companies began to fail, Microsoft and Oracle and the others picked up the ones they wanted, and the others they just let die.”
Kevin Sabet, the head of Smart Approaches to Marijuana – a campaign group that opposes lifting laws on the drug – says the legalisation of cannabis has been a “boon” to the black market in many areas because it means consumers are less concerned about trying the product.
Sabet, who has advised White House administrations on drug policy, also believes cannabis companies have misled their investors and politicians about the societal and financial benefits of legalisation.
“The cannabis business has been oversold to investors as a sure thing to get a great return,” he said. “I think there was a big hype over cannabis that has ended up being a reputation it could never live up to.”
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%.
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
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.
I won’t lie. I was terrified of what might happen. But as I ingested a small rice-grain size of the smelly, sticky black substance that loomed in front of me, it was an empowering declaration of war against my horrific cancer diagnosis.
I felt a little guilty, a little frightened and, well, a little like I could be breaking the law.
But having four children and a family who needed me to be alive this time next year, I figured, ‘Screw the law, screw medical conformity and screw the taboo status of cannabis. I’m going all in!’
Exactly 30 minutes before my first dance with this controversial substance, a parcel had arrived with £270 worth of 90% cannabis paste. My sister Suzanne had promised me it would cure me. I took her zealous predictions with a pinch of salt – I was stage four, after all, and more often than not there’s no coming back from that.
Over the next three months I upped my dosage and hoped for the best. I was ready for the worst. “Are you afraid of dying?” my good friend Stephen Nolan asked on his radio show. “No,” I replied without hesitation. “But I am terrified of my children growing up without me.”
Fast forward to last Wednesday.
I fell to the floor and shouted at the top of my voice ‘Thank you Jesus!’ Then I called Miss Ireland. I guess that’s why they call me Mr Showbiz. Precisely 52 seconds earlier, the anonymous voice from Belfast’s City Hospital called and banished in a swift expeditious moment what had amounted to seven months of mental and physical torture.
Her words were simple but megalithic in their momentousness: “You don’t have cancer any more, Paul. It’s over.” The strange thing is, I didn’t cry or feel emotional. Just grateful and extremely humbled.
I’m not one to pull out the God card every time something goes spectacularly well or life hits rock bottom – I leave that to the politicians in this country. But thanking a higher power seemed the right thing to do. Goodness knows I’d asked him or her enough times to get me through this.
The effortlessly benevolent former Miss Ireland Emir Holohan witnessed my miraculous transformation from haggard, washed-up, cancer-riddled showbiz writer to a healthy, exuberant and energised life force who dared to say, ‘Screw you, cancer.’
When I broke the good news that my cancer had bit the dust, the emotion from the brunette beauty and vibrant mum-of-six was tangible. I could sense the tears and utter relief as she burst into a passionate and untamed celebration of utter joy.
That moment alone made the months of turmoil, endless medicine and daily dates with facing my own mortality all worthwhile.
My mum embraced me, and we didn’t even have to say any words such was the magnitude of this joyous conclusion to our joint journey through hell.
Prior to the worldly deity that is Emir entering my life at the start of this dismal decline in health, the world around me had collapsed amid the end of my marriage. After that my physical and mental health went into a tumultuous decline.
By January, I was so ill I had to be rushed to the Royal by my horror-stricken mum Susan, and it was there that I took up a six-week residence.
I couldn’t even take comfort from the adage ‘at least you’ve got your health’. When doctors in the Royal announced I had roughly 48 hours to live, the message was clear: you’ve left it late and there are no guarantees you’ll see your 42nd birthday.
“Better late than never,” I quipped, before my eyes rolled back into an oblivion of illness. Gallows humour even in the darkest moments, in true showbiz fashion.
Under the watchful eye of Northern Ireland’s finest doctors, every antibiotic known to mankind was pumped into my rapidly evaporating body, which had plunged to just eight-and-a-half stone. Pneumonia, they call it.
That, coupled with enough sedatives and painkillers to sedate Guatemala, and slowly but surely, I mounted an unlikely comeback, punctuated by boosting calls and visits from Emir, though, heartbreakingly, none from my precious children.
But the worst was still to come. No sooner had I bounced back and was released from hospital, an odd shadow, roughly four centimetres in diameter, made a cameo appearance on my right lung, as if the past months hadn’t been dramatic enough.
“It’s probably nothing,” mulled the doctors as I lamented this unwelcome gatecrasher to my comeback party. “But we’ll biopsy it just in case.”
Six week later, I was battling stage four cancer of the lung and blood. At 42 I was kissing the lips of mortality. I was lucky to have the top doctors, nurses and equipment in my corner thanks to the forces at work at the City Hospital. But a machine can’t put an arm around you and say ‘we’re gonna beat this’. Thankfully, Emir did just that.
Then my sister Suzanne – a dynamic and enlightened presence just two years older than I – made a game-changing call that spun the world of cancer on its head and seemingly gave me a fighting chance.
“Cannabis oil, brother,” she announced with her buoyant London twang. “The f***ing pharmaceuticals hate it because they don’t have a piece of the pie. I’m telling you – it cures cancer.”
Her words immediately resonated. During my last hospital incarceration, at least three top medical aids nudged me and said, ‘Get on it,’ when the writing seemed to be on the wall for an impending cancer diagnosis.
But such is the ignorantly taboo concept of cannabis or THC oil, as it’s called on the high street, I felt divided over whether to give it a go or just stick to conventional medicine.
It didn’t take me long to find several compelling tales online of miraculous cancer comebacks by THC users. The decision was swift: my children needed a dad more than I needed to obey any draconian laws governing our treatment of this horrendous illness.
One call later and Suzanne had a batch of the highest concentration of 90% THC on its way to me, courtesy of a contact who harvested and mixed his own blend after curing himself years earlier. Was all this legal? The truth is, I didn’t care. Living my life and revelling in my beautiful children growing up was more important.
So I defiantly ignited my THC paste regime, taking a rice-grain-sized dollop of this Marmite-like, black, gooey substance every morning and night on a cracker.
Then, roughly four weeks later, a PET scan revealed some quite remarkable news. “We’re scratching our heads a little, Paul,” announced my specialist in Belfast’s City Hospital. “The stage four growth on your lung has shrunk by three centimetres and it’s not taking up any of the glucose we injected into you.” Roughly translated, it meant the tumour had gone from stage four to dead. Benign, Caput.
A final biopsy presented a four-week wait for results which would either mean I would have to endure full-on tough chemo for months, or celebrate what felt like the greatest bullet dodge in medical history. Thankfully it was the latter, and earlier in the week I was given the all clear.
From stage four cancer to not even a dose of chemo although I had radiotherapy. I had my life back, my children’s futures to look forward to and an incredible woman in my corner. The world spins again.
I’m pleased to say that thanks to the combined forces of conventional medicine and the much maligned cannabis plant, recent rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.
As my favourite songwriter Bob Dylan has said: “The only things I know how to do is keep on keeping on.” His words certainly ring true.
No matter what we’re faced with in the glorious uncertainty of life, none of us can do much more than that. But at least I’m keeping on with a life warrior in a Miss Ireland, my adoring kids and my wonderful family in my corner.
A team of organizations has completed construction of a ground-breaking eco-building in Morocco that combines hemp construction with a high-tech solar energy system for total independence from the electrical grid.
The SUNIMPLANT project, designed as a single-family dwelling, was created as an entrant in the recent “Solar Decathlon” organized by the United States Department of Energy and Morocco’s Centre de recherche en Energie solaire et Energies nouvelles. The biannual international competition challenges teams of students to design and construct solar-powered buildings. The most recent edition was hosted in Ben Guerir, Morocco, the first time the competition has been held on the African continent.
Advanced ‘space ship’
“This ‘space-ship’ is advanced in time and reflects a turn not only in North Africa but in hemp construction, which doesn’t have comparable prototypes anywhere in the world,” said Monika Brümmer, a German architect and natural builder who led the project.
While the building was designed as a stimulus for rural development, the technology also has application in urban settings, Brümmer noted.
Owner at Spain-based Cannabric, Brümmer is also a co-founder of Adrar Nouh (2017), an NGO which promotes the use of indigenous hemp stalk for rural development and sustainable employment in Morocco’s impoverished High Rif. Adrar Nouh was started in 2017 by Brümmer and Abdellatif Adebibe, a Moroccan expert in alternative development in the Rif region.
Monika Brümmer
The challenge was to create a hemp composite using vegetable-based bio-resins, avoiding technical or synthetic components, Brümmer said. The cylindrical envelope of the circular building, with minimal exposure of the 24 exterior panels, gives interior comfort through optimal damping and thermal phase shift, and osmosis of the components in the hempcrete formulation, Brümmer said.
Nature meets high-tech
Built for around $120,000, the building’s price tag was less than half the cost of the most expensive buildings in the competition. Additional features of the 90 sq. m. SUNIMPLANT building include:
A double skin façade that employs a mixture of hemp, earth, pozzolan and lime, all sourced locally; and bio-composites incorporating hemp technical fibers that were produced via vacuum injection technology.
A spherical, aerodynamic outer skin comprising 24 semi-flexible photovoltaic panels. Sponsored by DAS-Energy, the panels are exposed to all faces for their use of sun and light, with maximum 40% losses.
Curved bio-composite panels made with hemp wool, which increase the performance of the photovoltaic panels by protecting their back side against the weather extremes of the semi-arid region of Ben Guerir, where temperatures reached 42°–46°C (107°– 114°F) in the shade during the construction phase last August and September.
High-performance glass from French glassmaker Saint Gobain.
International cooperation
Brümmer said even greater performance could have been achieved if original plans to install hemp-clay boards for the internal partitions and floors, and other minor modifications, had not been abandoned due to funding constraints.
Adrar Nouh contributed the architectural design, developed the hemp materials and cooperated in the construction of the building. Other participants on the SUNIMPLANT project were Morocco’s National School of Architecture and National School of Applied Sciences, both based in Tetouan, Morocco, and Germany’s Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics.
My activism probably wouldn’t have gone the direction it did, if it were not for my eye opening, and empowering experience, volunteering at Adela Wisdom’s 420 POW booth at Seattle Hempfest in 2015. I had just relocated to Washington state from Southern California, the month prior. Up to that point, my biggest focus in activism was safe access for medical cannabis patients in Apple Valley, California, where dispensaries had been banned.
Adela and Aaron Wisdom
Before my volunteer experience with POW 420, I was completely clueless to the fact that prisons across the nation house an extremely large number of non-violent “criminals” serving time, many life, over a completely non-toxic healing plant. It is with great sadness that I am now writing about the injustice Adela, and her husband Aaron, are currently facing.
Adela has been a judicial reform advocate/activist for nearly 20 years. Her activism has reached worldwide, speaking in many different countries, and advocating for real judicial change at The United Nations. She has written to over 1000 POW 420’s, and has done 3 prison interviews. Not only does Adela believe that no one should be caged for Cannabis, she has walked the talk, helping and educating many.
Adela and Aaron Wisdom are both judicial reform advocates, and small farmers, residing in Callaway county Missouri. Both husband and wife, are running for political office. Aaron is a candidate for Lt. Govenor. Adela is a candidate for US Representative 3rd District of Missouri. Days after announcing their candidacy, The Wisdom’s were raided. On September 17, 2019, their home was searched by the Sheriff’s department looking for cannabis, and other items related to cultivation, drug trafficking, drug sales, and drug use. Law Enforcement did not find what they were looking for in what seems to have been a politically motivated raid.
A little after 8:00 am, early June 2020, a National Guard helicopter flew over the Wisdom’s farm. Using a telescopic lens, noxious Cannabis was seen on the Wisdom’s property. From the air, they also observed Aaron and Adela burning weeds. Missouri Dept of Agriculture lists Cannabis Sativa L as a noxious weed. The Oxford dictionary defines noxious weed as a weed which is considered to be harmful to the environment or animals, especially one which may be the subject of regulations governing attempts to control it.
The observation of the noxious weed, along with the legally required destruction of it, made Law Enforcement feel justified in conducting a warrantless search. Plain clothed officers showed up to the Wisdom’s property, wearing ski masks, and did not identify themselves. Adela had a gun pointed at her face, by a man who she did not know the intentions of, or why he was on their property. Both Aaron and Adela were arrested. They face a decade in prison each for the victimless crime of having 22 wild growing noxious weed plants growing on their property, and destroying them per Missouri law. The raid was carried out by both the Mustang Task Force and local Law Enforcement. At any time, these charges could become Federal charges.
Seems to me it is pretty clear that the current powers that be in Missouri, feel threatened by Adela and Aaron’s candidacy for political office. Missouri currently has over 7,000 rape kits sitting on shelves, collecting dust, untested. There is no funding to process those rape kits and get violent rapists off the streets, yet somehow funding is always available to investigate and prosecute people over a plant. I say: No Victim No Crime.
The consequences of unjust Cannabis laws are always about more than just a loss of freedom. For Aaron and Adela it has put a halt on the child adoption process they were in. Due to the ongoing investigation, they cannot pass an FBI background check. Adela has had her chances at motherhood taken from her. A baby in need of a loving, stable home with courageous, compassionate parents, who actively make this world a better place, had that opportunity lost.
Long time Wisdom family friend Victoria Hughes was asked about what kind of people the Wisdom’s are. “Adela has turned personal tragedies into a passion for helping others who are struggling. She has a way of bringing hope to people who have often been forgotten by society” Victoria shared. “Aaron is a very hard-working gentle soul. He goes out of his way to take care of others around him. I watched him prepare meals daily to take to their 80 year old Veteran neighbor, without asking for anything in return.”
Callaway County, the state of Missouri, nor the World will be any bit safer by having Adela and Aaron locked in prison for 10 years. In my opinion, it would actually be a disservice to all of humanity to have The Wisdom’s incarcerated. They need our help.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Martin Luther King Jr
*Write a letter to Judge Carol England asking she drop all charges against Aaron and Adela. Please be polite. A template, or sample letter is available on Adela s website. https://www.adelawisdom.com/call_to_action
*Write up a “Drop all charges against Adela and Aaron” sign. Take a photo with your sign and email to itskckush@gmail.com. Photos will be arranged into collages, and sent to the court, in support of Aaron and Adela.
Originally written by By Kerry Cannon for cannabisactivismnow.com
