Natural Environment Blog

As summer is quickly approaching, the growing season is in full force. If you are looking for fresh fruits and vegetables, and perhaps milk, eggs, breads, and meats too, you might want to check out a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in your area. To learn more about CSAs and their benefits read on.

The Basics of CSAs

A CSA consists of a farmer offering a certain numbers of shares (memberships) to the public. Consumers purchase a share and in return receive a box of locally, grown produce or other good(s). With this arrangement, both parties agree to the potential risks (and benefits) associated with farming.

Advantages for You

As a consumer, there are many advantages for you to join a CSA. You are getting the freshest possible foods available. They are the healthiest for you, full of nutrients and vitamins. You know from where your food is coming and specifically how it was grown. As a CSA member, you typically get first pick of the crops too. You can talk with the farmer and tour the farm. By joining a CSA, you will be exposed to many more foods that you may not be accustomed. This will enable you to try new foods and new ways of cooking.

Advantages for the Farmer

Joining a CSA is also advantageous for farmers. Agreements are made ahead of season. This allows farmers to get the selling out of the way, and be able to focus on farming during the summer. Also, because farmers receive their money at the time an agreement is signed, they have some sort of cash flow. Farmers get to personally know their customers and share their trade. This can be very rewarding for them.

Advantages for the Environment

CSAs are not without advantages to the environment. In fact, CSAs have a strong impact. By purchasing local, transportation and pollution in the environment is reduced. Packaging is also kept to a minimum. Often, many farmers who participate in CSAs lean towards organic farming methods. They stay clear of pesticides and chemicals and treat animals more humanly. This helps the land, water system, and air.

Joining a CSA

If you are seriously considering joining a CSA, check out the internet for ones in your area. Go visit several farms, talk to the farmers, and see their growing methods. It’s best to have all the information upfront so that you can make the right choice for you and your family.

Article by Jim Shannon at Bamboo Habitat

Mother Nature is amazing. Just take a look at flowers and plants - we may not see them breathing and moving but we know that they are thriving. Plants seem to be able to function on their own. But do you know that these creatures will not be able to live without one very important pigment called chlorophyll? Almost all plants have chlorophyll. Even algae, such as chlorella and seaweed, also contain this pigment.

If you are not familiar with chlorophyll, read on and learn why it is important for plants.

What Is Chlorophyll?

A green pigment molecule found in plants, chlorophyll is crucial for photosynthesis because it absorbs energy from the sun. Chlorophyll helps convert water into glucose and carbon dioxide into oxygen. During photosynthesis, chlorophyll creates energy in the form of sugary carbohydrates, which is important for the growth and development of plants.

Chlorophyll is made of a porphyrin ring.

This is a circular and enclosed atom arrangement that allows electrons to “freely” float around, instead of being captured by a certain atom. These electrons are energy that can be absorbed by plant cells to help them grow.

To better understand how chlorophyll functions for plants, try to imagine how a person’s digestive system operates - it takes the raw materials and converts them into elements that can provide energy in the form of glucose. The only difference is that all that a plant needs is light from the sun, air absorbed through its pores, and water siphoned through its roots. The glucose produced during photosynthesis is absorbed into the cells of the plant and used to grow another bud or leaf. Sometimes, there is leftover glucose. In this case, the plant stores this glucose away as starch to be used for later.

Chlorophyll Turns Plants Green, Too!

Here’s another interesting fact:

Chlorophyll gives plants their beautiful color.

Ever wonder why most plants are green? This is also because of chlorophyll. If a plant has sufficient chlorophyll, it will have a lush, green color.

Try to observe some trees. Most of the year, they show off a certain green color, whether it’s teal, sage, or lime. However, when autumn comes, the plants turn into varying shades of red or golden-brown. This is because the plant loses the chlorophyll pigment, but gains other types of pigment. For example, the carotenoid pigment makes leaves look orange or yellow.

Can Humans Use Chlorophyll?

Due to its usefulness for plants, chlorophyll is now generating interest in the health community. Can this useful plant pigment work on people, too? No one knows for sure, but if you are looking for sources of chlorophyll, here are some possible options you can try:

• “Green” chlorophyll drinks. These are made from powdered green veggies.
• Chlorophyll supplements. These are available in a concentrated liquid form. Most chlorophyll supplements are dense and tasteless, and can be added to any type of drink. Try mixing it in water, smoothie or fruit shakes, or juice. When purchasing a liquid chlorophyll supplement, though, make sure that it is not refined and highly processed or loaded with additives and sweeteners. Only buy from a trustworthy source.
• Raw green foods. Eat plenty of greens! Salads and a wide variety of veggies like Asian greens, spinach, lettuce, green capsicum, broccoli, asparagus, peas, kale, and beans are good chlorophyll sources. Any plant-derived food is okay, as long as it is green in color. This means that it contains chlorophyll.

The next time you see a plant or tree looking lush and green, think of chlorophyll and how it works its magic. You will definitely appreciate this unique pigment!

About the Author

Mishka Thomas is a blogger and a freelance writer. She is an avid gardener and is fascinated by the workings of the botanical world. At present, she is currently researching about chlorophyll in algae, including seaweed and chlorella. When she is not busy tending to her backyard garden, she loves to go parasailing, mountain climbing, and scuba diving. She lives with her family in Florida.

The number one thing that people turn to in today’s world to deal with pain is pharmaceuticals. This is understandable, as that is the most well known solution on the market for solving those kinds of problems.

The Problem with Pharmaceuticals

The problem is that pharmaceuticals are not ideal as a long-term solution, but since that’s all people have, it becomes just that. Nearly all of the synthetic chemicals produced in that industry have negative effects on body organs, especially the liver. Due to these effects, it is all too easy to overdose, and there are actually several hundred accidental overdoses of aspirin each year which lead to fatalities, not to mention the thousands that exist from intentional overdoses.

Natural Health by Eating Right

It is up to everyone who knows the power of natural health to spread this information, so people can learn of an alternative to what has been touted as the only choice. By eating the right things, especially nutrients that have specific pain-reducing properties, you can start to feel relief without turning to pharmaceuticals. This is especially true of chronic inflammatory diseases, such as arthritis. These diseases happen because the body’s inflammatory-antiinflammatory response is malfunctioning, and often the root cause of this is something in the diet. Even when it is not, changing the diet to incorporate healing foods is a much better way to deal with pain.

The best part about this solution is that it makes you stronger over time, not weaker. Constantly taking pharmaceuticals puts a huge toll on the body that can shorten your lifespan and detract from your quality of life. Considering the unimaginable significance and importance of each moment of life, you should take every action possible to make your life the best it can be, and that means eating the right things.

Healing Foods

Foods rich in antioxidants are great for reducing inflammation, and that includes nearly every fruit and vegetable out there. Choose the fruits/vegetables that are richest in nutrients, such as pomegranates and alfalfa sprouts.

You also need to make sure you are getting a high-quality, total source of macronutrients, including carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Carbs can be covered with sprouted bread, the highest quality bread available, whereas essential fatty acids and protein can be supplied by hemp seed. Hemp seed in itself has anti-inflammatory properties and is perhaps the greatest healing seed on Earth. Incorporate all of this together, and you have a recipe for a life of pain-free, high-quality living.

This article was contributed by Justin Kander who would like to let you know about Versativa Inspirin.

If you want to experience the revolutionary healing effects of natural foods immediately, then Inspirin is the solution for you. The product is a delicious combination of hemp seed, concentrated marine phytoplankton, whole fruits, and other carefully-chosen extracts. The effects range from helping with simple prolems like headaches stemming from stress, to immediately reducing the pain of serious diseases like fibromyalgia and cancer, as seen in these emotional testimonials. To try Inspirin, visit the Versativa Inspirin page, click “Get Started Now”, and follow the simple steps to become a preferred customer.

You can also contact Justin Kander at thehempsolution@gmail.com for more information or if you have absolutely any questions.

Being someone who is passionate about the natural environment, it makes sense that I prefer to eat natural foods. By ‘natural’ I mean whole foods, or non-processed foods.

As passionate as I am about eating natural foods, it’s all too easy to find myself eating processed foods without thinking about it. In today’s society, it’s difficult to escape processed food. Even when I think I’m buying a natural ingredient, I later find out that it has actually been processed to some degree!

There are definite benefits to be had from eating whole, non-processed, foods. In eating natural foods, you’re letting nature take care of you as intended. Natural foods are full of nutrients to help keep you healthy. On the other hand, by eating processed foods, you’re injecting stuff into your body that nature hadn’t intended!

Anyway, if you prefer to include natural foods within your diet, check out these natural foods nutrition facts. I recently created this to help readers make informed decisions about the food they eat.

If you’re someone who fills your body with processed foods, try switching to a diet rich in whole, natural foods. I guarantee you’ll start to feel much healthier.