The Dirt on Nutrition

March is time to harvest figs - we grow Brown Turkey and Green figs

Early February harvests include crystal apple cucumbers, courgettes, rampicante zuchini, beetroots, beans, chillis, peaches, tomatoes, grapes and eggplants

With the arrival of colder weather, we are down to collecting capsicums, beans, feijoas and the last of the late passion fruit

I love this simple life.  One where we spend time planning and growing our food, harvesting it, preparing or preserving it - and of course, then eating it.  Food for the mind.  Food for the body.  Food for the soul.  It nourishes and sustains us.  If you are what you eat, then healthy food equals a healthy body and a healthy outlook.  I like to think I live my life following the KISS principle.  "Keeping it simple, Sweetheart!"  Life is simple - when it becomes too complicated, you can be sure, someone is making big money out of it!!
Casting my mind back 5 years ago, we were trapped in the cycle of listening to the lies about our nutritional deficiencies.  Our family spent up to $60 per week on nutritional supplements!  We believed all the lies about our food being deficient as the soils are deficient  and because we are vegetarian, we needed to supplement our iron, our B12, iodine etc, etc.
5 years ago, our newly aquired "nutritional and life coach", Don Tolman laid that lie open for us and now we have more money to spend, and I have never felt better!   He describes this in simple terms that simple people like me can understand.  If you take something from nature, isolate it, concentrate it and pack it into a capsule, chances are, your body won't recognize it. 
And the dirt on soil?
If you plant a tomato bush in front of your house and one at the back, perhaps the one at the back doesn't produce good tomatoes........... this could be due to the fact that the sun doesn't shine there, you don't water it often enough, the soil isn't as good or it was subject to fungal disease cause of insufficient air flow.  The one at the front may produce great big juicy tomatoes, full of flavour.  If that tomato bush was capable of growing tomatoes that looked and tasted as a tomato should, it got everything from the soil that it needed.  And thus that tomato will have all the nutrition you need from a tomato!  End of story!  KISS principle in action.

This is a heritage tomato my daughter grew, called a Brandywine.  The cracking is one of it's characteristics.  Her hands are much bigger than mine, to highlight the size of this little monster!

 

 

Did you know that the humble tomato helps protect the prostate in men, helps prevent and rid the body of cancer (lycopene), lowers cholesterol, supports the immune system and protects the heart?  And so easy to grow!  We eat them fresh only in summer, when we can grow them in abundance, and eat the sun-dried variety in salads in winter. Simple.