Welcome to the start of 2025’s new growing season! We’re coming through a long, cold and essentially dry winter of the kind we haven’t had for quite some time. Some of us are enjoying it – some of us not quite so much!!! But that long winter period (that we’re not out of quite yet!) does leave a bit of time for thinking new thoughts. Warning!!!! This newsletter is a bit different because we’re going to dive into some details on “Food as Medicine”, “What’s in our food” and “What decisions can we make”.
Let’s start with that first classic statement – Food is Medicine.
Almost everyone will have heard that statement (in fact, there’s a whole conference about it! ), but that’s a bit beyond this newsletter! What the statement “Food as Medicine” means to me is that it speaks to what is absorbed and used by any organism from the materials it consumes. That sounds wishy washy! … you could also look at this statement … “Garbage in/Garbage out” and that might actually make the concept clearer. But what does that even mean?? Wellllll…..
Have you ever heard of epigenetics? Here’s a dictionary definition: Epigenetics is the study of changes in organisms caused by the modification of gene expression rather than the alteration of the genetic code itself. You’re DNA strand is your own, but it needs resources from outside of you to replicate and create more of you. Now that is beginning to come to grips with the concept! What it means in real life is that you are what you eat. And there in lies the reality of Food as Medicine.
Did you know that you get most of a new body every 6 months – and every part of your body is renewed (including your bones) many times during your lifetime? That’s true for any organism (timelines differ) that gets nutrition from other than itself – in other words – it’s true for all life forms. That renewed body is only as strong as the supply chain actually used to build it. Think about all of those enzymes (that need minerals at their core) and all of that DNA replication. What you eat really does become who you are and helps to determine what you will become. Think positive and plan on running a triathlon, or just coming home healthy from work. Think negative and remember all of those degenerative diseases that are often based on enzyme insufficiency and mineral deficiency…those same diseases that are draining families’, communities’ and countries’ financial and emotional resources. Either way – that’s “food” for thought!
Once you’ve decided to eat (or feed anyone or thing you’re responsible for!) quality food, you’re using your food budget dollars (most likely $300-$700/week!) as part of a truly powerful “vote” for saner food practices. And never underestimate the power of that money in any cultural discussion – especially here in America. Make sure your money is supporting what you care about…everyone else’s purchases support their beliefs and goals!
OK – that’s the big picture but what about some specifics?
Here’s a quick thought about what is IN the food supply:
Let’s start off with what’s in our food supply and then we can anticipate some next steps…Did you know that more than 10,000 additives are allowed for use in human food sold in the U.S? These chemicals are added to products for all kinds of reasons, including “to add color or shine, to stabilize artificial flavors and to extend shelf life”. (https://www.ewg.org/areas-focus/toxic-chemicals/food-chemicals) None of those reasons is a health-oriented reason! If you’re really curious, you can check out this quick look article in the Smithsonian https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/whats-eating-america-121229356/. It’s a fascinating article written by Michael Pollan…
One of the takeaways from the article is there were huge changes that happened to fertilizer options following WWII and that those changes created long-term effects in agriculture and the food supply writ large. And therein lies a fascinating and horrifying story that is threaded through every aspect of modern American life. I learned about the WWII connection when I started looking in to landscape problems years ago. But, don’t panic!! We’re not going through all of those gory details! Just pointing out a critical cleft point in American history and that there is information available if you’re interested.
And here’s a quick thought about what’s NOT IN the food supply
There’s been a drop in mineral density in our food supply. Check this article from the National Institutes of Health - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10969708/ and that outlines the challenges for people. But, I can also tell you that Poulin Grain (the main livestock feed producer that we use at the store) keeps a constant testing program in place (has for years) and has found that there is a slow but steady decline in the quality of forages (think hay) in the extended New England region and they have had to change their feed formulas in order to maintain the quality and levels of protein in their livestock feeds for all species. It tells us three things…
That there are region wide challenges to plants and animals– most probably based on environmental plant stresses on top of damaged New England soils.
If the minerals and proteins are not in the food supply then they’re not in the final product whether that’s a tomato, an egg, a cow, a dog or a human.
That a New England based livestock feed producer with a quality bias can catch these trends and make sure that those issues are addressed in the feed itself. Not as good a fixing the whole region perhaps, but a whole lot more affordable and the animals thrive!!!
The upshot of all this information is that the American human food supply is HIGHLY compromised…we all know that! Highly processed foods are full of molecules that our bodies (or our pet’s or our plant’s bodies) don’t recognize (anyone know what azodicarbonamide is?), can’t process and struggle to either neutralize or eliminate. The European Union (and many other countries) don’t allow American levels of chemical manipulation and their populations are largely more healthy and spend less on health care than we do. Huh…thoughts there too!!!
But what does this really mean to you??
It means you need to understand the food supply for all the organisms you are responsible for – and that’s a BIG topic – but it can be narrowed down to some ideas that you can work with…
Read the labels!!! On everything!!! This includes the dog and cat foods, livestock feeds, your own feed! See how many minerals are supplemented in any of the animal feeds – that tells you that there aren’t enough minerals in the normal food elements. You’ll see it in human food too, but not as much. We’re supposed to handle that kind of nutrition density on our own. The animals have no such autonomy and need our help to stay healthy!
Keep processed foods of any kind to a minimum – and if you can’t pronounce the ingredients on the labels then your body probably doesn’t metabolize it easily. Shop the outside of a store with only very limited purchases from the basic stock shelves.
One word of warning – and this has happened to us! – it’s really hard to eat lots of ultra-processed food once you’ve tasted really good food. We have our own small goat dairy and can barely drink commercial milk (a VERY processed food!) – it really doesn’t taste good at all! Although potato chips still have their place in our world…
Learn a little bit about the origins of our current food supply so you can make good decisions. Every time you spend money on food, you vote for the future you want to see so use your vote (and your money!!) well. And as someone said… “if you think healthy food is expensive – have you priced any illness lately?” I can tell you from the store’s perspective that we see this all the time with the dogs and cats (or their owners actually!). And, somehow, the vets always recommend Science Diet…hmm…
And then take a look at how food is actually grown (plant or animal) and harvested, this takes time!!! But you’ll spend your dollars much better if you know a bit about your food’s background. Take a look at these next three thoughts:
Learn about re-mineralization, soil food web development, soil mineral balancing, plant metabolite pyramids and more. Or find those who are already interested in these things and buy your food from them! Did you know that truly healthy plants (and animals – and people!) resist pests and diseases? Think about it, you get sick when you get run down and your immune system gets a challenge it can’t meet, same for all living beings. Let’s face it – a plant does not have a fungicide deficiency when you use a fungicide to kill a disease! You can put a truly healthy plant (or animal) next to an infected plant (or animal) and the healthy organism will be just fine. Everyone who’s experimented with high quality/high mineral growing can tell you stories like this.
Try growing your own food. You may decide that you really LIKE being in charge of your own food quality for the entire season. Start smaller rather than larger so that your mistakes are manageable and then scale up. A well-managed 100 sq ft beats a badly managed 1000 sq ft. And use raised beds if your base soil is terrible. You may also decide that supporting someone ELSE is much more your thing – ask LOTS of questions! Either is ok – both are critical to the long-term development of a sustainable and healthy food supply (and planet).
And then look at this quote “Nutrient dense foods have greater levels of nutrients per unit calorie in a crop, better flavor, better aroma, and better nutritive value. Fruit will dehydrate and not rot if left out on the counter. Basically, those compounds that correlate with nutrition, with flavor, and aroma in crops, are built from the soil and through a well-functioning microbial ecosystem. Plants evolved with a gut flora (external – in the soil), in the same way that we have a gut flora (internal – in our digestive tract), that digests their food for them. The bacteria and the fungi in the soil are fed by the plants. When the plant makes sugar in the leaves, it injects that sugar into the soil to feed the soil life, who then digest the soil and feed the nutrients up to the plant.” Dan Kittredge
I don’t want to overwhelm everyone with possible next steps so that last statement is an excellent segway into our next newsletter coming later in February. That will include ways of seeing, ways of testing, ways of growing – you get the gist!! Be prepared ☺
As always, we’re happy to walk you through all kinds of options at the store for any animal that you’re feeding. And we’re more than happy to walk you through getting plants started right, growing right and tasting great at the other end of the growing season. Yes, there’s a lot to learn but it can be FUN to be in control of your own food supply – or at least parts of it!
And a new gardening year begins…Happy Gardening,
The Good Earth
Soooo good, ML! Do you have this as a link I can share?