Are Local Vegetables safe to eat?

Increasing concern among consumers in and outside the country about the security level of the vegetables produced in Sabah. Importing vegetables more careful to buy vegetables produced in the state. Are these concerns unfounded?

Research made by members of the Council of Consumer Affairs State of Sabah has been found that most of the vegetables sold in the market for local consumers are not given identification tag. Identification tag or label is a measure used to ensure that vegetables are produced to meet the minimum standards of health and also as a way to monitor the use of materials of pesticides by vegetable producers. Currently, the only vegetables locally exported only given a temporary identification tag vegetables marketed to local consumers is not so. Vegetables sold in supermarkets, market stalls and not given the tag identification. The absence of the tag identification is difficult for authorities to ensure that minimum health requirements for 1985 full of vegetables.

In principle, all vegetable growers are required to register with the Department of Agriculture, Sabah. It is important to do so that each vegetable growers are given the code by the Department for the purpose of monitoring. Currently, the majority of vegetable growers who are registered to export vegetables because this is the prerequisite for export. Vegetables that are not given identification tags are not allowed to be exported. But will need identification tag is not yet enforced the grower-local vegetable growers.

Department of Health took samples of vegetables at random from the vegetable gardens, markets and supermarkets to test the residual insecticide. Recently, the Department has claimed that the owner of supermarkets in Kota Kinabalu for violating the Food Control Act 1985 for selling vegetables containing high residual insecticide that (Daily Express, 3.9.00). If the vegetables sold in local markets given the tag identification, the Health Department can also detect and fine-grower vegetable growers who use pesticides excessive.

Vegetables that contain levels of residual insecticide that proved to be higher in the statistics obtained. In 1999, four vegetable exporters from Sabah was found to export vegetables that exceeds the Maximum Level Waste (MRL) (Source: FAMA). Research Branch Department of Agriculture has also found that 10.4% of the vegetables imported from Sabah found exceeding MRL in 1998. MRL high levels found in 75% of the total sample of Chinese celery leaves, 50% chai sim (mustard flowers), 40% chilli (capsicum), eggplant 20%, 25% spinach (spinach) and 15.6% Chinese cabbage. Statistics in 1998 from the Department of Health also found that the insecticide is exceeded MRL for vegetable oil, bitter mustard, mustard flowers (Chai Sim), fragrant beans, spinach, mustard Taiwan, leaves "Sadri", cilli, horseback, coriander leaves (Chinese celery ) and spinach white. Statistics from the Department of Statistics showed that 21% of vegetables, low soil samples taken between January and May 2000 had levels of waste pesticides exceeding the MRL EBDC, according respectively.

Following this discovery, there is urgent need to improve the quality and level of security glassy-vegetables produced in the state. Control of pesticides must be tightened because of dietary vegetables that contain residual pesticides harmful to the user community in the long term. Furthermore, the image of vegetable products in Sabah will be contaminated local market and if there is no guarantee from the authorities that vegetables produced here have a high quality and meet the minimum health standards.

As a rare start, it is proposed that the test results of samples for a variety of vegetables made by the authorities published in local newspapers or the appropriate website. This is not only useful information is important to realize as a consumer but also pressure to vegetable producers to be more careful and responsible in the use of pesticides in their activities.

At the same time, more service connections (extension services) is required to educate growers about the vegetables in an integrated management of pesticides and other methods that is safe in their production process. It is also necessary to ensure that pesticides are prohibited (banned Pesticides) for vegetables stopped immediately. In fact, there has been awareness among consumers to switch to organic vegetables safer. The relevant authorities can promote organic farming by providing more assistance to vegetable farmers.

Based on Department of Agriculture, the cost to test a sample of vegetables is very high. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the provision of vegetable samples for testing to ensure that the sample size studied enough. Total staff in the Department that runs the test sample is added to vegetable also more frequent testing can be done at the farms, wholesale and retail markets and export door. We must ensure quality and safety of vegetables for the health of consumers before we go further promote the market for exports.

Organic Rice And Vegetable For Better Life

Healthy life is the most choice for modern people nowadays, because healthy life can bring them to another choices which give theme more happiness. With healthy life, someone can do a lot of activities they want to do, for examples he can come together with people he love, travelling to amazing places, sharing each other, or another hobby he can do, which can’t do when he isn’t healthy.

One factor which can influence human health is food. Technology expansion in modern life doesn’t always give positive impact in food industry. Basically, food we eat everyday is a natural substance. But in fact, the food precisely contains a lot of chemical substance which comes from pesticide and chemical fertilizer. Remember too about synthetic growth hormone for plants inside food. That’s all because some farmers want to produce faster with high amount and more profit they get.

Basically, human body doesn’t need this chemical substances, moreover in large amount can cause some deseases and toxic substance in our blood and body. Since we were a baby, we consume food with chemical substance as long as we live until now. Can you imagine how much this chemical substance are accumulate in our body? While we almost never clean it with cleansing method. The entering toxics are not balance with exhausted toxics. Finally, this causes a lot of deseases in our body.

Natural and organic products rapidly developed as human awareness and need in healthy life increase. This time, there are a lot of organic products has been produced by organic farmers such as organic rice and organic vegetable. This food product can be an alternative for modern life to change food pattern from chemical substance into organic one to decrease its negative impact caused by chemical substance.

What are organic rice and vegetable?
Organic rice and vegetable are food product which is produced naturally without chemical processing or with no synthetic substances like pesticide, herbicide, chemical fertilizer, and no hormone injection. The process is without ionization radiation or genetic modification. It use organic fertilizer to grow. Organik rice and vegetable contain better nutrient for human body and also can be an alternative for treatment.

Why people choose organic food?
There are 8 reasons why they eat organic food
1. Begin with what we eat
2. Stop consuming chemical substance
3. To protect children’s health
4. To protect water, land, and air quality.

Impact of organic rice and vegetable for ecosystem is very good. It can fertile the soil and the micro organism in the soil grow naturally which can give amazing mineral and vitamin substance. Nature balance and the habitat can be preserved naturally.

5. To protect the farmer’s health
6. To support micro industry of domestic farmer
7. To save money from treatment
8. Because organic food’s taste is delicious

There are another different reason for modern people why they choose organic food. And your reason is inside you. Organic rice and vegetable can bring us into better life. No more money for illness treatment, no more chemical substance in our body, and no more complaint for bad condition of life. Be an organic consumer!

Good Vegetables For Planter Boxes

Planter boxes give you the benefit of raising organic vegetables right outside your door or window. Rising costs of produce have caused some budget-conscious people to reconsider the money they spend on fresh fruits and vegetables. But at what cost to their health? And the price of organic produce is even higher. You can grow your own vegetables, even without much space. Roots, leafy vegetables, and fleshy vegetables can all grow well in planter boxes, if you choose the right varieties and provide the attention they need.

Root vegetables are edible roots of plants. Vegetables which fall in this category include carrots, beets, turnips, parsnips, radishes, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. Root vegetables can work well in planter boxes, as long as the planters are deep enough. Try carrots and radishes.

Leafy vegetables also can grow well in containers. Lettuce, kale, and Swiss chard will provide a base for healthy salads or will give you some extra crunch in your sandwiches. You can also cook some leafy greens for a hot side dish. Whatever your culinary plans, consider growing your own leafy vegetables in your planter boxes.

Finally, some varieties of fleshy vegetables adapt well to containers. Try fresh cucumbers in your salads or make your own dill pickles. You can also grow eggplant and squash in planter boxes. Certain varieties of tomato work well, as do peppers (both sweet and hot). To obtain further information on which varieties of vegetables grow well in planters, consult an experienced container gardener or the staff members at a greenhouse.

When you grow vegetables in planter boxes, your primary concerns will probably be the nutrients in the soil and the moisture of the soil. Some growers recommend a peat-based potting mix as the best base for your soil. Whatever your preferred soil, you can enrich it with compost. Combine your homemade compost with the soil mix, one part compost to two parts mix.

Plants in containers usually require more frequent watering than plants in the ground because the soil in planter boxes dries out more quickly. You should check the soil surrounding your vegetable plants every day to evaluate the need for a watering. If your plants wilt during the day, or seem to have a dull color, these could be signs that they need more water. Give them a little more water and observe if they perk up.

Watering your vegetables in the morning may allow more water to penetrate the soil. Lower temperatures and less wind equal slower evaporation of the water.

If you enjoy the freshest vegetables, try growing your own. Even if you have little space to devote to growing things, you can grow vegetables in planters. Select vegetables that grow well in containers, or varieties of vegetables bred especially for container gardening. Select roots, leafy vegetables, and fleshy vegetables that you enjoy eating. Consider the best ways you can provide nutritious soil and sufficient water for your vegetable garden. Stick to natural options if you wish to harvest organic vegetables. Start selecting your favorite recipes for your homegrown produce.

Grow Your Own Vegetables

Growing your own vegetables is both fun and rewarding. All you really need to get started is some decent soil and a few plants. But to be a really successful vegetable gardener, and to do it organically, you'll need to understand what it takes to keep your plants healthy and vigorous. Here are the basics.

"Feed the soil" is like a mantra for organic gardeners, and with good reason. In conventional chemical agriculture, crop plants are indeed "fed" directly using synthetic fertilizers.

When taken to extremes, this kind of chemical force-feeding can gradually impoverish the soil. And turn it from a rich entity teeming with microorganisms insects and other life forms, into an inert growing medium that exists mainly to anchor the plants' roots, and that provides little or no nutrition in its own right.

Although various mineral nutrients (agricultural lime, rock phosphate, greensand, etc.) should be added periodically to the organic garden, by far the most useful substance for building and maintaining a healthy, well-balanced soil is organic matter.You can add organic matter to your soil many different ways, such as compost, shredded leaves, animal manures or cover crops.

Organic matter improves the fertility, the structure and the tilth of all kinds of soils. In particular, organic matter provides a continuous source of nitrogen and other nutrients that plants need to grow. It also provides a rich food source for soil microbes. As organisms in the soil carry out the processes of decay and decomposition, they make these nutrients available to plants.

Make Efficient Use of Space

The location of your garden (the amount of sunlight it receives, proximity to a source of water, and protection from frost and wind) is important. Yet just as crucial for growing vegetables is making the most of your garden space.

Lots of people dream of having a huge vegetable garden, a sprawling site that will be big enough to grow everything they want, including space-hungry crops like corn, dried beans, pumpkins and winter squash, melons, cucumbers and watermelons. If you have the room and, even more importantly, the time and energy needed to grow a huge garden well, then by all means go for it. But gardens that make efficient use of growing space are much easier to care for, whether you're talking about a few containers on the patio or a 50-by-100-foot plot in the backyard.

Get Rid of Your Rows

The first way to maximize space in the garden is to convert from traditional row planting to 3 or 4-foot-wide raised beds. Single rows of crops, while they might be efficient on farms that use large machines for planting, cultivating, and harvesting, are often not the best way to go in the backyard vegetable garden. In a home-sized garden, the fewer rows you have, the fewer paths between rows you will need, and the more square footage you will have available for growing crops.

If you are already producing the amount of food you want in your existing row garden, then by switching to raised beds or open beds you will actually be able to downsize the garden. By freeing up this existing garden space, you can plant green manure crops on the part of the garden that is not currently raising vegetables and/or rotate growing areas more easily from year to year. Or you might find that you now have room for planting new crops—rhubarb, asparagus, small fruits, or flowers for cutting—in the newly available space.

Other good reasons to convert from rows to an intensive garden system like raised beds or open beds include:

Less effort. When vegetables are planted intensively they shade and cool the ground below and require less watering, less weeding, less mulching—in other words, less drudge work for the gardener.

Less soil compaction. The more access paths you have between rows or beds, the more you and others will be compacting the soil by walking in them. By increasing the width of the growing beds and reducing the number of paths, you will have more growing area that you won't be walking on, and this untrammeled soil will be fluffier and better for plants' roots.

Grow Up, Not Out

Next to intensive planting, trellising represents the most efficient way to use space in the garden. People who have tiny gardens will want to grow as many crops as possible on vertical supports, and gardeners who have a lot of space will still need to lend physical support to some of their vegetables, such as climbing varieties of peas and pole beans. Other vegetables that are commonly trellised include vining crops such as cucumbers and tomatoes.

The fence surrounding your garden may well do double-duty as a trellis, so long as the crops grown on the fence can be rotated in different years. Other kinds of trellises are generally constructed from either wood or metal. However, no matter which design or materials you use, be sure to have your trellis up and in place well before the plants require its support—preferably even before you plant the crop. With some vegetables, such as tomatoes or melons, you may also have to tie the plants gently to the support, or carefully weave them through the trellis as they grow.

Keep Crops Moving

Crop rotation within the vegetable garden means planting the same crop in the same place only once every three years. This policy ensures that the same plants will not deplete the same nutrients year after year. It can also help foil any insect pests or disease pathogens that might be lurking in the soil after the crop is harvested.

To use a three-year crop rotation system, make a plan of the garden on paper during each growing season, showing the location of all crops. If, like most people, you grow a lot of different vegetables, these garden plans are invaluable, because it can be difficult to remember exactly what you were growing where even last season, much less two years ago. Saving garden plans for the past two or three years means that you don't have to rely on memory alone.

A Continuous Harvest

Planting crops in succession is yet another way to maximize growing area in the garden. All too often, though, gardeners will prepare their seedbeds and plant or transplant all their crops on only one or two days in the spring, usually after the last frost date for their location.

While there is nothing wrong with planting a garden this way, wouldn't it be easier to plant a few seeds or transplants at a time, throughout the course of the whole growing season, rather than facing the herculean task of "getting in the garden" all at one time?

After all, a job almost always becomes easier the more you divide it up. Plan to plant something new in the garden almost every week of the season, from the first cold-hardy greens and peas in late winter or early spring, to heat-loving transplants such as tomatoes, peppers and eggplant once the weather becomes warm and settled.

Then start all over again, sowing frost-hardy crops from midsummer through mid-fall, depending on your climate. Keep cleaning out beds as you harvest crops to make room for new vegetables that will take their place. You can even interplant crops that grow quickly (radishes) alongside other vegetables that require a long season (carrots or parsnips), sowing their seeds together. This makes thinning out the bed easier later on, since you will have already harvested the quick-growing crop and given the long-season vegetables that remain some much-needed elbow room.

Another benefit of succession planting, of course, is that your harvest season lasts longer for every crop. This means that, instead of getting buried in snap beans or summer squash as your plants mature all at once, you can stagger plantings to ensure a steady, but more manageable supply of fresh vegetables.

Keep Good Records

Finally, we end up where we started—with the realization that, although vegetable gardening can be rewarding even for beginners, there is an art to doing it well. There is also a mountain of good information and advice from other gardeners available to you. Yet one of the most important ways of improving your garden from year to year is to pay close attention to how plants grow, and note your successes and failures in a garden notebook or journal.

Just as drawing a garden plan each year helps you remember where things were growing, taking notes can help you avoid making the same mistakes again, or ensure that your good results can be reproduced in future years. For instance, write down all the names of different vegetable varieties, and compare them from year to year, so you will know which ones have done well in your garden.

Many people keep a book in their car to record when they change their oil and perform other routine maintenance. In the same way, get in the habit of jotting it down whenever you apply organic matter or fertilizer to the garden, or the dates on which you plant or begin to harvest a crop.

Over time this kind of careful observation and record-keeping will probably teach you more about growing vegetables than any single book or authority. That’s because the notes you make will be based on your own personal experience and observations, and will reflect what works best for you in the unique conditions of your own garden. As in so many other pursuits, so it is in the art of vegetable gardening: practice does make perfect.

5 Organic Foods Every PCOS Woman Should Eat

Here's an article to inform women with PCOS to understand the importance of eating these foods in an organic form. The reason is that these 5 foods that listed below may contain growth hormones, antibiotics, food colorings, etc...

We know that women with PCOS have to avoid all foods with added hormones because of the hormone surge it can create in our body. Remember the secret to getting your PCOS in remission is stabilizing out you hormones and blood sugar levels.

Eating these foods in an organic form required you to seek out stores that carry these foods. Your safest bet is always a health food store, although some grocery stores are starting carry a lot of organic brands as well.

Eating organic does take some work and research to see what stores carry these products in an organic form. But it's well worth the effort. This does not mean that you have to get rid of everything in your refrigerator and replace it with organic; all it simply means is that foods that may contain growth hormones, we should avoid.

In general everyone should, but more importantly woman with PCOS.
.
Try these 5 organic foods the next time you go shopping.
Once you try these foods in an organic form you should notice a cleaner taste, and feel better overall from not ingesting extra hormones into your body.
Try eating these organic foods for a two weeks and see if your body notices a difference.

5 Organic Foods Every PCOS Women Should Eat:

1) For starter's yogurt and/or diary products should be organic. For starters Organic diary products are made without the use of added hormones or antibiotics and can have higher levels of omega-3s. Organic dairy products are not only good for women with PCOS - they can be much less damaging to the environment. So next your reach for a snack in the afternoon, make sure you reach for an organic yogurt and/or diary products.

2) Salads are equally as important as diary to have in an organic state. The reason is conventional salads have some of the highest levels of toxic pesticides. So it's best to choose organic greens. When making your salad, try adding in some extra organic vegetables and boost your intake of antioxidants.

3) Apples are not too missed. Apples also contain toxic pesticides. With that being said its best to have its best to buy organic apples. You may want to start looking up local farmers markets that come to your area so you can stock up on fresh organic fruits and vegetables that don't contain any harmful pesticides.

4) Tomatoes. Yes these colorful round tomatoes are also best when they are organic so you can again avoid all those harmful pesticides. Fresh organic tomatoes are so health for you; they provide your body with lycopene, an antioxidant that may lower cancer and heart disease risks and may do other wonderful things as well.

5) Don't forget your Meat products. Most people don't realize that animals are treated in such an inhumane way; by injecting animals with growth hormones, antibiotics, force fed, etc...that why meat is so important to buy organic. The best quality of meat is from grass fed cows and it's often leaner than other meats and contains more of the good omega 3 fats. Try switching over any of your meats to organic and notice the cleaner, fresher taste.

- Try these delicious ways products in an organic form and notice how much cleaner and fresher your meals will taste.
- Now that you have this information isn't this a great way to spell 'relief' for yourself?

Organic Vegetable Garden Planting Tips

Vegetable garden planting is becoming one of the crazes today, especially since the media is promoting organic foods. However, vegetable garden planting is not just about being “in”. It is also about keeping you and your family healthy by eating only organically grown foods, like vegetables, which are free from artificial fertilizers that take not only the taste away but minutes of your life since artificial fertilizers have been proven to be detrimental to ones’ health in the long run.

If you already have a vegetable garden of your own or planning to grown one, here are some vegetable garden planting tips that you can learn from.

Sun, Sun, and More Sun

Yes, one of the greatest vegetable garden planting tips any vegetable farmer knows is that the vegetable crops need sun, and lots of them. If you already have a vegetable garden, check to see if they get ample sun. If not, then move them to a place where the sun is the brightest.

The Soil Matters

It might not be much, but the soil does matter when it comes to vegetable garden planting. So before you plant your seeds, prepare your soil first. Dig up the soil where you are going to place the beds and break apart any compressed soil. Your vegetable garden will need a good drainage, and by breaking up solid soil, you are promoting good water flow to the roots.

Remove Weeds Earlier

Another vegetable garden planting tip is removing the weeds earlier. Do not wait for the weeds to grow. Remove them now because it will haunt you later if you do not. When removing your weeds, remove the rocks as well. Both of these two can compete for space once your vegetable garden is in bloom.

Know Your Vegetables’ Neighbors

Knowing your vegetables’ neighbors is a great planting tip. It pays to know that some vegetables, when planted close to another kind of vegetable, can inhibit or benefit its neighboring vegetable crop. For example, planting beans next to onions can inhibit the growth of the onions.

Keep Them Near

If you are constantly going to go out and pick vegetables from your garden, you should then plant them nearer your kitchen where you can easily look at them as they grow. If you need anything, it will be easier for you to go out and pick the vegetables that you will be needing for your dishes.

The Basic Planning of an Italian Herb Garden

In order to have the best garden possible, you will want to properly plant it. The Italian herb garden is no exception to this rule. Many people would like to start an herb garden to accompany their cooking. In order to do this, you may need to make some accommodations. Take into consideration light, wind and rain. This allows the plants to get what they need to thrive. It is possible to give every plant what it needs without making others suffer. With the right plan in place, you will be able to enjoy your garden for years to come.

The first thing you will want to do is choose the right land. Herbs grow best when on level ground. The ground itself should not be in a depression. This is because the rain will collect in a pool and drown your plants. Avoid having your plants on a slope, as water will wash away protective topsoil. Remember, the more level the ground is, the more likely your plants will get the right amount of water. Another benefit is the height of your plants can be featured by being on level ground.

The Italian herb garden prefers hot and dry climates. This does not mean to water your plants less. The best idea is to check the seed packet. The climate and humidity levels are usually labeled. You can plant the herbs, which will grow best in your environment. You may want to plant your herbs next to other plants that absorb moisture. Box hedges are great for providing shade and sucking extra moisture out of the air. This is because of the amount of leaves the hedges have.

The height of the plants in your Italian herb garden will determine where they should be planted. Looking on the back of the seed packet tells you how tall they grow. You want to keep in mind the amount of sun the herb will need as well as root structure. Hedges can offer partial shade during the later part of the day. Herbs that are short and require lots of sun need to be planted in shade free areas. Keep in mind not to plant too many shrubs close to each other. They compete for water in the ground. This starves other herbs from the water and nutrients they need.

The soil you plant your Italian herb garden in will make a difference in how well they grow. Herbs prefer soil, which is not hard packed. Loose soil is best when it is low in nutrients and lime. One thing to be careful of is making sure your soil is not water logged after a rain. Make sure your soil is retaining the proper amount of water. You can accomplish this using gravel and sand. This will give you a happy balance for healthier plants. Not only will this allow your herbs to grow, but also it is very attractive.

Making your herbs accessible is another big point in planning. Using what you grow in your Italian herb garden actually helps the plants to survive. The more accessible they are the more likely you are to tend to them. The more you tend to your plants the healthier they will be. The trade off is you will also feel better by getting more involved. The aromas and the activity will be good for your overall health.

Choosing Organic Food and Trying to Live Within a Budget

In today's market it is becoming more and more difficult to pick organic. As saving money has become a bigger concern, the decision to be organic is a money issue instead of a health issue. To help with the decision you should know which foods you should be ready to spend the money on because of your health, and which you can make a monetary decision on.

When you are deciding on which fruits and vegetables the worst for pesticides are peaches and strawberries. No matter how much you wash them, they are saturated with poisons, so if you can't afford to buy the organic strawberries and peaches, select something else.

Choose organic apples, nectarines, raspberries, pears, grapes and cherries; studies have shown that after rinsing, they still have really high levels of pesticide. If you are using orange, lime, or lemon zest, you want organic, as the skin holds the poisons in them.

When you are looking at papaya, pineapple, mango, and kiwi you can make it a monetary choice. Although there are traces of pesticides after rinsing, and I completely endorse organic, the scientists state they are well within healthy limits.

Always opt for organic bell peppers, spinach, potatoes, celery, cucumber, corn, green beans and carrots. There are a lot of recent studies that have shown that they have extremely high levels of poisons (especially chlorothalonil, methamidophos, benomyl and acephate), which have been shown to cause brain damage, nervous system damage, and birth defects. Asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli, sweet peas, and avocados show lower pesticide levels so you make the choice, although again I recommend organic, and if you shop around you will find reasonable prices for the above organic vegetables.

In today's world of genetic modification and pesticides there are some basic staples you should always have organic. Along with corn, rice is one of the most modified grains in the world. So always want use organic rice. It is also a good idea to only use organic oats as their texture allows them to hold pesticides.

This is also true with nuts, as they have a very high fat content which retains pesticides, no matter how hard you try to get it out. So you should try to always buy organic nuts and spreads. As the spreads can be very costly, it may be easier to remove them from your diet. A different option is to buy the organic nuts and prepare your own spreads. There are a lot of recipes to be found on how to do it.

Meat is always a difficult decision, as organic meat can be pricey. But when you think about the chemicals that are being used in order to make it more profitable for the processors, you should always spend the money to buy organic. There are a lot of studies on the effects of the hormones and antibiotics that are being used on meat.

Seafood, is a very hard food to judge when it comes to organic. There are no real regulations on what is organic seafood, so the best choice you can make is to stay away from fish that is known to contain high levels of mercury and PCB's. Bluefish, tuna, swordfish, and shellfish have high levels of both, otherwise you must do research on the latest studies.

Any manufacturer can put organic on the label, as long as they have used some organic ingredients. Be very wary of any processed and packaged food as what they say and what they actually are is not necessarily the same thing. Your best choice is to stay away from them, but if you choose to purchase them, do your research. Know what is actually in them, and find out how ethical the company is.

Choosing organic does not mean you have to go broke. Do your research and shop around for the best prices. With the Internet it becomes very easy to find the best prices on organic products and not break your budget.

Today, people are very health conscious. They exercise more and tend to go for healthier food. As demand for organic food is high, the cost of it increases too. Organic foods are healthy and finding fruits and vegetables that are organically grown in supermarkets is not easy because not all supermarkets carry them.

Organic foods are more difficult to produce and there are more work in which it is planted and harvested. This means that more manpower is needed and thus the cost of it is more expensive. Also, farmers do not use chemical to protect the food. They use other ways to care for the food and thus making the growth process very tedious. As more money is needed to grow these type of food, they will charge more so as to recoup their cost and time.

Farmers need to buy land in order to grow fresh organic vegetables and fruits. However, the yield of organic food is much lesser than with conventional methods. This means that a land will produce lesser food then it would otherwise produce. So they tend to increase the price of organic food so that they can make a good profit.

As you can see, growing organic food is not cheap. However, many people still wonder why organic foods don't cost less. They think that as they do not need to use chemicals to protect the food, they should be able to save some money and pass on the savings to the consumers. This is simply not the case.

While people always want to eat healthy food, some may not want to buy organic food due to the high cost. If you cannot convince yourself that the 10% - 30% markup is justifiable, organic food is not for you.

Now, it is time for some good news. Today, more farmers are growing organic foods. This means that the technology will improve. Hopefully, there will be new ideas implemented in the near future that will lower the overall cost to produce these food and pass the savings to the consumers so that more people can get to enjoy eating healthier food.

Organic is best

Spreading and growing naturally--for fruits and vegetables, that's the essence of organic gardening. Improvements can spread and grow naturally on the shop floor, too. Just as organically grown produce has benefits that are unattainable when artificial fertilizers and pesticides are applied, a shop's workforce can benefit more from developing new habits and adopting new techniques without a strong management push. It's better that way.

Many companies that make the move to lean manufacturing experience this phenomenon. The typical story goes something like this: One part of the shop floor is designated as a pilot area for lean implementation. The first step usually involves 5S, a systematic effort to "sort, shine, simplify, standardize and sustain" an organized workspace. Although the initial participants may resist at first, they are won over by the gratifying results of this "lean enabling" experience. The reduction in wasted time, motion and material is apparent--and not only to this group of pioneers, but also to the rest of the shop.

Before long, workers in other areas begin to copy the same principles on their own. Clutter begins to disappear. Tools and fixtures get designated spots. Soon, additional groups are clamoring to be next in line to join the lean transformation.

Promoting this sort of organic, "from within" change ought to be a goal for managers, regardless of whether lean manufacturing is under consideration. As the organic farmer or gardener can attest, taking the natural approach is mostly a matter of awareness and commitment. It does not necessarily mean more time, effort or money. Mulching with compost, for example, is likely to be as effective and economical as putting chemicals into the soil. Likewise, managers should be skeptical of imposing changes by mandate, even if positive gains in the short term seem to validate this tack. Rather, getting a production team involved in decision making leads to better choices and a smoother execution.

Because lean manufacturing is an on-going, systematic effort to eliminate the sources of waste in a production process, it doesn't simply happen on its own. Lean manufacturing is implemented step by step, with each step accompanied by a purposeful, conscious strategy that looks toward specific, measurable results. Lean techniques can grow, spread and be sustained organically within an organization, but this happens only when lean thinking and lean practice are properly cultivated.

Even used figuratively, that word precisely captures what must take place. Managers must tend patiently and consistently to the wants of customers and to the needs of employees on the production line. Managers have to care.

Troubleshooting Your Organic Vegetables

You have now planted your own organic vegetable garden and have done everything that you can to get it started. Unfortunately the seeds have not started sprouting or your started seeds have not grown much if it all. Before you throw in the towel and give up on organic gardening there are a few things that you should try.

First of all, have you been hand weeding your garden daily? This might sound like a pain and stupid chore but it could make all the difference in the world. Make a point of visiting your vegetable garden each day and carefully checking for weeds. Do not let the children do it and do not rely on a glance from your back window to tell you whether weeds are growing or not.

Many gardeners have done casual checks and later realized that the sprouts they thought were growing in their garden were really weeds. Make a close inspection each day and weed by hand to make sure the job is thoroughly done. Throw these weeds away do NOT put them into your compost pit. In order to get the best results dedicate 20 minutes each day to pulling weeds.

If you have been weeding your garden each day and your plants still seem to be growing slowly start adding rich, aged, compost to the slow growing vegetables. Many plants just need a helping hand and some vegetables, corn, pumpkins, and squash, all need compost to provide richness and nutrients. Spreading some aged compost from your composts pits will help your vegetables grow properly.

After adding compost to your vegetables every few days leads to no results consider investing in some manure from your local garden supplier. They will often have organic manure on hand for your gardening needs and this will act as a stronger fertilizer than your compost. If you are afraid to try manure you can invest in some aged compost purchased from a nursery first. In many cases your compost pits will only be a few weeks old when you are trying to use them to encourage growth some older compost might just do the trick.

Do not be afraid to increase the amount of water that you are giving your garden. You should be careful not to over water your plants but you want to make sure that your plants are getting enough water to survive and thrive. When you water your plants in the morning always check to see if the soil appears dry. If the soil seems dry one day after watering you might want to consider increasing the amount of water you are giving them. The soil should always be a little damp around your plants.

Lastly, do not be afraid to spray your homemade pesticide or even a bit of diluted soapy water on your plants to get ride of insects. If you notice a lot of pests are attracted to your vegetable garden consider spraying once every ten days or once every two weeks. Also, spray diluted soapy water directly onto vegetables that have insects on them all the time.

Salad bars and fruit and vegetable consumption

Fruit and vegetable consumption has been linked to the prevention of chronic diseases such as diabetes, some cancers, heart disease, and obesity. Many health organizations strongly advise people of all ages to eat at least five servings of fruit and vegetables every day. However, American children only eat an average of three and a half servings daily. School environment interventions combined with classroom curricula have shown the greatest promise for changing behaviors.

Because most children eat at least one meal at school per day, the school cafeteria remains an important setting for exploring connections between the environment and student's dietary habits. Salad bars have become a recommended method to increase fruit and vegetable consumption without strong evidence of their effectiveness. Therefore, a recent study in JADA used plate waste weighing to determine if elementary school students with self-service salad bars consume more fruits and vegetables compared with students served proportioned amounts determined by cafeteria staff.

Two-hundred ninety-four students in first grade through fifth grade were randomly selected from two schools with salad bars and two with proportioned servings. Fruits and vegetables were measured to the nearest gram after students selected their fruit and vegetable items but before the entree items. Consumption was calculated by subtracting the fruit and vegetable postconsumption weight from preconsumption weight.

Students who attended schools with salad bars present took 112 70 g fruits and vegetables compared with 104 86 g taken by students at nonsalad bar schools. These differences were not statistically significant. Fruit and vegetable consumption was positively related to the number of fruit and vegetable items offered at salad bars. The number of items offered varied by the schools with the two salad bars schools offering four and seven items each and the preportioned schools offering five items each.

The results do not support the hypothesis that salad bars increase fruit and vegetable consumption among elementary school students. Since fruit and vegetable variety of salad bars was associated with greater consumption, the findings provide some suggestions about the mechanisms by which variety could increase consumption. Some limitations of this study include the small number of schools studied and that each school was sampled on one day only. Further studies should include other potential environmental mediators of salad bar effectiveness, such as location, presentation, and interaction with entrees.