NM Organics

It is not easy to make decisions nowadays. Everywhere are various temptations, about our health, clothing, food, housing..  New waves, new schools, new discoveries. However, there is something that in not just a recent episode in the history of the mankind. Organic food , in fact , is not a new idea. All the food in the past were grown in the way that we, these days, call “organic” . And even now, the majority of the population buy in the supermarkets products that are raised for mas-consumption. Because it is simpler.. it is cheaper..  Almost!   I believe that the only problem is that people are not determined enough. And maybe not educated in that way. Fortunately, there ARE individuals who found lots of reasons ( or only one is enough) why to grow their own, organic food. We should learn form them and make right decisions. And start to produce food for ourselves and one day even more.

Organic gardening is not as complicated as many people think it is.

With avoiding of use of chemical agents for cleaning, we contribute to the preservation of the environment. We can also do this by producing and consuming organic food or organic cosmetics. At the same time, we save our money by not buying a lot of chemicals. Also, we can use some home remedies for , for example cleaning floor or tidying walls and furniture from crayon marks.

Here are some efficient&cheap home remedies for cleaning crayon stains:
1. Sprinkle a little amount of baking soda on a wet rag and wipe off crayon marks from walls. If the crayon marks are on your wallpaper, test out a hidden spot before entirely using this home remedy.
2. Take a very small quantity of lighter fluid on a clean mop and wipe crayon marks on your walls.
3. Erase crayon marks from your wood furniture by applying on a small amount of mayonnaise. Leave for a few minutes and then wipe off the surface with a damp rag.
4. Try removing the crayon marks on your walls or floors by using a simple pencil eraser.
5. You may succeed to remove crayon marks from wallpaper with an art gum eraser if you gently rub over the stains in a circular motion. Do not press too much or you risk to damage the wallpaper.
6. Skim the surface of your wallpaper with steel wool, but be careful and stroke the wallpaper just in one direction instead of scrubbing in a circle.

Although water is essential for each living being, at the same time it is the most common contaminant of land, the environment from which plants acquire dissolved nutrients. Soil pollution by harmful and hazardous substances through water may be from different sources: from mineralized ground water, from particles from the air passed into the soil by rain, through flood and water from rivers which are polluted … And there is also the process of  irrigation.
Organic production basically includes plant species that are used in human nutrition  in raw condition as well as  products that are preserved or processed. These plants produce a huge green mass with a very high percentage of water, with very well developed above-ground mass, and relatively poorly developed root system. For this reason, plants need high quantity of water. By entering large amounts of water, the intake of harmful and hazardous substances are also greater. In this way, harmful substances accumulate in the tissues of plants, which are used as food for humans and animals.

Risk of pollution
The quality of water has significant importance during irrigation in organic food production. However the quality of  water is often insufficient because there are  different sources of irrigation water: rivers, streams, natural or man-made reservoirs (lakes) and groundwater which is highly contaminated with waste water. In addition to the total quantity and content of certain types of salt, the water quality is affected by chemical substances that come from sewage and pesticides, and by the presence of certain microorganisms.

Many salts and elements  are useful for herbs, but to the certain concentration. They are harmful at higher concentrations and pose a risk, both for plants and for animals and humans. The most common elements present in water are calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium, and from salts: bicarbonates, sulfates and chlorides. Other elements, like nitrates, carbonates and trace elements, in some cases can be found in water and affect water quality. Nitrates in water are required for plant nutrition, but they  are toxic to plants in high concentration. Moreover, they are potential groundwater contaminants.

The advantage of organically grown fruits and vegetables is the absence of the use of chemicals common in conventional agriculture, including synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. These, in fact  harmful substances  are subsequently linked to many health disorders. To the question whether organic foods have a higher nutritional value than conventionally grown, the recent USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) study answered.  It is a little bit ironic that the following findings came from the USDA laboratory for genetic improvement of fruit and vegetables.

In this study,  the nutritional content in organically grown blueberries was compared with blueberries’s cultivated in the conventional way.  All the values refer to 100 grams of fresh blueberries.  The findings showed that organically grown blueberries contained 319.3 mg of total phenols (flavonoids), compared to 190.3 mg phenol of blueberries grown in the traditional manner, which was 68% higher content. Also, a total of 131.2 mg anthocyanins (important group of flavonoids) contained in organically grown fruit versus conventionally grown with 82.4 mg,  represented 59% higher percentage. The antioxidant capacity of blueberries grown organically was 46.14 mg versus 30.8 mg, which meant 50% higher antioxidant capacity of organically grown fruit. Flavonoids, which are considered potential carriers of positive effects on human health, ie, malvidin, delphinidin, myricetin and quercetin, were also present in higher percentage in organically grown fruit.

The conclusion that arises is that organically grown blueberries are superior in terms of nutritional value in comparison with the blueberries grown in the presence of conventional pesticides and herbicides. The study referred only to this type of fruit, but it is supposed that similar differences are present also in other cultures.

So if you want to grown your own organic  blueberries, here are some brief pieces of advice:
For growing blueberries it is necessary to secure land with acidic soil, with plenty of sun and moisture

At first glance, organic production is simply bound to various regulations, rules, controls and inspections. But in fact behind these administrative items is a perfectly simple goal: to grow products in such a natural way without chemicals which so systematically poison everyone.

Organic production in agriculture, which involves producing without the use of chemistry is very demanding. It is subject to strict control measures and requires manufacturers to strictly comply with procedures prescribed by law and regulations. The most important partner of the manufacturer in this business is a selected certification company, authorized by the Ministry of Agriculture to issue a certificate, which is practically the only confirmation that the product is nourished by the rules of organic production.
The first thing a manufacturer has to do is filling out the application for inclusion in organic farming . Once the application is completed and sent, the manufacturer will receive an offer from the certification company which includes the cost of its control and certification services. It is believed that the manufacturer has accepted the offer only after his signature.

For many of us, the lack of time is a big concern. After a hard work day the last thing you want to spend your time on is walking around the shopping center and trying to find good and quality organic food. Indeed, shopping requires too much time and energy, especially for those who even do not like it.

If you feel same about this matter, then you have to start looking into another solutions, such as find a deliver service in your area. Delivery services are becoming increasingly popular along with the growth of the use of the Internet for online ordering.  Almost everybody has access to a computer and this can save time and money as it is not as easy to get tempted to buy some unnecessary things when you cannot see the packaging in front of you. There are various delivery services that have loads of local and national organic, fair-trade and special diet delivery services with a range of food and non-food products.  Often, signing up or registering is required with these websites and then the shopping can start immediately. They are easy, fun and so convenient.

Surely, particular companies offer different foods for delivery but you can often purchase most of your favorite groceries and more from these companies. A vast selection of fruits and vegetables, both organic locally grown and sometimes imported, exotic fruits and vegetables as well as the old staples like potatoes and carrots can be found. It does no matter what you need, you can obtain it from these great food services. You will also find a huge selection of organic dried and canned products that you can have delivered right to your door at any time of day and week. However, it is not all because canned soup and dried pasta are just a few of the many other great items. Most of these companies even deliver organic cookies and organic cakes and many services also have non food lines such as eco friendly washing and laundry

Either you grown organic vegetable in your own garden or you buy organic vegetable in a store,  preparing a vegetable juice can be both easy and useful. In this way, a fresh and healthy drink brings many benefits for you and for your family. Juice can be made almost from every kind of vegetable. Among the most popular juices are tomato juice, carrot juice and cabbage juice. Very tasty refreshments can be made from some types of vegetables and usually those juices are served seasoned (with salt of various herbs, such as mint, chives, nutmeg, cinnamon, ground pepper, cumin).  Water is the best for diluting juices. In order to the drinking of  this kind of healthy refreshment represents also a really enjoyable sensation,  it is advisable to serve vegetable juices  immediately after preparation, and always chilled.

Tomato juice

Ingredients ( for 1 portion):
4-5 organic tomatoes
parsley leaves

Wash tomatoes, cut in chunks and put in a juicer. Obtained tomato juice serve unseasoned or garnished with finely chopped parsley. Tomato juice can be used for making a delicious drink if you dilute it with several tablespoons of water,  according to your own taste. Tomato juice is always consumed chilled.

Carrot juice

Ingredients (for 1 portion):
4 ripe carrots

Wash and clean carrots,  cut up into medium-sized pieces and put them in a juicer. ??Pure carrot juice made in this way can be used for consumption unseasoned or can be diluted with little water. The tasty drink made from carrots should be served chilled.

Mixed drink made from vegetables (the first version)

Ingredients:

2 large carrots
1 tomato
1/2 of a fresh paprika
ground pepper

There are many people who want to wear organic clothing because of various reasons. For someone heath can be the main reason, for somebody else maybe environmentally concerns or some other ethical issues. For those looking to find truly organic clothes, there are certificates that guarantee that. To get a certificate, a company which produces organic textile has to meet some requirements and standards. GOTS-  The Global Organic Textile Standard  is the international leading textile processing standard for organic fibers, including ecological and social criteria.

The intention of this standard is to determine  the requirements that guarantee organic status of textiles through many phases of processing, such as harvesting of the raw materials, environmentally and socially responsible manufacturing or labelling. Getting a certification is necessary because with accepted certification manufacturers are enabled to export their organic garments in all major markets.

There are a lot of criteria that must be met. Through all the stages of processing organic fibre products have to be excluded from conventional ways of  process and conventional fibre products. Many of the chemical inputs are prohibited, such as aromatic solvents; chlorophenols; all APEOs (i.e. nonylphenol, octylphenol, APEOs terminated with functional groups, APEO-polymers), EDTA, DTPA, NTA, LAS, a-MES;  fluorocarbons; formaldehyde and other short-chain aldehydes; genetically modified organisms and their derivates; halogenated solvents; heavy metals; inputs that contain functional nanoparticles; organotin compounds; plasticizers;  quaternary ammonium compounds: DTDMAC, DSDMAC and DHTMAC; substances and preparations that are prohibited for application in textiles with a recognised internationally or a nationally valid legal character.

Gardening the own vegetable garden can look like a vintage photo of our grandparents, but it should not be. It should be a part of our contemporary life-style because planting on our own garden have various benefits. To start with, it is a healthy and rewarding hobby for everyone. During the work in the garden, you get fresh air and the sunlight provides a good dose of vitamin D. Also it requires some physical efforts so it can be considered as an enjoyable way of exercising. Moreover, the feeling you get because you have to care for something and follow how it develops into beautiful flowers or tasty vegetables and fruits is unsurpassed.

Your children can also take part in gardening. In addition to usefulness of their contribution to the growth of plants, they can learn something. They can learn how to be responsible for some other living being and how their actions effect each plant. It is an interesting, easy and useful way to teach them these important life lessons.