Green Options » seeds

Carnival of Green Crafts #1

Skye Kilaen — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:11:13 +0000

Welcome to the first Carnival of Green Crafts!

For more information about the Carnival, please see the Carnival of Green Crafts home page here at Crafting A Green World.

We’re pleased as punch to announce that the next Carnival will be August 9th at BlogHer, courtesy of Hobbies, Crafts & DIY Contributing Editor Debra Roby. Send in your posts via the carnival submission form today!

Thanks so much to all the crafters who shared their posts with us for this Carnival. Let’s dig in!

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Involve Your Child in Your Organic Garden

Jennifer Lance — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:04:33 +0000

It is gardening season across the Northern Hemisphere. My children’s interests wax and wane in the garden, but they’ve enjoyed the recent abundance of asparagus and seed planting. My daughter likes to harvest the asparagus, probably because we let her use a knife under close supervision, and my son loves to plant the seeds and dig holes. We are all anxiously awaiting the arrival of the strawberries!

Over the years of organic gardening with children, I have learned to relinquish some control to perfect rows, perfect spacing, etc. Now, I have added seed and plant selection to the list of gardening enjoyments I now share with my children. It all started when the seed catalogs started arriving at the end of winter. Both of my children took an active interest in the pictures, so I suggested they start circling varieties they wanted to grow. Now that we are planting, they have a vested interest in our efforts, and I believe this will carry over to trying new foods and healthy eating from our organic garden.

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Green Eggs and Planet: Top 10 Healthy Snacks for Kids

Jennifer Lance — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:36:17 +0000

Editor’s note: The following post was written by Matty Byloos of Green Eggs and Planet:

An easy to read green blog, dedicated to providing insight and answers to many questions regarding the environment, nutrition, wellness, health, yoga, fitness, meditation and more. It is our mission at Green Eggs and Planet to create a comprehensive conversation about a holistic program for healthy living, complete mindfulness and greater understanding of life’s most crucial concerns.

Tips on Healthy Snacks for Kids or Adults

Mmmm…snack time.

I was sitting in an Organic Spa in Southern California a few days ago, waiting for my TLC. While in the waiting/relaxation room I was privy to a spread that flipped my mind upside down, rolled it up in multiple flavors (including dark, dark chocolate, fresh coconut milk and even some of the most amazing organic grape tomatoes I have ever ripped into) and threw it down onto a massage table for dessert. As I lie there, and I do mean lie, I drifted into a land of the perfect snack ideas, and what better time to share?

How about a list of the Top 10 healthy snacks, coming from a subjectively objective opinion? Bottom line, health is priority #1, and TASTE is priority #1.5! If you’re into online shopping, consider sources such as Sunfood Nutrition and The Raw Bakery— both offering many of the snacks listed below, as well as other healthy options to quiet a growling tum.

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Now, That’s What I Call Seed Saving

Beth Bader — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 04:44:17 +0000

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault opened today with the beginning shipments of 100 million seeds that originated in over 100 countries. The seeds represent everything from food staples such as maize, rice, wheat, cowpea, and sorghum to European and South American varieties of eggplant, lettuce, barley, and potato. The vault, located on a remote island in the Arctic Circle, will be home to the most comprehensive and diverse collection of food crop seeds being held anywhere in the world.

The structure itself is an ice-bound fortress built with a tunnel that goes deep into the side of a mountain. During the winter, Arctic aire -10°C to -20°C will be drawn into the vault. The surrounding rock will naturally keep the desired deep freeze, and during the summer refrigeration equipment will be used.

The unique structure is its own failsafe, in the event of equipment failure temperatures in the vault take months to warm up to a maximim of -3.5°C. The inside of the seed storage vault is lined with insulated panels as well. Electronic transmitters linked to a satellite system monitor temperature, and send this information back to the Longyearbyen and at the Nordic Gene Bank, where staff will be managing the Seed Vault.

Additional security measures, besides the extreme cold and remote location, include motion detectors and in the event of that failing, there is also the native polar bear population.

(More on the importance of preserving seed diversity after the jump).

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Ask VJD: Hemp for Health

Vital Juice Daily — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 11:43:27 +0000

Editor’s note: As we mentioned yesterday, in addition to featuring a weekly tip from Vital Juice Daily’s email tips, we’ll also be featuring their "Ask VJD" column on Wednesdays. Here’s the first one, which was originally published on August 15, 2007.

Dear Vital Juice Daily,

I would love it if you would do some research on hemp - as a fiber, protein and omega source. Can you tell me more?

- Marcia R.

Dear Marcia,

We did a little digging and here’s what we found about hemp:

One nutritious seed! Shelled hempseed is packed with 33% pure digestible protein (one of the highest levels from a plant source) and is rich in iron and vitamin E, as well as omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids. Hemp also contains 3x the Vitamin E than flax. And unlike soy, hemp is not genetically modified so it’s free of the anti-nutritional qualities commonly found in soy.

Read the rest of VJD’s answer at Vital Juice Daily