Below is the plan for the first Food Not Lawns Project site in Tucson.
The plan includes a water tank that serves as a wall between the site and the neighbors that harvests water from the roof of the main house and stores about 2500 gallons, a solar hot tub, three cob benches, a shed, a fruit tree orchard, a wheat field, an area for medicinal plants, an area for vegetables that grow on vines, a cactus garden, a kitchen herb garden, and an a large vegetable garden.
In this scene from the classic motion picture “Oliver,” the orphans are dreaming and singing about “Food Glorious Food” instead of the Gruel they receive everyday, while the rich fat schoolmasters eat meat and potatoes and other stuff.
Having recently educated myself on some of the recent media about the food industry and “nutritionism” in the U.S., I am not quite sure I would want the stuff these kids envision as food over the gruel. “Nutirionism” is the ideology that people “should understand and engage with food and our bodies in terms of their nutritional and chemical constituents and requirements-the assumption being that this is all we need to understand.” Put another way, this ideology teaches that “Foods are essentially the sum of their nutrient parts.”
According to Wikipedia, Gruel “is a food preparation consisting of some type of cereal—oat, wheat or rye flour, or also rice—boiled in water or milk. It is a thinner version of porridge that may be more often drunk than eaten and need not even be cooked. Historically, gruel, often made from millet or barley, or in hard times of chestnut flour and even the less tannic acorns of some oaks, has been the staple of the human diet, especially that of the peasantry.” This actually sounds more like food than many of these ingredients in Kraft’s “pasteurized prepared cheese product”:
Cheddar cheese, milk, whey, milkfat, milk protein concentrate, salt, calcium phosphate, sodium citrate, whey protein concentrate, sodium phosphate, sorbic acid as a preservative, apocarotenal (color), annatto (color), enzymes, vitamin D3, cheese culture, yellow dye.
I don’t know about you but I am lost after the fifth ingredient.
“In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto” by Michael Pollan, one of the recent treatises on food I have read lately and the source of the definition of “nutritionism” but forth above makes a strong argument for the notion that the processed food products that many of us survive on these days are actually not food as our society used to know it but are the byproduct of an industry that singles out nutrients and then reconfigures what once was food to nutrient focused products. He further argues that this has had more detrimental than positive effects on the health of Americans, which is ironic considering this ideology is touted as processing that is necessary for better health.
I personally have used this ideology but not in the way it was intended but the exact opposite. I tend to look for food that is not processed with this nutritionism ideology and thereby processed in a way that doesn’t highlight a specific nutrient. For instance, instead of processed sugars or fats, I tend to look for natural sugars and fats. For instance Pollan’s work and other sources such as the movies “Food, Inc” and “Super Size Me” all point out how Genetically Modified Food has permeated our food sources. I remember the first time I saw the words “Processed Cheese Food” on a package. I remember thinking to myself “What the hell is that?” So today I look for items in the store when I am not able to find something at a Farmer’s Market that has real cane sugar versus high fructose corn syrup, which seems to be in pretty much everything now, or does not talk about saturated versus unsaturated fats. I do this because I, like Pollan, believe that food is about the whole experience and then being careful with how many experiences you have.
Granted, I am no nutritionist but I know what I like and to what my body does and does not respond and I think knowing and listening to your body is the best way to choose your food. In terms of its nutritional value, if I eat a variety of foods, I feel good. If I eat too much of the same thing, I don’t. I also know that if I eat what was grown naturally and not processed before I eat it my body feels better then it does when I eat something that was processed long before I eat it.
I personally like the Ayurvedic way of thinking about nutrition. In Sanskrit “Ayu” means life and “Veda” means knowledge, so Ayurveda is translated as knowledge of life. Ancient yogis who practice this system of health believe it provides the insight for each person and each culture to create a way of life in harmony both with the world of nature and our higher selves. Ayurveda is primarily a science of self-healing aimed at relieving the diseases of the body and mind. It looks at nutrition as a means of greater evolutionary transformations of “Prahna” or life force by bringing health and balance to the physical body.
In this system, everything absorbed by five senses like Mouth (food, water), Nose (Breath), Ear (Chanting, sweet music), Skin (Sunlight), Eyes (Nature) is Food. When consumed in adequate amounts, food aids long life and youthfulness. When consumed in inadequate amounts, it increases production of toxins that are harmful for life. Therefore, having the right combinations and proportions of food, and the right taste and attributes are all important for the health of the individual.
Simply put, if people eat food and not processed food products, in adequate amounts, in the right combinations and proportions for themselves, and based on how it tastes to them, and how it makes their bodies feel, they can expect movement toward better health. This allows people to eat what they want but via a very intentional process. This way they can enjoy the glorious qualities of food without guilt or harmful effects on their body, mind, and soul. Food can and does lead to good health for many who are intentional about their food and knowing how it got to them, regardless of what the ideology of “nutritionism” says it contains that is bad for you.
Here is another video featuring John Douillard from LifeSpa.com that discusses personal body types and associated foods in the Ayurveda system. Enjoy!!
Here is another video blog update of the progress that is occurring at the Tucson Food Not Lawns Terra-formation Project site.
If you or anyone you know is interested in volunteering to help the project continue, is interested in providing funding to the project, or would just like to have some questioned answered, feel free to contact us.
In this video blog entry, Dr. Hewlett walks us through the garden project revealing what transformation has taken place thus far and what intention has been set for future work.
At this time the project is in need of funding for element harvesting apparatus and other materials.
Did your Mom or Dad ever say to you “don’t soil your clothes when you play outside?” Well the FNL Terra-formation project wants you to do just the opposite. We want you to soil as much of your clothes by playing outside as much as possible, especially if your playing equates to creating an organic food bearing garden for your family and community.
In this video blog entry we get to watch a few of the newest volunteers, Grant, Tygel, and Stephen, who have showed up to help with the project, soil themselves. No, not the stinky bad way, for all of you thinking that, but the good way. The volunteers also share their thoughts on the program and its purpose.
In this entry Bart, the Volunteer Coordinator, also discusses toxicity issues associated with soil preparation and particular plant life indigenous to the Sonoran Desert landscape.
In this video blog entry, meet Grant, a volunteer who just came into town for a couple of weeks and contributed numerous hours of work to help get the FNL Project moving. He lets you know just how he feels about the economics of food availability.
So do you believe humans could actually live on Mars? The logical answer to that is yes but before that could happen something would have to be done to the atmosphere to make the planet inhabitable by humans.
That process is exactly what terra-forming is. Terra-forming (literally, “Earth-forming”) of a planet, moon, or other body is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying its atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology to be similar to those of Earth to make it habitable by terran organisms. The hypothetical process was made famous in Frank Herbert’s Sci-Fi Classic, DUNE.
Many believe that the green house effect that is harming our planet would actually be beneficial on the planet Mars because it would stimulate an atmospheric change there that would make it possible for humans to breath. Many are studying this idea because they believe it may be needed in the future if we continue to warm our own planet.
This video highlights a bit of that research:
This second video offers a simulated glimpse of what the terra-formation of the planet Mars would essentially look like, were humans able to actually make it happen.
The Food Not Lawns Project is not as ambitious as these scientists are who want to terra-form a whole planet. We only wish to change the soil composition and climate in the urban inhabited area of Tucson so that it can produce more green organic matter and produce more oxygen and precipitation.
Learn more about terra-forming at the online home of Absolue Astronomy.
On May 22 of this year we (The Foundation of L.I.F.E.) kicked off its Food Not Lawns Terra-formation Project in Tucson.
The project birth stems from a few practical needs of the Tucson community.
First, we believe Tucson and its surrounding area does not produce and consume enough locally grown organic non-processed food. Most of the food is shipped in to supermarkets from companies that do not grow vegetation or raise animals organically, which is not sustainable, and creates a dependency on these national economic conglomerates that could be transferred to our local food producers and distributors.
Our friends over at Sustainable Tucson argues via a list that was developed in response to public demand for information about what ordinary citizens can assist in the process of sustainability that three of the top actions that can be taken relate to local organic food production.
They argue that (1) Food Bearing Trees should be planted to help make Tucson an edible urban forest. They also argue that (2) people should save food scraps and compost with worms to create a cycle that connects Tucson’s home kitchens, restaurants, and cafeterias. They further argue that (3) food should be grown in home or community gardens year round, as is possible with the amount of sun in Tucson, which would encourage water and other element harvesting. These and other practices would help the Sonoran bio-region become largely food self-sufficient.
Another practical reason for kicking off this program is to help assist in the effort to provide food for people in the community who are need based on their economic situation. According to the Tucson Community Food Bank, hunger and food security is a problem for Tucson and its surrounding areas causing many people to go to bed hungry at night. This program was started to help with burden of getting food to community members who do not have the monetary resources to exchange for it but they are willing to provide labor and other resources to insure they are fed.
A third practical reason for a program like this is to build community through producing food locally in back yards and gardens to share portions with others or exchange cropping, as we call it, and educating people about food in America and the process of growing their own. When people start to produce food, it is like artistry, a level of pride arises and sharing it with others becomes contagious. Before you know it neighbors are talking, laughing, teaching each other, and eating together again. Food has always been a source of connection among members of community regardless of cultural background. A program such as this capitalizes on this connection and helps bring a different feel to the community.
Look for more information on this program as it unfolds.
