TIME OF YEAR TO PLANT A SALAD GARDEN

It’s the end of February and for many of us in the Deep South and Southwest, the heart turns to love - lovely visions - of beautiful veggies growing right outside our doors. That’s just where I am right now. My house doesn't have a lot of space around it but that doesn’t keep me from dreaming about a garden and pursuing those dreams – on a small scale, of course. Also, I’ll be taking care of the garden myself. So, I want to plant just a few kinds of veggies and those that are hardy enough to have a high probability of success. That’s why, at this time, I’m contenting myself with a salad garden.

As of today, I’ve chosen six veggie items for my salad and salsa garden along with marigolds to go on the perimeter to chase away unwanted insects. This is going to be a four-foot, square garden design. Come May, it’s going to be packed – Hopeful Hazel that I am - with loads of fresh salad goodies. And, when I think of a delicious fresh salad, there are some vegetables that I definitely want on my summer table. Small as it is, the size of this garden is large enough to provide a good amount of ingredients for many green, summer salads and salsas.

Here’s what I’m planting in my garden.

Seeds now but a promise of salad bounty all summer long.

Jalapeno pepper plants
Tomato plants
Mixed lettuce plants
Red radishes
Green onions
Cilantro
Marigold plants

As you can see in the photo, all the seeds are of USDA organic and I’ve bought a huge bag of organic soil to plant them in. I found it all at a BIG-BOX Hardware Store. Is it all I could want in a salad garden? Well, of course, not. I’d love to also have green peppers, squash, cucumbers and more herbs. But for space and time reasons, I’ll settle on what I believe is enough - for now.

The area for my garden is very limited, just a strip of yard on the side of the house. So, it will be only one bed about four feet square. And that’s small enough that I won’t have to lean or crawl very far to work the garden. I’m also being very selective about the kinds of veggies I’ve chosen. These veggies require little space so when they produce, they’ll fit in a compact area. The garden will be beside a high wooden fence that will help shade the plants for part of the day, a plus for our usual high temperatures beginning in May. There won’t be any need of industrial fertilizers either. I’ve purchased plenty of organic soil and I’ve started my compost pile at the end of the back yard.

Don’t just dream. Plant that garden.
I hope the plans for my new salad garden start you daydreaming about the possibility of planting  your own veggies this spring. You don’t have to have so much space in your yard – a small salad garden like mine is a good way to begin. Even if you are an apartment dweller, you can have pots of veggie plants on your patio or in window boxes that get a lot of afternoon sun. Also, for some, it may be possible to go together with family or neighbors and plant a community garden on a larger plot of land.

The research and money for planting and maintaining a small garden are minimal. A bigger challenge will be the hours needed to take care of it. When you have your own garden, you need to take good care of the plants, watering, weeding, and looking out for pests. But, if you start out small, you shouldn’t have any overwhelming problems. The rewards are many. You’ll save a lot of money on food costs and the veggies you harvest will be healthier for your family than what you buy at the store. You’ll feel even prouder of yourself, when you use organic gardening methods, compost for fertilizer, and flowers in the same beds to repel unwanted insects. And there are important social benefits of gardening, too – you’ll be able to share your bounty.

Update March 1, 2015
Seeds are now planted in pots. The wait begins for the little seedlings to appear. I've planted a lot more than I can use - if all come up. so. I'll probably have little seedlings to share with friends and neighbors.

Related posts http://grandmasusansalmanac.blogspot.com/2012/08/bound-to-get-raves-summer-vegetable.html
http://grandmasusansalmanac.blogspot.com/2011/04/collect-rain-water-for-garden-use-and.html
http://grandmasusansalmanac.blogspot.com/2011/05/pickling-treasured-way-to-process.html

INDOOR PLANTS CAN HELP YOU HAVE THE ABUNDANCE GLOW.

The feeling that we live with shortages is a lie. Abundance is already here - starting today - when we are open to infinite creativity and refuse to compete for resources.

Plants are a marvelous creation - the very essence of our Earth. They were here long before us and we need them for survival. And remember they don’t need us. In fact, we have been their great destroyers, causing the extinction of millions of plants with our not-so-civilized ways of living. But plants are eternally forgiving and want to help us obtain the abundance that we long for. We just have to give them a chance. Having indoor plants is a good idea for everyone and especially necessary for those who live in cities where asphalt and concrete are most everywhere and green plants and trees are in short supply. This post outlines how to capture some plant-related abundance in our homes.

Unfortunately, for both our mental and physical health, the average US person spends about 90 percent of his/her time indoors. That means that we aren’t seeing much natural green except from out our windows at home or as we drive by. But when we bring some plants into our home, they give back to us some of the green-goodness that we are lacking. They not only lend beauty to our spaces, but also make us feel at ease and can even be a source of healing and food.

Plants can give your home the glow of abundance.

In fact, feng shui, a Chinese philosophy that spans thousand of years, points out how green plants not only improve the energy of indoor spaces but also are a remedy for other kinds of problems arising from being behind walls. And feng shui is not merely concerned with interior decoration or plant placement, but primarily with the flow of chi energy in man made and natural settings. This ancient philosophy also indicates that the healthier your plants, the more abundance they bring into the home. Fresh flowers bring luck and fortune into your home. For the same reason, dying and dried flowers are believed to bring bad luck.

Science today has proved what feng shui suggested centuries ago. Houseplants bring in beneficial oxygen and even lower electromagnetic pollution. Air conditioning, improved insulation, and other energy-saving innovations all reduce air exchange in buildings. We end up breathing the same polluted air again and again. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) created by man-made materials are also a major cause of illness. All these air-borne contaminants add up to a loss of concentration, depression and other diseases in what’s known as "sick building" syndrome. The good news is that indoor plants stimulate both the senses and the mind and help remove air-borne pollutants, making for healthier homes.

Two things to do improve your indoor air quality
First and foremost, if you want to feel better in your home, ventilate your rooms by opening windows. This should be done daily even if it can only be done for just a few minutes at a time.

Second, place some common household plants in the rooms of your home to increase air humidity and help your family to breathe easier. That's a real plus when it comes to fighting viral infections. And you don’t have to have a house full of greenery. NASA studies indicate that just one good-sized houseplant (6 to 8-inch diameter container) is enough to help clean up 100 square feet of your home. Of course, you need to keep the foliage dust free so that the leaves can do their job and keep the top of the soil free from debris.

Some useful houseplants for better air include three common household plants - areca palm, mother-in-law's tongue, and the money plant - all are effective in improving indoor air quality. Besides those mentioned, other research has shown that waffle plant, English ivy, variegated wax plant, asparagus fern and the purple heart plant are also good air purifiers. Some more great houseplants to consider are bamboo, palms, dracaena, peace lilies, jade plants, small ficus trees, rubber plants, and  weeping fig.

House plants can be food, too
Indoor-grown plants can also be a source of healthy food. A good way to grow these edibles is making a window or tabletop “farm.” Sprouts, cherry tomatoes, small citrus trees, and herbs - such as basil, mint, rosemary, dill, parsley, cilantro, and chives – all can be indoor-grown. In other posts, Grandma Susan wrote about growing sprouts and herbs in the home. (See related posts, below.) Today, homegrown microgreens - small garden veggies - have been added to indoor window and tabletop farms. Chia, cress, mustard greens, radish and arugula are some of the most common microgreens.

Larger than sprouts and smaller than baby salad greens, microgreens are harvested from two to five inches tall (about 2 weeks after sowing). At that time, they have a high quality taste and are most nutritious. And they add texture, flavor and healthy nutrients to all kinds of salads and sandwiches. They are also used as garnishes for a variety of dishes.

To grow microgreens, all you need are shallow, lightweight containers, soil, seeds and water and some sunlight. Seeds are soaked overnight, then sowed. Microgreens have short roots so the soil or mats that hold their roots have to be watered often but should not become soggy. Good sunlight and drainage are important to prevent rot and mold.

Related posts
SPROUTS SHOULD BE PART OF YOUR SURVIVAL KITCHEN
GREEN GARDENS: GOOD FOR FAMILIES AND FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
TAKE POSITIVE AND PEACEFUL ACTIONS TO CONFRONT FOOD SHORTAGES
LOOK FOR WAYS TO BE MORE AWARE OF THE NATURAL WORLD.
LIVING IT UP WITH LESS: DECORATION IN A SIMPLE HOME

WHAT WILL YOU DO IF THE JAVA STOPS FLOWING?

What do we do in the early a.m.? A lot, if not most, of us have a routine. You wake up, open your eyes, put your feet in our slippers or shoes, and after a stop in the toilet, start out for the kitchen. You know what you need. It's the caffeine rush - java - that's calling your name. It's our long-time, morning friend beckoning us, and we don't know what we'd do without it. But, wait a minute. What if the price of that steaming, brown liquid goes too high? You know the answer, even  if you want to deny it. Like so many other luxuries, if the economics is wrong, the purchase must slow or stop. And, afterall, it's really not part of our nutrititional needs and we could eliminate it, couldn't we? But, oh, the pain...

And, the news is out. Just recently, there has been talk all over the newsmedia about the cost of the bag (or whatever the measure is) of fresh coffee beans. It seems that the coffee bean is the next peak crop (sort of like peak oil), and that means we may have to modify our coffee drinking habits. Soon a pound of those precious beans will cost us more - maybe a lot more than the milk and bread. Already, the careful grocery shopper must have noticed the increase in its price on the supermarket shelves. Next week, if not sooner, coffee shop consumers can bet that their morning brew will give them a bit more of a burn. And this is almost certainly a permanent trend for a number of reasons.

We will have to pay more.
For the first time in caffeinated-civilized history (Or would that be civilized-caffeinated history?), java consumption is outpacing production in all countries with possibly the exception of Brazil and India. That means everyone else is vieing for the tasty, brown stuff on the world market, including importantly the Chinese. (The Chinese were tea drinkers, weren't they? Yes, of course, and they still are. The problem seems to be their shear numbers and the fact that some fraction of their population has learned to drink coffee in addition to tea. That spells trouble.) The bad news is that there is no commercial - zero - production of coffee in the US and Europe where the demand is no less than outrageous.

What's more, in "our heart of hearts", we know that we really haven't been paying the true cost of coffee, either for the coffee workers' labor or for the ecological damage to the hilly areas where it's grown and the contaminants that end up in the waterways below. These are the real economic facts, but as a coffee-guzzling population, we just aren't emotionally  ready to grasp the fact that we'll be paying higher prices. On the other hand, we can't hide forever from the grim reality, that for coffee growing to be fair to the workers and sustainable for the environment, we should be paying far more than we are. Sad but true, coffee drinking adds a big load to our carbon footprint. And, if we aren't already drinking organic, what we're consuming is guaranteed to include a hugh dose of ugly things that we don't need in our bodies.

Here's another thought. What most of us are "enjoying" in the morning is already the cheap stuff - for three or four dollars a pound in the can and one dollar a cup in the gasoline station. You know that it's really bad coffee. It tastes rough and is barely palatable, but we drink it, at least some of the time, because it's coffee. And java, in almost any form, is our caffeine rush of choice. We know we could find some caffeine somewhere else. There are, afterall, a number of other cheap, commercial caffeine-delivery packages out there. There generally known as sodas. But, they're hardly recommendable, either. Looks like we have to make a painful change. Maybe we should be thinking more seriously about fine coffee like you do fine wine, very expensive, but worth it now and again, just to enjoy some of the good rubust, aromatic stuff.

My coffee-guzzling story
Now, everyone has their own coffee drinking history, like the stories of their other habits (notice I refrained from saying addictions). Let me mention something about my history.  I never drank coffee as a young person. My Mom and Dad drank a lot of it, but made tea for my sister and me. So, when I went off to college, I was a convinced and proud tea drinker, who was also just a little snobbish about all those coffee drinking students around me. Needless to say, after one semester, six term papers and six final exams, I had settled into coffee drinking as a much better caffeine-delivery system. So much for being a tea-drinking snob. Even then, I continued to drink both coffee and tea, coffee in the early morning and mostly tea in the afternoon and evening. Coffee in the evening has always affected my sleep.

After my university years, I went to live in Mexico City.  My husband's family was from the south of Mexico and they knew about good coffee. They refused to drink anything else. So, members of the family would always return from their hometown visits with the really good stuff, high-mountain coffee from Chiapas, and share the wealth with all the other relatives. It was a good system. That coffee was superbly good for both  morning and afternoon coffee-drinking sessions. I seldom had to drink coffee from the supermarket, and only did so, with the thought that it was a poor substitute for the "real" item. And, given that all kinds of teas, including herbal teas, were (are) commonly available in Mexico, I also drank a couple of cups of tea each day. Other than taking a few rests, several weeks at a stretch, to dry out from such a high caffeine load, I happily continued to drink good coffee almost every day.

But then, about fifteen years ago, I left Mexico and returned to the US to live. I was jolted. The coffee that others around me were drinking, the same that was available in the supermarkets, was really of poor quality. For a while, I tried to drink only tea but later, for social reasons (that what we addicts often say about our chosen mood-swinging drugs), I gave in and started drinking a couple of cups of the regular brew everyday. Sometimes, I would throw budget caution to the wind and buy the higher priced stuff, but not too often. Also, I found that the standard, national-brand coffee shops served pretty good coffee, and once or twice a week, I paid the higher price for a morning or afternoon cup. And so, on the whole, my java-drinking habits continued mostly uninterrupted ... until recently.

Oh, and sometimes, when I'm in Northern Mexico, a place where I spend part of my time, I can buy at a reasonable price (and truly enjoy) good-quality Veracruz coffee, ground to taste, in a downtown, coffee specialty store. But, in general, I find that, what with the poor (and getting poorer ) quality of the product that I buy at the supermarkets along with the rising price-tag, I'm drinking only one cup of coffee in the morning. Sometimes, I don't even finish that cup. It's doesn't have a good taste and makes my stomach a little uneasy. Also, I'm a little worried about all the contaminants that commercial coffee has in it.  But, being all too-budget conscious, I'm reluctant to pay the substantially higher cost of organic coffee. Tea drinking, at least black tea drinking, isn't really a good alternative either. It’s the same story. The tea that's being sold at most stores is of poor quality, and there's inflation in its price-tag, too (like just about all other basic commodities at this time). Besides that, tea production also does significant ecological damage  (then again, apparently, somewhat less than that of coffee).

So, what are our real alternatives?
The good news is that humans, even the U.S. population, has lived very well for long periods drinking hot beverages other than java. Many Native American tribes brewed up ceremonial drinks with caffeine-like properties, and European colonists adopted some of these beverages. They called them "cassina". What's more, U.S. people never were great coffee drinkers until after World War II with the huge expansion of markets that finally created the Great Consumer Society. Before that time, imported coffee was a minor product and only certain groups of urbanites drank a lot of it. The bulk of the population made somewhat similar drinks from roasted grains and brews of other plants. Some of the traditional ingredients for these pre-java-age drinks included: nuts - almond, cottonseed, acorn, beechnut; grains -  wheat, rye, and barley; and fruits and vegetables - beetroot, carrot, chicory root, corn, dandelion root asparagus, fig, cane molasses, okra seed, peas, persimmon seed, potato peel, sassafras pits, and sweet potato.

Obviously, you and I could also survive and learn to wake up in the a.m. with a hot cup of one or another of these products. We just need to find one we like and get started on a new habit. And some of these coffee-substitutes could even be grown in our own gardens. Will they have the same level of caffeine-delivery? Probably not. But then again, even very mild stimulants are usually enough to get you going in the morning. (The best way to feel good in the morning is to get enough rest the night before, and we can start doing that right away - even before we find a new morning brew.)

Some possible substitutes
Ground roasted chicory root, an easily cultivated crop, has been among the most popular coffee-like drinks since before the American Civil War. It even made a strong comeback during World War II when coffee imports were drastically reduced. Mixed with coffee, this brew continues to be a favorite in the South, especially in New Orleans. (Personally, I like chicory coffee a lot and have bought it from time to time, at the big-box stores. Unfortunately, it's now packaged as a "gourmet" product and priced 50% higher than regular coffee.)

Postum is (or was) an instant coffee substitute made from wheat bran, wheat, molasses, and corn maltodextrin. During World War II, it was very popular in the United States due to coffee rationing. For a few decades after the Second War, it was still available on the grocery shelves, but, at least, according to one source, has recently been discontinued. Most Postum-like beverages are now found in health food stores and, otherwise are available through Internet sources. You possibly could concoct your own Postum-like beverage by buying all the ingredients and finding some traditional recipe for the hot, grain-based beverage that you looking for.

Another product that has been used in rural areas throughout the centuries is the roasted dandelion root. They have to be 'true' dandelions (Taraxacum spp.) and not some other little yellow flowers that can be confused with the dandelion. True dandelions have thick straw-like roots and look a little like scrawny carrots. These roots are ground into granules for dandelion brew. This drink can be bitter and is usually more palatable diluted with milk and sugar. While it’s supposed to be a good tonic for the liver, you should be careful to closely follow an original recipe because a strong dose of dandelion root has laxative effects.

Note (added 3-12-11)
After writing my blog post yesterday, I remembered - And how could I forget? - that it's not necessary to make a brew in the morning and that gruels have happily been served as hot beverages throughout the centuries.  Here's a recipe that I often make.

ATOLE (another a.m. - or p.m.- drink) is a traditional Mexican drink based on corn. For centuries, It's been made with masa harina, the flour used for tortillas and tamales, but modern versions also make it with cornstarch or rice flour. It is, of course, a type of gruel but it's a thinned down version that's easy to drink. It's always served hot, and is a main feature for certain Mexican holiday celebrations but is also popular just about any time of the year. A usual Mexican breakfast includes atole along with pan dulce (a sweet roll) or a torta (a thick sandwich).

Recipe for Chocolate Atole
1/2 cup masa harina or 1/3 cup of cornstarch or rice flour
5 cups of water
1/2 cup of dark brown sugar (or the quantity that you like)
3 heaping TBS.of cocoa powder or one large chocolate tablet
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
(milk to be added as an option)

Heat the water and starch substance over a medium fire, stirring briskly until it's free of lumps. Continue heating and stirring until it just begins to thicken. Then add the sugar and other ingredients and bring it to a boil. If desired, you can add a cup or two of milk with the atole for the last three minutes. Be careful to stir constantly and watch the pot because it boils over very easily. (You can make fruit atole by omitting the chocolate and cinnamon and adding pureed fruit in the last three minutes of cooking.)


Related posts:
YOUR CHOICE OF DRINKS CAN SAVE OUR TREES
TAKE POSITIVE AND PEACEFUL ACTIONS TO CONFRONT FOOD SHORTAGES
SHRINK YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT
WHAT WILL YOU DO IF THE JAVA STOPS FLOWING?
BE A “USE-IT-ALL-UP” FOOD BUYER AND CONSUMER
WHAT'S IN YOUR PANTRY?

COOKING-UP GOOD FOOD FROM DOWN-HOME RECIPES

Cook down-home meals for best taste and budget-friendliness
Recently, I mentioned the need to get out our old family cookbooks and food preparation notes, and learn to make and enjoy ol’time, down-home meals.  You remember the ones that your grandmothers made. (At least, the grandmothers of the people I usually hear from. Weren't they the best you ever ate? ) My reason for writing about these ol'time recipes has to do with likely food price increases in the near future. If you’re following GrandmaS over the past few months, you know that I’ve repeated, many times, about how it’s not necessary to spend a lot at the grocery store. With just a handful of basic ingredients and the effort that it takes to cook “from-scratch” recipes, you can make many hearty, family-pleasing meals on a tight budget. The other point I’ve made is that the money that you “free-up” by not buying a lot of processed and convenience food can be spent to stock up your pantry. And that’s something that would be smart considering the uncertainties about food supplies and costs in the coming months.


Don't depend on agri-business and mega-food commerce
Also, not everything we eat has to come from the supermarket. We have the farmers’ markets and road-side stands that give us fresher and usually local-grown produce at a reasonable cost. What’s more, it’s almost spring (at least we’d like to hope so), and we can begin to plant a large or tiny garden, depending on the available space. Now, you know, almost no one can say that they have absolutely no space for a garden. Blogs on the web show all kinds of adaptations that allow for planting a patch – a few square feet of yard space, on the patio, on the roof, and even in window sills. Whatever space you have, you can use it to plant something. Our Earth needs to be greener - we've cut away way too much.  And one way, we all have to get greener is to plant – trees, if we can - and to grow part of our own food, thereby, reducing the strangle-hold that big-business agriculture and mega-food commerce have on our lives.


Inspiration for this recipe
The recipe that I’m highlighting in this post refers to beans and greens, a down-home, from the garden, classic. Well, maybe – unless you’re an experienced gardener - you’ll still want to purchase beans from a commercial source. But, for most of the year, you can have a good supply of greens right out of your own garden. Greens are easy to plant and care for, and they don’t need much depth of soil. The same goes for green onions and a lot of kitchen herbs. You don’t need too much space or special conditions. (A rain barrel or two can help for plant watering.) Beyond that, tomato plants and squash are really no-brainers when it comes to first-time gardening.

So, here goes one of my favorite recipes that uses only basic ingredients – a lot of which can come from your own garden - and this dish makes for a tasty, down-home meal.


Baked Beans With Greens
1 good-sized bunch of twice washed greens - mustard greens, collards, kale (almost any kind of greens - even cabbage)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery piece, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
3/4 pound of white beans or chickpeas, cleaned, soaked overnight or parboiled, and drained.
3 tomatoes or 1 large can of tomato sauce
3 cups water
Herbs - mixture you like of parsley, thyme, cilantro, and a bay leaf (always cook beans with a bay leaf to reduce their gasiness)
Salt, pepper and chili powder to taste (Option: A lot of people put some catsup in their baked beans. I prefer to use a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar and 1 Tbs. of brown sugar.)


- Cook greens with a little salt at a rapid boil for 5 minutes. Then drain and cut in small pieces.
- Heat olive oil (medium heat) in a deep, ovenproof skillet and cook onion, garlic, carrots and celery for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes or tomato sauce, and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the drained beans, the remaining water, and more salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the greens, cover and place in the oven. Bake for an hour or so at 300 degrees until the beans are tender and creamy. More water and/or more bake time may be added as needed.
- Option: Put herbed bread crumbs, thin-sliced, cooked potatoes, and/or grated cheese on top the beans, and continue baking for another 15 minutes.
- Serve with a fruit or vegetable salad and whole grain bread, and you'll have a hearty, vegetarian meal for 4 - 6 people.


Related posts:
TAKE POSITIVE AND PEACEFUL ACTIONS TO CONFRONT FOOD SHORTAGES
HIGH-FRUCTOSE CORN SUGAR: CHEAP FOR INDUSTRIAL FOODS, BUT COSTLY FOR HEALTH AND THE ECOLOGY
CAN YOU EAT A HEALTHIER, MORE ECO-FRIENDLY DIET -- AND DO IT ON A SNAP BUDGET?
SERVE CABBAGE SOUP OFTEN - WE'LL ALL BE BETTER OFF FOR IT
BE A “USE-IT-ALL-UP” FOOD BUYER AND CONSUMER
RECIPE: Vegetarian Black Bean Chili
PLANNING A KITCHEN GARDEN
PREPARING VEGETARIAN MEALS
WHAT'S IN YOUR PANTRY?

LOOK FOR WAYS TO BE MORE AWARE OF THE NATURAL WORLD.

Most Western people lead lives that are almost entirely disassociated from nature. They feel that their lives are only related to a specific group of people or perhaps, for a minority, to the human race, in general. For them, the natural world is just a kind of backdrop, a setting that provides humans with their necessities for food, warmth, work and recreation, and from which all is to be taken freely and little or nothing needs to be returned. This kind of disconnect from nature creates damaged mental health and terribly destructive behavior. On the other hand, as almost anyone who's experienced nature recognizes, we can be as closely involved with nature as we allow ourselves to be. And through that involvement, nature can renew and re-create us. This means that our efforts to explore our relationship with our natural environment, can be the basis for more productive and happier lives.

This page is written with the purpose of asking you to do a small study of nature that involves exploring your own special relationship with plants or, more in particular, with a single plant. You have heard the saying that “You are what you eat.” That’s what I’m asking of you to consider. Put one fruit in front of you – some fruit that you like a lot. Meditate on it for a couple of minutes. Lift it up and consider its weight. Turn it around and view it from several angles. Smell it. Think about the many experiences it may have had in order to reach your table and your hand – being planted, breaking through the ground, finding the light, being watered, growing, and then harvested, and transported. Or, for those fruits that grow on trees, their appearance as blossoms, growth to maturity, passing through times of more or less water, more or less light and heat, being picked and then transported. Then say a sort of prayer of thanks, asking the fruit to accept becoming part of you and to help you to be healthier.

While not the only way - or even one of the best ways - to overcome our separation with nature, this simple consideration of a food source can be a start to this process. It can help us be more aware of the importance of our interactions with the natural world – by creating a deeper recognition of our dependence on plants and a thankfulness toward them for sustaining all animal and human life on this planet.

After you have carried out your fruit-considering experiment, I hope that you will open your mind to other possibilities for engagement with plants. There are an estimated 275,000 different species of plants on Earth, and current science knows only a few thousand of them, and even at that, not necessarily very well. Plants do a lot more than just feed us. Plants are many different things, as all native people realize --they're food, shelter, medicines, poisons, and visionary agents. And, as indigenous people know, different species of plant have their own spirits, which can act as teachers, healers, and allies.

Unfortunately, most modern people are so immersed in the material world and with their own personal ego that they assume that plants are somehow unintelligent or even “lifeless”. We are totally ignorant when we think of plants as just a set of chemical processes that somehow appeared on the Earth and have no important purpose other than what the human population makes of them. Nothing could be further from the truth.

While a plant does not have a recognizable physical brain or other obvious animal characteristics, they are, by definition, at one time, living and sentient beings. That means that, in an important way, they share in the same energy sources that animals and humans do. Beyond that, plants form the foundation for the macroscopic level of life on this planet and their presence regulates our atmosphere. It goes without saying that that they also produce “medicine” (healing powers) for themselves and for all animal species. Yet we don’t know how they “live” their lives and, in our arrogance, we often consider them to be unfeeling or unconscious things.

While clearly lacking an animal’s central nervous system, plants do have some kind of a dispersed nervous system that allows them to communicate between their cells and with their organs. And, recently, researchers in some of the lesser-known sciences like plant neurobiology and ethnobotany have shown other surprising facts about the "behavior" of plants. From their experiments, they postulate that plants not only have mechanisms of intelligence (Plant-Mind) but also appear to do their work through a psychic link – a type of biological wisdom. This is the same intelligent link that bonds all life on Earth and is sometimes referred to as the Gaian mind (and that, in turn, is part of Universal Mind).

All of us participate at some level in Gaian and Universal Mind, but our psychic limitations keep us from being aware of our involvement. On the other hand, we can do better than we have in the past. And if we, indeed, love our lives on this Earth – and love the Earth – we need to open our hearts and minds, accepting to be healed by and finding a healing role in nature. Only then, will we be able to find some peace and stop destroying our planet.