Our farm-Scattagnolo...

Ok so the packing sheds are nearly ready to go, organic inspector is on his way its all happening. I feel like breaking out in song, "ei i ei i o...and on that farm, we have lots of snails ei i ei i oooo". To explain the quantity of snails we have at the moment, there is a new packing shed which has been erected, we are not sure how but snails have made a home inside, and if you you didn't know you would think that they are the walls. I have never seen so many snails in the one place before. Escargo anyone...

Its amazing they are a perfect reflection of our farm at this moment...slow...

So this is a picture of our farm, even just looking at the views make me happy, imagine how happy the veggies are going to be. Till next week, Farmer Ange x

http:www.organicempire.com.au

ORGANIC EMPIRE, organic home delivery melbourne, local organic foods

Lettuce Facial

Place two lettuce leaves in a blender. Add 3 tablespoons and mix with natural yoghurt, and two tablespoons of raw honey.

Apply on face for 15-20 minutes.

It contains vitamins and macro nutrients: A, B1, B2, and C, folic acid, manganese, chromium, phosphorus, and potassium.

ORGANIC EMPIRE, organic home delivery melbourne, local organic foods

Skin becomes softer, smoother, and more relaxed. Repeat once a week

http://www.organicempire.com.au

Saving Money by eating organics

Did you know that buying organic foods can save you money... what you say...lets clear up a few things.

We know the better you eat the healthier you are, the healthier you are, less you will need to visit the doctor, so first savings on doctors bills, second on medications. Organically grown food is your best way of reducing exposure to toxins used in conventional agricultural practices.

The more nutrient dense your food the less your body needs, note here I said nutrient dense not energy dense (by this I mean highly processed, sugared, inert foods), so you effectively get more carrot for your carrot. Organic foods are nutritionally superior to conventionally grown produce as a rule, 41 studies on organic foods have concluded

• 27% more vitamin C
• 21.1% more iron
• 29.3% more magnesium
• 13.6% more phosphorus

Eating seasonally will save you money, buy in bulk, and preserve. Buying organic in season can be cheaper than buying conventional, especially if you purchase from Organic Empire.

GET HEALTHY GO ORGANIC EMPIRE

ORGANIC EMPIRE, organic home delivery melbourne, local organic foods

Childhood Obesity- New initiative

The Victorian government has this morning announced a $40 million program to end childhood obesity in Victoria with staggering figures that have found that one in four children are obese or overweight. This is sad and scarey, never before in history have we seen nations suffering from these tremendous weight problems, with Australia leading the way with the highest rates of obesity per capita....

The initiatives include:

A research centre that will evaluate health programs in schools and other early childhood centres.

Policies implemented to guide the social, physical and emotional health of young people

Awards programs for schools, recognising excellence in health and food service to children

Cooking classes for adults and children

Various social marketing and public education engagements

I don't know that we need to complicate things though, this all just comes back to food, the importance of teaching children about food and nourishing them with healthy food is the only way that we can curb this. Childhood obesity is not just about being a 'bigger' kid, there are so many health problems associated with excess weight,cancers, diabetes, high blood pressure, strokes can be the reality of a unhealthy lifestyle.

Its also at this point that I think that Junk food should be heavily taxed, making real food more affordable in comparision. The real change will happen then, when it becomes harder and expensive to eat 'processed, inert foods'.

We agree that the value of educating children on good food is and should be our highest priority, what can you do at home, find our more here.

Have a question for our nutritionist...ASK HERE

ORGANIC EMPIRE, organic home delivery melbourne, local organic foods

Organic Certification and wombats

So back to the grind this week, the first thing we need to address on our farm is organic certification. Have been going through the different certifying bodies, to determine what separates them from each other and the truth is not much. They all routinely do random assessments, and have the same rules...so its fair game. The OGA certified organic Australia, will be our badge of choice....look out for it peoples, will be completing the forms this week...tooo exciting.

Prior to purchasing the property, we became aware of the fact that we have wombats residing under the buildings on the property...awww cute yes...not so good for structures though and our pets (supposedly they lure cats and dogs into their lair and intentionally do harm).... So after consultation with the local wildlife group, we have found out that you cant actually move wombats, because if you do they will try and find their way back home and usually end up as roadkill or having a fight with another wombat over territory...ouch... So the only way is to encourage the wombats to move to another one of the homes (yes quite the entrepreneurial spirit, often having 2-3 unrenovated homes). This will be undertaken by setting up a low grade electric fence around the perimeter of the buildings, placing sand around the burrow and waiting until they have left for the evening. The electric fence is then put on, once they receive the gentle persuasion, they immediately go and renovate another one of their dens... Amazing , think we will miss the huge pot holes around the buildings and the idea that another beautiful creature wants to share the space, but we have located their other dens and know that they will only be a couple of meters away....Till next week on the farm

organicempire

ORGANIC EMPIRE, organic home delivery melbourne, local organic foods

Fountain of Youth

What if organic foods were the eternal, illusive 'fountain of youth'?, what if organic fresh foods held the key to youthfulness and health...look a little closer, the truth is that they do...

The Organic Center is a research facility in the US, they have released an interesting article on organic foods, antioxidants and the fountain of youth, check it out here....

FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH FOODS

Organic Blueberries, tea and cocoa, all contain tea and blueberries,catechins, antioxidants that can turn off damaging transcription factors and turn on protective ones. Cocoa contains procyanidin B-2, which can protects brain cells from inflammation and stop the production of pro-inflammatory chemicals that are released in the skin.

Organic Cinnamon is a powerful anti-inflammatory spice that regulates blood sugar and assists in keeping skin wrinkle-free.

Raw fresh organic foods in their natural state, offer a plethora of antioxidants and nutrients to nourish the body and provide anti ageing support and health.

Citrus Fruits–oranges, tangerines, lemons, limes, and grapefruit–all have vitamin C, known to reduce the risk of cancer and cataracts. In addition, citrus fruits contain limonese–a compound that may help the liver detoxify carcinogenic chemicals.

Sulfophrane found in cruciferous vegetables such as Broccoli, cauliflower, kale and bok choy contain a naturally-occurring compound in foods that neutralizes highly reactive, dangerous forms of cancer-causing chemicals before they can damage cells and promote cancer.

Protect our daily bread

Ok people the time has come to act, this could be the biggest injustice to our livelihood ever, never before in human history has our ignorance compromised our food systems as much as the change that is about to occur. The PM has allowed for genetically modified wheat to be grown in commercial quantities in Australia, this is very very scary.

If you are new to the Genetically Modified food debate, please allow me to give you a basic rundown , genetically modified food is foods that are created in a laboratory, by modifying the genes of crops to make it possible to put more fertilisers and pesticides on them that it wont kill them...but possibly us.

Genetically modified foods have never been proven safe for humans to eat, yet our government is allowing this.

Apart from the the nutritional affects, if a genetically modified seed lands on a non GM farm, the farmer then has to pay foreign companies for that germination..... the most ridiculous thing ever... there are many court cases going on around the world as we speak, where little farmers are being taken to court. One such case already exists in Australia, an organic farmer in western Australia is battling these companies after his organic farm was contaminated by GM crops, losing his organic certification and ruining his farm!

So what can you do.....

GET EDUCATED

Check out this video

Boycott wheat, these amazing chefs are on board too , read more about it here

Download the true food kids guide here, published by GREENPEACE

SUPPORT ORGANIC FARMS AND BUSINESSES

Join the True food Network

Write a letter to the PM

Shop responsibly, email the supermarkets tell them you don't want GM crops on their shelves

VOTE WITH YOUR DOLLARS,