Have Your Salads Started to Bore You???

Not any more...just add the above flower its leaves in any of yours and it will add color and some peppery aroma/flavor to your salads. Wondering what this flower is? it's called Nasturtium. It has vitamin C, it has anti viral properties and is natural antibiotic.Very easy to grow and require very little water to grow after established from seed. You cans till plant them...they will bloom for you in mid to late August on until frost. They are a handsome plant to use in your landscape as well. They come in variety of colors such as the red above. you will find them in jewel tones, and normal tones reds, oranges to yellows. You can find them in vine form ( up to 6 feet) and to 12" and above Up to 6 feet. The vines are great in window boxes and planters. The shorter ones make a great filler or a salad garden specimen. The perfect thing is these are not poisonous. If you have kids or pets, they love to watch them grow and if they happen to eat them- no problem. Go have some fun and grow some spunk and color for your Summer salads.


Here is link to a cool blog Herbs are Special http://www.herbsarespecial.com.au/isabells_blog/nasturtium-natural-antibiotic.html

here you can read more about the plant.

DID YOU KNOW THIS ABOUT MILK

Here you'll read some interesting info about milk in our series "DID YOU KNOW THIS ABOUT..." feel free to write and send us your research on this series...we are at the moment concentrating on foods but if you have something else in mind will work as well in this series.

don't be shy.

As in today's world information changes quickly, and new facts come about ad changes, this is just to help us to be aware of those things that we have been provided for our health and nutrition.

Now to the milk:

Below is an article about the facts and all who contributed to it and some extra links.

N E W E R K NOWL E D G E OF D A I RY F OOD S / M I L K
III. SPECIFIC HEALTH BENEFITS OF MILK
The following specific health benefits of milk have
been noted:

*Drinking milk may help to reduce the risk of
kidney stones. A recent epidemiological study
of more than 81,000 women with no history of
kidney stones links intake of nonfat milk with
decreased risk of colon cancer.

* Milk intake may help to reduce the risk of tooth
decay by acting as a substitute for saliva. In
addition to providing moisture which helps clear
cavity-promoting substances (e.g., simple sugars
such as sucrose) from the oral cavity, milk buffers
oral acids, reduces the solubility of tooth enamel,
and helps to remineralize tooth enamel.

*Consuming chocolate milk improves children’s
nutrient intake. Moreover, there is no scientific
evidence that chocolate milk, because of its sugar
content, contributes to dental caries. On the
contrary, because chocolate milk is liquid and
cleared relatively quickly from the mouth, it may
be less cariogenic than other sugar-containing
foods (e.g., raisins, candy) that adhere to tooth
surfaces. Also, several components in chocolate
milk, such as cocoa, milk fat, calcium, and
phosphorus, may protect against dental caries.

* There is no scientific evidence that intake of
recommended servings of dairy foods such as
milk contributes to overweight. Weight loss is
achieved by reducing total caloric intake and/or
increasing physical activity. For individuals
concerned about reducing their body weight,
milks (and other dairy foods) of different calorie
content are available (Table 13).

The U.S.Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services’ Dietary Guidelines
for Americans cautions that even people who
consume lower fat foods can gain weight if they
eat too much of foods high in starch, sugars, or
protein.

R E F E R E N C E S
M i l l e r, G.D., J.K. Jarvis, and L.D. McBean. Handbook of
D a i ry Foods and Nutrition. 2nd ed. Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC
P ress, 1999.
C u rhan, G.C., W.C. Willett, F.E. Speizer, and M.J.
S t a m p f e r. Beverage use and risk for kidney stones in women.
Ann. Intern. Med. 1 2 8: 534, 1998.
n DePaola, D.P., M.P. Faine, and C.A. Palmer. Nutrition in
relation to dental medicine. In: M o d e rn Nutrition in Health
and Disease. 9th ed. M.E. Shils, J.A. Olson, M. Shike, and
A.C. Ross (Eds.). Philadelphia, Pa.: Williams & Wi l k i n s ,
1999, p. 1099.
G a re y, J.G., M.M. Chan, and S.R. Parlia. Effect of fat content
and chocolate flavoring of milk on meal consumption
and acceptability by schoolchildren. J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 9 0:
719, 1990.
G rove, T.M., J.T. Heimbach, J.S. Douglass, E. Doyle, D.B.
DiRienzo, and G.D. Miller. Nutritional contributions of flav
o red milks and alternative beverages in the diets of child
ren. FASEB J. 1 2 ( 4 ): A 225, 1998.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services. D i e t a ry Guidelines for Americans.
F o u rth edition. Home and Garden Bulletin No. 232.
Washington, D.C.: USDA/DHHS, 1995.
Copyright

ATTENTION GARDENERS- POTATO BLIGHT

Just in the news and it concerns anyone who gardens and especially those who are growing potatoes.

See the link below or read the cut and pasted article from yahoo news below the link.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090710/sc_nm/us_blight_usa

Potato famine disease striking home gardens in U.S.

By Julie Steenhuysen Julie Steenhuysen – Fri Jul 10, 5:22 pm ET
CHICAGO (Reuters)

– Late blight, which caused the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s and 1850s, is killing potato and tomato plants in home gardens from Maine to Ohio and threatening commercial and organic farms, U.S. plant scientists said on Friday.
"Late blight has never occurred this early and this widespread in the United States," said Meg McGrath, a plant pathologist at Cornell University's extension center in Riverhead, New York.
She said the fungal disease, spread by spores carried in the air, has made its way into the garden centers of large retail chains in the Northeastern United States.
"Wal-mart, Home Depot, Sears, Kmart and Lowe's are some of the stores the plants have been seen in," McGrath said in a telephone interview.
The disease, known officially as Phytophthora infestans, causes large mold-ringed olive-green or brown spots on plant leaves, blackened stems, and can quickly wipe out weeks of tender care in a home garden.
McGrath said in her 21 years of research, she has only seen five outbreaks in the United States. The destructive disease can spread rapidly in cooler, moist weather, infecting an entire field within days.
"What's unique about it this year is we have never seen plants affected in garden centers being sold to home gardeners," she said.
This year's cool, wet weather created perfect conditions for the disease. "Hopefully, it will turn sunny," McGrath said. "If we get into our real summer hot dry weather, this disease is going to slow way down."
FUNGICIDES WILL CONTROL BLIGHT
According to its website, the University Maryland's Plant Diagnostic Lab got a suspect tomato sample as early as June 12, very early in the tomato growing season, which runs from April-September.
McGrath said the risk is that many gardeners will not recognize it, putting commercial farms and especially organic growers at risk.
"My concern is for growers. They are going to have to put a lot more time and effort in trying to control the disease. It's going to be a very tough year," she said.
"This pathogen can move great distances in the air. It often does little jumps, but it can make some big leaps."
McGrath said the impact on the farmer will depend on how much the pathogen is spread. "Eastern New York is seeing a lot of disease," she said.
She said commercial farmers will be able to use fungicides containing chlorothalonil to control the blight.
And while some sprays have also been approved for organic use, many organic farmers do not use them, making it much harder to control.
"If they are not on top of this right from the very beginning, it can go very fast," she said.
(Editing by Maggie Fox and Lisa Shumaker)