Should There Be a Law To Make Growers Use Sprays?

I came across this today which really saddened me: French Organic Farmer Refuses to Spray

Basically it said that an organic and biodynamic winemaker, Emmanuel Giboulot, had appeared before a judge for not treating his vineyard with a chemical spray as a preventive measure against a bacterial vine disease.  He could face up to 6 months in jail for this.  He has already been fined 1,000EU for putting his neighbors' vineyards at risk.
He argues that the pesticide is harmful to beneficial insects and animals, and may not even be effective at preventing the vine disease  He says “I don’t want to undo decades of work applying a treatment where the effects on the health of the vines, and the public, are as yet unproved."

Now I'm not disputing the fact that this disease is devastating to the vineyards in France (or anywhere else for that matter), but, as of date, this grower has not had the disease, in fact his vines are perfectly healthy and, as he does his own preventative measures, I doubt if he'll ever have the disease ..... (his grapes, not him) .

My brain doesn't get the logic of France's law to use pesticides to control this disease when it's obvious that it doesn't work anyway.  

Which leads me to believe that, once again, big business has used (abused), its power to get more people to buy its product in order to gain more profit.

The court will be making its final verdict on April 7th - that's when we'll see what happens to Emmanuel Giboulot.

I'll, hopefully, get the result and update this post.  Let's hope Emmanuel is strong enough to withstand the pressure.

Have Great Food

Fee
website:  www.thevegetariancenter.com

UPDATE 8 April 2014:  The final verdict has now been announced.  Emmanuel Giboulot has been ordered to pay pay a €500 (a fine of €1,000, with €500 suspended.) - he is going to appeal.  More Info

Organic Food is Marketing Hype - debate

I was surfing around the internet yesterday (as I do) for inspiration for the next blog and I came across a debate on "Organic food is marketing hype".  Naturally, being into organic food I clicked the link and proceeded to watch the most interesting debate I'd see for quite some time.

Back To Normality!

What a grand holiday!!!  Do I really have to come back to normality?  Think I might just have to make every day a holiday :)

As stated in the last post - I've been away visiting my daughter and her family in Northern California and what a great time I had.  Don't worry, I'm not going to bore you with the fun I had with my grand-daughter who at 15 months is climbing on everything, learning to talk (also learning spanish and signing) and who kept me on my toes with a constant smile on my face - I love being a grandma...all the fun with no responsibility!!!

I'm Soooooo Glad of Becoming Vegetarian.

The title of this blog really says it all (you can read my story on Becoming Vegetarian here) especially after watching a video the other day that really shocked me.
I feel sorry for omnivores (people who eat meat and veggies) as, not only do they have the minefield that we vegetarians have of finding foods that are not sprayed, GM  or played around with by other means, but now they are faced with not knowing about the meat they are eating.  Having bits of meat glued together and passing it off as the "real" thing.

This apparently is not a new…been around for quite some time, I'm just a bit slow on the uptake when it comes to meat - well, don't eat it, apart from the treatment of animals, don't really care about eye fillets, chicken breasts etc etc.

At least you can grow your own vegetables.  Even if you live in an apartment, you can still grow small crops of, especially, salad plants….but I really can't see you having a cow or a sheep living in the apartment with you, so you're kind of reliant on the meat industry. 

Even the top restaurants serve this "glued up together" meat, so you're not safe there - unless you dine at organic places.  The old saying "waste not, want not"…well in this case I think the meat industry is taking this a bit too literally, it's appalling, dangerous and disgusting.  Do yourself a favor and watch the video below - maybe you already know about this or maybe you don't.  Would love to know what you think - am I just a crazy vegetarian?

No Matter What You Eat - Make It Natural!

Now as you are all well aware  I am a vegetarian - duh, the name of this blog says it all.  There's a likelihood that many of you reading this are omnivores (meat and veg type people) and I don't have a problem with that.  It's not that you eat meat - it's what meat you eat, where it comes from, how it's "farmed" and how it's killed.

Grow Your Own Vegetables

I have a little bit of a back yard and luckily I'm able to grow a few vegetables.  The sun is perfect and the soil is good, so the veggie patch usually offers me a good supply of the basics. 

At some point I will get into growing more of a variety of odd veggies, but for now, while I'm still getting the hang of it I've tended to go with the more traditional - you know, tomatoes, broccoli, lettuce etc.

What Are The Calcium Rich Foods?

You know, you can find anything you want on the internet - things like meat is good, meat is bad - dairy is good, dairy is bad… it all depends on which way you view things you can always find the answer that suits you.

However, there are some facts that do stand alone, that can't be changed or swayed or turned into just another opinion and calcium and where to get it is one of those.

Vegan Supermarket

I came across a little piece the other day on the internet about a vegan supermarket that is opening (probably open by now) in the city of Dortmund, Germany and it got me thinking about our supermarkets in generally.

I look around at the standard supermarkets in my area and it pains me to say that they don't offer anywhere near the variety of foods for vegetarians or vegans.  In this day and age it really is quite disgraceful.  The lack of organic fresh foods. the lack of variety in the meat alternative area not to mention the nonexistence of vegan cheeses, sour creams and other "dairy free" items in the chillers.

What Made You Become a Vegetarian?

Since becoming a vegetarian I often get asked the question "What made you become a vegetarian?".  This first thing I do is ask them "do you really want to know the answer or are you just asking to make conversation?".  The reaction is usually "no I really do want to know".

This gives me a bit of an idea of how far I can take it.