Boston GreenScene

Come Play a Hands-On Role in the Grassroots Healthcare Revolution!

Farm to Pharmacy is an innovative internship program that takes place at Goldthread Herb Farm and Apothecary in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains in western Massachusetts. Educational and life changing, the internship offers participants the chance to play a pi votal role in the Grassroots Healthcare Revolution. Find unparalleled communion with the medicinal plants themselves as well as a community that emphasizes sustainable, non-toxic and cost effective healthcare grounded in organic agriculture and empowered self-care for all.

Goldthread offers interns the rare opportunity to learn fundamentals of both traditional medicine and plant cultivation side by side. Synthesizing Chinese, Ayurvedic and Western herbal traditions, our educational offerings are a comprehensive compliment to the abundance of time spent outdoors. We welcome herbal medicine students from all walks of life and are happy to facilitate college credit where possible.

During this experiential seven-month program, students divide their day at Goldthread’s organic herb farm between classes in herbal theories and supervised work with the plants in over 3 acres of fields. Educational herb walks in the learning garden to practice identification and discuss botanical characteristics will compliment lectures and coursework. Subjects range from the major classifications and their specific healing properties to the medicinal applications for a wide variety of medical conditions.

Over the course of the growing season interns will participate in all aspects of plant cultivation from preparing beds and planting seeds through to harvest and beyond. Interns will learn to process and prepare herbal medicines transforming freshly harvested flowers, leaves and roots into tinctures, syrups, teas, salves, elixirs and oils for our apothecary.

Included in the internship program are many additional learning opportunities taking place off the farm at our apothecary in Florence and in the wider community. Goldthread offers lectures and demonstrations in many specific areas and aspects of healing with monthly themes and outreach programs. Join us as we supply local low-income community gardens with seedlings or sit in on an elaborate discussion of the benefits of an herbal spring cleaning program. The wider community of the Pioneer Valley itself is brimming with opportunities to further your immersion into a culture of true sustainability in action.

Upon completion of the program, interns come away with an extensive understanding of the theories of herbal healing, the agricultural training to cultivate the major medicinal herbs in their own space, and the practical skills to apply their new knowledge and begin healing themselves and their families.

Dates: Wednesdays 9-4 , April 11th -October 10.
Work study is available and will begin on March 15.

Tuition: $2450. Pay in full before March 15th and save 10%.
A non-refundable 25% deposit is required to hold space.

See our website for more details: www.goldthreadapothecary.com

Milking the corporate cow

By Ryan Parker

Ryan Parker is a former staff member of the United States House of Representatives. Currently, he runs a diversified, beyond organic, small family farm.

 A recent BDN article by Dr. Stephen Sears probably left readers wondering why it was relevant and what they should do about the deadly toxin raw milk. It might surprise the majority of Mainers that the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control have been spending lots of our tax dollars raiding small farms, sending FBI agents into stores with guns drawn, misleading consumers, shutting down family cheese artisans and issuing cease and desist orders to family farms (in Maine) that sell milk to their neighbors.

After Dr. Sears’ (Maine’s state epidemiologist) article, you’re probably breathing easy knowing these agencies are fighting such terrible threats as raw milk. Indeed, as the doctor wrote, according to the CDC, raw milk has been responsible for two deaths in the United States since 1998.

Obviously, Dr. Sears simply stated numbers from agency press releases and e-mails rather than actually looking at the Foodborne Outbreak Online Database. There, he would have found that, indeed, in the decade between 1998 and 2008, in a country now home to a population of more than 300 million, raw milk caused two deaths. What he neglected to mention regarding “public health” was that in 2007, in Massachusetts alone, there were three deaths from pasteurized milk.

How could Dr. Sears miss this information when he is so concerned about public health? Presumably, the same way he could quote an oft-stated CDC figure of 1,614 reported illnesses from raw milk. Why the CDC uses this figure is unbeknownst to the population, since its own data reveals 1,254 reported illnesses for the decade in question.

So what is going on here?

This is part of a nationwide campaign to take away your right to eat and feed your children healthy, real food. Sound like a conspiracy theory? Don’t take my word for it. Take the FDA’s. The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund recently sued the FDA because its ban on interstate sales of raw milk is unconstitutional. In the motion to dismiss, the FDA stated the following: “There is no right to consume or feed children any particular food. There is no generalized right to bodily and physical health.”

Scared? It gets worse.

Boston Local Food Festival

 

Dear local food advocates, your dream festival has arrived. 

The first annual Boston Local Food Festival is being held on the waterfront at Fort Port Channel on Saturday, October 2nd.  Billed as an event of "Healthy Local Food for All", the free festival features dozens of local restaurants, farms, breweries, wineries, and non-profits dedicated to a sustainable, healthy, and delicious Boston.  Brought to you with support from the Massachsuetts Department of Agriculture, the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Boston, and several other local organizations -- including the folks that successfully campiagned for the Boston Public Market at Fort Point Channel -- this inaugural event will undoubtedly be the first of many festivals to come. 

The event runs from 11am to 5pm and our only complaint may be that this may not be enough time to take it all in.  For more details: www.bostonlocalfoodfestival.com.  

ARE YOU A PARENT? ARE YOU AWAKE?

by Heather Burns

I only needed to open the door a few days ago to my child's gymnasium and take one whiff of the newly polished floor to be reminded of how much work still needs to be done to create awareness, turn inaction into action and create real change when it comes to the toxic environment our children are exposed to. 

And while I may not be able to instantly control what school administrators put on floors, on the lunch menu, or on the school yards - I can create change to the degree I feel comfortable, have time for or feel compelled. 

Healthy Child, Healthy World is a stand up organization helping keep "conscious" parents like me well informed so I can make sound choices on behalf of my children. 

Event 2/25/10: Boston CSA Farm Share Fair

Want to eat locally this summer?  Come meet local farmers at this Arlington fair and sign up for a summer share of fresh, locally grown food!  

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a model for supporting and revitalizing local agriculture.  Supporters pre-purchase a share of the season's harvest, agreeing to support the farm throughout the season, and assume the costs, risks and bounty of growing food along with the farmer. In return, the farmer provides, to the best of his/her ability, a healthy supply of seasonal fresh produce throughout the growing season, as well as opportunities to connect with the land on which the produce is grown.

Who: Local Farmers & You!
When: Thursday, February 25, 2010, from 6:00pm to 7:30pm
Where: Park Avenue Congregational Church, 50 Paul Revere Road in Arlington Heights
Contact: http://csafairarlington.wordpress.com/blog/
Cost: Free

Mad Men: Don’t Cry for Me

by Daniel E. Walsh  Author of Our Sunday "History & Reflections" Series

I have decided to leave you forever
I have decided to start things from here
Thunder and lightning won’t change
What I’m feeling
And the daffodils look lovely today

Delores O’Riordan (The Cranberries)

The AMC hit TV series, Mad Men, portrays the business and personal lives of advertising execs at the height of the Golden Age of American consumerism. The show is focused on the personalities and interactions of the ad execs and office staff. The great American consumer culture is the backdrop for the various story lines. Some of the personal habits of the era depicted are clearly seen today as unhealthy or outright wrong. Then those habits were in the full bloom of cultural normalcy.

In one scene, Don Draper, the main character, his wife, and children pull over the family sedan for a picnic on some roadside grassland. When they are done and preparing to leave, they simply shake the trash they've generated from the picnic blanket and leave it behind them on the ground.

Eco-Labeling: How Sustainable is "Organic"?

by Lyon Graulty, an associate at More Than Sound, an audio production and publishing company dedicated to deepening our understanding of the human experience.

A growing number of supermarkets are committing to green building, but how sustainable are the products inside? As major food retailers progress towards making their stores more sustainable, it's easy to forget about the great strides that still need to be made in the sustainability of the food itself.

Hannaford Bros new LEED certified supermarket in Augusta, ME

Hannaford's newest store, which opened July 25th in Augusta, Maine, is the first supermarket in the world to be Platinum-certified by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). Their use of geo-thermal heating and cooling, solar power, and recycled and locally-sourced materials is part of a movement helping to create a more sustainable world, and they deserve recognition for their commitment to reducing their environmental footprint.

As this eco-friendly building opens its doors, many other supermarkets are following suit. The Whole Foods in Sarasota, Florida has been LEED certified with a Silver rating, and Food Lion just broke ground on a store in Columbia, South Carolina that is on track to LEED certification. As the green building and retail food industries forge new partnerships, this progress highlights a growing void: the lack of a common set of guidelines to transparently access the sustainability of the wide range of ecological, health, and social impacts involved with food production and distribution.

True, we have the Certified Organic label, which has made advances in restricting the use of toxic chemical pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers on our food. But the Organic certification system fails to recognize the wider ecological impact of a product. "Saying the product is organic is not enough anymore," says UC Berkeley Industrial Ecologist and GoodGuide founder Dara O'Rourke. "In 2009, you need to know, okay, it's organic - but is it healthy? Was it produced locally? How far did it get shipped?"

Much of the organic food that is bought every day in the U.S. actually comes from China. Newsweek reported last year that while there are 21 separate agencies that claim to certify organic farms in China, only one of them is considered legitimate outside of the country. Consider this with the fact that it’s estimated that roughly half of the organic garlic we import is coming from China. It’s hard to imagine all that garlic is certified by the recognized agency, and all this is complicated by the fact that our government doesn’t keep track of the country and farm of origin of organic food imports. In fact, we only inspect a little over 1% of all food imports. A few years ago, Wal-Mart had to pull a bunch of Chinese produce labeled organic from its Chinese stores after they tested it and found out it was loaded with pesticides.

Cool Beans

by Daniel E. Walsh

As Confucius said, "It is such a delight to have friends coming from afar."
Dr. Huqu Zhai
President of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Chairman of the World Soybean Research Conference VIII Organizing Committee

An important event is taking place in Beijing, China this summer. The World Soybean Research Conference VIII is scheduled for August 8 through August 10. This meeting of multinational soybean producers and policy makers occurs every five years. The soybean a plant of the legume family that emanated from the host country has become an extremely important crop. There have been stunning developments with major global implications in just the last five years that this conference will address. Some of the issues on the agenda are controversial, but, in general, the emergence of this plant has been largely beneficial to mankind and the sustainability movement.

Scheduled to be discussed are biotechnology, the role of soy in animal feed and human health, and sustainable farming practices. The market web of this product makes it a truly global issue. There are presenters from the major players. China and India are the biggest importers. The United States, Brazil, and Argentina are the largest exporters and producers.

A Shovel Ready Project: Local Agriculture (Part II)

TIME FOR THE COMMONWEALTH TO LEAD AGAIN

by Dan Burgess

As I wrote last week, it is time for Massachusetts to step to the forefront and lead the United States in  developing the country’s first functional regional food chain.  Here’s why.

Agricultural investment is a common sense companion to the economic, environmental, and health care investments that both the state and the federal government are currently making.  By providing money to local farmers, both through creative investment and guaranteed purchases from government programs, we could begin to seriously develop a sustainable regional food system that makes sense for Massachusetts.

Economically, guaranteeing purchases and creatively investing in local agriculture would immediately create jobs in the agriculture sector.  Farmers will plant more and hire more of the currently 8% who are unemployed in Massachusetts.  Investment would also encourage small farms to enter the market, therefore increasing the amount of local food available in communities.  While there would certainly be supply chain challenges for small farmers attempting to distribute goods to urban areas, this is exactly where fresh food is needed most.  Existing supply lanes could be expanded and new avenues of distribution could be created to creatively disseminate the local goods.

Acupuncture: A 'Green' Approach to Environmental Allergens?

by Joshua Summers

Josh Summers is a Licensed Acupuncturist in private practice in Boston, Massachusetts.  For more information on Josh, please visit his website: www.joshsummers.net.

Recent news reports have declared a surprisingly counter-intuitive relationship between the unpleasant skin condition known as eczema and asthma.  While both conditions seem connected by the immune system’s inability to handle environmental allergens, until now, a causal link between the two has remained elusive.

Eczema, or dermatitis, is an inflammation of the skin, characterized by intense itchiness and red regions.  Asthma is an inflammation of the bronchial tubes, marked by mild wheezing to life-threatening respiratory dysfunction.

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis believe they have tracked down the very mechanism by which the two are linked.  As a May 21, 2009 article in The Economist explains, “The culprit is thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP), a signaling molecule secreted by damaged skin cells which elicits a strong immune response from the body to fight off invaders.  Washington University's Dr. Demehri and his team hypothesized that eczema-induced TSLP enters the bloodstream and, when it arrives at the lungs, sensitizes them so that they react to allergens that would not previously have bothered them.  In other words, they become asthmatic.”  Demehri and his researches tested this hypothesis on mice, and the results were confirming: ‘skin damage creates susceptibility to asthma by releasing TSLP.’