We're Reaping All Wrong. Sow What?
Remember the dinner from last night you fixed at home? Or the fruits your dad bought from the supermarket? Can you imagine these fruits and vegetables that look all real, fresh & shiny from the outside are apparently toxic?
Well, according to a recent article, Cabbage is seen being made from plastic in China; the most widely consumed staple food in the world, Rice, is produced in factories using synthetic material; fruits & veggies are artificially ripened with Calcium Carbide that has a potentiality to convert normal human cells into cancer cells. In India, the artificial ripening method has been adopted for a very long time now and it caught us thinking why do we deserve this? We can certainly rewrite the stories of change & come back to our natural ways of growing crops.
ArtyManav appreciates one such story of an organic farmer, Jim Cochran (69), who single-handedly changed the game of growing chemical induced strawberries to completely organic crops of the fruit. He once went to the farm before dawn and as the sun came up, his eyes started watering, his head spun and he started shaking. He realized he just walked into a field sprayed by pesticides and harmful chemicals. That moment he decided to make a change. See his story here, covered by an NGO called Earthjustice.
As a matter of fact, Sikkim has successfully become the first organic Indian state where they have completely banned the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers which motivated the farmers to grow organic crops. The state with population of over 6 lakhs, has taken the initiative to be totally organic for crops that are healthy, soil that has significantly improved quality, provides environmental protection, Bio-diversity conservation and better agricultural products.
But you know what? You can go your own organic fruits and vegetables as well. The 'ArtyManav' way:
1) Buy organic labeled food only.
2) If you want to grow your own fruits and vegetables, you can use:
- Replacement for Chemical Fertilizers with natural manure (made up of cow-dung, vegetable peels, fruit skins, used tea leaves).
- Crop-rotation method- A popular method of keeping your soil rich in nutrient value and Nitrogen content by changing the crops with leguminous plants. In simple terms, it involves changing the type of crop grown in one area on a regular basis.
- To keep the insects at bay from your plants by spraying Eucalyptus oil, Neem oil, Orange citrus oil or a simple salt spray.
- Pulling out weeds by hands.
3) Inspire others to use organic products only. Spread the word as to how the chemicals are slowly poisoning us and are capable of causing countless deadly diseases.
4) Last but not the least, know the difference. The moment you're able to differentiate between organic and chemical induced fruits and vegetables you'll never like having the latter.
We, as humans, are constantly evolving in every way possible but should our food cost us our own existence?
Let's try & make our own organic story like Jim Cochlan and the state of Sikkim...
Go organic! Go ArtyManav!
Video by- Earthjustice
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