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there’s a Transition Town meeting on this Wednesday 21st October at 8pm at the Dylan Thomas centre; all welcome to discuss/plan : If you want to know more about the Transition Towns movement, click here… We mentioned the 10:10 campaign in last weeks e-mail Prompt, well have a look at this: www.38degrees.org.uk/get-parliament-to-vote-1010 MPs vote this Wednesday on a motion to call on the government to cut its emissions by 10% next year. Together we can push them to vote the right way. This would pile the pressure onto the government to deliver deeper emissions cuts next year. It would also send a powerful signal internationally in the build up to the Copenhagen Climate Summit. It only took me two minutes to send a message to my MP. Please do the same by clicking here: we’d like to see this blog as a thriving customer resource for news, events, recipes etc; but at the moment it’s not very active! secondly we’d like to invite people to contribute posts and recipes to the blog so that it becomes more dynamic and community orientated - this can be done by setting you up as a contributor or by simply e-mailing us with anything you’d like us to blog about. please help and get involved. we’re in the process of updating the website; updating prices, discontinuing some lines, adding promotions and sale sections etc - the updated section is still under ‘quick shop upload’ at the moment, but hopefully we’ll get this uploaded to the main sections very soon. your comments on the website would be very much appreciated (e.g. do the sections make sense? can you find what you’re looking for easily? do the photos help when buying?) as we try and improve the site. From Natural Products Magazine, by PATRICK HOLFORD - June 1, 2009 For the third time in six years we hover on the brink of an apparently serious flu epidemic, the solution for which, if it were to strike, is a drug called Tamiflu. Are their any natural alternatives and how do they compare?This is one of those tricky science areas since you can hardly run a double-blind placebo controlled trial on swine flu. So you are left with two alternatives: to test the remedy in infected people with other flu strains, or to test the remedy on cells infected with one of these nasty strains. As a yardstick Tamiflu has been shown to reduce time to recovery from flu by between one day and 1.5 days if started within 40 hours of symptoms. In contrast there have been three studies giving 6 to 8 grams of vitamin C within the first 24 hours of flu symptoms which have reported reducing time to recovery by three days up to complete relief within 24 hours for almost half of the participants (R Douglas, Cochrane Review, 2007). Antiviral drugs, such as Tamiflu (oseltamivir), work by inhibiting something called neuraminidase, produced by viruses and essential for their ability to replicate. So too does vitamin C according to recent research which tested the effects of a combination of ascorbic acid, green tea extract, lysine, proline, N-acetyl cysteine, selenium among other micronutrients on cells infected with influenza (R.Jariwalla, Biofactors, 2007). This combination was also put to the test on cells infected with bird flu, in many respects similar to swine flu (P.Deryabin, Biofactors, 2008). The nutrient mixture “demonstrated high antiviral activity evident even at prolonged periods after infection. Antiviral properties were comparable to those of conventional drugs (amantadine and oseltamivir); however, the nutrient mixture had the advantage of affecting viral replication at the late stages of the infection process,” say the authors. Neuramidase inhibition is only one of a dozen ways that vitamin C knocks out viruses, both by inhibiting the virus itself, and by strengthening the body’s own immune response. In high doses, it has been well proven to be non-toxic. For any serious infection I recommend taking vitamin C up to ‘bowel tolerance’. Start with 3 grams immediately, then 1g an hour and if you get diarrhoea, then halve this dose. If you don’t, double it. Some people find ascorbic acid too acidic, in which case an ascorbate, such as sodium ascorbate, can be taken. It might be useful to have a supply at hand if a flu epidemic does break out. The other nutrients given included the amino acids lysine, proline, N-acetyl cysteine, and selenium. N-acetyl cysteine and selenium both promote glutathione levels, which has anti-viral activity. Zinc, in doses of at least 50mg day, is anti-viral (D.Hulisz, J Am Pharm Assoc, 2004) and is available in lozenges for coughs and colds. Viruses get into body cells by puncturing their walls with tiny spikes made of a substance called hemagglutinin. An extract of elderberry disarms these spikes by binding to them and preventing them from penetrating the cell membrane. In a double blind controlled trial she tested the effects of the elderberry extract in people with flu (Z. Zakay-Rones, J Altern Complement Med. 1995). Their results showed a significant improvement in symptoms. After three days 90% had complete relief of their symptoms compared to another group on a placebo, who took at least six days to recover. In another trial it cut recovery time by four days (Z. Zakay-Rones, J Int Med Res. 2004). The trick with any infection is not to get it in the first place by keeping your immune system strong. I take 2 grams of vitamin C every day. If a pandemic flu epidemic breaks out I’m doubling that to 4 grams — one every six or so hours, as well as supplementing zinc, selenium and black elderberry extract on a daily basis, and keeping a stock of vitamin C and black elderberry extract nearby. NOTES: We’re a bit late with this, but click here to see the Soil Association response to the Food Standards Agency’s Organic Review on 29 July 2009; in summary : Also, click here to see the Soil Association response to the UK Food Security Assessment on 10 August 2009; in summary: “Food systems must become less dependent on fossil fuels, more resilient in the face of climate change, and able to contribute to the Government’s pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. Farming based on organic principles can deliver against all three challenges.”
get more recipes from our website Spring Greens with Onion & Garlic Instructions
Freezing: How to cook it: How to use it:
Courgettes With Coriander And Cream Serve as a side, or spoon over roasted fish. Serves 4. 2 tablespoons butter Melt the butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the garlic and fry for 10 seconds. Add the courgettes and half the coriander; sauté for about 4 minutes or until courgettes are just tender. Add the cream and simmer until juices thin, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with remaining coriander.
unfortunately we couldn’t get the power back on, the neighbours were all OK but our main trip switch wouldn’t reset! so a bit of testing and trial and we deducted that our main fuse had been fried. our biggest worry was the fridges and freezers, but luckily we’ve got good neighbours and we ran an extension cable from next door (thanks sian& richard). so with some telephone support from my father and step-father-in-law I changed it (a late dash to Screwfix and B&Q in between - couldn’t get the part I really needed, but got a switch to get us through the night) and we have light - not in the back part of the house though, as it seems to have fried that circuits trip switch too! I’ll have to sort it out in the morning and hopefuly be back to normal…it never rains but it pours…the van was taken into the garage this week for some urgent repairs, so we’re having to manage without. |
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Spring greens are sweet, tender, full of flavour and packed with vitamins. They are delicious steamed or stir-fried and need quick minimal cooking.
Storage:
well we hope not! At about 4 o’clock this afternoon there was rumblings of thunder, lots of rain and then all of a sudden a huge ‘explosion’ type bang and almighty flash of light…the power went and we caught our breath.