Think green thoughts at this time of year.  The days are getting longer, the sun a bit higher in the sky and the seedlings should be planted for the coming summer crops It is always fun to pour through the seed catalogs and dream of the flowers and veggies to come.  Start simple. Zinnias and marigolds are easy as are the herbs, Basil and Parsley.  Tomatoes, beans and peppers are fast growers and Oak Leaf lettuce is easy, fast and doesn't "bolt" in hot weather.  Starting a garden indoors can give one a lift and improve the mood as well as provide a local source of beautiful and delicious eating.  The plan at Norwalk High School is to use the compost from our vermicomposting to start the plants in the Greenhouse with the help of John Foldeak.  We hope to grow some of the plantings that we use to beautiful the school.

While you are waiting the seedlings to come to fruition,  try visiting our very own all year round Farmers Market in Norwalk.  It is located at the corner of Wall St and Isaac Street in the old bank building.  It is there every Saturday from 10Am to 2PM.   Buying local helps not only our local economy, it helps lower the carbon footprint and gives us access to fresh, local food.  I was able to purchase fresh greens and vegetables and apples from the farmer,  local honey, local goats milk soap, local crafts, fresh caught seafood from the fisherman and his wife and free range eggs and meat from the farmer/ butcher.  Farmers markets are fun, and serve a very important purpose in our economy.   Michael Pollan, the author of Omnivores Dilemma and In Defense of Food feels that we should "Shake hands with our Food"   Very interesting books.  Healthful, local foods translate to healthy people and healthy local economics and a robust ecosystem.  His premise is simple: Eat Food, not too much, mostly plants.  Never eat anything that your Grandmother would not recognize as food.  Our Western diet is making us sick.  We have an epidemic of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and cancers in the America.  All he thinks is due to the fact that we are eating too much processed, mechanized food from vast agribusiness.  We are being sold a bill of "edible food-like substances"  loaded with chemicals and produced in vast food systems.  He proposes a radical new (old) alternative way of eating that is informed b y the traditions oand ecology of real, well-grown, unprocessed food.  Our personal health, he argues, cannot be divorced from the health of the food chains of which we are part.

Thus, the local Farmers market.  Shake hands with your food. You will love it.

Speaking of food, the British Journal of Psychiatry reports that people who regularly consume fish, fruit, and vegetables reduce their chances of suffering from depression.  We all know about the the health connection between a healthy fresh diet in preventing disease but this is a new study that found that a "whole food" diet has a "protective effect" in terms of developing depression.  Conversely they said that a diet of processed meats, sweetened desserts, fried foods, refined cereals and high fat dairy products "seems to be deleterious for depression."

Go Green