I needed to disable self sign-ups because I’ve been getting too many spam-type accounts. Thanks.
What do you think of the iheal.me blog?
Quote from tim on December 2, 2019, 11:50 pmWell said, I've read that the central american civilizations had pumpkin/squash as a staple along with corn and beans, this would indicate it supplied something helpful, perhaps Vitamin C in the winter? It was part of their "Three Sisters" companion planting system too.
I have grown 3-sister gardens many times, and they do work. What happens is that the squash creates a living prickly hedgerow around the 2 other crops that are much more delicate and apt to be eaten up. If you can get a squash plant through it's infancy (when a deer or crow might still consider it a sprout) , it will become a formidable thing 🙂 There are specialized squash bugs that attempt to take down the mighty squash plant, but their squadrons are not successful until things get too dry in late summer.
Pumpkins are actually not the best of the squashes, the best are the more starchy ones, like butternut. Pumpkins are for show. 🙂 Squashes will keep you from starving... I could easily produce, for instance, 52 butternuts (one for each week of the year) and they will keep for the entire year in a cool cellar. However, no one wanted me to cook them, no one wanted to be gifted them, and they often sat uneaten.
The SEEDs might be the more important part of a squash. (Which most people throw out) The seeds are popular with my chickens! Once the SEEDs are gone, the chickens are pretty ho-hum about the flesh. The seeds are full of important things like proteins and fats! (Central Americans kept chickens).
The new world gave us the potato, a plant that will reward you with lots of bland calories for the amount of work you put in. I have to pinch potato bugs daily though! They will do much more damage than a squash bug!
Interesting, when searching for these pictures I'm reminded how orange the eggs are-- of both of these pests.
It harkens back to something Sarabeth said a week or so ago: interesting how VA goes along with babies.
In the left picture, you can see how prickly a squash plant is!
Hi Anika,
Thanks for your detailed reply - that is very interesting (well, all of these things are so interesting, right, except when they are negatively affecting ourselves and our loved ones!).
You and I have a few things in common: I was raised as a vegetarian, and continued until I was thirty (!!), through two pregnancies and through a period of 2-3 years when I was mostly vegan. I was also somewhat malnourished by the end, I think, especially lacking protein and good fats...
But anyway, it's interesting what you write - it sounds as though your body is able to normalize things quite quickly once you start eating a diverse, balanced diet, which might be true for me too, although so far a vitamin A detox (commenced after ten years of "nutrient-dense" WAPF/GAPS/tons-of-vegetables-and-greens eating) is yielding many hoped-for results along with detox symptoms. It's a good reminder of how important intuition is in order to guide ones actions - I often get so bogged down in idealogies that I lose that (3 gallons of vegetables a day for my family in order to Eat The Rainbow, anyone?!)
I am certain that a Vitamin A detox is necessary for some, at this point, however. My kids have so far benefited hugely, while my husband hasn't had any big reactions either way, and I'm not thinking that this is a permanent thing - like Lil Chick noted, this is a detox, not a diet for life!
Although I have waves of relief when I realize that I might never again need to choke down a sh*t ton of vegetables for every meal...it's so much nicer to use them for flavor than the idea that gobs of them is necessary for good health - we sure weren't thriving on all those zillions of carotenes!
Regards,
Sarabeth