Today’s colour is green. Thursdays mark the arrival of our weekly farm share box. It is filled with greens both familiar and exotic – shell peas, collards, and lime basil. Lime basil is new for me so I’ll be searching my cookbooks. At the same time, in my mailbox this morning, was my copy of the Nutrition Action Newsletter, a very welcome gift from a power walking friend who knows I love to read as much as I love to walk.

This issue features a comprehensive article on organic food. I’ve been preparing meals from organic food for more than 18 years. I do it for several reasons. The pesticide residues on some fruits and vegetables is alarming and I did not want to be feeding that to my young children. I found much organically grown food – especially milk, cheese, and locally grown fruits and vegetables to have superior taste. Finally, it made sense to me as a more sustainable form of agriculture that is good to the planet which I hope will be left in good condition for my children and their offspring.

The article mentions these arguments and discusses them in some detail. If you have ever wanted to read a concise review of the reasons for growing and eating organically grown food and if you were ever confused by such labels as organic, free range, and hormone-free, this is a good place to start. You can probably find more information on the website for the Centre for Science in the Public Interest – publishers of the newsletter – at www.cspinet.org/canada

Also, in this issue is a fascinating article on green foods such as spinach, kale, collards, and beet greens. I did mention today’s colour is green! In my last post I talked about Vitamin D building strong bones and apparently researchers suspect that the Vitamin K found in the intense green leaves of kale, spinach, and collards also works to protect bones. Researchers believe there is still more the super greens do for us including improving our memory and reducing our risk for diabetes, colon cancer, and stroke.

So, please excuse me while I cut this short to find recipes for collards and lime basil. Actually, if you know of any, why not post them here?