Conventional Farming versus Organic Farming: the Unfair Comparison

Conventional Farming versus Organic Farming: the Unfair Comparison

Conventional farming versus organic farming is an unfair comparison. Hannie and I are organic fans. For us, organic is the only truth about food. We want conventional farming to convert to organic, and we want this NOW. Some very relevant questions need to be asked about conventional farming. We also need more organic converts.

Farmers, the agricultural industry, and many consumers believe that the conversion from conventional to organic agriculture is too complicated. Most people shy away from complicated, specifically when it comes to food. The responsibility is firmly put in the hands of the government. However, most governments make unfair comparisons between conventional and organic farming.

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How do we Personally Try to have a Sustainable Lifestyle?

How do we Personally Try to have a Sustainable Lifestyle?

In the article Easy Sustainable Living Ideas – Pick 1 or 2 and Start Living Green, I have listed other things Tom and I could do to try to have a sustainable lifestyle. For now, I’ll write down what we do at the moment. Let’s call it the baseline measurement.

Whenever I read articles from others who have a zero-waste or a sustainable lifestyle, I have the impression we don’t give it enough effort. But then I recite my favorite quote in my head: “We don’t need a few people who do everything right but a lot of people who do some things well”.

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The Quality of Food Determines Life Expectancy

The Quality of Food Determines Life Expectancy

The quality of food determines life expectancy. However, the quality of food can as well be a savior as a menace. This is best understood in the contribution of food to the rise, and the subsequent standstill, of life expectancy during the past century and a half.

Average life expectancy almost doubled. This great achievement I have always attributed to the presence of clean water and better health care. This is only true to some extent. The rise in life expectancy must be mainly attributed to the mechanization of food production in the US.

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How to Start Organic Composting at Home Immediately

How to Start Organic Composting at Home Immediately

It’s such a long time ago that I started composting at home, I can’t even remember when it was exactly.

At first, it was done in a very simple way: I dug holes in the garden and threw the kitchen waste and coffee drab in them. Later we bought special containers that moved with us to every new house and even emigrated with us.

Over time, we have become more and more precise with what we throw in the compost heap. At first, I used to throw all our kitchen waste, tea bags, and coffee filters on the pile, nowadays we absolutely don’t want everything in the compost anymore.

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There are Many Ideal Protein Alternatives for Cow’s Milk

There are Many Ideal Protein Alternatives for Cow’s Milk

There are many ideal protein alternatives for cow’s milk. When we were young we drank three glasses of cow’s milk a day. And we ate a lot of cheese and yogurt.

Dairy products were considered extremely healthy. Of course, what we ate and drank when we were young brought us where we are now. Nevertheless dairy has lost much of its appeal. 

Over the years, many myths about cow’s milk have been dismantled. The ‘wrongs’ of cow’s milk are diverse. Cow’s milk can cause nasty respiratory and digestive problems. And why should you bother to drink cow’s milk when there are so many ideal protein alternatives.

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To Dream is Mandatory for our Mental and Physical Health

To Dream is Mandatory for our Mental and Physical Health

The absence of dreams will most certainly lead to an unstable mental state, to dream is mandatory. And as dreaming is a way to process our days it can reduce stress and hence have a positive influence on our physical health.

You have to dream several times a night. On average, dreams will last 20 minutes. This is more or less the same for everyone who is healthy.

However, no matter how mandatory dreams are, they remain lies. 

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Organic Companion Planting for a Healthy Kitchen Garden

Organic Companion Planting for a Healthy Kitchen Garden

Organic companion planting is the key to a healthy kitchen garden. When toxic herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides aren’t allowed, as they aren’t in organic gardening, companion planting is the only solution.

From our following short introduction, you will get a limited grip on the ins and outs of companion planting. It requires knowledge of plants, plant diseases, insects that threaten and insects that benefit plants, which plants can be combined, and which not, etcetera. However, on a small scale as a kitchen garden, everybody will be able to manage the mutual dependencies.

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How to Sleep Better and Faster when you’re Aging

How to Sleep Better and Faster when you’re Aging
I like these orange glasses because I can put them over my much-needed prescribed glasses.

For years I browsed the internet and read books about how to sleep better and faster. Although I am still not the gold medal winner of sleepers, my sleep did improve. And now that I am aging I am more and more convinced it is very important to sleep deep and long enough.

One of the fears of a lot of aging people is to get dementia. It sure is one of my fears. My father, grandmother and an aunt had Alzheimer’s.

One of the reasons people can get it is through sleep deprivation. My father has been in shift work for years. Of course, nobody knows if this was the cause why he got the disease. Yet, it is mentioned in the list of risk factors.

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