LATEST TRENDS IN NATURAL NUTRACEUTICAL INGREDIENTS

2010 to 2012 - LATEST TRENDS IN PHYTONUTRIENTS
AND NATURAL NUTRACEUTICAL INGREDIENTS

by Francis Annenberg, Ph.D.

In 2009, the world's Nutraceutical Ingredients Market was estimated to be $16 Billion, and should be over $ 17 Billion in 2010, to reach $ 20 Billion by 2012.

In general, it was also estimated that the global nutraceutical ingredient demand will rise 6.2 percent annually through 2013, with a market shift toward more 'natural' ingredients. China and India will be the fastest growing national markets, while the US will remain the largest market in absolute terms.

In general, watch for developments in areas such as functional foods and natural phytochemical and botanical ingredients. The best prospects are deemed to be for soy proteins, vitamins such as A, C, D and E, particularly in natural forms, minerals such as calcium and magnesium; and extracts and/or additives such as lutein, glucosamine, lycopene, Ginkgo biloba and Moringa. It is estimated that the market for Moringa powder and Moringa-based complex formulations will grow exponentially in 2011 and 2012, with Moringa possibly becoming the latest trendy ingredient by 2012.

Clearly, the nutraceutical environment is currently emerging as the number one food industry trend in the United States and the world.

Strong consumer-driven, demographic, and international trends combine with nutritional and nutraceutical advances in medical research. Slowly, the food and dietary supplement industries are starting to respond to consumer demand driven by related scientific advances and the needs expressed by aging baby boomers. In addition, multiple other international factors are strengthening the related industries, creating new opportunities for both established businesses and the entrepreneurially-minded.

As early as January 2009, Food Processing Magazine remarked that "Condition marketing has been growing as makers of foods and beverages increasingly recognize the interest consumers have in treating various health issues with foods.

Until recently, aging, heart health, bone health, digestive health, blood sugar management, brain health and energy were treated piecemeal. But the surge of the past few years in ingredients targeting baby boomers is taking condition marketing to the next level: multiple conditions addressed by single ingredients.

This also has fed the research into ingredients, old and new, addressing these same conditions. The hot ingredients for the coming years are those ingredients able to hook into the pull from condition marketing while benefiting from the push from research."

Vitamin K is one such ingredient. “Vitamin K2 has been shown clinically to reduce calcification of the art

"Lutein has been shown to protect eyes against cataracts and macular degeneration. New research showing its protection against the affects of glare may prove a boon to outdoor activity-obsessed baby boomers. It helps improve bone mass, and to actually move the calcium out of the eyes and back into the bones where it belongs" said an industry insider.

Decades of recognition of vitamin D and calcium for children’s bone health led boomers to realize staying young and active meant these compounds were needed not only for growing bones but aging ones. In addition, the closer look researchers gave D and calcium showed they were important to heart health, and calcium is showing benefit to colon health.

Fiber could also be headed for a jump based on some new studies of resistant starches. “I think the trend is that dietary fiber is becoming segmented into particular fibers and away from the commodity mindset that all fiber is the same," said an industry insider.

“The FDA approval of only select dietary fibers for specific benefits, such as beta-glucan for cholesterol reduction, and not generic fiber for colon cancer helps set the stage for this.”

The newest point of differentiation for fiber, according to Witwer, are the benefits shown to result from fermentation of resistant starches, such as National Starch’s Hi-maize RS2 and Novelose RS3. Such starches have been shown to reduce cancer risk, increase insulin sensitivity, promote reduction of body fat through increased ability to metabolize fat and decreased deposition of fat for storage.

Fermentation, however, adds a new wrinkle. Although some published studies have shown conflicting data, there is some research that strongly indicates fermentation of resistant starches like Hi-maize and Novelose increases satiety.

On the cancer front, a UK study published in October showed that a combination of RS2 resistant starch and RS3 resistant starch reduced pre-cancer markers in patients with colorectal cancer. It did not impact the crypts or cancerous tissue, but instead it prevented normal tissue from becoming cancerous.

“This is a great study, as they also tracked the genetic expression of cancer-related genes,” said industry insider Witwer. “Several studies are now showing fermentation of natural resistant starch turns on genes that impact cancer development as well as satiety. It's a great nutrigenomics story that hasn't yet been told.”

Soy is yet another wellness ingredient due for a resurgence. Long known as a multitasker when it comes to helping heart health, women’s health and reducing cancer risk, soy and its isoflavones merited closer inspection because soy has become ubiquitous. Consumers know and trust soy and its components, today incorporating it as a “pantry” ingredient to be included in their diet throughout the year.

Multitasking takes off!

Ingredients geared toward improving cognitive ability, lowering blood pressure, enhancing immunity and improving flavor and satiety are promising to change the image of modern foods and beverages.

An industry insider was quoted saying: "Consumers are interested in some nutrients for ‘insurance’ reasons, such as maintaining heart or bone health. Consumers also are looking for benefits they can feel, recognizing it can take up to a month or more for those benefits to kick in.”

For example, Genestein (a well-studied soy isoflavone), functions on multiple levels, and short-term as well as long term. On one hand, it helps promote bone and joint health, but it also targets reduction of menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes.

Some ingredients are straining at the gate as they await approval for use beyond supplements. Co-enzyme Q10 (CoQ10), an antioxidant critical to the conversion of food to energy, is synthesized in every cell and has become a common supplement over recent years, targeting heart health and long-term energy. New GRAS status and increased availability will make this ingredient one to watch for food and beverage processing in the next year or two.

Botanical growth

In the early 1940s, truckloads of spinach were hauled into the chemistry department at the University of Texas. Scientists concentrated the mass of foliage to extract a compound they would name folic acid — a B vitamin now recognized as critical to growth, development, heart health and the prevention of neural tube defects in developing infants.

Lycopene, a carotenoid from tomatoes, nearly won an FDA health claim for its role in preventing prostate cancer. Now it’s being studied for enhancing skin quality and eye health.

Today, the application of phytochemicals, those nutraceutical treasures derived mostly from plants, is being re-energized by an endless quest to discover more unknown ones, while delving deeper into the benefits of known ones.

This redoubling of research into phytochemicals is driving the interest in food ingredients aimed at specific areas of nutrition-related health.

Many beneficial ingredients derived from plants can negatively influence flavor, such as through bitterness. Nanoencapsulation, which facilitated the popularity of omega oils and some antioxidants via added solubility, also helps contain any off-flavors or colors from botanical compounds. It also protects plant-derived ingredients, which often are more susceptible to breakdown from the extreme conditions often involved in processing."

COMING TRENDS

2010 - Year of Stevia and Lycopene will be followed by 2011-2012, Years of the Moringa.

"Another area where botanical ingredients are figuring large is the emerging “beauty from within” category. Certain antioxidants are being promoted for enhancing skin quality through ultraviolet light protection. Lycopene, a carotenoid from tomatoes that is largely associated with protection from cancers (especially prostate cancer) is one such antioxidant. The trend is further along in Europe and Asia, but making inroads here.

Lycopene is in the class of carotenoid compounds being marketed for their eye health properties, as is lutein. While the preponderance of carotenoid and eye health research concerns protection against cataracts and macular degeneration, new research revealed lutein’s ability to protect against the affects of glare. For the growing demographic of outdoor activity-obsessed baby boomers, this could prove a growth area in nutraceuticals.

“The new visual performance benefits promise not only tremendous gains for drivers, sports enthusiasts and anyone spending time outdoors such as skiers, golfers, cyclists and pilots, but also for those millions who suffer from overexposure to fluorescent lights, computer monitors and other harsh indoor lighting,” said industry insider Parikh.

Nano-encapsulation also recently widened application of another hot ingredient: probiotics. Bakery products, dairy foods, and ready-to-eat meals are closing the botanical gap with the advent of “live” ingredients that can survive extrusion and high heat processing.

As we go into the last year of the first decade of the 21st century, functional ingredients will only continue to increase their influence on food and beverage processing. “Food and beverage companies have a wonderful opportunity to significantly increase the value of their brands to consumers by adding nutrients to their products and related end-benefit information to the communications for those brands,” said industry insider Berman.

We will further explore the trends identified in this very interesting article, particularly on emerging functional foods such as the Moringa "miracle tree".

Join Lawn Crusaders and the Victory Gardening Movement at the 7th Congress Thanksgiving Activism Party in Tarzana this Saturday 11/21, 2009

Join Lawn Crusaders and the Victory Gardening Movement at the 7th Congress Thanksgiving Activism Party in Tarzana this Saturday 11/21, 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

"EATING RIGHT" IS FOR PETS & FARM ANIMALS TOO!

WHY YOU SHOULD FEED YOUR PETS & FARM ANIMALS

LIKE YOU (SHOULD) FEED YOURSELF!
[HTG-000 -100]

Animals are complex biological systems exactly like we, human beings, are.

Consequently, the same guiding principles apply, particularly the garbage in-garbage out principle, which explains so many of our "modern" diseases, particularly obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer, plus almost all degenerative conditions such as arthritis, Alzheimer's, etc...

More, when animals are actually raised for human consumption, there the "food chain multiplication effect" to consider: Animals become what *they* eat, accumulate toxins in their fat, organs and muscle mass, and we, in turn, become what they eat through them.

Junk foods generate junk lives, and animals raised in the way of the agro-industrial complex generate sickly and obese humans, after having become sickly and obese animals. As well as sickly and obese pets as well, when our pets eat animal-based foods in their diets, such as dogs and cats do.

Look around you, if you are not yet convinced. Even children are getting obese nowadays, and the 30 pounds housecat is no more an odd rarity.

Industrial agriculture, with its bottom-line-oriented practices that totally disregard quality in favor of quantity ultimately produces what we have become at large: Obese, chronically ill, sick and pathetic imitations of a what a human being could be. And the same goes with our pets: That housecat is not really a natural occurrence. It wouldn't survive three days in the wild, maybe not even three hours, when cats are in fact perhaps the most superbly adapted small predators of all, the very model of survivors.

Considering that the chickens or turkey offals they eat in their processed foods come from the very chickens and turkeys WE eat, birds which are fed each other's carcasses as well as chicken feces plus ground diseased animals and "euthanised" pets (yes, Rex and Rover get recycled!), that supermarket beef eats ground-up diseased sheep, roadkill and "euthanised" pets as well, even if the practice is now supposedly banned, and that the same goes for pigs, plus that all this happy crowd, when they don't feast on each other, is filled to the brim with GMOs, herbicides, pesticides, synthetic hormones and antibiotics, and who knows what else, how can we wonder if most of us wallow in diabetes, obesity, chronic illnesses, cancer, heart disease, etc?

And the same is of course true for our pets. At least, *we* are not fed food seasoned with processed animal feces in pellet form. Well... at least not yet!


Could this all change? Could farm animals and pets alike be fed organic and healthy foods? Definitely, and "Wonderplants" and "Miracle Trees" such as the Moringa tree are poised to play a major part in such a necessary change.

For example, the agricultural experimental station run by Foidl & Foidl conducted extensive trials using Moringa leaves as cattle feed for both beef and milk cows, swine feed, and poultry feed. The results were as expected, except that, as almost always with the Moringa and many other "wonderplants", expectations where not only met, but passed.

Wonderplants such as the Moringa do not only offer concentrated nutrition, but in the raw form, often also seem to reduce the activity of pathogenic bacteria and molds, and improve the digestibility of other foods, thus helping not only human beings, but also farm animals and pets express their natural genetic potential.

In other words, plants such as the Moringa, herbs such as certain Artemisias, and mushrooms such as Agaricus Blazeii, to name just a few, are both nutrition and adaptogens with coming with strong pro-genetic factors. They perfectly answer the old Hippocratic injunction: "Let thy food be thy medicine!"


It is most important for our own health to feed farm animals healthy foods that are minimally processed and not denaturated with herbicides, pesticides, GMOs, synthetic hormones and antibiotics: These all end on our own tables, often in a form concentrated as they are passed up along the food chain, and wreak havoc on our already weak and compromised immune systems and hormonal (im)balances.

What is said here of farm animal feeds is as valid for pet food. Sure, from a human health point of view, what pets eat might appear of less importance, since after all, we are not supposed to eat our pets, and usually don't. But there is no doubt that the overall health and appearance (coat, in particular) of pets reacts very well to the addition of organic wholesome functional foods to their diet. And that happiness and well-being in pets usually translates in increased well-being in the pet's owner.

Actually, a whole new industry of wonderplants-based pet food and pet care product might someday arise, once pet owners realize the benefits of adding them to the diet of their animal companions. But even before that happens, since we made these animals our pets, we should also think about *their* health!


Interested in manufacturing or distributing Organic and Sustainable pet foods? Please contact us! All our blogs are tied to an email address which is "blog name @ gmail.com" (without any spaces and quotation marks).

********

[HTG-000 -100] Permalink - The permanent link for the present post is: http://healththrugardening.blogspot.com/2008/12/eating-right-is-for-pets-farm-animals.html

THE SPIRITUAL SIDES OF GARDENING: LUTHER BURBANK,GIANT OF GARDENING & "SAINT"

THE SPIRITUAL SIDES OF GARDENING : LUTHER BURBANK,

A GIANT OF GARDENING WHO WAS HAILED AS

AN "AMERICAN SAINT"

Luther Burbank (March 7, 1849 – April 11, 1926) was an American gardener, botanist, horticulturist and a pioneer in agricultural science.

He developed more than 800 strains and varieties of plants over his 55-year career. Burbank's varied creations included fruits, flowers, grains, grasses, and vegetables. For example, he developed a spineless cactus (useful for cattle-feed) and the plumcot.

Burbank's most successful strains and varieties include the Shasta daisy, the Fire poppy, the July Elberta peach, the Santa Rosa plum, the Flaming Gold nectarine, the Wickson plum, the Freestone peach, and the Burbank potato. Burbank also bred the white blackberry. A natural sport (genetic variant) of the Burbank potato with russet (reddish-brown) skin later became known as the Russet Burbank potato: this large, brown-skinned, white-fleshed potato has become the world's predominant processing potato.

Life and work : Born in Lancaster, Massachusetts, Burbank grew up on a farm and received only an elementary education. The thirteenth of 15 children, he enjoyed the plants in his mother's large garden. His father died when he was 21 years old, and Burbank used his small inheritance to buy a 17 acre (6.8 hectares) plot of land near Lunenburg.

Burbank developed the Burbank potato, 1872 to 1874. Burbank sold the rights to the Burbank potato for $150 and used the money to travel to Santa Rosa, California in 1875. Later, a natural sport of Burbank potato with russetted skin was selected and named Russet Burbank potato. Today, the Russet Burbank potato is the most widely cultivated potato in the United States, prized for processing. McDonald's french fries are made exclusively from this cultivar.

In Santa Rosa, Burbank purchased a 4-acre (1.6 hectares) plot of land, and established a greenhouse, nursery, and experimental fields that he used to conduct crossbreeding experiments on plants, inspired by Charles Darwin's The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication. (This site is now open to the public as a city park, Luther Burbank Home and Gardens.) Later he purchased an 18 acre plot of land in the nearby town of Sebastopol for more experimental growing called Gold Ridge Farm.

Burbank's creations included:
The "Shasta Daisy" and a total of 91 types of ornamentals.
The (Russet) Burbank potato.
113 plums and prunes
35 fruiting cacti, including the spineless cactus, a great animal feed.
26 types of vegetables.
16 blackberries (including a white blackberry).
13 raspberries.
11 quinces.
11 plumcots.
10 cherries.
10 strawberries.
10 apples.
9 types of grains, grasses, forage.
8 peaches.
6 chestnuts.
5 nectarines.
4 grapes.
4 pears.
3 walnuts.
2 figs.
1 almond.

Burbank was often criticized by scientists of his day because he did not keep the kind of careful records that are the norm in scientific research and because he was mainly interested in getting results rather than in basic research. Jules Janick, Ph.D., Professor of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Purdue University, writing in the World Book Encyclopedia, 2004 edition, went as far as saying: "Burbank cannot be considered a scientist in the academic sense." However, one can wonder who is more useful to society: The scientist in his ivory tower, or the man who selects and develop over 700 varieties of new food plants?

In 1893 Burbank published a descriptive catalog of some of his best varieties, entitled called New Creations in Fruits and Flowers.

In 1907, Burbank published an "essay on childrearing", called "The Training of the Human Plant". In it, he advocated improved treatment of children and eugenic practices such as keeping the unfit and first cousins from marrying. He himself married twice, to Helen Coleman in 1890, which ended in divorce in 1896; and to Elizabeth Waters in 1916. But he had no children. In mid-March 1926, Burbank suffered a heart attack and became ill with gastrointestinal complications. He died on April 11, 1926, aged 77, and is buried near the greenhouse at the Luther Burbank Home and Gardens.

During his career, Burbank wrote, or co-wrote, several books on his methods and results, including his eight-volume How Plants Are Trained to Work for Man (1921), Harvest of the Years (with Wilbur Hall, 1927), Partner of Nature (1939), and the 12-volume Luther Burbank: His Methods and Discoveries and Their Practical Application. New Creations in Fruits and Flowers cover.

Legacy: Burbank's work spurred the passing of the 1930 Plant Patent Act four years after his death. The legislation made it possible to patent new varieties of plants (excluding tuber-propagated plants). In supporting the legislation, Thomas Edison testified before Congress in support of the legislation and said that "This [bill] will, I feel sure, give us many Burbanks." Unfortunately, Hell is often paved with good intentions, and this legislation also gave rise to Monsanto, GMOs and "terminator seeds". Something so revulsive to the unperverted human mind that the mere idea of it would have been enough to make Burbank sick.

At any rate, the Patent Office issued Plant Patents #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #18, #41, #65, #66, #235, #266, #267, #269, #290, #291, and #1041 to Burbank posthumously. And in 1986, Burbank was inducted into the "National Inventors Hall of Fame". Invent Now Hall of Fame Search Inventor Profile

The Luther Burbank Home and Gardens, in downtown Santa Rosa, are now designated as a National Historic Landmark. Luther Burbank's Gold Ridge Experiment Farm is listed in the National Register of Historic Places a few miles west of Santa Rosa in the town of Sebastopol, California. Gold Ridge Luther Burbank's Experiment Farm


By all accounts, Burbank was a kindly man whose first and foremost goal in life was to help the many. He saw gardens and gardening as the conduit through which people could attain and maintain optimal health. He was very interested in education and often gave both time and money to the local schools.

In fact and as unbelievable as this might seem at first, Paramahansa Yogananda, who introduced "yoga" to the West and is widely recognized as one of the greatest Indian saints of recent history, knew both Burbank and Gandhi well. Yet, it is not to the Mahatma, but to Luther Burbank that he dedicated his great bestseller "Autobiography of a Yogi", hailing him as "An American Saint". Think of it!

Burbank's mystical and spiritual side was completely immersed in Nature and expressed itself through one endeavor: Understanding Nature and working with her through gardens and gardening, so to bring increasingly better plants to fellow human beings, and share with them the tools to emulate his work. If Burbank was a saint, and we have that from quite reliable authority, he was a Gardener saint, and a model for us all to emulate.

His friend and admirer Yogananda wrote in his Autobiography of a Yogi:
"His heart was fathomlessly deep, long acquainted with humility, patience, sacrifice. His little home amid the roses was austerely simple; he knew the worthlessness of luxury, the joy of few possessions. The modesty with which he wore his scientific fame repeatedly reminded me of the trees that bend low with the burden of ripening fruits; it is the barren tree that lifts its head high in an empty boast." (Yogananda, 1946, p. 352)

In a speech given to the First Congregational Church of San Francisco in 1926 a short time before his death, and which can be considered his testament, Burbank said:

"I love humanity, which has been a constant delight to me during all my seventy-seven years of life; and I love flowers, trees, animals, and all the works of Nature as they pass before us in time and space. What a joy life is when you have made a close working partnership with Nature, helping her to produce for the benefit of mankind new forms, colors, and perfumes in flowers which were never known before; fruits in form, size, and flavor never before seen on this globe; and grains of enormously increased productiveness, whose fat kernels are filled with more and better nourishment, a veritable storehouse of perfect food -- new food for all the world's untold millions for all time to come."

Luther Burbank understood we are what we eat, and that the ultimate conduit to maintain or gain back our health is optimal foods from our own gardens. This is the cause he dedicated his entire life to, and his gentle and selfless dedication as well as the way he pursued it was why he was recognized and hailed as "an American Saint" by one of the greatest spiritual authorities of our time.

His life was an unequaled example for us all to study and follow.

BOOKS TO READ:

Harvest of the Years, Luther Burbank, with Wilbur Hall - This is Luther Burbank's autobiography published posthumously after his death in 1926.

Kraft, K. Luther Burbank, the Wizard and the Man. New York : Meredith Press, 1967 ASIN: B0006BQE6C

Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. Los Angeles : Self-Realization Fellowship, 1946 ISBN 0-87612-083-4

Peter Dreyer: A Gardener Touched With Genius The Life of Luther Burbank, # L. Burbank Home & Gardens; New & expanded edition (January 1993), ISBN 0-9637883-0-2

Burbank, Luther. “The Training of the Human Plant.” Century Magazine, May 1907. http://hearth.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?sid=ee2702066663ae4e729bbb6c9e6f63d9&idno=4765397 ]

Pandora, Katherine. "Luther Burbank". American National Biography. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.

Burbank, Luther. The Canna and the Calla: and some interesting work with striking results. Paperback ISBN 978-1414702001

Burt, Olive W. Luther Burbank, Boy Wizard. Biography published by Bobbs-Merrill in 1948 aimed at intermediate level students.

FIND MORE ABOUT LUTHER BURBANK :

Luther Burbank Home and Gardens official website

National Inventors Hall of Fame profile

Wells Fargo Center for the Arts (formerly the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts)

UN report on spineless cactus cultivation in Tunisia

Luther Burbank Virtual Museum

Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramhansa Yogananda, Chapter 38: Luther Burbank -- A Saint Amidst the Roses at www.ananda.org

The Wisdom of Life

A Rare Crossing: Frida Kahlo and Luther Burbank

Luther Burbank: His Methods and Discoveries and Their Practical Application, a 12-volume monographic series, is available online through the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center.

Official website of the Western Sonoma County Historical Society and Luther Burbank's Gold Ridge Experiment Farm

[Spir01 - V100-081006] Permalink: http://healththrugardening.blogspot.com/2008/10/spiritual-sides-of-gardening-luther.html

Copyright 1964-2008 OSL All rights reserved, worldwide. LICENSE IS HEREBY GRANTED to all to freely link to or to reproduce this page by any means of one's choice, virtual or physical, and to republish it, including in a compilation, etc, as long as the entirety of the page is NOT MODIFIED in any manner (except of course your location if you are publishing a community ad of your own). This includes not modifying the present copyright notice and license, and the permanent link (permalink URL) or “web address” of the page, and license is granted as long as reproduction is not part of a commercial venture, that is, as long as you do not charge for it in any way, be it directly, or indirectly, for example in commercial publications. Commercial licenses available from the copyright holder.

=================================
WEB DESIGNERS -GRAPHICS ARTISTS -CODERS -SEO & MARKETING -Etc
If you wish to volunteer to help us set up specialized websites and particularly complex portal sites using the present material and more, presented in a more graphic way, and complemented with multimedia material, we need you! Software such as like of Drupal or Joomla, more advanced forms of Wordpress, etc, is the way to go, so please contact us, you will be very welcome! We already have the hosting, and quite a few domains, all we need is your elbow grease! ;)
=================================

PROOF IT IS POSSIBLE TO GET "CITY HALL" TO ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING USEFUL

PROOF IT IS POSSIBLE TO GET "CITY HALL" TO ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING USEFUL

Yes, at first thought, most people in most communities will agree it seems almost impossible to get "City Hall" to actually do something constructive and useful, particularly when it comes to issues as fundamental as Health Thru Gardening. Yet, here is a proof that this is not an absolute truth graven in tablets of stone for all eternity.

The City of Santa Monica is currently considering creating a "Garden Registry". Sure, it hasn't happened yet, but Santa Monica is actually currently exploring the possibility of developing a program to do exactly what we are working on here: Allow private home owners to partner with interested gardeners to use a portion of their property to grow vegetables. Contact rich.rollins@smgov.net if you live in the area. And if you live in LA or surrounding communities, you can contact gabriela@cscommunites.org .

More, the same city of Santa Monica actually has a "Rain Harvest Rebate Program":

The City of Santa Monica is now offering rebates on rainwater harvesting equipment and supplies. "Harvesting rainwater from your rooftop protects the Santa Monica Bay, safeguards drinking water supplies, and adds a little excitement into to your life and landscape - and can put money in your pocket".

Eligibility: Any property owner (resident, institution or business) in the City of Santa Monica and any tenant of said property with the permission of the owner.
● Downspouts: Only downspouts that drain DIRECTLY to the alley or street are available for this program. Downspouts that drain to the landscape are NOT available for the redirect rebate program. (So you will have to install a downspout emptying into the alley or street before installing your two barrels and get your $200, but not bad anyway!)
● Rain Barrels: Up to 2 barrels per downspout. (If you multiply your downspouts, you can get $200 per spout, but your two barrels must be under 125 gallons each. If over that, you are out of luck! Cheapest is to use surplus 55 gallons drums anyway.)
● Cisterns: Up to 2 cisterns per property. (However, if they are under 500 gallons, they are not a "cistern", and you are out of luck -- in other word, forget about installing anything between 125 and 500 gallons, since that would be neither a "barrel" nor a "cistern", and would bring you nothing. Ah, the unsung beauties of the administrative mind!)

Three "rebates" are available: ("rebates" on what is unclear... property "taxes"? What if you don't pay any?)

1. Rain Gutter Downspout Redirect Rebate (rainwater percolation): Up to $40 per qualified rain gutter downspout (up to and including all downspouts on one’s property), includes labor and materials. Rebates are available for the cost of redirecting rain gutter downspouts to permeable surfaces, such as landscaped areas.

2. Rain Barrel Rebate (rainwater storage): Rebates up to $100 per barrel (limited to 125 gallon maximum capacity), includes design, labor and materials.
3. Cistern Rebate (rainwater storage): Up to $500 per cistern (limited to cisterns over 500 gallons each), includes design, labor and materials.

Proof of what we are saying can be found here:

http://www.smgov.net/epd/residents/Urban_Runoff/rain_harvest_rebates.htm

What to do: Multiply the street or alley-oriented "downspouts" and then install two 55 gallons drums per downspout. Redirect the overflow of these drums to two "cisterns". One of 500 gallons, and one of as many gallons as you wish, as long as over 500. You might manage to get between $1,400 and, say, $1,800 or so from the city, and that is to collect enough water to feed you for quite a while, assuming you have an "Optimal Garden", that will use the water sparingly and intelligently.

A little suggestion to orgsanizing bureaucrats: How about a dollar per gallon of installed capacity, regardless of size? With perhaps a limit on maximum capacity, just in case some residents would come up with 50,000 or 100,000 gallons cisterns? (Human ingenuity is great, and even if one can't imagine where the enterprising resident would put such wonder cisterns, we will agree that prudent administrators should always play safe... ;) On the other hand, isn't the idea to precisely store as much rainwater as possible? And even better, how about cutting the subsidy by half if the water is not used in a food-producing organic garden (Santa Monica does not need any additional chemical pollution), and DOUBLE it if it is?

So, perhaps not a perfect program, but definitely a step in the right direction, and a practical proof that when citizens awareness rises, as it sure did in Santa Monica in the past few years,"City Hall" somehow has to respond.

Copyright 2008 OSL. Usual grant of license to reproduce data in unadulterated form non commercially. Permalink for this post: http://healththrugardening.blogspot.com/2008/10/proof-it-is-possible-to-get-city-hall.html

"BEYOND ORGANIC" -- AN ISSUE WHOSE TIME HAS COME

"BEYOND ORGANIC" -- AN ISSUE WHOSE TIME HAS COME

To introduce the concept and the issues at hand, we will reproduce here an article that first appeared in "Mother Earth News". which we will use a base for further discussion of the necessity to look "Beyond Organic".

Now, this is a farmer who also raises animals for meat talking. Some people will have some issues with that, for moral reasons, or simply because it is quite clear nowadays that hard data from very, very hard science clearly demonstrates that meat is not that good for us (See "The China Study").

However that does not make what he says about farms, farming and what we eat and how any less true...

Everything He Wants to Do is Illegal
By Megan Phelps

Joel Salatin is a farmer at the forefront of the trend toward local food and grass-fed meat. Many people first became familiar with Salatin’s complex and eco-minded approach to farming when he was featured in Michael Pollan’s bestselling book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma. But Salatin also is well known within pasture-based farming and libertarian circles. He’s especially vocal about government regulations that make life difficult for the small farmer — his most recent book is titled Everything I Want to Do is Illegal. He’s also the author of You Can Farm and Holy Cows and Hog Heaven (excerpted here in Mother Earth News). Salatin kindly agreed to answer some questions for us about Polyface Farms. Hold onto your hat! Here are Salatin’s candid thoughts on government regulations, high grain prices, vegetarians and making money at farming.

Grass Fed and Beyond Organic

Tell us a little bit about Polyface Farm.
We’re located eight miles southwest of Staunton, Va., in the Shenandoah Valley on 550 acres (100 open and 450 forest). We also lease four farms, totaling an additional 900 acres of pasture. We sell “salad bar” (grass-fed) beef; “pigaerator” pork; pastured poultry, both broilers and turkeys; pastured eggs and forage-based rabbits.

Your livestock and poultry are grass-fed, and your farm is “beyond organic.” Do you find people are familiar with those terms?
More and more people are aware of the compromise and adulteration within the government-sanctioned organic certified community. Weary of 6,000-hen confinement laying houses with 3 feet dirt strip being labeled “certified organic,” patrons latch onto the “beyond organic” idea. It resonates with their disappointment over the government program. When Horizon battles Cornucopia, for instance, to keep its organic-certified industrial-scale dairies, consumer confidence falls.

Intuitively, people understand that the historical use of the word “organic” identified an idea and a paradigm rather than a visceral list of dos and don’ts. And now that the high prices have attracted unscrupulous growers who enter the movement for the money, people realize that no system can regulate integrity. That is why we have a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week, 365 day a year open-door policy. Anyone is welcome to visit at anytime to see anything, anywhere. Integrity can only be assured with this level of transparency.

When someone asks if we’re certified organic, we respond playfully: “Why would we want to stop there? We go beyond organic.” That response generally leads to an info-dense discussion and people come away with renewed awareness, rather than just another case of hardening of the categories.

How has the public’s attitude toward your products changed in the last few years? Do you find it easier to sell grass-fed meat now?
Public awareness is definitely up. In the 1970s when I was selling grass-finished beef and pastured poultry, nobody had even heard of the word “organic,” much less “grass finished.” Now, thanks to New York Times bestselling authors like Jo Robinson and Michael Pollan, the awareness is huge.

The market limitations are primarily twofold. One is the supply. The artistry and choreography required to move animals around on palatable pasture year-round in any given bio-region takes years to learn. This is not cookie-cutter rations formulated from annuals stored in a big grain bin. The producer deals with on-farm variables such as seasonality, wet, dry, hot, cold, genetic physiology, minerals and a host of others. Beyond that, the Food Safety and Inspection Service has successfully annihilated most community-based, appropriately sized abattoirs (slaughterhouses) and criminalized on-farm processing. This is by far the major impediment to the local integrity of food.

That’s all on the production/processing end. The second market limitation has to do with entry-level requirements for major marketing channels. From liability insurance to net-90-day payment to slotting fees, large buyers share a Wall-Street business mentality. That mentality aggressively shuns competition, especially from little innovators. But every time industrial food hiccups with recalls and more diseases, another wave of opt-outers hits the local, integrity food scene. Exciting times.

On Being a Farmer

When did you decide you wanted to be a farmer?
As early as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a farmer. I love growing things. I appreciate the emotional steadiness of animals. Every day when I go to move the cow herd, they are glad to see me. The pigs always come over to talk. None of these critters ever asks you to fill out licenses or threatens litigation. They never talk behind your back or conspire to overthrow you. And to watch the land heal, with ever-growing mounds of earthworm castings, is better than any video. Indeed, walking through a dew-speckled pasture in the early morning after a blessed nighttime thunderstorm, the ground literally covered with copulating earthworms — what could be more magical than that?

I had my own laying hen flock at 10 years old, pedaling eggs on my bicycle to neighbors, selling them to families in church. The fast-paced, frenzied urban life disconnected from the ponds, the trees and the pasture never held much allure for me. Go away? Why? Where? I think I was planted here. I think God tends my soul here. It’s not for everyone, but it satiates my soul with wonder and gratitude.

What’s changed about your philosophy of farming over the years?
Like all geezers, I’ve learned a lot just through experience. Because I’m a third generation-Christian-libertarian-environmentalist-capitalist lunatic I don’t have a conversion epiphany to share. I’ve just always been weird.

Initially, I thought I would need to work off-farm to stay here, and I learned that wasn’t true. I encourage young people to follow their passion and go ahead and jump. If you wait until all the stars line up, you’ll never do it. In recent years, I’d say my biggest change has been regarding economies of scale and marketing realities. Twenty years ago my vision for the food system in Virginia was thousands of little mom and pop farms like ours serving their neighbors. I no longer think that is viable for two reasons. First, urban centers would be hard pressed to grow all their own food within their communities. Second, most farmers are marketing Neanderthals. Either they really don’t want to be around people, or they don’t know how to interact with them. A successful marketer needs to be a bit theatrical; a storyteller, schmoozer, gregarious type. And that’s not typical, especially among John Deere jockeys.

What’s the answer? I don’t know, but what I’ve come up with is what I call food clusters. These require production, processing, marketing, accounting, distribution and customers — these six components make a whole. The cluster can be farmer-driven, customer-driven, even distribution-driven initially. But once these six components are in place, it can micro-duplicate the industrial on a bio-regional or foodshed scale, which includes urban centers. I think a local integrity food system could supplant the opaque industrial one in Virginia, but realistically it would comprise several hundred or a thousand $5-$10 million food clusters rather than several thousand mom and pop $100,000 fully-integrated enterprises. I certainly never thought our farm would top $1 million in annual sales, but it happened. We still have no business plan or marketing targets. But we’ve been blessed with a family of enough variety to put together these six foundations for a whole, and that has made all the difference. And I’m a schmoozer.

What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced as a farmer?
Anyone familiar with me would have to smile at this question, knowing that my answer would be and continues to be the food police. The on-farm hurdles we’ve faced, from drought to predators to flood to cash flow, are nothing compared to the emotional, economic and energy drain caused by government bureaucrats. Even in the early 1970s when, as a young teen, I operated a farm stand at the curb market, precursor of today’s farmers markets, the government said I couldn’t sell milk. The first business plan I came up with to become a full-time farmer centered around milking 10 cows and selling the milk to neighbors at regular retail supermarket prices. It would have been a nice living. But it’s illegal. In fact, in 2007 I finally wrote Everything I Want to Do is Illegal, documenting my run-ins with government officials.

I think it’s amazing that in a country which promotes the freedom to own firearms, freedom to worship and freedom of speech, we don’t have the freedom to choose our own food. If I can’t choose the proper fuel to feed my body, I won’t have energy to go shoot, preach and pray anyway. Half the alleged food in the supermarket is really dangerous to your health. In fact, if we removed all the food items in the supermarket that would not have been available before 1900, the shelves would be bare. Gone would be all the unpronounceable gobbledy-syllabic industrial additives, irradiated, GMO, cloned pseudo-food.

The reason this issue is hard to articulate is because most people don’t realize what’s not on the shelves, or in their diet. We’re fast losing the memory of heritage food, as in made from scratch, in the home kitchen, with culture-wide generic culinary wisdom. I remember when every mom knew how to cut up a chicken. Now, most people don’t know a chicken has bones. As the food police have demonized and criminalized neighbor-to-neighbor food commerce, the food system has become enslaved by the industrial food fraternity. And just around the corner is the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) coming on strong, under the guise of food safety and biosecurity, which will annihilate thousands of non-industrial farms. We don’t need programs; we need freedom. If we really had freedom, farmers like me would run circles around the corporate-welfare, food adulterated, land-abusing industrial farms.

Thinking About Meat

What are some of the things you want people to know about the meat they buy from you? What should we all know about the meat we eat?
The main idea we promote is that our animals enjoy a habitat that allows them to fully express their physiological distinctiveness. I like to say we want our pigs to express their pigness and the chickens their chickenness. The industrial food system views plants and animals as inanimate protoplasmic structure to be manipulated, however cleverly the human mind can conceive to manipulate it.

I would suggest that a society that views its life from that egocentric, disrespectful, manipulative standpoint will view its citizenry the same way . . . and other cultures. How we respect and honor the least of these creates the ethical, moral framework on which we honor and respect the greatest of these. The freedom for you to express your Tomness or Maryness is directly proportional to the value society places on the pig expressing its pigness. And to think that our tax dollars are being spent right now to isolate the porcine stress gene in order to extract it from pig DNA so that we can further abuse and dishonor pigs, but at least they won’t care. Is that the kind of moral framework on which a civilized society rests? I suggest not.

This fundamental understanding drives our production models. Herbivores in nature do not eat dead cows, chicken manure, dead chickens, grain or silage: They eat fresh or dried forage. Of course, what’s neat is that empirical data is discovering the nutritional and ecological benefits of this paradigm. We’re reading about Omega 3 and Omega 6 balance, conjugated linoleic acid, polyunsaturated fats and riboflavin. Whenever a new laboratory confirmation of our philosophy hits the news, we make sure our patrons know about it. In a word, this is all about healing: healing our bodies, healing our economies, healing our communities, healing our families, healing the landscape, healing the earthworms. If it’s not healing, it’s not appropriate.

Perhaps because it’s such a hot topic, let me address the cow-global warming argument. Every bit of the alleged science linking methane and cows to global warming is predicated on annual cropping, feedlots and herbivore abuse. It all crumbles if the production model becomes like our mob-stocking-herbivorous-solar-conversion-lignified-carbon-sequestration fertilization. America has traded 73 million bison requiring no petroleum, machinery or fertilizer for 45 million beef cattle, and we think we’re efficient. Here at Polyface, we practice biomimicry and have returned to those lush, high organic matter production models of the native herbivores.

If every cow producer in the country would use this model, in less than 10 years we would sequester all the carbon that’s been emitted since the beginning of the industrial age. It’s really that simple. Without question, grass-finished, mob-stocked beef is the most efficacious way to heal the planet. We should drastically drop our chicken and pork consumption and return to our indigenous, climate-appropriate protein source: perennial forages turned into red meat and milk.

Do vegetarians ever challenge you about raising meat? If so, what do you say in response?
I will answer this in two parts. The first has to do with the people who think a fly is a chicken is a child is a cat — what I call the cult of animal worship. This would include the people who think we’ve evolved beyond the barbaric practice of killing animals to some cosmic nirvana state where killing is a thing of the past.

Rather than indicating a new state of evolutionary connectedness, it actually shows a devolutionary state of disconnectedness. A Bambi-ized culture in which the only human-animal connection is a pet soon devolves into jaundiced foolishness. This philosophical and nutritional foray into a supposed brave new world is really a duplicitous experiment into the anti-indigenous. This is why we enjoy having our patrons come out and see the animals slaughtered. Actually, the 7- to 12-year old children have no problem slitting throats while their parents cower inside their Prius listening to “All Things Considered.” Who is really facing life here? The chickens don’t talk or sign petitions. We honor them in life, which is the only way we earn the right to ask them to feed us — like the mutual respect that occurs between the cape buffalo and the lion. To these people, I don’t argue. This is a religion and I pretty much leave it alone.

The second part of this answer deals with folks who don’t eat meat in order to vote against animal abuse, concentrated animal feeding operations, or pathogenicity. And to be sure, many of these folks have bought into the environmental degradation inherent in livestock farming. To these people, Polyface is a ray of hope. I could write a book about the patrons who have come to us at death’s doorstep because they needed meat, and we’ve watched them heal. To be sure, not everyone needs meat, and those who do have varying levels of need. And when people find out that grass-based livestock offer the most efficacious approach to planetary health, their guilt gives way to compensatory indulgence. After all, they have to make up for lost time, and routinely become our best customers. Their emaciated vegetarian faces fill out, their strength improves and they are happier. Sometimes the easiest thing to do is to just give them a Weston A. Price Foundation brochure. We keep them in our sales building like religious tracts. Oops.

All About the Farm

How have you been affected (or not affected) by the recent increase in grain prices?
This depends on which species we’re talking about. Let’s start with the poultry. Broilers will pick up only 15 percent of their diet off the pasture; layers 20 percent; turkeys 30 percent or more. Since birds are omnivores, they can’t survive on grass alone. Waterfowl jump on up to more than 50 percent. We’ve watched our local genetically modified-free grains double in price over the last 24 months. In response, we’ve raised our chicken and egg prices about 25 percent. Grain is only a portion of the cost, so all we have to do is raise the price enough to compensate for the grain. The amount required to cover these exceptionally high grain prices only amounts to less than $2 per bird. A family buying 50 chickens a year would only pay an additional $100 to cover all the additional feed costs. Of course, the industrial food poultry giants say they can’t pass along these costs to their customers. I don’t know why, but I think it has to do with the idea that people will only pay so much for junk.

Typically, hogs are similar to chickens, but here at Polyface we’re making an end run by finishing pigs on acorns. Just in the nick of time, we discovered an efficient, cheap way to fence out sections of forest with electric fence. Using quarter-inch nylon rope as poor-boy insulators, we zig-zag a single 12.5 gauge Tipper Tie aluminum wire from tree to tree and erect three- to five-acre finishing glens. In our native Appalachian oak forests, each acre displaces $500 worth of grain. That translates to about $50 per hog in expense, which is enormous. It has allowed us to keep our hog prices fairly stable even with the huge increase in grain prices. We put the pigs in for one month and remove them for 11 to rest and to let the next acorn crop fall. It actually helps the trees, because the pigs root out competing brush and brambles for their starchy roots, in effect weeding the woodlot. All parties win. Very exciting. And if you think about the millions of acres of forests and realize that they could displace tilled, petroleum-based, subsidized, annual grain cropland, you begin to see the potential of this model.

Finally, salad bar beef. This is the most exciting, because it is completely immune to grain prices. It requires no tillage, no fertilizer, no feed transportation or drying costs. It runs on real time solar energy, self-harvesting with four-wheel drive self-propelled sauerkraut tanks. At Polyface, we believe we’ve become the least-cost producer in an artisanal market, which pushes the gross margin both ways. That’s pretty cool. As a result, we have not raised our beef prices at all, and are watching with great satisfaction the squirming and postulating within the feedlot industry. They don’t need any bailouts. Let them die. To place all of this in historical context, we should all realize that until cheap energy, beef was always the cheapest meat while pork and poultry were the luxuries — especially poultry. When President Roosevelt said his vision for America included “a chicken in every pot,” he was talking about today’s filet mignon. With cheap fuel, cheap grain, cheap labor and cheap pharmaceuticals came cheap poultry. In the continuum of human history, poultry-cheaper-than-beef is a veritable blip. For nutritional, environmental and social reasons, I think it would be fine for the historical beef-poultry relationship to be restored. And most things do eventually find a way of coming home.

Describe some of the ways you sell your products. You’ve made it a general principle not to ship anything, but there are several ways you sell products locally.
We have three marketing venues: farmgate, restaurant/retail and metropolitan buying clubs. For the farmgate sales, we send out a newsletter once a year, in the spring, and patrons order for the season from that schedule. We used to sell everything that way, but with frenzied schedules and gas prices, resistance to driving out to the farm started becoming an issue. We live way out in the boonies on a dirt road where the only time you have to lock your car is in August to keep the neighbors from putting runaway zucchini squash in it. This still accounts for 30 percent of our sales. We have public hours, 9 to 4 every Saturday, and that allows us to serve the non-ordering people without sales interruptions throughout the week. Our simple sales building contains scales, freezers and counters to handle these customers.

Restaurant/retail we lump together because we deliver to them on Thursdays and Fridays every week and they pay about the same prices — a bit of a volume discount. A delivery fee per pound and scaled to volume pays for a vehicle and driver. Several nearby cheese, produce, mushroom and honey growers add their wares to our delivery bus and that helps the distribution economies of scale. We service about 25 upscale restaurants and about 10 retail venues, primarily specialty foodie-type businesses. My daughter-in-law, Sheri, calls these patrons on Tuesday for that week’s orders. Several restaurants in Washington, D.C., use an independent courier to come to the farm and deliver their orders. Among these restaurants is one fast-food establishment: the Charlottesville branch of the national Chipotle chain. This has been a huge undertaking for both of us, but heralds a new awareness of local and ecologically sound food. These venues account for 30 percent of our sales.

The metropolitan buying clubs grew serendipitously out of quarterly farmgate sales from three Maryland patrons who asked us to deliver to their area for all their friends who would not make the trek to the farm. This has grown to 20 drop points and we deliver to them eight times per year. The same delivery driver and infrastructure that services the restaurants services these patrons. They order via electronic shopping cart (www.polyfaceyum.com). Each drop point must average an annual sales quota and patrons are rewarded with free product for bringing in new customers. This venue provides neighborhood service, low overhead and complete inventory shopping options. We don’t deal with farmers market commissions, rules, product speculation or politics. It’s the ultimate marketing below the radar and keeps us out of the supermarket, with its slotting fees, red tape and tardy invoice payments. This venue now accounts for 40 percent of our annual sales.

We hope to add an additional venue in the next few months: Sysco via abattoir. In the summer of 2008, we (my wife Teresa and I) along with a partner purchased our local federal-inspected abattoir, T&E Meats, in Harrisonburg, Va. Institutional demand for local, humane and ecological products is growing, but vending contracts preclude purchasing outside large distributor channels. For example, University of Virginia contracts its dining services to Aramark, which contracts its food vending to Sysco. But Sysco requires $3 million liability insurance, hold harmless agreements and other forms before purchasing from anyone. This is a serious impediment to local producers. Having acquired this abattoir, however, we hope to use its high product liability policy as a backdoor entry into the institutional market. Stay tuned.

You’ve done a lot of work encouraging other people to learn to farm through your books and your apprenticeship program. What are some of the challenges you think that new farmers will have to face?
The first and greatest challenge is experience — how to do more with less and how to solve problems creatively rather than with something purchased. Land is more available now than it has been in decades. With half of America’s farmland due to change hands in the next 15 years due to the aging farmer, a lot of this land will be available for management at extremely modest cost, owned by family members who aren’t ready to sell, or by new e-boom buyers able to afford to buy. In any case, the weak link will be a track record and experience to take a piece of raw land and make it profitable.

I think the opportunities are practically unprecedented. We had an apprentice leave two years ago and within three months had offers for 1,000 acres to manage in New York — at virtually no cost except to use it and keep it aesthetically and aromatically romantic. That’s what healing farming is all about, and why it has so much possibility. What landlord wants a Tyson chicken house built on their farm? But all of them love a pastoral setting, especially being able to entertain their city business partners with grass-finished steaks on the porch overlooking your herd of cows. The problem is that our culture tells bright, bushy-tailed young people that farming is for backward, D-student, tobacco-chewing, trip-over-the-transmission-in-the-front-yard, redneck Bubbas.

When was the last time you heard a group of parents bragging? Ever hear one say, “Well, you can have your doctors, lawyers, accountants and engineers. My kid is going to grow up and be a farmer.” Ever hear that? Not on your life. The biggest obstacle is emotional — overcoming the cultural prejudice against splinters and blisters. That is why I talk about economics and marketing, along with the mystical, artistic elements of the farm. Yes, it’s a lot of work. But what a great office. What a noble life. What a sacred calling.

Farming... Indeed. What a noble life! What a sacred calling!

Remember: Personal Organic Gardens can completely change your life. Eating from your own, you'd most probably be healthy and feel happy instead of being ill to some degree, quite probably overweight if not obese, and most likely feeling ill at ease and dissatisfied. Which is all 95+% function of the way you eat. A good reason to start your own Garden, isn't it? We try here to show you how to create and maintain Gardens optimally, both from a functional point of view, as well as for their production.

Permalink: http://healththrugardening.blogspot.com/2008/10/beyond-organic-issue-whose-time-has.html

Copyright 1964-2008 OSL All rights reserved, worldwide. LICENSE IS HEREBY GRANTED to all to freely link to or to reproduce this page by any means of one's choice, virtual or physical, and to republish it, including in a compilation, etc, as long as the entirety of the page is NOT MODIFIED in any manner (except of course your location if you are publishing a community ad of your own). This includes not modifying the present copyright notice and license, and the permanent link (permalink URL) or “web address” of the page, and license is granted as long as reproduction is not part of a commercial venture, that is, as long as you do not charge for it in any way, be it directly, or indirectly, for example in commercial publications. Commercial licenses available from the copyright holder.

=================================

WEB DESIGNERS -GRAPHICS ARTISTS -CODERS -SEO & MARKETING -Etc
If you wish to volunteer to help us set up specialized websites and particularly complex portal sites using the present material and more, presented in a more graphic way, and complemented with multimedia material, we need you! Software such as like of Drupal or Joomla, more ad-vanced forms of Wordpress, etc, is the way to go, so please contact us, you will be very welcome! We already have the hosting, and quite a few domains, all we need is your elbow grease! ;)=================================