Friday, June 25, 2010

I'm convinced...

If anyone is a skeptic, it's me. Let's just say I'm not easily convinced - but I just read an article in Creation Illustrated , Spring 2010 - "Soil Preparation" - By Steve Day) that appeared to be very well documented - & I listed below some claims/stats I gleaned from it that I found really interesting &/or ... disturbing:

- in the last 70 yrs the nutritional value of our food as declined significantly for various soil related reasons.

-Recent studies indicate that US agricultural soils have been depleted of 85% of their minerals as compared to soils of 100 yrs ago.

- "In less than 20 yrs the ppm of content of iron in tomatoes has gone from 1938 to under 5;..." other specific/similar examples were also listed.

- Generally, the sweeter produce are, the greater mineral content they contain bc sugars are bound to phosphates in the plant & when the phosphate came into the plant it brought along other minerals w/ it. (Note: this may mean that many who crave sweets, actually crave minerals....not sugar - bc the body knows that naturally sweet things have lots of minerals).

- Roughly 80% of diseases have their roots in nutritional deficiencies.

- Soil definitely needs calcium bc calcium acts as the base to which all other minerals react & give off energy - directly affecting plant growth/quality.


The good news ... soil can be tested for deficiencies & "restored/rebuilt" by adding vital minerals (calcium, phosphorhous, magnesium, potassium - & by balancing trace minerals (boron, iron, copper, zinc) - & adding carbon via compost, manure or other humic matter - & by activating it w/ biologicals thru microbial & mycorrhizal inoculants.


I've never been one to take multi-vitamins faithfully (key word here) - but I think that's about to change for me & my family.


....the earth will wear out like a garment...

2 comments:

The 4 Bushel Farmgal said...

It's sad that the larger agricultural businesses find it easier/cheaper to add fillers to the food than to nourish the soil. Sadder still, that it will continue.

Thank you for posting your findings. We need to be able to make educated choices!

GlassMelts said...

Very interesting. I have heard similar statistics and it's pretty scary. On the positive side, dinner tonight included a zucchini out of our garden that was grown in soil that has had compost added to it over the last year, so maybe I got a little more nutrition out of it than if I had bought it. It sure tasted good!