Gardening For Nutrition
by Scott Vlaun

Gardens mean many things to many people; for most of us they are places of health and well-being. Whether as a place to calm the nerves after a long day in the office, or a way to get some productive exercise while enjoying a peaceful environment, organic gardens offer a sanctuary for gardeners of all ages. In addition to the physical benefits of gardening, organic gardens can also provide a wide variety of nutritious food that can form the backbone of a healthy diet.

Grow for diversity
Eating foods from a number of different plant groups can go a long way towards providing a healthy balance to your family's diet. There is no reason that much of this food can't be grown right at home. Combinations of corn, beans of all types, and other grains provide a complete protein, while a broad range of vegetables, greens, and herbs, eaten both raw and cooked, add essential vitamins, minerals, and other important nutrients, such as anthocyanin, an important antioxidant, which is found in red-leafed plants. Of course, the size of your gardening space will dictate where you will want to focus your efforts to get the most "bang for your buck," but even the smallest container garden full of things like parsley, chives, bitter greens, and a few tomatoes can give your body a real boost. A half acre gardened intensively could probably provide a small family with most of the food they need for the entire year and still grow most of its own fertility.

Vitalize the Salad Bowl
For me, a nutritious diet begins with the salad bowl. Like many, my early conception of "salad" was a few suspect leaves of iceberg lettuce that was probably a month old, accompanied by some slightly rubbery slices of cucumber, maybe a little shriveled green pepper, and the ubiquitous hard-as-a-rock supermarket tomato. Now, we regularly have salad with a dozen or more varieties of freshly picked leaves, which range from the deepest-green Tatsoi and iron-rich baby spinach, to protein-rich amaranth greens, and the brightest Ruby Orach and Red Oak Leaf lettuce. There is probably more nutrition in a single bite than in a whole salad from the bad old days. Add some shredded Dragon carrots and Red-Drumhead Cabbage, thinly sliced Rossa di Milano onion, a few vitamin C-rich Peacevine cherry tomatoes, and a generous handful of chopped parsley (often overlooked as a vitamin-rich food source), and you're close to a complete meal.

Protein
Just the word "protein" brings to mind various animal foods, from beef, chicken, and fish, to cheese and eggs. Depending on how they are produced and prepared, these can be excellent sources of this essential building block of life. What many don't realize is that complete protein can also be grown right in the backyard. Seeds of Change offers many protein-rich varieties that, especially when combined, can provide important sources of protein.

Corn, or maize as it is know throughout the world, has been an essential food source for many civilizations. Combined with beans (Phaseolus spp.), either fresh or dried and ground, corn can provide endless culinary variety while delivering high-quality protein. Corn and beans with other vegetables in a rich stew, corn tortillas with refried beans, or black beans and cornbread are just a few ways to enjoy this noble combination. Fresh, roasted Anaheim chiles or dried varieties, such as Criolla Sella or Ring-o-Fire Cayenne, are often combined with corn and beans in many cultures. While they can add a rich spicy flavor, chiles also offer the health benefits of capsaicin, which is used for everything from lowering blood pressure to fighting infections.

A variety of other legumes can also be important protein sources. Tepary beans and soybeans, especially when fermented, supply high quality, vegetable-based protein. See eNewsletter 53 for more information on fermenting legumes and making tempeh. Sprouted legume seeds such as mung beans and urd beans are also good sources of protein as well as vitamins and minerals. One of the beauties of sprouting is that it can provide vital green food in the lean winter months.

Amaranth is another great source of protein that can be homegrown. Grain amaranths like Golden Giant or Manna de Montana contain 14–18 percent protein with a balanced amino acid profile. They are easy to grow on average soils and provide a majestic addition to the garden ecosystem. Cleaning the tiny seeds from the dried flowers is an art that takes a little practice to master, but once you begin to get the hang of it, it becomes a rewarding experience that connects us to numerous indigenous peoples who, for millennia, have been winnowing seeds for food. See eNewsletter 38 for more on this super grain.

Grow Your Vitamins
Everybody knows that the human body needs a complex array of vitamins and minerals to function optimally. While there are many supplements designed to meet these needs, there is no better source of vitamins and minerals than fresh organic vegetables as part of a balanced diet. Many of the vitamins in vegetables are associated with color. For instance the dark-green leafy vegetables such as kale, collards, and spinach are rich in vitamins C and E, and in calcium. Yellow and orange vegetables, like winter squash and carrots, are rich in beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A. Tomatoes can also be an excellent source of vitamin C, and in the case of our Caro Rich variety, can also provide copious amounts of beta-carotene. Most vegetables will supply generous amounts of vitamins and minerals. Even lettuce, with its reputation as lacking in nutrition, can provide a significant amount of vitamins, especially the dark green and red leafy types. Vegetables picked fresh from the garden will provide vitamins and minerals in their most complete and vital form. Some research is beginning to reveal that vegetables grown in nutrient-rich organic soils may actually be richer in certain vitamins and trace minerals than vegetables grown in exhausted soil with chemical fertilizers. And, if we grow them ourselves, we are assured that they are not contaminated with pesticides or other dangerous substances.

It is clear that a diverse plant diet can supply most if not all of our caloric and nutritional needs. There are other plant foods that have unique attributes that may be valuable for the dietary needs of certain individuals. For instance, yacon is one of the most delicious and least understood vegetables that we know of. It is rich in oligofructose (inulin), which makes it an important food for diabetics because the body does not readily metabolize this form of sugar. Another obscure yet highly valuable vegetable is purslane, a common weed of which Seeds of Change sells two cultivated varieties. Purslane is the highest known source of omega-3 fatty acids, which may be important in preventing cancer. Other vegetables such as kale, broccoli, and carrots may also be helpful additions to a cancer-fighting diet. Gluten-free grains such as amaranth and quinoa can be important to people with wheat allergies.

In the Seeds of Change catalog, each plant group is introduced with a description that, among other information, outlines nutritional attributes of the plant varieties that follow. Having a general understanding about human nutrition and understanding your own specific dietary needs can help the health-conscious organic gardener to plan a garden that offers not only the rich rewards of flavor and beauty, but also goes a long way to maintaining the health and vitality of the gardener and those lucky enough to enjoy the fruits of her labor.

Scott Vlaun
Editor

Photo captions: (1) Salad growing on the windowsill (2) Peacevine cherry tomatoes (3) Ring-o-Fire Cayenne chile pepper (4) Golden purslane (5) Yacon tubers fresh from the soil