Comments on: The Cost Outer Limits

By: Martha/All the Dirt on Gardening

Martha/All the Dirt on Gardening — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:10:53 +0000

Our friends grow the crowder peas (beans to some) and give me some to home can, which I happily do because they are delicious.

One year we grew sunflowers to save the heads to feed the birds in the winter. It was a race with them at the end of summer. Me, waiting for the heads to be dry enough to cut off and the birds and squirels trying to beat me to them.

Now we grow purple millet for the beautiful leaves and heads of seeds. The birds eat every seed if I let them. It’s a contest of perfect timing to get enough seeds to save for the following year.

By: George

George — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:13:54 +0000

Dear Ariel,

Thank you for writing, and you’re welcome. Indeed, most folks do rely on either grains or legumes. One of the major centers of dried pea, lentil and shell bean consumption is India. North Africans, including Egyptians favor the large broad bean or Vicia faba. They have it for breakfast. In Latin America the beans are mixed with rice in most areas. The Native Americans bred many types of shell beans, including many with unusualy high protein, such as the tepary. Growing them requires long sunny days, which is why they are a staple in the Southwestern US, Mexico and on down to the equatorial regions. Temperate zones tend to prefer fresh green beans.

Regarding meat, it remains the top of the food chain, so to speak, especially for active people and children. Fish is perhaps the healthiest food in the world. We are unhealthy when we get insufficient exercise.

Thanks again.

George Ball

By: Ariel

Ariel — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:10:27 +0000

Thank you! You are such a clear thinker. I will just add this: I think that most people in the world rely on beans for their daily nutrition. In the Middle East, it’s the garbanzo. In So. America, it’s the black bean or one or two others. But beans are basically it for the majority of people in the world. Am I wrong here? I don’t mind being challenged. It’s just weird that somehow meat replaced beans here in the USA… Could it be the reason that we are so very unhealthy?

By: George

George — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:05:20 +0000

Dear Julian – Thank you for responding. Certainly there are transportation costs, as you say. However, in the case of dried beans or sunflower seeds, they are small compared to fresh produce. Edible seeds and beans don’t weigh very much when one takes into account the high oil content of the seeds and the value of the bean when reconstituted with water. But, overall, I agree that, whenever possible, one should grow vegetables at home or in a nearby community garden. I was simply trying to prove the point, indirectly, by illustrating its outer limit. A sort of exercise. Thanks again.

George Ball

By: julian

julian — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 04:11:16 +0000

True, but you can also grow your own organic stuff, and by growing at home you are avoiding the extra transport/energy needed to get those beans etc. from some far away low labour cost country.