Garden Update

Garden Update

So I have fallen a little behind in writing to this blog.  We had a couple of family issues come up and frankly it is hard for me to be creative when I’m worried about my kids.  I think things are better now so hopefully this will be updated at least weekly again moving forward.

We planted the garden for the neighbors in June on the front walkway by the street.  Since it went in a little late our choices were a bit limited and we ended up putting in watermelon, yellow squash, zucchini squash, pumpkin, eggplant, tomatillos and jalapeno peppers.

Right away we started getting neighbors who we already knew and a number that we did not already know asking us what we were doing.  When we explained that we had learned this concept that we thought was cool and that we were following it by planting a garden for the neighborhood the opinions were unanimously positive. 

About a week after we noticed the first squash had disappeared I was out watering one morning and a car drove up the street adjacent to ours; I thought nothing of it until it turned around and pulled in front of our house.  The young gentleman driving rolled down his window and thanked me for planting this and said that he and his wife took the squash while on a walk the other day and they loved it. 

We maintained the garden throughout the summer, talked with neighbors occasionally and learned that we have some really cool neighbors who really like that we’re growing this garden “just because”.  I learned that one gentleman who often walks with his wife and their beautiful dog; yes we’re dog people, is on the school board for the district that our kids attended and he asked me to talk with him if I ever see anything that needs fixing.  I don’t know how important that is at this point but I thought it was rather cool to get that conversation going.  Another woman who lives on one of the side streets in our neighborhood stopped by and told me that she is planting fruit trees in her front yard and everyone should be doing things like this. 

It’s just cool to hear the positive feedback from so many sources.  My favorite was my next door neighbor’s mother introducing herself, mentioning that she uses our jalapeno peppers all the time when she visits and she asked me if we like grapefruits.  I said of course, she said she had a tree and a couple days later a big bag of ruby reds were on our porch; I love this stuff!
    

Right now most of the garden is comprised of a couple of pumpkins.  The jalapeno peppers are doing well but have slowed in production of late but we have mild winters so like my other peppers in the back and closer to the house in the front yard they should be perennials here and just produce more and more year after year.  When the pumpkins mature in a few weeks we have a bunch of seedlings going for our “winter” if you want to call it that garden.  Kirstin and I have lived outside of Southern California and to say we get a winter here is a joke…

Until next time!

 

More than seven billion people

Seven continents

Two thousand Islands

One hundred ninety six countries

More than seventy distinct religious faiths

One planet

One ocean

One atmosphere

One sun

One great ecosystem

Created Organic

© 2013 Richard E. Robinson

 

 

More than Seven Billion People

More than seven billion people

Seven continents

Two thousand Islands

One hundred ninety six countries

More than seventy distinct religious faiths

One planet

One ocean

One atmosphere

One sun

One great ecosystem

Created Organic

What does this statement mean and why do I like to put it at the end of my posts?  The answer is both very complicated and very simple.  Created Organic started as a marketing idea for a product I developed a couple of years ago when I started learning about and appreciating what organic means.  To say that our family has learned and changed dramatically for the better since then would be a huge understatement.  With those changes the term “Created Organic” has taken on much more meaning and the statement that goes with it came into being.

 

 

There are more than seven billion people inhabiting our beautiful planet.  Those seven billion people live on the seven continents and roughly two thousand islands all of which comprise at present 196 countries.  There are more than seventy distinctly recognized religious faiths and I would go so far as to believe there are more than seven billion distinctly different; yet quite similar, views as to how this beautiful world came into being and how we as human beings got here.  My personal belief is that every single one of them is correct and I respect them to include those with whom I do not necessarily agree.

 

Thinking about all of these people from all these different lands with all these different backgrounds, customs, belief systems and views; some of which are quite violently opposed, I thought to myself, what do we have in common?  We all live on the same planet.  This beautiful planet which we call Earth has one great ocean with many names but if we look at the globe we can see it is one great continuous body of water that surrounds us all.  There is but one atmosphere containing the air that we all collectively breathe and that also serves to protect us from the harmful rays that come from our sun; while allowing the good ones in that make life possible. 

 

In my very humble opinion our world in its most pristine and natural state is organic in nature.  Therefore, regardless of one’s belief system I would hope we can all agree that however this beautiful planet was created it and all of the life on it is indeed “Created Organic”. 

 

Much more to come…  Remember it’s the differences that make us beautiful!

© 2013 Richard E. Robinson

 

“Created Organic” Doing Our Part One Step at a Time

“Created Organic” Doing Our Part One Step at a Time

June 17, 2013

Dear Reader,

We as individuals may not be able to control the world but we do have the ability to shape the things around us.  Good things tend to spread and when we make our community stronger we have the ability to create a better life in our communities and beyond.



Before

Saturday morning a good friend who happens to live in across the street and I tore out the grass strip in front of my house that the city owns and we maintain.  We turned the soil, mixed in some organic compost and new top soil and started the process of planting a garden.  The purpose of this garden is to grow fruits and vegetables for our neighborhood to use and enjoy.  Our hope is that people will enjoy the relatively free and healthy food that we create and join in the fun; which in turn should help to build a sense of community and promote healthy organic food.

During, that's Eric on the left and me on the right.

The idea for this garden comes from a video that I watched recently that I found truly inspirational.  As, the purpose of Created Organic is to promote organic living and its positive influence on our health and the health of the world, the garden just seemed like a natural.   

The actual planting should take place a little later this week after we finish amending the soil.  Since we are starting late we will probably start mostly with seedlings from the nursery and a few seeds and will hope to go completely from seeds that we start in the fall.  Of course updates will be forthcoming…

 

 

More than seven billion people

Seven continents

Two thousand Islands

One hundred ninety six countries

More than seventy distinct religious faiths

One planet

One ocean

One atmosphere

One sun

One great ecosystem

Created Organic

© 2013 Richard E. Robinson

 

 

 

Why I Became a Tree-Hugging, Granola Cruncher

Part 2

A common theme among military members (at least when I was in) is to marry young, have children young and get divorced… well young.  I was fortunate to meet the woman of my dreams not long after my divorce and we will celebrate 20 years of loving married life next month.  I told my wife when we met that I would end up with my kids which she didn’t believe until they moved in with us full time just weeks after we got married. 

I love my wife and my children dearly.  There has always been a lot of love in our house; it’s a theme we live by “Live Life with Love” and one we share with our friends and family.  That attitude has a very nice way of leading to happy and good times. 

We thought we had it all when our younger daughter left home.  Finally we had a chance to enjoy life without kids in the house.  Our older daughter had left a couple of years earlier, got married, brought us a beautiful granddaughter and then got pregnant with our grandson.  As is so often the case of young marriages, she got divorced and moved in with us when our granddaughter Claire was 18 months old and her brother Ricky came about 5 months later nothing compares to grandchildren! 

It wasn’t long after Claire’s birth that I started learning about and getting involved with organics.  I had worked with organic produce before but years ago it was nothing more than a marketing tool.  As I learned about organics and healthy eating, I started getting healthier myself and my wife got healthier too.  When my daughter and Claire moved in they started eating healthier with us and great results soon followed.  Ricky joined in last year and is truly a specimen of health.

As I learned more and more about healthy eating, healthy lifestyles and everything that goes with that I started learning about the importance of a healthy planet.  I also learned that there are policies that our government promotes that are not only unhealthy for our people but unhealthy for the planet.  I took a course revolving around the world’s food practices and the absolutely unsustainable nature of the food systems in place.  The worst part of that is that a few billionaires are set up to become bigger billionaires all with the support and actual subsidization of our government while future generations may not even be able to survive. 

Our planet is warming up.  We have already increased our annual average temperature by 1 degree Fahrenheit which doesn’t sound like much but 4.5 is believed to be the threshold for life; which makes 1 sound like a very large number to me.  We are losing topsoil at an alarming rate and may not be able to farm classic farmland much longer.  We are literally mortgaging our children’s, grandchildren’s and future generation’s ability to live so that a handful of people can profit today.

Going organic can and does reverse much of the damage!  Organic farming promotes humus which holds carbon in the soil.  It literally builds living arable soil from dead dirt taking a holistic approach to soil which also increases the nutrition of the food grows in it.  We have the capability to quite literally save the world and it starts with that first step of going organic.

For my wife and me I am not worried.  We are still pretty young but we have had a long time of a great life.  For my children and grandchildren I find there really is no choice but to try and create a better world for them; we owe it to them  That is a large part of why I am a proud Tree-Hugging, Granola-Crunching, organic living advocate!   

More than seven billion people

Seven continents

Two thousand Islands

One hundred ninety six countries

More than seventy distinct religious faiths

One planet

One ocean

One atmosphere

One sun

One great ecosystem

Created Organic

© 2013 Richard E. Robinson

 

 

Why I Became a Tree Hugging Granola Cruncher

Part I

 

My family and I have a long way to go on our journey towards a better organic life but we know we are on the right path.  Probably 95% of the food that enters our house at this point is certified organic, we have been off of processed foods (for the most part) for years, we are learning to grow as much of our own food as we can, there are virtually no chemicals in the house, we compost and even my wife has started making her own lotions and cosmetics (that’s the clincher if you know my wife…).  We have not yet gone with a fully organic wardrobe but that is in the plans and I am hoping to start making our own kombucha and beer (again) soon as well.

One might ask why we are doing this and one part of the answer is simple.  A healthy, organic lifestyle is not the old organic I used to make fun of with my friends.  Certainly anybody my age remembers the tree-hugging hippies of the 70’s and early 80’s followed by the granola crunchers of the late 80’s through the 90’s and into the last decade.  They were crazy!  At least that is what I thought at the time and so did many of the people with whom I associated myself.

So the crazy, hippie, tree-hugging granola-crunchers of yesterday I now view as the survivors who will save our world from ourselves; look good doing it and have more energy longer in life.  These are all pretty cool things in my humble opinion.  I know that my wife and I have felt better over the last three years since we began our journey towards organics than we did ten years ago.    

Save the world, what the hell is this guy talking about?  Actually there are many things that living an organic lifestyle does to save the world that will be discussed in future posts in detail.  For now suffice to say organic agriculture helps maintain soil health, maintain soil level, doesn’t pollute rivers, streams, etc. (Have we all heard about what is going on in the Gulf of Mexico due to farm runoff?) and is an effective tool against global warming by promoting humus which holds carbon in the soil; among other benefits for the world.    

Look good doing it and have more energy...  We’ll go into this in more detail in future posts as well.  For now try the experiment below and let us know what you see.

The experiment: Walk through a local “natural/organic/health food” store or farmer’s market depending on locale; where the granola-crunchers hang out (they’re almost everywhere now).  Take a mental note of how the average person walking around looks.  Do they look fit, trim, attractive, young or perhaps young for a given age or do they look unfit, unhealthy, unattractive, older or aging poorly?  Try the same exercise at some of the more conventional stores and fast food establishments; do you see a difference? 

Note: wherever you as an individual are in the process of being or becoming healthier and more organic never judge!  Getting healthier and living better is a process for all of us that begins with recognizing the benefits of making positive changes in our lives.  We should be collectively trying to help people make healthier choices for themselves and our beautiful world by being positive instruments for change.

Live Life with Love – For Everyone!

To be continued…

 

 

One of the Many Thought Processes Behind Created Organic

When I first dreamed up the concept of “Created Organic” one of my thought processes was to create a platform where the organic industry could promote itself in a positive light.  I have been involved with organic foods in one form or another for the better part of fifteen years but really just adopted what I would call an organic lifestyle about three years ago.  The image I had always associated with organic people was that of “tree-huggers” and “granola-crunchers” who looked and acted a little odd. 

To my knowledge the organic industry to date has not done much to change that very widely held image.  All that I seem to hear from people in the industry are complaints about some of the “Devil” corporations out there making the world unhealthy.  While I agree with the point of view; I don’t think it is the best way to promote the good that is the organic food, clothing and cosmetics industry.  I thought to myself there is so much more to organics than “tree-hugging”, “granola-crunching” and “everyone else is bad” why not get something going to change the image and promote organic lifestyles to a world that really needs to change.

We have all seen fast food, snack food, soda, etc. commercials with happy healthy looking people imbibing the advertised products, having fun and perhaps some great romantic suggestion.  The reality is the people using these products heavily, often aren’t all that healthy, tend to be overweight or more accurately obese, have high blood pressure, at least borderline diabetes and by the time they’re in their forties probably aren’t capable of great romance without chemical enhancements of course if their hearts are healthy enough.

People living an organic lifestyle on the other hand tend to stay looking younger longer, have more energy, are less apt to be overweight, type II diabetes virtually doesn’t exist and great romance goes on and on.  If the fast food industry can suggest that eating a heavily processed and empty calorie laden meal at their establishment will bring health, happiness and romance; we should do this as an industry that really can help with all of these things?  Imagine ads with great looking people having fun, eating healthy foods and it’s the true image of people who follow this lifestyle…

More than seven billion people

Seven continents

Two thousand Islands

One hundred ninety six countries

Seventy some odd distinct religious faiths

One planet

One ocean

One atmosphere

One sun

One great ecosystem

Created Organic

© 2013 Richard E. Robinson

 

Created Organic

 

Mother Nature Seeks Balance

Mother Nature seeks balance and Mother Nature will have balance.  Sometimes it is as simple as adapting a species here or a species there to a new condition.  Other times it’s the extinction of species or completely new ones evolving.  Still in other times, perhaps because things are more drastic, the whole of nature changes and Mass Extinction Events occur.  History is rife with examples of each. 

Human beings are the first species in this great ecosystem we call Earth with the ability to create a Mass Extinction Event.  We as humans are also the first with the knowledge and ability to prevent such an event from occurring.  Which way we will go remains to be seen.

Nature in its purest sense is organic in nature.  Our great Mother Nature was created organic as were all living things that have ever existed in nature.  Since Mother Nature was created organic, then we can assume that Mother Nature was intended to be organic and we as a species should do everything in our power to make sure our good mother gets what she wants so we can live in harmony with her.

Our world was Created Organic and was intended to be organic; join us in restoring Mother Nature’s beautiful plan!

More than seven billion people

Seven continents

Two thousand Islands

One hundred ninety six countries

More than seventy distinct religious faiths

One planet

One ocean

One atmosphere

One sun

One great ecosystem

Created Organic

© 2013 Richard E. Robinson