How to Grow Edible Mushrooms in Your Home

By Anna Lynn Sibal

Mushrooms are simply delectable. They add a rich and earthy flavor to any dish you put them in. They are also very nutritious – they contain high levels of protein and potassium, but have very little fat and are low in calories. Mushrooms are delicious and are good for you.

It is just too bad, though, that fresh mushrooms can be quite pricey and the canned versions are just not as tasty or nutritious as the fresh ones. On the other hand, mushrooms can be easily cultivated at home under controlled conditions. So why not grow your own, as part of the organic living lifestyle?

Choosing Mushrooms to Grow

Of the 14,000 species of mushrooms identified by biologists, only 250 or so species are actually edible. Some of them lend easily to cultivation but others can only be found in the wild. Unless you can control the temperature and humidity in the place where you will be cultivating your mushrooms, your choice of what mushrooms to grow should depend on the climate in which you live. Some mushroom species grow best in cold weather while some like it hot and humid.

In addition, not all mushroom species are cultivated in the same way. Some mushrooms spawn best in damp sawdust, straw or sterilized wheat. Other mushrooms prefer to fruit in logs. So before you buy your mushroom kit, you should understand first the specific needs of the mushroom species you are going to grow at home.

General Guidelines for Growing Mushrooms

As mentioned above, the first step to cultivating mushrooms is buying a mushroom kit. This kit would be a packet containing straw or sawdust full of mushroom spores or mycelium. You can lay the spore packets in a pan filled with damp straw and then put the pan in a place that is damp, in total darkness, and where your mushroom spawn will not be disturbed. The ideal place for this is a basement, but you can use an unused closet or cabinet for this purpose. For the first three weeks, keep the temperature around your mushroom spawns at 70°F.

After three or four weeks, you will have observed the spawns taking root in their medium. When this happens, drop the temperature in the spawning area to 60°F. You will also need to put a layer of potting soil an inch thick over the spawn. Cover it all with a damp cloth. You need to spray the cloth with water whenever the soil begins to feel dry.

In another month or two, the spawns will have developed into small mushrooms. Just wait for them to grow bigger and continue spraying them with a little water. Your mushrooms will be ready for harvesting after two or three more months; you will know when they are ready when their caps have fully separated from their stems.

Mushrooms are remarkably easy to grow. With your own mushroom garden, you can be sure to have tasty and nutritious mushrooms in your dishes whenever you feel like eating them. You can even make money out of growing mushrooms by selling your produce to your neighbors. They will certainly appreciate the fresh mushrooms as much as you do.

Best Sources Of Vitamin D

By Gabor Timis

The best source of Vitamin D is sunshine which can seriously increase your Vitamin D intake. In fact, this vitamin is also known as the sunshine vitamin.
Light from the sun rays hits the skin and stimulates the production of vitamin D.
Those of us in colder, cloudier climates, we need intake from the foods we eat.

Foods Containing Most Vitamin D

Cod Liver Oil
This fish oil is very rich in Vitamin D. It is also rich in omega-3 fatty acids.
One tablespoon of cod liver oil provides enough Vitamin D for the day.

Herring
Herring are high in vitamin D because they thrive on plankton, which is full of the vitamin – through absorbtion of the sunlight.

Catfish
Another fish that feeds on plankton.

Sockeye Salmon
Wild caught salmon is the best, next is sustainably farmed salmon.

Oyster, Mollusks
The best are the Eastern, wild oysters.

Sardines
These tiny canned fish are also a great source for Vitamin B12, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, and selenium.

Mackerel
Another good source of Vitamin D.

If you don’t like fish much, try these:

Milk
Choose organic milk.

Eggs
Choose organic, free-range eggs.

Shiitake & Button Mushrooms
The dried versions of shiitake mushrooms are high in Vitamin D.

It is a good idea to supplement with Vitamin D3 – cholecalciferol, especially in the fall and winter, and for elderly whose body cannot produce vitamin D from sunshine effectively.
Recommended dose is 2,000 IU daily.

Health Benefits of Vitamin D
There are many health benefits of this vitamin (some even call it a hormone):

- Prevention of chronic diseases such as cancer, osteoporosis, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes.
- Protection of your bones, teeth and hair.
- Regulation of cellular growth and healthy cell activity
- Reduction of the inflammatory response, a condition known to cause many chronic diseases, from cancer to diabetes to obesity.
- Protection against adult osteoporosis
- Reduction in the risk of breast cancer in perimenopausal women

Organic Grapes and Wine

By Gabor Timis

Grapes are topping the list of the most chemically sprayed (with insecticides, herbicides, fungicides) categories of produce on the market, so it is important to look for organic grapes when grocery shopping.

Grapes are healthy. Recent research shows that resveratrol is the chemical that is beneficial to our health. Resveratrol is mainly found in the skin of red grapes. It is believed to have the following benefits:
- Anti-cancer
- Anti-viral
- Anti-aging
- Anti-inflammatory
- Neuro-protective
- Life prolonging.

Red wine has a good amount of resveratrol. For best health effects, buy organic wine.
Organic wine is wine which is cultivated and processed with only organic natural ingredients.

Strict rules govern the winemaking process such as hand-harvesting, the types of yeasts that can be used during fermentation and storage conditions in the vineyards of all imported and domestic wines that acquire certification.

Chemical-free grape cultivation and wine production also promotes a healthier environment by minimizing energy and water consumption and eliminating chemical run-off in our water supplies.

Many winemakers favor the use of sulfites, in extremely small quantities, to help stabilize wines, while others frown on them completely.
Wines labeled “organic” cannot contain added sulfites. Wines that have added sulfites, but are otherwise organic, are labeled “wine made from organic grapes.”

Red wine is not only a good source of resveratrol, but also of procyanidins.
Procyanidins are basically condensed tannins (the compound in wine that gives it a bitter flavor). Research has found that procyanidins:
- Boost good cholesterol (HDL)
- Help prevent blood clots
- Promote healthy endothelium (the tissues that lines blood vessels and your heart)

Studies have also found that procyanidins limit production of a compound which is responsible for hardening your arteries.

Enjoy organic wine in moderation, as part of a healthy lifestyle.

Should that Ingredient Be in Your Organic Shampoo?

By Anna Lynn Sibal

To keep our hair healthier without drenching it in chemicals and without leaving a huge impact on our environment, many of us choose to substitute organic shampoo for the more conventional brands. That is because organic shampoos contain as little of the harsh chemicals that make up conventional shampoo brands as possible.

In addition, organic shampoo is supposed to be sustainable. It means that the materials and processes used in manufacturing organic shampoo do not harm the environment, and it will not harm the environment or us when we use it or wash it down the drain.

The problem here is that with the growing demand for organic shampoo and other organic products in the marketplace today, the big manufacturers that are responsible for giving us conventional shampoo have also begun to release the so-called organic versions of their product. But are these so-called organic shampoos truly organic? The easiest way to know is to check the list of ingredients on the shampoo’s label.

Organic shampoos are not supposed to have petrochemicals in them. Petrochemicals are substances derived from petroleum that may be toxic to the body, enough to cause cancer and other diseases.
Some of the chemicals that have no business being in a bottle of an organic shampoo are listed below.

1. Sodium laureth sulfate. Sodium laureth sulfate is the second largest ingredient used in shampoos. While it is supposed to help create suds in shampoo, it is also a synthetic detergent that causes skin and eye irritation, not to mention damage the hair follicle.

2. Cocamide DEA. Cocamide DEA, along with PEG, MEA and MIPA, is an alkyloamide, a group of synthetic fatty acids. It is meant to act as emulsifiers and foam boosters in shampoo, but it can also cause skin irritation at the least and cancer at the worst.

3. Cocamidopropyl betaine. Some shampoos would have cocamidopropyl betaine instead of cocamide DEA in their list of ingredients. That is because cocamidopropyl betaine, a synthetic chemical derived from coconuts, is meant to be gentler to the skin and eyes. However, research has shown that even cocamidopropyl betaine may also be toxic and cause allergic reactions.

4. Phthalates. Phthalates are chemical agents in shampoo whose role is to make shampoo more viscous and make it smell good. It can, however, disrupt the production of hormones in the body, damage a woman’s reproductive system, cause obesity, and lead to birth defects in babies.

These are just some of the chemicals that really should not be in the gunk that we put on our hair every time we wash it. They especially should not be included in the list of ingredients of any organic shampoo. We will only be wasting our efforts to go organic and live healthier lifestyles if we do not read the labels on our shampoo closely enough.

So, before you buy a bottle of organic shampoo, make sure that you read the list of ingredients on the label first. If the label does not tell you much, then you should go online and research the brand. Always make sure that your organic shampoo is really organic and not a synthetic shampoo masquerading as one.

Also see: Organic soap benefits and Organic Hair Products

By Anna Lynn Sibal

Organic bedding is something that you need to buy if you are truly serious about leading an organic lifestyle. It may sound like a considerable purchase, given that new beds and bedding are not exactly cheap or easy to replace. But the rewards are certainly worth it in the long run.

When you think about it, it makes sense to use organic bedding instead of regular bedding. After all, most of us spend around eight hours a day in bed, and that is quite a long time to be exposed to whatever chemicals and allergens are present in your bed.

What Chemicals Do You Sleep with at Night?

If you only knew what chemicals you are sleeping with on your regular bed at night, you will want to switch to organic bedding in a jiffy. A regular foam mattress, for instance, may be treated with harsh chemicals like fungicides, chemical-based fire retardants, and even formaldehyde. If your bed happens to have one of those so-called memory foam mattresses, you would be constantly exposed to petroleum-derived polyutherane. Research shows that it is possible for products made with polyutherane to be carcinogenic.

Aside from your foam mattress, you may also have to consider your bedcovers. Are they made from regular cotton? Regularly grown cotton is exposed to a multitude of chemicals such as synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and weed-killers. All those chemicals are absorbed by the cotton, and your skin gets into contact with these chemicals whenever you lay down on your bed.

You may get to thinking that these chemicals do not really cause any serious harm. However, while you may not get sick in the morning just because you slept on a regular bed, you may feel its effects in the long run. You may develop allergies at the very least, but some substances in these synthetic chemicals are known to cause cancer. If your children sleep on regular beds, these chemicals can deter their normal growth and development.

Buying Organic Bedding

As you can see, organic bedding guarantees not only a restful sleep but also a safe one. When you sleep on a bed with an organic mattress covered with organic sheets, the hours you will spend sleeping will be free from exposure to allergens, carcinogens and other harmful substances.

But it is not enough to check on labels to see if a mattress or a sheet is organic. Not all organic bedding that you see when you go shopping is actually organic. To make sure that you are getting the real thing, you should see if the bedding you are buying is certified to be organic or natural. Otherwise, you may end up with a bedding that is supposed to be organic but is not actually so.

Also, since buying new bedding can be a considerable purchase, you do not have to be in a hurry when you decide on what bedding to buy. Do not be afraid to try out the mattresses and ask questions about the materials used in making the bedding when you visit a furniture store. Send an email with your questions to the seller first if you are buying online.

Also see: Natural disinfectants organic cleaning