September 20, 2012 pdf edition - Quaboag Current

PAGE 20 A Turley Publication • www.turley.com I Thursday, September 20, 2012
TURLEY PUBLICATIONS COURTESY PHOTO
Grief Support Group
begins Sept. 24 at
1st Cong’l Church
of N. Brookfi eld
NORTH BROOKFIELD - This
Grief Support Group is a Seven-Week
time of sharing, learning and supporting
one another. Associate Pastor Ken
Winters serves as group facilitator, using
“A Passage Through Grief: A Recovery
Guide” by Barbara Baumgardner
as guide. This valuable resource
stresses the importance of Journaling
and the great comfort we can fi nd in
our faith in times of loss. We will meet
for an Eighth Week to view the Video
“Going Home” featuring the music
and testimonies of Bill Gaither and his
musical friends and family. The group
will meet at Pastor Winters’ house, 77
Ward St., N. Brookfi eld. If you are interested,
please call him at (774) 922-
4144 or e-mail him at pastorken1@
verizon.net.
BIONUTRIENT I FROM PAGE 1
ple need more support and information,
with technical practices as well.”
For Kittredge it’s not just organic
farming that’s important: It’s farming in
general.
“Farming is important, and growing
food is important, because we are what
we eat,” he said. “Food quality has a lot
to do with quality of health.”
Kittredge pointed out studies show
that for many systemic diseases we’re experiencing
as a culture, such as cancer,
heart disease, diabetes and other chronic
diseases, there are very good correlations
between mineral and nutrient defi ciencies
and these diseases.
“As a culture we are becoming fat and
stupid because the food we are eating is
not giving our bodies what we need to
function,” he said. “If you don’t have the
minerals in your brain it needs to work, it
won’t work as well; if you don’t have the
minerals in your DNA it needs to replicate,
won’t replicate as well. I am trying
to draw those connections to people in a
practical way.”
But oftentimes, people choose unhealthy
foods over fresh fruits and vegetables
because the taste in mass produced
produce is oftentimes lacking. What else
is lacking is nutrients: According to information
based on the USDA National
Nutrient Database, broccoli has 54 percent
less calcium and 75 percent less Vitamin
A today than it did in 1975; apples
have 60 percent less iron and 40 percent
less Vitamin A today than they did in
1975.
“Farmers are growing pounds and
bushels, but not fl avor, aroma and nutrient
levels,” he said. “Farmers have gone
off track and are focusing on quantity and
not quality. It’s not just about organic; it’s
about food in general. It’s about fl avor,
nutrition, health and vitality.”
Kittredge’s main goal is to increase the
quality of the food supply. But he realizes
the economics involved and says his
methods of farming actually support the
farming industry.
East Brookfi eld Senior Center bus trip set to roll
EAST BROOKFIELD - The East
Brookfi eld Senior Center is running a fall
foliage bus trip to the New Hampshire
Turkey Train on Friday, Oct. 12. You
will depart from the town hall on Connie
Mack Drive at 7:15 a.m. and travel
to New Hampshire. You will be served
a delicious full course luncheon featuring
Hart’s Turkey Farm Roast Turkey with
Where is it?
“Do you know where this photo is?”
Each week, a photograph of an
object, landmark or
other well-known local
item (taken at close range)
will run in the newspaper.
Readers are invited to
submit their answers to Tim
Kane at telephone (413) 967-
3505 or e-mail tkane@turley.
com. All entries must include
the respondent’s answer, his
or her name, address and
phone number. Remember, be
as specific as possible! If it is
a photo of a building, entries
must include the name and
location of the building. If it is a close-up of a
sign, respondents must indicate where the sign
is located and how it is used. Of course, if it is a
photo of a random object, like an American flag,
no additional information is necessary.
The name of the person who provides the
correct answer first will be featured in the
newspaper.
In order to qualify for the weekly “Where Is
It?” contest, entries must be received by the end
of the day on the Monday after publication. The
winner’s name, along with the correct answer,
will be published in the next edition.
all the trimmings on the train and travel
along the scenic woodsy setting. After
the train returns, we will visit the famous
Clydesdale Horses and tour the Anheuser
Busch Brewery in Merrimac, New
Hampshire. We will be arriving back
home at approximately 5:30 pm. Cost is
$64 per person. Contact Judy Shute at
508-867-9224.
TURLEY PUBLICATIONS PHOTO BY TIM KANE
Last
Week’s
Photo
No one
correctly
answered
last week’s
mystery
photo so we
will leave it
as such.
“When plants become healthier they
yield better results, so it is easier to make
a living farming,” he said. “Money talks,
so if we can make you a more viable
grower, that’s how we can get results.
You don’t need chemicals, herbicides
or fungicides, when you have healthy
plants. This is making signifi cant waves
across the northeast.”
Kittredge has been giving lectures on
these best practices of farming around
New England for three years. He said
about a third of the attendance are homesteaders,
a third are professional farmers
and a third are backyard gardeners.
“It is a pretty mixed crowd that attends,”
he said. “I’m just conveying basic
principles, so this is applicable in backyard
garden and farm scale. But it blows
[backyard gardeners’] minds.”
But for Kittredge, this is not just about
the backyard farmer.
“For me why this matters is I think we
can systemically revitalize the planet,” he
said. “If you look at the deserts, in Central
Asia, Africa, there is a lot of land that
is wearing out. Even in the Midwest, the
soil is wearing out. We’ve been abusing
it long enough it just doesn’t have what
it needs to maintain vitality. I think that
is something everyone should be worried
about and I think we can systemically
change that.”
But it’s not just about the land: It’s
about the people who live on the land.
Kittredge said he has traveled around the
world and has seen people that are really
suffering because the land is wearing out
and they can’t make a life living off the
land anymore.
“If we replenish the aquifer and build
up the soil, we make the land usable for
people so there is an opportunity for
people to live a more simple, close-tothe-land
lifestyle and be able to sustain
themselves,” he said.
“For me, it is a fairly radical, political
act to work with soil. There are a lot
of problems in the world and people get
tired of it all and want to do something.
This is something we can do. Take responsibility
for your food and your family.”
Through his lectures, Kittredge is already
seeing incredible results.
“I am feeling extremely hardened and
like it’s all coming together beautifully,
rapidly and on a large scale,” he said.
“The pitch here is you can get ahead by
doing the right thing; not just for your
family or farm, but economically. What
we’re seeing is people are starting to get
results and to understand they can make
a better living by doing the right thing.”
In fact, some of the world’s largest
farmers are beginning to apply some of
these principles.
“I feel like the reality of the fact is, we
are going to be outcompeting conventional
modalities on the marketplace,”
he said. “We can actually produce more
for less. We have to set up conditions
where what we want to occur will occur
and have to be realistic about what are
the drivers to make that happen. It’s very
exciting. This was fairly fringe fi ve years
ago and it’s getting much more commonplace.
It’s more of the cutting edge of
the food movement; these are concepts
people are discussing and applying. It’s
really happening on a real level.”
Kittredge’s next free local lecture is
scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 26 at
6:30 p.m. at the New England Small
Farm Institute, 275 Jackson St., Belchertown,
MA 01007.
Find out more about the Bionutrient
Food Association at www.bionutrient.
org; the complete schedule for the Bionutrient
Rich Crop Production Workshop
series can be found at www.bionutrient.
org/events. Videos on the Bionutrient
Food Association and Dan Kittredge can
be found on YouTube.