Mercury Poisoning

Mercury Found in High Fructose Corn Syrup

Mercury was detected in nine of twenty samples of high fructose corn syrup analyzed as part of a pilot study conducted by researchers across the United States and published in the Journal of Environmental Health, issue, January 28th, 2009.

High fructose corn syrup is often used in processed food products to enhance shelf life. This syrup and many other products including citric acid and sodium benzoate are often produced at manufacturing plants that use mercury as part of the manufacturing process. Most often mercury is used as a negative electrode or cathode that aids in using electricity to process raw materials. Given the toxicity of mercury and its dangerous association with birth defects, mental retardation, and problems during pregnancy, use of mercury in food processing has raised questions about safety and about the possibility of mercury being deposited into food products.

In order to investigate these questions and concerns, a Environmental Health Officer (EHO) at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gathered twenty samples of high fructose syrup produced at three different manufacturing plants. The samples were found to contain levels of mercury ranging from below a detection limit of 0.005 to 0.570 micrograms mercury per gram of high fructose corn syrup with nearly one out of every two samples containing mercury.

Given that the average daily consumption of high fructose corn syrup from a variety of processed foods is about 50 grams per person in the United States, these researchers position that "it may be necessary to account for this source of mercury (exposure) in the diet of children and sensitive populations".

see article on my website on Mercury Poisoning and protocol

Growing Tomatoes Upside-Down

At first glance, this might look like an unusual way to grow tomatoes. But Jim Appleby from Iowa has discovered several benefits to hanging his tomatoes in buckets. First, the air can circulate better so the plants have almost no disease problems. Second, the fruit doesn’t rot as quickly as that on the ground. And finally, some critters that eat tomatoes have trouble getting to the ripening fruit.

To make the upside-down containers, Jim used 5-gallon buckets with tight-fitting lids. He recycled his from a restaurant, but says you can find them many places, such as paint or hardware stores.

Jim scrubs each bucket out with soapy water and makes sure the handle is attached securely. He cuts a 2-inch or larger diameter hole in the center of the lid and one in the bottom of the bucket. To make the holes, he uses a drill with a hole saw bit (an attachment for cutting a door to install the doorknob).

With the bucket standing upright and the lid off, Jim covers the hole in the bottom with a coffee filter or scrap of fabric. That way the soil won’t fall out when he turns the bucket over. He fills the bucket full of a lightweight potting mix, shaking it to settle the soil.

2 in. or larger diameter hole cut in bucket lid for both drainage and watering	Established tomato seedling ready to hang

Before he puts the lid back on, Jim lays another coffee filter over the soil where the hole will be. Next, he puts the lid on and turns the bucket upside down.
Jim cuts a slit through the filter in the hole and plants a tomato seedling. To give the tomato a fast start, he strips off the lower leaves and plants the seedling deeply so roots can form along the stem. He places the planted bucket in a sunny location and keeps it well-watered for the next few weeks.

When the plant is about a foot tall, Jim’s ready to hang it up. The bucket needs a solid support to hold the weight. A clothesline pole is ideal. If you hang the bucket from a building, make sure it won’t bang into a window or the siding on a windy day.

This part is easier with two people — one to lift and hold the bucket and one to fasten the chain. Jim drapes a chain over the clothesline post while a friend lifts the bucket. He pulls the chain through the handle of the bucket and fastens the ends together. You can buy chain loops made specifically for fastening or use a piece of heavy wire and twist it to hold the chain together. Either way, Jim finds he can raise and lower the height to harvest his tomatoes


Thanks to Charles for this piece!

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Raised bed organic gardening How to Set Up an Organic Soil-Bed Garden You want to have a great gardening experience growing a high-production sustainable garden of healthy vegetables - and you're about to find out exactly HOW to do it! First off, you MUST have direct sunlight all day long for vegetables to thrive. Therefore, use only the space that has no shade. And don't worry if it seems small! You'll grow twice the food in one fourth the space others are using, so just do it right in the space you have. And actually, starting small is a good idea anyway! It's easier, more fun, and won't wear you out! Level ground, or something with a slight Southern slope is best, in order to catch the sun's strongest rays, and to avoid rapid water run-off that will wash out your soil, seeds, and seedlings. Begin by clearing your ground of EVERYTHING! No weeds, rocks, or anything else is allowed. "Cleanliness is next to godliness" certainly applies here, and you surely want your garden to be a thing of beauty, as well as being productive! Measure and stake the perimeter of your garden. This gives you an important starting point for figuring out how many soil-beds you can have, and then placing them properly. Let's use 25' X 35' as an example of what your garden area might be. It doesn't really matter what direction your beds face, so far as sun exposure is concerned. What does matter, though, is that the beds be level, and that you plant taller plants to the North or East of shorter plants. This is to assure that taller plants don't shade shorter plants, and rob them of essential sunlight. So, align your beds to maximize those factors as much as possible. I'll assume we are able to run the beds lengthwise along the 35' dimension. Your soil-beds should be 18" wide and any length you choose. When you become experienced in this method of growing, and want to specialize in growing certain crops all the time, you may want to begin using 4'-wide beds, but let's stick to the best family garden layout for now. The ideal size for aisles is 3 ½', and since we have 25' width in our example garden, this will give us 5 - 18" beds with 3 ½' aisles. If you have only 23' you could get by with aisles a little narrower. But don't squeeze those aisles! You will be growing plants that need all of that space, and reducing the aisle space only leads to problems of not enough light and air for your growing plants! We'll make our beds 30' long. This leaves us 2 ½' on each end of the garden for walking, and 30' is a good length, because it makes caring for the garden easy. More about that later. Using 18"-long stakes, stake your 5 - 18" X 30' beds, with 4 stakes per bed. Apply 32 ounces of the Mittleider Pre-Plant Mix, and 16 ounces of Weekly Feed Mix to the soil under your strings. This amounts to about 1 ounce and ½ ounce per running foot of those VERY important natural mineral nutrients. Dig or till the soil of your soil-bed to a depth of at least 8". Then, using nylon string, tie strings between the stakes, to outline your soil-beds. Begin making raised, ridged beds by pulling about 2+ inches of dirt from the aisles into the 18"-wide bed area under your strings. Smooth and level that dirt, and then check the level of your bed area. It must be level to make watering easy and efficient, so don't ignore this step! Move dirt from the high spots in your bed to the low spots, until your bed is no more than one inch higher at the water-source end than the other end. Make 4"-high ridges all around your bed by pulling soil from the center of the bed to just beneath the strings. When you're finished you should have a planting area that is about 12" wide and between 1 and 2" above the level of the aisles, with 4" ridges, the top of which are 18" apart. Re-check the level of your planting area, and move soil as necessary to keep the bed level from end to end. Your Mittleider "Best of Organic" garden is now ready to plant!