Category — The Good Life

We’re a firm believer here at Cobbers in sizing up situations before rushing into print. It appears his Royal Highness Prince Charles has a more practical approach …

Normal blogging will return tomorrow …

The heirloom tomatoes in your garden may not just be tastier than commercially grown vegetables, but healthier too, according to a study from the American College of Nutrition.

The study looked for 13 nutrients in 43 crops grown from 1950 to 1999 and discovered that the vegetables enjoyed by our grandparents were significantly more nutritious than the veggies found on supermarket shelves today.

After rigorous statistical analysis, the researchers found that, on average, all three minerals evaluated have declined; two of five vitamins have declined; and protein content has dropped by 6 percent.

The decline is attributed to the relentless pursuit of crop strains that produce high yields, but few nutrients. One solution, short of agribusiness embracing lower-yielding crop strains or starting a vegetable garden, is to patronize farm stands and farmer’s markets where you can buy from smaller, multi-crop farmers that value quality above quantity.

Changes in USDA Food Composition Data for 43 Garden Crops, 1950 to 1999 [Journal of the American College of Nutrition]

Forgive the lack of posts. It’s a weak excuse, but we have been extremely busy on another project which will launch on July 1, and which will be announced here next week.

We decided to wait until the days started getting longer ‘Down Under’. The Winter Solstice deadline was particularly inspired by this lovely complex photograph, above, by Taro Taylor found on Flickr.

We like its combination of old and new — a circle of stones, and a freeflying hang-glider — a past locked to ritual and the land, and hopefully a future that is free …

Sounds like Prince Charles has finally convinced his Mum, The Queen of England, to embrace some of his green habits.

According to Ecorazzi [yes, there is a web site devoted to green gossip]:

An advert has been placed looking for someone to “help phase out the use of pesticides from the Palace’s gardens, improving ‘environmental and conservation practices’ as well as maintaining a new organic vegetable garden at Clarence House.”

The position pays £13,500 and will no doubt potentially include some tea-time with the green prince himself.

Charles has been an avid organic gardener for the past 25 years and, as the article points out, his garden at Highgrove House is considered one of the jewels of the organic movement.

His latest book, The Elements Of Organic Gardening, offers advice on converting to organic and reveals the methods used at some of the palace gardens like Clarence House and Birkhall in Scotland.

The organic food movement’s adherents have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, but success has imperiled their ideals. It simply isn’t clear that organic food production can be replicated on a mass scale.

And it looks like big business is going to do it their way …

Just as mainstream consumers are growing hungry for untainted food that also nourishes their social conscience, it is getting harder and harder to find organic ingredients.

There simply aren’t enough organic cows in the US, never mind the organic grain to feed them, to go around. Nor are there sufficient organic strawberries, sugar, or apple pulp — some of the other ingredients that go into the world’s best-selling organic yogurt.

So what are we eating?

While the predictable research heavies gain the honours as the annual Nobel Prizes are dished out, Cobbers needs to honour a few more worthy recipients — those who rose to the top of the heap from the more than 7000 entrants in this year’s Ig Nobel Awards at Harvard.

They certainly put things in perspective: While this year’s Nobel prize for physics went to two scientists who helped to prove that the universe began with a big bang, Basile Audoly and Sebastien Neukirch of the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris won the Ig Nobel physics prize for tackling the conundrum of why dry spaghetti breaks into more than one piece when it is bent.

People’s Choice will no doubt go to Francis Fesmire, of the University of Tennessee, who was awarded the medicine Ig for his report Termination of Intractable Hiccups with Digital Rectal Massage. [Read more →]

Drinking green tea can substantially cut the risk of dying from a range of illnesses, a Japanese study has found.

The research, which looked at over 40,000 people, found the risk of fatal cardiovascular disease was cut by more than a quarter. [Read more →]

While mates on a mission are suitably impressed with the simplicty of this hot tub design, we’re not particularly impressed with the $US6000.00 price tag.

We’re looking through our files for some simpler alternatives. Share your innovations with us by using our contact form.