California Urban Farm Update

Planting a garden to grow your own food is a great way to get healthy.  The exercise helps relieve stress along with giving you a chance to meditate on your overall wellbeing.  Just a small patch of dirt or even a pot on the porch can get you started.

Many communities are beginning to see a surge in urban farmers and the politics of raising farm animals in this setting is causing some commotion.  We have joined the East Bay Urban Agricultural Alliance to defend our right to produce our own food.  Now it looks like San Diego is fighting back too!

Urban Agriculture

San Diego residents push for new urban agriculture rules 13

by Jill Richardson

29 Oct 2011 9:00 AM

A newly proposed city ordinance could make this sunny city into a haven for backyard chickens, miniature goats, and bees.

The Mighty Mushroom

With the change of seasons to cooler weather the pull is strong to create warming soups rich in nutrients we need as the days shorten.  One vitamin we generally are in short supply of is Vitamin D and mushrooms are an easy and available source of this essential nutrient.  Adding a variety of mushrooms to our diet is easy with recipes for thick, rich soups and cleansing salads.

Many species of mushrooms seemingly appear overnight, growing or expanding rapidly. This phenomenon is the source of several common expressions in the English language including "to mushroom" or "mushrooming" (expanding rapidly in size or scope) and "to pop up like a mushroom" (to appear unexpectedly and quickly). In reality all species of mushrooms take several days to form primordial mushroom fruit bodies, though they do expand rapidly by the absorption of fluids.

Nutrition

Mushrooms are a low-calorie food usually eaten raw or cooked to provide garnish to a meal. Raw dietary mushrooms are a good source of B vitamins, such as riboflavin, niacin and pantothenic acid, and the essential minerals selenium, copper and potassium. Fat, carbohydrate and calorie content are low, with absence of vitamin C and sodium.

Mushrooms, brown, Italian, or Crimini, raw

Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy	113 kJ (27 kcal)
Carbohydrates	4.1 g
Fat	0.1 g
Protein	2.5 g
Thiamine (vit. B1)	0.1 mg (9%)
Riboflavin (vit. B2)	0.5 mg (42%)
Niacin (vit. B3)	3.8 mg (25%)
Pantothenic acid (B5)	1.5 mg (30%)
Vitamin C	0 mg (0%)
Calcium	18 mg (2%)
Phosphorus	120 mg (17%)
Potassium	448 mg (10%)
Sodium	6 mg (0%)
Zinc	1.1 mg (12%)
Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. Source: USDA Nutrient Database