Homegrown and Healthy :)

An apple a day keeps the doctor away… or does it? The apple we eat to day is definitely not the apple our grandparents ate when they first said these famous words. They ate apples from the tree in the backyard. Or maybe from the farmers market in town. Fresh produce! If it had a little worm in it or tiny bites from birds it was all the better. It showed that even nature thought that was an apple worth eating. Today we buy an apple from pick n pay. This apple comes from a tree that was probably given unnatural fertilizer, sprayed with pesticides and has gone through chemical processes and waxing to expand its shelf life and makes It look so clean, green and tasty. And kept in cool rooms for months where it looses plenty of its nutritional value. Yes… This is the apple we consider healthy.

The horrid truth is that people do not know where their food products come from. My family and I on the other hand are happy to say that most of what we eat is home-grown and healthy! Let me tell you a bit about what goes on our farm.

Where does our milk come from? Pick n pay? – NO! Lindsey is our jersey and she provides us with healthy, creamy milk that tastes like no milk you have ever tasted. She is blind on the one side and likes to walk with the bulls (if you know what I mean). Her calf is a crossbreed and only half Jersey. That’s why we call her Pullover.

Our meat does not come from a abattoir… (not even I want to know what goes on behind the doors of an abattoir). It comes from our grass-fed sheep, born and raised on our farm. They are healthy, contain no growth hormones and are pretty tasty. Even their fat is good for you. My dad recently read in an article that their fat is rich in omega 3, which dieticians say is a necessary part of a balanced diet. Very close to the essential fish oil supplements. So the men in our family may eat as much as they want to, and mom does not complain!

Eggs from hens that are kept in layer batteries and fed on layer mash or pallets have a very high omega 6 content, which is not a healthy fat. That is why you hear of people saying eggs leed to a high cholesterol. Eggs from free-range hens – or as we like to call them 'happy hens' –  which feed on different grains, green grass and natural proteins such as insects are healthy eggs rich in omega 3 which is a healthy fat that does not contribute to a higher cholesterol.

Our veggies are all home-grown in a garden fertilised with compost and kraal manure. No pestiscides. Pest are controlled by natural methods such as companion planting and wise usage of herbs. We mainly use seedling from heirloom seeds (open pollinated seeds from old and approved cultivars that has been passed down with generations) and avoid the use of hybrid or GM (genetically modified) seedlings.

This is why I can say that if something were to happen and we all had to provide for ourselves, we would be well-off and cared form. I believe that it is  a principle that every new generation should learn. That we need to live from the soil. It has a lot to offer. And it is there for our use. One day my children will say "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" and actually mean it!