Is the food at the grocery store killing you?

I mean, the short answer is yes, if you’re buying sugary cereals, and drinks loaded with yellow 5 and red 40 (dyes that are banned in a dozen other countries), anything loaded with hydrogenated soybean oil, or cottonseed oil, like Ritz crackers, Coffee Mate, and so on. 

But let’s be real.  Even before you knew the ingredients in these foods were so dangerous, you knew that these foods weren’t particularly good for you. But let’s talk about fruits and vegetables. In theory, if you’re eating “healthy” you are eating a lot of fruits and vegetables. But did you know that a lot of these are very dangerous for you also.

Corn, wheat, and oats are all harvested using Round Up. Yep. You heard me. They spray these crops with Round Up just before harvest time, it helps ensure that the majority of the crop ripens all at once. Why would they do this, you ask?  Let me enlighten you.  The natural reaction of a plant that is about to expire is to try to spread its own seeds. Growers spray these plants that produce these crops with Round Up to kill the plant. That encourages the plant to send all available energy to the seeds, trying to rush them to maturity so that the plant’s genetics can live on. Basically, they kill the plant with Round Up, so that the entire field of corn or wheat or oats, will ripen all at once as the plants die off. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how bad Round Up is for you. 

If that is not horrifying enough, many of our fruits are sprayed with a chemical to keep them from browning on the grocery store shelves. This chemical is known to cause cancer. So here you are trying to eat healthily, and you are being fed a bunch of chemicals that you never knew were even there!

Obviously, the only responsible choice would be to grow as much of your own food as possible. This will ensure that you know just what chemicals were used, and more importantly NOT USED on the food you are using to nourish your family, and yourself.  Now, I’m sure you’re thoroughly confused, wondering why I am talking about farming on this blog about ponds. Well, it’s about to get super cool!!

Did you know that there is a dozen or more plants in your pond that you can eat?  Yep. True story. And more importantly, you know exactly what’s on and IN these plants, as far as chemicals. NOTHING. A big fat goose egg of chemicals is on the plants in your pond. Fabulous!  Let’s start perusing your pond for dinner. 

If you have Water Cress, Water Celery, or Penny Wort, you already have 3 great ingredients to start a salad with a little kick. These plants can all be eaten, fresh out of the pond. Just harvest, wash, and mix in a salad to enjoy their peppery flavor. They can also be mixed into smoothies if you’re a blended breakfast fan. 

Sweet Flag has a bit of a lemony flavor, which can nicely complement the mint tea that you make from the Aquatic Mint, fresh from your pond. The roots of sweet flag can be eaten also and are somewhat like ginger roots. Speaking of ginger, there is also a variety of aquatic ginger that you can eat.  While we’re on the subject of roots, you can grow your own water chestnuts in your pond. These, of course can be added to a salad, or any Asian dish calling for water chestnuts. If you need some spice for that dish, Wasabi is another plant that grows well in the flowing water of your stream or waterfall. 

 Arrowhead, pickerel, and bulrush have been consumed by Native Americans for hundreds of years and would be a fun addition to your dinner table. While arrowhead must be cooked to reduce the bitterness of the plants, pickerel can be eaten raw or cooked, and the seeds have a distinct nutty flavor. The seeds can also be ground for flour. 

The tuber, or giant roots of water lilies and lotus are edible, and the root of the Taro plant is what poi is made from. Taro leaves are edible, but must be prepared properly, or that can cause kidney stones. Lily and lotus leaves can be used to wraps to replace bread.  Cattail, bulrush, and some reeds are also edible. 

With this great variety of safe, chemical free plants available to eat, you can stop worrying about what is happening at the grocery store, and instead, make a bigger pond so you can grow more food!!

The Pond Digger Ranch carries an assortment of these edible aquatic plants!

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