40 farmers under 40: Readers' choice | MNN - Mother Nature Network

40 farmers under 40: Readers' choice | MNN - Mother Nature Network

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Coconut: A Super Food

Let’s set the record straight regarding coconuts and coconut oil: They are, indeed, nourishing superfoods. If you are concerned about the fat content in them, guess what? The human body needs good fat, and this is one of the good guys you want. Don’t be deceived by the word “fat”; certain good fats are amazing assets for nutrition and optimal health. The fat in coconuts is used as an energy source as well as a cushion for organs and a conductor of electricity. That’s just a few things on the list of good fat deeds. Coconuts for life, son!

History: It remains uncertain where coconuts (Cocos nucifera) originated. Some say they might have come from the southwest Pacific, then introduced to East Africa. Written references have come from the “Periplus of the Erythraean Sea”, written about 60 A.D., as well as sanskrit mentions going back as early as the 4th Century B.C. The first English language reference to coconut was 1555. Coconuts were eaten in Egypt in the 6th century A.D. and Marco Polo gound them in India and other places in Asia. The coconut, due to its seed that floats, was able to travel the oceans (their fiber and oil were the ultimate botanical boat) and populate the warm climates of the globe. Today, the coconut is an important commercial crop in many tropical countries, including India, Indonesia, Thaliand, Malaysia, Sri Lank, Tanzania, The Philippines, and Brazil, contributing significantly to their economies.

Description: They all have a thick husk covering, and a hard shell that surrounds the rich coconut meat. Young green “thai” coconuts are green on the outside with white soft (sometimes slimy) coconut meat inside. Young coconuts contain more water then mature coconuts. Mature coconuts are soft of a medium wood tone on the outside with hard white coconut meat on the inside. Lower water content, more coconut meat.

Nutritional info: There is much nutritional value in the three parts of the coconut – the water, the oil and the meat, which can be transformed into coconut milk.

• ✴ A cup of shredded coconut contains: 142 mg potassium, 13 mg of magnesium, 4 grams of fiber, less then 3 grams of sugar and 13 grams of healthy (MTC’s) fat.

• ✴ Coconuts are mainly medium-chain fatty acids or MCT’s (medium-chain triglycerides), which are easier to metabolize (break down).

• ✴ The body prefers medium-chain fatty acids for energy rather then to store them as fat around your hips. So, coconuts and coconut oils are better fat type to ingest for people who have trouble digesting fat.

• ✴ These medium-chain fatty acids are mainly composed of a particular fat called lauric acid. Lauric acid is antiviral and antimicrobial – 50% of the fat in coconuts is lauric acid, and in the human body it turns into monolaurin, basically a bug killer.

• ✴ A great thing about lauric acid is that, although it kills bad bacteria, it doesn’t kill the friendly intestinal microorganisms we need for healthy digestion.

• ✴ Lauric acid is found in mother’s milk and protects infants from viral and bacterial infection.

• ✴ Respected lipid biologist Mary Enig Ph.D. cleared up false believes regarding fear of saturated fat. Her studies on the effects of lauric acid and coconuts in general has shown positive effects on immunity.

• ✴ About 7% of the fat in coconuts are an MCT called capric acid. The body turns capric acid into monocaprin, which has also been shown to have antiviral effects.

• ✴ Supporting healthy gut ecology, MTC’s are also known to kill candida and other fungi in the intestinal tract.

• ✴ The real sports drink, coconut water is a natural electrolyte (natural energy drink) source, very mineral-dense with 19 different amino acids.

• ✴ Polynesian islanders who consume most of their fat calories from coconut oil have an exceedingly low rate of heart disease.

• ✴ Studies have shown that coconut oil does not raise blood cholesterol.

• ✴ Compared to other oils that easily oxidize by heating, coconut oil is 300 times more resistant to oxidation (high point of 450˚ F), which makes it a far better choice for cooking than refined oils and hydrogenated vegetable oils (margarine, canola).

• ✴ Coconut oil has incredible antioxidant power and is an immune system supporter.

• ✴ Some of the micronutrients in coconuts include: high mineral content of potassium, magnesium, manganese, copper, and iron. Phytonutrients like: galactomannan, pectin, shikimic acid, squalene, vanillin. Also traces of: B vitamins, some vitamin C and E.

Application: Drink the coconut water and eat the meat as is. The meat can be used to make coconut milk, raw desserts, vegan curries, musses and even vegan ice cream. You can add the water or meat to smoothies, use the coconut oil to saute veggies or pour over beans. If you buy the coconut oil, get it raw and extra virgin.

Sources: The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth by Jonny Bowden PH.D., C.N.S., Healthy Healing by Linda Page Ph.D, Staying Healthy with Nutrition by Elson M. Hass MD.

Cucumbers

1. Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day, just one cucumber contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.

2. Feeling tired in the afternoon, put down the caffeinated soda and pick up a cucumber. Cucumbers are a good source of B Vitamins and Carbohydrates that can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for hours.

3. Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower? Try rubbing a cucumber slice along the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa-like fragrance..

4. Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds? Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area. (WOW)

5. Looking for a fast and easy way to remove cellulite before going out or to the pool? Try rubbing a slice or two of cucumbers along your problem area for a few minutes, the phytochemicals in the cucumber cause the collagen in your skin to tighten, firming up the outer layer and reducing the visibility of cellulite. Works great on wrinkles too!!! (DOUBLE WOW)

6.. Want to avoid a hangover or terrible headache? Eat a few cucumber slices before going to bed and wake up refreshed and headache free. Cucumbers contain enough sugar, B vitamins and electrolytes to replenish essential nutrients the body lost, keeping everything in equilibrium, avoiding both a hangover and headache!!

7. Looking to fight off that afternoon or evening snacking binge? Cucumbers have been used for centuries and often used by European trappers, traders and explores for quick meals to thwart off starvation.

8. Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that you don’t have enough time to polish your shoes? Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the shoe, its chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only looks great but also repels water.

9. Out of WD 40 and need to fix a squeaky hinge? Take a cucumber sliced rub it along the problematic hinge, and voila, the squeak is gone!

10. Stressed out and don’t have time for massage, facial or visit to the spa? Cut up an entire cucumber and place it in a boiling pot of water, the chemicals and nutrients from the cucumber with react with the boiling water and be released in the steam, creating a soothing, relaxing aroma that has been shown the reduce stress in new mothers and college students during final exams.

11. Just finish a business lunch and realize you don’t have gum or mints? Take a slice of cucumber and press it to the roof of your mouth with your tongue for 30 seconds to eliminate bad breath, the phytochemcials will kill the bacteria in your mouth responsible for causing bad breath.

12. Looking for a ‘green’ way to clean your faucets, sinks or stainless steel? Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to clean, not only will it remove years of tarnish and bring back the shine, but is won’t leave streaks and won’t harm you fingers or fingernails while you clean.

Nomi Shannon: What Should I Eat? (from her e-newsletter)

High Raw Diet: What Should I Eat?

Written by Nomi Shannon, The Raw Gourmet

There are as many ways to eat an all raw or high raw diet as there are people. The simplest approach is the Natural Hygiene way. There are no recipes, or even any machinery. You just eat food as it comes from nature. There is a lot to be said about this easy to understand approach, and most of the time it is how I live.

How much easier can it get than to have a large bowl of fruit on the counter waiting for you and a refrigerator filled with vegetables for you to grab. Add in some coconuts, nuts, seeds and oil (Natural Hygienists tend not to eat any oil but get the small amount of fat that they eat directly from their food) and you have everything that you need.

In a few moments, you can pack up a lunch of cut up veggies, greens, whatever fruits you can find depending on the season and some nuts for protein. For those times that you want to make recipes add a few items to your pantry like almond butter, tahini, seasonings like garlic, sea weeds, basil, sea salt, and go from there.

It is difficult to describe a 'typical' raw day as there is so much variation between people, but here are some examples taken from real life.

Sample Breakfasts:

1. A pint of blueberries, or more

2. A banana, or more, sometimes many more

3. Half an avocado and a banana, blended and topped with berries

4. A fruit smoothie, with some greens blended in

Sample Snacks:

1. Several pieces of fruit during the morning

2. Some cut up veggies

3. An avocado

4. A smoothie

Sample Lunches:

1. A large salad of assorted greens, sprouts, red pepper, celery, cabbage with a large handful of soaked almonds or sunflower seeds

2. Sunflower pate rolled up in a sheet of Nori and topped with greens and sprouts

3. A blended soup consisting of greens, sprouts, avocado, yellow squash, garlic or ginger

4. A blended soup of avocado, parsnip and celery

5. A cabbage leaf with pate rolled up in it

6. A cabbage leaf with cut up veggies and some almonds on the side

7. A bag of green beans, or Peas in the pod

8. 2 avocados

9. Several pieces of celery and carrot dipped in hummus, or almond butter, or sunflower pate

Sample Dinners:

1. Spiralized yams or sweet potatoes topped with lemon and oil

2. Spiralized zucchini with pesto sauce (pine nuts, basil, garlic, olive oil, parsley) and tomato sauce (pureed tomatoes with spices or herbs that you like)

3. Raw corn chowder with sprouts and greens

4. Yam soup or beet borscht

While there are no set rules to follow, if often works out best if you eat some protein at lunch as it takes longer than other foods to digest, and complex carbohydrates at night so you can wind down, relax, and prepare for your nights rest without a lot of digestive activity going on after you retire for the night.

As for protein, many people still have the misconception that they need far more protein than they really do. If you think about mother's milk, which only contains 1.5 - 2.5 % protein perhaps you can relax a bit about your protein consumption. Growing children and athletes need the most protein. There's way more protein in dark leafy greens than most people realize. Tahini, almond butter, almonds and sunflower seeds are all quick and easy sources of protein.

If you eat large salads and fruit every day or green smoothies you are probably getting enough fiber. There aren't any raw fooders that have constipation problems. Your high raw or all raw diet should be resulting in 2-3 healthy bowel movements a day. Constipation, hemorrhoids and less than daily bowel movements are most likely an indication that you need more fiber.

Healthy fats react in your body far differently than cooked, processed, rancid unhealthy fats. All cooked oils-(French fries, doughnuts) and fats are very bad for you. When you are consuming avocados, nuts, seeds, raw nut butters, unheated flax seed oil, olive oil, hemp oil, coconuts all in the raw state they are good for you. Most likely you need some of these fats to keep your weight up also.

Great problems in health and well-being occur in the absence of the Omega 3's and 6's-the essential fatty acids that are obtainable only through food. Flax seeds and salmon both contain high amounts of the Omega 3's, followed by sunflower seeds. I prefer my Omega 3's in the form of flax seeds or oil, as I have a personal aversion to consuming mercury that is found in one level or another in all fish. It is far more common to be deficient in Omega 3's than other good fats and when first starting out I recommend concentrating on consuming high Omega 3 rich foods for the first year you are raw. An excellent resource to learn what you need to know about fats is: Fats That Heal, Fats That Kill, by Udo Erasmus.

I have found that most beginners and even more experienced raw fooders are afraid to consume fats. Just today I received a note from someone who wants to try raw food, but wants to keep their fats to 10% and to be sure to have 'enough protein'. What they are trying to do is follow their cooked food approach (in this case the Dr. Dean Ornish program) while doing raw. Well, many people have much improved health while following the cooked food Dr. Dean Ornish program-and it is pretty obvious why-if cooked fat kills, then only 10% of it in your diet harms less. There are lower calories in the program, smaller portions. But it is just about impossible to take any current program and apply it to a raw program. Everything changes when you take the raw food approach. What used to harm is now good for you in the uncooked state. So, don't fear the fat! Just keep all your fat consumption the healthy kind-if you eat any cooked food, be sure it is not cooked fat. Isn't that simple?

As for calories-if you are too thin, you aren't getting enough. If two salads a day don't provide enough calories for you, then condense your food into a soup or a smoothie, adding in tahini or other high calorie yummies. You athletes out there already know how to make Vanilla Bliss out of water, frozen banana and tahini-up to four tablespoons in a shake, to keep the calories up. You can make avocado or tahini based soups, or drink almond milk-there's many ways to meet your calorie needs consistently with an all raw diet.

Before I move on to a fun cracker recipe, there's one more important item I want to mention. You need variety in your diet. Making the same thing every day out of habit or convenience is a very unhealthy habit. Think of the rainbow when you make your foods; be sure that on a daily basis you are eating from many of the colors of the rainbow: purple, red, orange, green and yellow. Each food contains its own gift for you, packaged by the Creator in just the right way to be sure you are taking in all the necessary nutrients. It's hard to go wrong if you choose from a very wide assortment of foods.

Following is a recipe that will help to round out your meals and snacks.

If you own a dehydrator or have enough warm sun here is a tasty flax seed cracker recipe. I like these crackers because they travel well and also because of the great crunch they provide. Flax seeds provide wonderful fiber and important Omega 3 oils. Soak 5 or 6 cups of organic brown or golden flax seeds in 5 or 6 cups of water for about 4-5 hours. This will turn into a solid mass.

Puree any or all of the following in a blender: 6 or 7 tomatoes, one or two onions, garlic, 2-6 tablespoons lemon juice, sea salt, soaked sun dried tomatoes, spices and herbs that you like. Fill the blender to the top-about 7-8 cups. Mix the blended mixture into the flax seed mixture. (Do not blend; you want to leave the flax seeds whole.) Add caraway seeds or fennel seeds or dried onion bits if you like.

Pour onto the liners in your dehydrator trays, and spread with your hand until even, this will be about ź inch thick. Dehydrate, turning over when dry on top, and remove the liners when you can. Score the crackers (cut almost all the way through) when almost dehydrated on both sides. Or allow to completely dehydrate then break into bite size crackers. Store in a tightly closed jar or cookie tin. These will keep indefinitely. Makes about 100 crackers.

Each time you make them experiment with the flavors until you find your personal favorite. Be generous with your seasoning as the flax seeds make everything very bland. Besides just having on hand for munching and to add some texture and fun to your meals, you can break up one or two and toss in your salad as croutons, or you can top a cracker with slices of cucumber, tomato and onion bits for a tasty meal or snack.

Note: start your dehydrator at 120 or 125; turn it down to 115 once you feel the crackers are getting warm. The food never reaches the temperature the thermostat is set at, it is dangerous to dehydrate food at too low a temperature, like 90, it takes too long, allowing mold to form in the food.

The Raw Gourmet
PO Box 160
Bonsall CA 92003

Martin Luther: "I would plant trees"

When asked what he would do, if he knew the next day he was going to die, Martin Luther replied, "I would plant a tree".

Excellent website for those seeking to meet other off-grid supporters

http://www.off-grid.net/

Will Solar Trees Sprout in Parking Lots

Part of the fine print in solar power systems is that whatever wattage number is quoted, it is usually “peak watts,’’ or the amount of electricity that the panel would deliver when the sun is directly overhead. For the rest of the daylight hours, the output is lower; a graph showing minute-by-minute production resembles a sharp mountain peak.

One way to do better is to mount the panel on a metal backbone and let it tilt over the course of the day, keeping itself pointed towards the sun from sunrise to sunset. This is called a single-axis tracker. Better yet is a two-axis tracker, which also adjusts the angle to compensate for how high the sun is in the sky. Then the graph showing output would resemble a plateau. But all of this adds cost.

Envision Solar, a San Diego company, has found a niche in the solar world by building shaded parking areas with solar panels fixed to the roofs. The panels do not track the sun, but they are angled to take advantage of it: they are usually tilted to the south.

Read the full article: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/will-solar-trees-sprout-in-parking-lots/?partner=rss&emc=rss

destruction

The poor ignorant savage even apologized to a tree for having to
cut it down and had sacred groves and woods he left standing—
homes of the gods or of his fellow creatures—whereas his successor,
who ungodded nature, ravages the heights and brings floods,
dustbowls and salt pans into the once fertile lowlands. Or worse,
defoliates to facilitate hunting down his brother man.
- Jacob Trapp, The Light of a Thousand Suns, 1973

John Muir - trees are precious

God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease,
avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods.
But he cannot save them from fools.
- John Muir

Thoreau: the earth is living poetry

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
The earth is not a mere fragment of dead history, stratum upon stratum like the leaves of a book, to be studied by geologists and antiquaries chiefly, but living poetry like the leaves of a tree, which precede flowers and fruit - not a fossil earth, but a living earth; compared with whose great central life all animal and vegetable life is merely parasitic. Its throes will heave our exuvi� from their graves ... You may melt your metals and cast them into the most beautiful moulds you can; they will never excite me like the forms which this molten earth flows out into.

Gibran: Earth delights to feel your bare feet...

Khalil Gibran (1883-1931)
Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.

Nehru: Wonderful things of nature...

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) said:
Flowers and trees and birds and stars and glaciers, and all the other wonderful things that surround us in the world. We have all of this beauty around us and yet grown ups often lose themselves in offices and imagine they are doing very important things. Can you recognize the flowers by their names and the birds by their singing? ... Young people, I hope you will take a long time growing up!

Organic Eggs: More Expensive, But no Healthier

Buy your eggs from a local farmer or raise chickens yourself; it's the only way
to be sure that your food is safe to eat.

Organic Eggs: More Expensive, but No Healthier
By Jeffrey Kluger
Thursday, Jul. 08, 2010

This year, like every year, has been a busy one for America's chickens. What the birds lack in smarts they make up for in work ethic, laying about 78 billion eggs annually (or 6.5 billion dozen), supplying a $7 billion industry. GM should be doing so well.

Like any other workers, hens turn out economy, premium and luxury products — known as factory, cage-free and organic eggs — and consumers pay accordingly. A recent survey conducted in one random city — Athens, Ga. — found factory eggs going for $1.69 per dozen, cage-free for $2.99 to $3.59, and organic for $3.99 to a whopping $5.38.

But it's worth it to pay more because you're getting a healthier product, right? Wrong. Most of the time, according to a just-released study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the eggs are indistinguishable. When there is a difference, it's often the factory eggs that are safer. (See pictures of chefs at work in the fields where their food is grown.)

The study, led by food technologist Deana Jones, ...

PLEASE READ THE ARTICLE:
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2002334,00.html?xid=newsletter-daily

6 Healthiest Nuts

If You are Nuts About Health, Try the Top 6 Healthiest Nuts
by www.SixWise.com

Many people were scared away from nuts during the low-fat craze of the last few decades, but now nuts are making a comeback. Nuts are excellent sources of protein, minerals, "good" monounsaturated fats and other nutrients, and they're good for the heart.

A study conducted by Loma Linda University in California that involved 31,000 Seventh Day Adventists found that eating nuts lowered the risk of heart disease and helped participants to keep their weight down. Other large-scale studies, including the Physician's Health Study, the Iowa Women's Heath Study and the Harvard Nurses Health Study, also found that eating nuts lowered heart disease risk. Other studies have shown that nuts help lower bad "LDL" cholesterol.

In fact, in July 2003, the FDA approved the following health claim for nut package labels:

"Scientific evidence suggests, but does not prove, that eating 1.5 ounces per day of some nuts, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease."

It only takes a small handful of nuts to satisfy hunger (and help you stay full longer), and there are many varieties to choose from. Here are six of the healthiest.

1. Walnuts

When it comes to nuts, the walnut is the king. It's a great source of the healthy omega-3 essential fatty acids, which have been found to protect the heart, promote better cognitive function, and provide anti-inflammatory benefits for asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, eczema and psoriasis.

Walnuts also contain the antioxidant compound ellagic acid, which is known to fight cancer and support the immune system. But that's not all--in a study in the August 2003 issue of Phytochemistry, researchers identified 16 polyphenols in walnuts, including three new tannins, with antioxidant activity so powerful they described it as "remarkable."

Walnuts are incredibly healthy for the heart. A study in the April 2004 issue of Circulation found that when walnuts were substituted for about one-third of the calories supplied by olives and other monounsaturated fats in the Mediterranean diet:

•Total cholesterol and LDL (bad) cholesterol were reduced

•The elasticity of the arteries increased by 64 percent

•Levels of vascular cell adhesion molecules, which play a major role in the development of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), were reduced

Please read the article:
http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/05/06/29/if-you-are-nuts-about-health-try-the-top-6-healthiest-nuts.htm?source=nl

America's Deadliest Sweetener Betrays Millions, Then Hoodwinks You with Name Change | | AlterNet

Aspartame is the most controversial food additive in history, and its approval for use in food was the most contested in FDA history. In the end, the artificial sweetener was approved, not on scientific grounds, but rather because of strong political and financial pressure. After all, aspartame was previously listed by the Pentagon as a biochemical warfare agent!

It's hard to believe such a chemical would be allowed into the food supply, but it was, and it has been wreaking silent havoc with people's health for the past 30 years.

The truth is, it should never have been released onto the market, and allowing it to remain in the food chain is seriously hurting people -- no matter how many times you rebrand it under fancy new names.

Please read the article; it's excellent:

America's Deadliest Sweetener Betrays Millions, Then Hoodwinks You with Name Change | | AlterNet



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Walmart, KFC, Burger King Paper Purchases Destroying Indonesia's Rainforests

Walmart, KFC, Burger King Paper Purchases Destroying Indonesia's Rainforests
By Matthew McDermott, TreeHugger
July 6, 2010

Greenpeace is again pointing a finger the international companies responsible for Indonesian deforestation, and the international brands aiding and abetting them through purchasing their products. This time it's the Sinar Mas group and their subsidiary Asian Pulp & Paper clearing forest and Walmart, Burger King, Dunkin Donuts, KFC, and other well-known consumer names that are helping them, albeit one step removed.

Critical Endangered Species Habitat & Carbon-Storing Rainforest Cleared Illegally
The new blame and shame report How Sinar Mas is Pulping the Planet [PDF] documents how Asian Pulp &Paper is clearing forest in the Bukit Tigapuluh Forest Landscape and in the Kerumantan peat forest, both on the island of Sumatra.

Please read the article: http://www.alternet.org/story/147444/

The Hypnotist's Trick That Can Put You to Sleep

The Hypnotist's Trick That Can Put You to Sleep
Next time your racing thoughts keep you awake, calm your mind with this relaxing combination of breathing and eye movement.
By Jeffrey Rossman, PhD

Practice the upward-eye-roll technique, a method that can help you fall asleep whenever you need to.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—I marvel at my 14-year-old daughter’s ability to sleep blissfully through thunder, lightning, ringing telephones, and beeping alarm clocks. Ah, to sleep like a teenager again. Her pineal gland is squirting out an abundance of melatonin, the body’s natural sleepiness hormone. No matter what’s going on for her, she sleeps through the night. If only we grown-ups could be so fortunate. The sleep of most adults over the age of 45 is shorter, shallower, and more frequently interrupted than a typical teen’s slumber.

THE DETAILS: As we age, our bodies produce less melatonin. And we tend to have more physical conditions that wake us up: hot flashes, night sweats, trips to the bathroom, aches, and pains. A recent poll by the National Sleep Foundation found that 65 percent of American adults have trouble sleeping at least a few nights a week. Of the millions of Americans who wake up during the night, some get right back to sleep. Many others start thinking about things that jazz them up: Tomorrow’s to-do list, a relationship conflict, worry about a child, or a financial problem. Then come the worries about sleep itself: When will I get back to sleep? Will I feel wiped out tomorrow? How will I get through my busy day?

The good news is that everyone experiences awakenings during the night and, with a little practice, you can learn to relax your mind and get back to sleep easily. For most people, that is the key to getting a sound, restful night’s sleep. Over the years, I have recommended a variety of techniques to help people get the sleep they need, including self-massage and other tactics for get back to sleep when your sleep is interrupted. Here is a method that many people find to be amazingly effective. It is quite simple to do, and yet very powerful because of its specific influences on the brain and the body. And, perhaps fittingly, it involves a behavior that all those well-rested teens perform many times a day: the eye roll.

Every parent has been on the receiving end of the eye roll, that classic expression of teen annoyance. But when done in a more controlled, deliberate fashion, the eye roll can be a tool of relaxation. The upward-eye-roll technique was used as early as the 1800s by practitioners of hypnosis to induce a deeply relaxed trance state. The tactic combines the powerful, relaxing effects of slow, rhythmic breathing, with a subtle upward shift of your eyes. The hypnotists who developed it would have their subjects stare at a spot on the ceiling until their eyelids felt heavy and they became sleepy. We now know that when the eyes are rolled upward about 20 degrees, the brain automatically shifts into a relaxed alpha state. This alpha brain wave state is characterized by a slowing of brain waves, to approximately eight to 13 cycles a second. In the alpha state, your mind becomes quiet and your body relaxed. So entering the alpha state in bed at night helps you to
gently drift off into sleep.

HOW TO DO IT

Please read the article: http://www.rodale.com/help-you-fall-asleep?cm_mmc=DailyNewsNL-_-2010_06_28-_-Top5-_-NA

12 Reasons for Visiting a Farmers' Market

12 Reasons for Visiting a Farmers' Market
by Alice Henneman, MS, RD

http://lancaster.unl.edu/food/ft-jul-10.shtml

Whether you've never visited a farmers' market, are a frequent visitor or just enjoy the fresh taste of local foods, this month's Food Reflection's offers a little something for everyone:

1. Start by reading the following short article on "12 Reasons for Visiting a Farmers' Market."
2. Download a copy of the article. Use it for a bulletin board or handout ... add information about farmers' markets in your area.
3. Enjoy a short 1-minute video showing several pictures left out of the article.
4. Download a short, related PowerPoint, "12 Reasons for Visiting a Farmers' Market." Include some or all of these reasons for attending a farmers' market in a presentation you're giving!
5. Access a link to several recipes for fresh produce -- many also can be used as program handouts or at farmers' markets.
6. Obtain more information on shopping at farmers' markets and download a free PowerPoint, "The Garden Grocery: Food Safety & Selection at the Farmers' Market."

To begin ... here are 12 great reasons to visit a farmers' market.

1. Find foods not available in a grocery store.tomato bruschetta

2. Take home a truly tasty tomato! Make a tomato, basil, and olive oil bruschetta or other recipe!

3. Enjoy really fresh sweet corn. Fresh from the field means fantastic flavor!

4. Purchase a pretty plant you know will grow in your state because it was locally grown in your state.

5. Meet with a master gardener. Extension master gardeners are available at some of the Farmers' Markets. They'll answer your garden questions and help make your garden grow!

purple cauliflower meal6. Make memorable meals. The meal at right features toasted sunflower wheat bread with lettuce and smoked bacon cheese; kale sauteed in olive oil with green onions and garlic; purple (graffiti) cauliflower ... all from one Farmers' Market!

7. Have fun with your family and friends. Many Farmers' Markets feature special events, such as cooking demonstrations, music, festivals, and more.

8. Get really fresh food that didn't travel long distances to reach you. Freshly picked produce not only tastes better, but keeps longer, too! Look for the Buy Fresh Buy Local sign used many places to identify locally grown produce.

9. Buy a beautiful bouquet of locally grown flowers.
strange squash

10. Get to know your farmer. Ask questions about how the food was grown, how to cook it, and more.

11. Support your local economy. If every household spent $10 every week on locally-produced food, think how much could stay in your local economy each week.

12. Farmers' Markets are full of surprises -- you never know what you might see!

The earliest known uses of the word "vegetarian"

The earliest known uses of the word 'vegetarian'
Compiled by John Davis, IVU Manager and Historian, with help from members of the ivu-history email group
Extracts from some journals 1842-48

http://www.ivu.org/history/vegetarian.html

The records below are *all* the early uses we have been able find of the word 'vegetarian' in print, starting in 1842 - and it is very clear that all the earliest are related to Alcott House. There were, of course, many people elsewhere following variations of the 'vegetable diet', but none of them used the V word in any printed material before 1847. Google Books have almost 2,000 volumes using of the complete phrase 'vegetable diet' between 1842-46, compared with just 8 below using 'vegetarian' - all of which can be linked to Alcott House.
[note: the Oxford English Dictionary cites an example of 'vegetarian' from 1839, but this needs further validating - see note 1. If it is genuine then there also appear to be links back to Alcott House.]

The drawing below is from the rear dust jacket of "Search for a New Eden", (link to limited preview on Google Books) by J.E.M. Latham (highly recommended as a full account of everything to do with Alcott House).

Alcott House was a school on the north side of Ham Common, ten miles south-west of London, midway between Kingston and Richmond. It was opened in July 1838 by James Pierrepont Greaves (1777-1842) who had spent time in Switzerland with the radical educator Pestalozzi (1746-1827). He later read two works about/by Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888), of Boston, USA, who had also been studying Pestalozzi's methods The books that Greaves read were 'Record of a School' (link to Google Books) -by Elizabeth Peabody 1835, about Alcott's school; and the first volume of 'Conversations with Children on the Gospels' (link to Google Books) 1836. Greaves was sufficiently impressed to open a correspondence with Alcott in September 1837, and to name his school for him the following year [ The law and method in spirit-culture: an interpretation of A. Bronson Alcott by Charles Lane, 1843, includes the full text of the letter from Greaves to Alcott - link to Google Books ].
Greaves had adopted the 'vegetable diet' in 1817, and Alcott in 1835, the school used it from the outset.

In 1841 the school was re-invented as 'A Concordium, or Industry Harmony College' though the building remained 'Alcott House'. Also in 1841 they began printing and publishing their own pamphlets, which now seem to be lost, but we have the relevant extracts, with the earliest known use of 'vegetarian', from their first journal which began in December 1841:

The Healthian
Vol.1, No.5, April 1842

FLESH DIET
[The Editor's answer to Barbara's Letter, pp. 31 and 32]
p.34: ... To tell a man, who is in the stocks for a given fault, that he cannot be so confined for such an offence, is ridiculous enough; but not more so than to tell a healthy vegetarian that his diet is very uncongenial with the wants of his nature, and contrary to reason.
p.35: ... At any rate there is generally with vegetarians, and especially fruit eaters, a calmness and even sweetness of temper, and we believe also a clearness of reason, that are highly desirable for humanity, and for health. We esteem this fact of the triple fermentation of vegetables of high importance, and one that, though caught at immediately by the advocacy of the old regime, is of great and irresistible weight in the vegetarian advocacy.

* The Healthian - April and part of May 1842 (PDF 2.5mb, courtesy of Bill Shurtleff and University of California at Berkeley) The consolidated annual volume was published by W. Strange, London, for Alcott House, they printed the individual issues themselves.

This shows that the word 'vegetarian' was already familiar, at least to readers of the Alcott House journal.

The photo below, and the images of Geaves and Alcott, are from 'Bronson Alcott at Alcott House, England, and Fruitlands, New England (1842-1844) (link to archive.org) by F. Sanborn 1908

On June 7, 1842, Bronson Alcott arrived from America to stay at Alcott House for the next four months - unfortunately Greaves had died three months earlier, so they never met. When he left at the end of September he took two members of the community, Charles Lane and Henry Gardiner Wright, with him to found a short-lived community near Harvard, MA - Fruitlands. He was joined there by his family, including his 10-year-old daughter, Louisa May.

In the excellent Pedlar's Progress The Life Of Bronson Alcott (link to archive.org) by Odell Shepard, Boston, 1937, we have, p.336: "It should be clear, then, that Alcott at Alcott House found himself in a maelstrom of reform. When he arrived there he might well have been in some doubt, whether he was a reformer at all, but by the time he came to leave he might have doubted whether he was anything else." - this suggests that the reform of inventing a new word, like 'vegetarian' might have come from those at Alcott House, rather than Alcott himself.

A brief account of the First Concordium, or Harmonious Industrial College - published at the Concordium, 1843 (PDF 419k courtesy of Maynard Clark and Harvard University). This does not use the word 'vegetarian' but makes very clear that the diet is totally plant food. It also goes further objecting to 'cultivating the breed of animals for amusement or use', and excessive consumption of anything - what we now call ethical veganism.

'Letters and extracts from the ms. writings of James Pierrepont Greaves' 1843 (link to 'no preview' on google books) - published by the Concordium. Might be of interest when we get a copy.

When Bronson Alcott visited Alcott House in 1842, one of the people clearly recorded as being present was Dr. William Lambe, back in 1815 he was the author of Water and Vegetable Diet (link to 1850 New York reprint, with later notes, on Google Books) he said on pp.90/91: "My reason for objecting to every species of matter to be used as food, except the direct produce of the earth, is founded as may be seen in my last publication on the broad ground that no other matter is suited to the organs of man, as indicated by his structure. This applies then with the same force to eggs, milk, cheese, and fish, as to flesh meat." Lambe had been part of the Godwin / Shelley / Newton group in London and Bracknell - described by one historian as a 'prototype vegetarian society'.

The Healthian was published and printed irregularly at Alcott House from Dec.1841 to April 1843. It was then replaced by the more regular New Age from May 1843 initially weekly until that summer, then monthly to Dec. 1844.

New Age; Concordium Gazette and Temperance Advocate
Volume 1, 1843/4

No.4 Vol 1.: Saturday May 27, 1843
VEGETABLE DIET.
To the Editor of the New Age. Sir,—Much admiring the principles propounded in the numbers of the Healthian, of which I presume your new Journal, the Concordium Gazette, is a continuation, I am wishful to come to some practical conclusion concerning that department inculcating vegetable diet. Quite convinced of the correctness of the principle in every variety of view, I am yet at a loss for substitutes for animal food - for tea, coffee, butter, eggs, milk,&c., necessarily precluded by the principles of abstinence from all animal or "cooked" food. The experience of those practically acquainted with this subject, would be of essential service to novices in these matters, who find nothing so perplexing or so difficult as the change of their daily habits in these respects. Hoping these few lines may elicit this information, I remain, Sir, yours,
Enquirer. Liverpool, May 9, 1843.

No.5 Vol 1.: Saturday June 3, 1843
VEGETABLE FOOD. In reply to " Enquirer" respecting the natural food for man, we submit the following list of cooked and uncooked articles of a simply and wholesome nature, which are prepared and used without infringing in any manner upon the freedom and life of the animal race: Oatmeal, Barley, Rice, Sago, Tapioca, Peas, Arrow-root, Macaroni, Vermicelli, Kidney-beans, Broad-beans, Green-peas, Cabbage, Brocoli, Cauliflower, Artichokes, Potatoes, Onions, Beet, Parsnips, Carrots, Turnips, Vegetable-marrow, Vegetable-soups, Pea-soup, Sago puddings, Sago and apple puddings baked, Rice and apple puddings baked, Barley and apple puddings baked, Barley and raisins boiled, Rice and raisins boiled, Rice and onions boiled, Peas boiled, Rice and meal boiled. Plum puddings, Fruit puddings, Currant-dumplings, Fruit pies, Vegetable pies, Bread, Biscuils, Lettuce, Mustard and cress, Radishes, Cucumbers, Melons, Apples, Pears, Dates, Raisins, Figs, and a vast variety
of delicious and nutricious fruits too numerous to mention. For pie-crusts, use mashed potatoes, or yeast, instead of butter or lard.

The above exchange shows very clearly that their idea of a 'vegetable diet' was 100% plant food.

Saturday July 1, 1843 p.64 [in a letter from Gloucester]: "Like yourselves, I am an epicure, a vegetarian."

Vol 1. No.10 October 1843 p.111 (now monthly instead of the previous weekly)
BRITISH AND FOREIGN SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF HUMANITY AND ABSTINENCE FROM ANIMAL FOOD.
[.. preamble ..]
Declaration of Members.—I hereby declare that I will abstain from animal food, and promote, by word and example, the objects of the Society for the Promotion of Humanity and Abstinence from Animal Food.
[.. more rules followed ..]

A note in the December 1843 issue states that this Society was formally launched at Alcott House on October 15, but then we have no further record of it. However the wording is significant - whilst it did not use the word 'vegetarian', it was clearly promototing abstention from *all* animal food, not merely 'animal flesh' which appeared a few years later.

In Odell Shepard's 'Life of Bronson Alcott' (see above) we can also clearly see from many references in the book, that Bronson became what we would now call a strict ethical vegan, stongly concerned with animals issues - unlike his his cousin Dr. William Alcott, Sylvester Graham, and others in America who were solely concerned with health matters, and included the use of eggs/dairy etc.

December 1843 p.143: The Philanthropist Howard : A Hydropath. And Vegetarian. [refers to John Howard, prison reformer]
June 1844 p.237: "To our vegetarian friends it may be interesting to hear the remarks on the insalubrity of the chief settlement at Hong Kong,..."

* link to full 1843-4 volume on Google Books - the consolidated annual volume was published by W. Strange, London, for Alcott House, they printed the individual issues themselves.

Whilst the word 'vegetarian' appears in all the above, there are continuing references to the 'vegetable diet' and 'vegetable food' - suggesting a vegetarian was a person who followed a vegetable diet - and that was entirely plant food. This is made even clearer in the following extract:
Life and letters of George Jacob Holyoake
Volume 1 Ed. Joseph McCabe; Watt & co., 1908

It was from this Spartan home [Alcott House] that an offer of teaching employment came to him [Holyoake] in 1843. It ran :

"Probably you have heard of a very small community now associating together at Alcott House, Ham Common, Surrey, under the name of Concordium : a sort of industrial college, at this present time, having a printer and printing press, tailors, shoemakers, bakers, gardeners, and other labourers: both sexes associating kindly together as one family, and though not manifesting any great doings as yet, are to be highly commended for their sincere and resolute opposition (in practical habits) to the principles, practices, and manners of the Old Immoral World - reprobating war, slavery, and intemperance, and gluttony, and bigotry, not only in profession by wordy declamation, but by discontinuing and discouraging all habits that tend and lead to the above horrors. The Concordists at Alcott House wish to form a school there, and are desirous to meet with a competent educator, previous to agreeing to receive any more children into the establishment, there being
four now there. The diet is exclusively limited to bread-stuffs and farinaceous food and fruits, fresh and dried, of every sort that can be obtained, and all kinds of vegetables, and water is the only drink supplied. Neither milk, butter, cheese, eggs, nor any species of flesh meat, nor animal food : neither tea, coffee, nor any of those artificial stimulants do the Concordists partake of, or supply to others. There are married couples, and parents and children now in the Concordium. The working members receive no wages, but are supplied with lodging, food, clothing, washing, baths, firing, candles, and whatever is needful, for their giving their services to the Concordium. About eight hours daily is the usual average for them to work : eight for sleep : and eight for bathing, recreation, meals, and improvement."

Holyoake had by this time mastered the coyness of the cigar, had vainly tried to rise to the level of vegetarianism, and was fond of tea and other "horrors" of the Old Immoral World.

* link to Google Books (seems to be full view or snippet view in different countries)

Holyoake did not take up the appointment and was later critical, though not hostile, see below.

The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction
Vol.II, No.21, Saturday November 18, 1843. London.

p.337 - Reviews: Flowers and Fruits; or Poetry, Philosophy, and Science. By James Elmslie Duncan. [Other sources, below, show that Duncan was a poet for the Concordium, Alcott House, and by 1848 became its secretary.]

.... He is an advocate for vegetable diet. For this he stands up manfully, and as the best interests of society, if he is right, are connected with the adoption of his views on the subject, it may be well to let him speak for himself. After rather an elaborate description of " The breathing, moving wonder—man," he tells us—

"The thousands who have adopted the vegetable and water diet find themselves the better in health for having so done; we are, therefore, warranted in supposing their longevity will be the greater for it. And the greater portion of those celebrated for their extraordinary age have all been, more or less, more than usually temperate and simple in their diet, have approached, more or less, more than usual, in fact, to the vegetarian diet. Thousands of cases in point might be brought forward, but let the following suffice:—Jenkins and Parr were both exceedingly temperate and simple in their diet, they were almost strict vegetarians and 'teetotalers.' And it is well known that it was the opinion of the medical men of the times, from & post-mortem examination of his body, that the latter would have lived much longer than he really did, had he not been absolutely killed by having his own wonted simple diet changed for that of the Court of King Charles II.
[continues at some length, referring to 'vegetable diet' etc., but with no further use of 'vegetarian'.]

* link to full text on Google Books
* Flowers and Fruits; or Poetry, Philosophy, and Science. By James Elmzlie (sic) Duncan, 1843 [link to Google Books - but 'no preview']
* for Duncan see George Jacob Hollyoake 'History of Co-operation' 1875 [link to complete book on gerald-massey.org.uk], C.XIV: "The Concordium had a poet, James Elmslie Duncan, a young enthusiast, who published a Morning Star in Whitechapel, where here it was much needed." [also brief extract on Google Books ]
* - and 'Story of a Year, 1848' [brief extract on Google Books] by Raymond William Postgate, 1955: "Some ignobly left the Concordium and put on warm pants or stays. James Elmslie Duncan, their secretary, got himself locked in jail for holding up the traffic in Bishopsgate by reciting his own revolutionary poems; ..."

The Board of Health & Longevity, or Hydropathy for the People
London, 1845 by W. Horsell, V.D.M., I.O.R

p.62: 'vegetarian Bramins';
p.98: '... He is a vegetarian. General T. Sheldon of the United States, also a vegetarian..."
pp.250-252: references in the index to vegetarians: Daniel (Biblical), Dr. (Benjamin) Franklin; Dr. Knight; Gen. Sheldon

* link to the full book on Google Books

In 'Search for a New Eden' (see above) J.E.M. Latham says: "In December 1841 the first hydropathic establishment in Britain had been set up in Alcott House by a German, C. von Schlemmer, who had worked at Graefenberg with Priessnitz, originator of the treatment."

We have nothing by William Horsell before 1845. He signs the Preface from 'Union Chapel, Hayes, Middlesex', which is not far from Ham Common so was very likely a visitor, but makes no direct mention of it in this book. He certainly knew them well by 1847 - In 1846/7 he became director/manager of the newly opened Hydropathic Hospital in Ramsgate, Kent, and by then had also become a editor of the journal which succeeded the New Age. See more below.
The Reporter; or, Phonography adapted to verbatim reporting
By Isaac Pitman, London 1846 (Pitman was the inventor of shorthand)

p.10: This List contains the most useful words and phrases in the English language, amounting to 5,800, which are all that ordinarily occur on general subjects.
[...]
p.41: 208. Veterinary surgeon, void, avoid, evade, viewed, vowed, avidity, evident, evidence, vegetable, vegetarian, vacation, avocation, viva voce, vice versa,

* link to full view on Google Books
* Sir Isaac Pitman, his life and labors by Benn Pitman (brother) 1902 (link to archive.org)
* The life of Sir Isaac Pitman (inventor of phonography) by Alfred Baker, 1908 (link to archive.org)

Isaac Pitman (later Sir Isaac, 1813-1897) had adopted the vegetable diet himself in the 1830s. He knew James Pierrepont Greaves from before Alcott House School opened and was an occasional visitor there, his 'Pitman Shorthand' was added to the curriculum. His inclusion of 'vegetarian' in his list at this early stage suggests he was keen to promote it. There are earlier books by Pitman, but none include the word 'vegetarian'. He later became a Vice-President of the Vegetarian Society.

The Truth seeker in literature, philosophy, and religion
Volume 2, London, 1846

p.99: By the way, the stolid critics who elevate the Bible into an inspired Culinary Composition, and convert the comparisons and conceptions of the Jewish Sages into the absolute truth of God, have here quite as good an argument against vegetarian diet, as for vinous drink! The Jewish mind represented Wisdom as 'killing her beasts': therefore, the butchering system must be absolutely best!! What says John Smith to this?
[John Smith, 1798-1888, was the author of 'Fruits and Farinacea, the proper food of man' (link to archive.org) 1845, which has many references to eggs/dairy - but did not use the word 'vegetarian' (he added it to later editions, after 1849), so the London editors of the above journal must have heard it elsewhere. Smith was in Malton, Yorkshire, in the north of England. In 1860 he published a cookbook which was titled 'Vegetarian Cookery', but in 1866, the same book with the same publisher changed to Vegetable Cookery (links to archive.org), both included a large section headed 'Animal Foods' ie : eggs/dairy products - but the later one made no mention at all of the word 'vegetarian']

* link to article on Google Books

The Reasoner: and 'Herald of progress'
Vol.1 London, June 1846; Edited by G. J. Holyoake

p.23 (from a long article on Shelley) It is somewhat diverting to observe the strange premises seized on by various enthusiasts in support of their eccentric views. The Nairs were Shelley's models of virtue or civilization; Wild Peter was Rousseau's ' pure Child of Nature;' and Lord Monboado's was a true vegetarian. Shelley too, by the by, was a vegetable theorist, but we are disposed to let his soups and jellies alone; our prejudice in favour of roast meat is very stubborn after reading all he has written.

* link to extract on Google Books

George Jacob Holyoake was closely involved with Alcott House in 1843, but had begun to have significant differences with them by 1844.

There are a couple of other books on Google Books which appear to be from 1846, and using the word 'vegetarian' - but where they only have a 'snippet view' there is no way of checking whether the publication date is correct - and often they are not.

The Truth Tester and the Hydropathic Hospital

By 1846, William Horsell appears to have taken over editing the Alcott House Journal (now published by Houlston and Stoneman London, the publishers of Horsell's 1845 book) - renaming it, again, as "The Truth-Tester; Temperance Advocate and Healthian Journal". We have two volumes from September 1846 through to 1848, but it implies there were earlier issues and he may well have taken it over when the New Age ended in 1844, but it had initially been aimed more at anti-alcohol temperance until 1846. Alcott House continued to make frequent use of it for their various announcements.

The Hydropathic Hospital at Northwood Villa, Ramsgate, Kent, opened during the winter of 1846/7, with William Horsell as the director/manager.

In early 1847 there is mention in the Truth Tester of Joseph Brotherton, Member of Parliament for Salford, near Manchester. Brotherton was a member of the Bible Christian Church in Salford, which was founded in 1809 and demanded 'abstinence from the flesh of animals' from its followers. In a later issue James Simpson, a very wealthy industrialist, also of the Salford BCC is mentioned. There is then a reprint of an address given to the BCC two years earlier in 1845 - which did not use the V word. All of this suggests that the London and Salford groups had not been very aware of each other before 1847 - the eventual probable link being Joseph Brotherton who, as MP, would have spent much of his time in London.

We have not been able to find any use of the word 'vegetarian' coming from anywhere other than London before 1847.

For some extracts from the 1846/7 issues, giving all the above, and more uses of the 'Vegetarian' word from the later part of 1846, see: The Truth Tester (MS Word .doc file)

The Metropolitan Magazine
Vol. XLVIII, January to April, 1847, published by Saunders & Otley, London
(the title page has '1846' - crossed out and changed to 1847 which is consistent with the indexes)
April 1847, pp.403-412:

THE VEGETARIAN
OR,
A VISIT TO AUNT PRIMITIVE.
BY FANNY E, LACY.
COMPANION TO A " A SKETCH OF A CHARACTER" IN NUMBER CLIXI. OF THE "METROPOLITAN" FOR APRIL, 1846.
"A vegetable diet affords the same support as animal food, with the important advantage of preventing plethora."—Dr. Reece's Medical Guide.

" Now I do entreat, Walter," said my mother, as I was taking my departure for a gay sojourn in London,—" I do beg and entreat, that you will not leave town without paying a visit to your Aunt Primitive. She does not live exactly in the metropolis, to be sure: she is still at her pretty little retirement, Evergreen Lodge. Only do make a point of calling upon her, my dear boy."

" Oh, yes! to dine upon cold cabbages and water-gruel," was my jocose reply. " I dare say, indeed."

" Nay, nay," chimed in my father, " you may find yourself mistaken there, Wal. Mrs. Primitive's hospitality has never been questioned, I believe : and though, from choice, she has for many years been a vegetarian, she does not insist upon her visitors following her example."

[a long story follows over ten pages with many uses of the word 'vegetarian']

* link to the full article, on p.403, in Google Books

Howitt's journal of literature and popular progress
Volume 1, London, June 12, 1847 By William Howitt, Mary Botham Howitt

p.336: Co-operative Excursion.—On Whit-Monday [late May] a number of the members and friends of the Co-operative League, being desirous of connecting rational enjoyment with the spread of their principles, determined to spend the day together, in a rural excursion to the vegetarian establishment, Alcott House, Ham Common, there to commune together on the advantages of cooperation. Those who were able, started early in the morning, and the remainder of the friends continued to arrive during the day. A vegetable dinner, consisting of several kinds of pies, puddings, and fruits, was provided by the proprietors of Alcott House, for such as chose to partake of it, at a trifling cost, and was the subject of considerable amusement; others of the friends whose fleshly appetites could not brook so simple an entert ninment, formed pic-nic parties, or betook themselves to neighbouring places of accommodation.

* link to full journal on Google Books

In early 1847, the Truth Tester, edited by William Horsell, now at the Hydropathic Hospital in Ramsgate, Kent, carried a letter from a reader in Hampshire proposing the creation of a Vegetarian Society. This was followed up by Wm. Oldham, manager of the Concordium, Alcott House, who arranged the first meeting at Alcott House on Thursday July 8, 1847.

The meeting was adjourned to September 30 at Ramsgate, where Joseph Brotherton M.P. was invited to take the chair, and The Vegetarian Society was founded. The first President was James Simpson of the Salford Bible Christian Church; Secretary Wm. Horsell, Ramsgate; Treasurer Wm. Oldham, Alcott House. Full details of all the above at www.ivu.org/congress/1847

The original meaning of 'a vegetarian' at Alcott House was someone following an entirely plant food diet. However the new Vegetarian Society reduced that to : "The objects of the Society are, to induce habits of abstinence from the flesh of animals as food." - which left a lot of things that were not 'flesh', such as eggs/dairy.

The move to ovo-lacto appears to have come from the Salford Bible Christian Church which had started in 1809, but had no connection with Alcott House until early 1847 - the two were probably barely aware of each other's existence before that - and the BCC had not been using the word 'vegetarian'. However, the BCC took a primary role in the new society, and had the heavyweight political and financial clout to get their version formalised.

As far back as 1829, Mr. Brotherton's wife, Martha, published the first known cookbook for the 'vegetable diet' : 'Vegetable cookery: with an introduction recommending abstinence from animal food & intoxicating liquors' - yet another 'no preview' on google books, but we do have the complete introduction included in Random recollections of the Lords and Commons, Volume 1 (link to google books) By James Grant, 1838. Whilst arguing the benefits of a 'vegetable diet', and against 'animal food' she states: "The gout is also said to be caused, in some degree, by the eating of flesh-meat, and instances are on record of its being cured by a milk diet." We make no defence of that claim, merely noting that she appears to have classed milk as a vegetable.

See also: extracts from The Truth Tester; Temperance Advocate and Healthian Journal 1847-8 (MS Word .doc file)

The Reasoner
Vol. 74. Wednesday, October 27, 1847, London. Edited by G. J. Holyoake,

p.96: My remarks were merely meant to satirise the foible so prevalent among our vegetarian friends, of complacently imagining that the imbibing of peculiar food endows them with unusual purity and intellectuality.

* full text on Google Books

George Jacob Holyoake was closely involved with Alcott House in 1843, but had begun to have significant differences with them by 1844.

Google Books lists another 'no preview' with a long title: "A few recipes of vegetarian diet: with suggestions for the formation of a dietary, from which the flesh of animals is excluded : accompanied by scientific facts, showing that vegetable food is more nutritive, and more digestible than the flesh of animals." Whittaker & Co., 1847 - the 'flesh of animals' suggests that this was a very early Vegetarian Society publication. It appears to be the same one referenced as 1848 in the 1850 article from 'The British and foreign medico-chirurgical review' below - with large quantities of eggs/dairy in many recipes.

The use of the word 'vegetarian' now expanded as a general adjective for almost anything, as this satirical item shows:

Punch magazine, London , 1848, Vol XIV, p.182

THE VEGETARIAN MOVEMENT.

When we noticed, a week or two ago, a banquet of vegetables, we were not aware that a great Vegetarian Movement was going on, with a vegetarian press, a vegetarian society, a vegetarian boarding-house, a vegetarian school, two or three vegetarian hotels, a vegetarian Life Insurance Office, vegetarian letter-paper, vegetarian pens, vegetarian wafers, and vegetarian envelopes.

The Vegetarian Advocate has replied to our article on the late vegetarian banquet, and we must confess that, notwithstanding the very cholera-inducing diet on which the members of the sect exist, the answer is by no means of a choleric character. The Vegetarian Advocate has a delicious vegetable leader, with two or three columns of provincial intelligence, showing the spread of vegetarian principles. There are vegetarian missionaries going about the country inculcating the doctrine of peas and potatoes; and there is a talk of a vegetarian dining-room, where there is to be nothing to eat but potatoes, plain and mashed, with puddings and pies in all their tempting variety.

We understand a prize is to be given for the quickest demolition of the largest quantity of turnips; and a silver medal will be awarded to the vegetarian who will dispose of one hundred heads of celery with the utmost celerity. We sincerely hope the puddings will not get into the heads of our vegetarian friends, and render them pudding-headed; but they are evidently in earnest; and, if we are disposed to laugh at them for their excessive indulgence in rice, we suspect that, Ilisum teneatis, amid, will be the only reply they will make to us.

* link to the original volume on Google Books - this appears to be a combined volume for 1848, the item must have appreared early in the year for the follow-up below.

We also now find our first example of the word 'vegetarian' being used in the USA:

Holden's Dollar Magazine, New York, July 1848, Vol.II, No.1

p.260: a satirical poem about '...the transcendental "Vegetarian" Alcott' (other satirical comments on later pages)

p.763: The vegetable eaters, who, a few years since, made so much noise amongst us, being stirred up by Dr. Graham, have lately sprouted up in great numbers in England. They are there called Vegetarians, and they have become so numerous that they have a representative in Parliament, and have recently been having vegerable banquets all over England ; and we should not be astonished if, by and by, we hear talk of the roast potatoes, instead of the roast beef of old England. [the entire section of Punch, above, is then quoted, minus the cartoon, followed by another brief satirical comment.]

* full journal on Google Books

In 1848 William Horsell renamed the journal yet again - now called The Vegetarian Advocate [link to 'no preview' on Google Books - the Vegetarian Society UK has a complete copy] and published from 1848-50. For the first 2 or 3 years the Vegetarian Society was run from London by its Secretary, William Horsell, who had left Ramsgate and seems to have set up as a publisher in London.

However, there must have been some conflicts as James Simpson, in Salford, started The Vegetarian Messenger in 1849 [link to 'no preview' on Google Books - the Vegetarian Society UK has all issues 1849-1959], which became the official journal of the Society. He then moved the entire Society to Salford, and it has remained in the Manchester area ever since (see www.vegsoc.org )

Alcott House had closed in 1848 - and without the long-term support of the BCC, and James Simpson in particular, it is doubtful whether the Vegetarian Society would have survived beyond 1850. However, it is unfortunate that Alcott House was then largely written out of the history of the Society.

Meanwhile, some members of the Bible Christian Church had emigrated to Philadelphia in 1817, led by William Metcalfe. He recruited Sylvester Graham and Dr. William Alcott (Bronson's cousin, but Bronson was not directly involved in this) and in 1850 they founded the American Vegetarian Society in New York. Not suprisingly, they used the same definition of 'vegetarian' as the BCC led Society in Great Britain "abstinence from the flesh of animals as food". The AVS ran for ten years, folding around 1860. Both branches of the BCC closed around 1920.

The problematic legacy of combining the pure plant-food diet of Alcott House, with the eggs/dairy of the BCC, was soon picked up by those opposed to vegetarianism, and is still with us today. This is from 1850, three years after the launch of the Vegetarian Society::
The British and foreign medico-chirurgical review or quarterly journal of practical medicine and surgery
Vol. VI, July-October 1850, London (this article from the July issue)

p.76: What is "Vegetarianism?" The answer will vary, according as it describes the principles or the practice of Vegetarians ; for between the two there is a most extraordinary discrepancy. Look at this picture, and look at that:

Principles.
"The principle of Vegetarianism, like any element of food, is plain and simple; —that man, as a physical, intellectual, and moral being, desiring the development of all his faculties to their fullest extent, can best accomplish his desire by living according to his original constitution or nature, which requires that he should subsist on the direct productions of the vegetable kingdom, and totally abstain from the flesh and blood of the Animal creation."
" An individual who subsists upon the products of the vegetable kingdom, and abstains entirely from the flesh of animals, is considered a Vegetarian; and is eligible as a member of the Vegetarian Society." (The Vegetarian Messenger, p. 2.)
[continues at some length]

PRACTICE.
RECIPES OF VEGETARIAN DIET.
[quoted from: Recipes of Vegetarian Diet; with Suggestions for the Formation of a Dietary, from which the Flesh of Animals is excluded.—London, 1848. 12mo, pp. 40.]

Principal Dishes.
5. Omelet. Ingredients;—5 Eggs; 2 oz. Onion; 2 oz. Bread-crumbs; teaspoonful of Sage. To be fried in Butter.
6. Rice Fritters. Ingredients;—6oz.of Rice and 5 Eggs. To be fried in Butter.
7. Baked Bread Omelet. Ingredients; —6 oz. of Stale Bread; 5 Eggs; 1/2oz. of Parsley; 1/4oz. of Lemon Thyme. To be baked in a well-buttered dish.
8. Onion and Sage Fritters. Ingredients ;—5 oz. of Onion ; teaspoonful of powdered Sage ; 4 Eggs ; and 4 oz. of Stale Bread. To be fried in Butter.
9. Baked Rice Omelet. Ingredients; —6 oz. of Rice; 6 Eggs; and 1/2oz. of Parsley. To be baked in a well-buttered dish.
10. Bread and Parsley Fritters. Ingredients ;—6 oz. of Stale Bread; 4 Eggs; and 1/2oz. of Parsley. To be fried in Butter.
[continues at some length]

Thus, then, we see that the "Vegetarian" professes not merely the negative principle of total abstinence from the flesh and blood of the Animal creation ; but also the positive doctrine that the nature of Man requires that he should subsist on the direct productions of the Vegetable kingdom, namely, Fruits, Farinacea, and other substances which it furnishes in a state fit for human food. Nothing, we should have thought, can be more simple and intelligible than these assertions. Now let us examine how far the disciples of the Vegetarian system act up to their profession of faith.
[....]
But it is not merely the presence, but the predominance of eggs, that strikes us as strangely inconsistent with the Vegetarian professions.

[...comparison of quantities of meat and eggs/dairy consumed in meat or 'vegetarian' diets...]

...we find that the so called vegetarian positively consumes, according to his own diet-scale, as much animal food as the avowed flesh eater.
[....]
.... the following passage of the Preface to the Recipes of Vegetarian Diet: "The recipes are adapted, principally, for the use of Vegetarians making use of milk, butter and eggs; but, since there are many who do not allow these to enter into the composition of their food, it is intended, shortly, to issue a second part, containing such recipes as will supply a Dietary suited to those entering upon Vegetarianism in this last acceptation of the term."

These last are evidently the only true Vegetarians.

[... more about eggs/dairy ...]

... it is not true Vegetarianism, being nothing else than the substitution of one form of Animal food for another.

The entire article (link to google books) ran for 22 pages, and was reprinted in other journals.

36 years later the confusion continued. Anna Kingsford MD, writing in the Preface to her 'Dreams and Dreams Stories' (text file 471k) of 1886, stated: "For the past fifteen years I have been an abstainer from flesh-meats. Not a vegetarian, because during the whole of that period I have used such animal produce as butter, cheese, eggs, and milk."

Note 1 - the Oxford English Dictionary has for a long time given a source from 1839 of the word 'vegetarian':
1839 F. A. KEMBLE 'Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation 1838-1839' (1863) 251 "If I had had to be my own cook, I should inevitably become a vegetarian".
The OED did not include the rest of that sentence - "probably indeed return to my green and salad days" [ full text on Google Books - 1864 edition] - which seems to imply some past experience of a plant food diet in her youth.
BUT - this journal was never published until 1863, long after the word 'vegetarian' had become commonplace, so may have been inserted by a later editor.
OR- She was born in England, was a star of the stage, returned to England often, was a very active abolitionist and so would have been in touch with members of reform movements, and she carried on a lifetime correspondence with at least one English friend. So she could possibly have heard or read the word 'vegetarian' by 1839 - which is within our timeframe.
Either way, we are trying to locate the original handwritten journal, and more details of who Kemble was contacting in England.
The journal was mostly in the form of letters to Elizabeth Dwight Sedgwick in Lenox, Berkshire, MA (age 12 at the time?), and presumably with replies that are not given: - on p.49 "the pork and bacon would prove a most welcome addition to their farinaceous diet." - an unusual use of the word 'farinaceous', much used in that way by those debating the vegetable diet at the time. She clearly would have been opposed by 1839, but might have read something relevant.
- Fanny's lifetime correspondence was with Harriet St. Leger, 12 years older than herself, a member of the minor aristocracy in London and Dublin, and described as 'eccentric' - just the sort of person who might have mentioned the new 'vegetarians' in a letter to her friend, even if she was not one herself.
- Fanny was in London for a year fom 1836-7, but from what we know it is unlikely she would have heard the word 'vegetarian' then. Alcott House opened in July 1838.
- another link was Harriet Martineau who was in America from January 1834 to August 1836, she wrote: 'I saw much of Fanny [Kemble] in America ... She showed me the proof-sheets of her clever "Journal," and, as she chose to require my opinion of it, obtained a less flattering one than from most people ... I was sufficiently shocked at certain passages to induce her to cancel some thirty pages.'- this would have been the earlier journal, 1833/4. Ms. Martineau was a member of the abolitionist society, so had much in common with Fanny's 1838/9 experiences.
- but she was also close to the Boston transcendentalists - from [Bronson] alcott.net: "Miss Harriet Martineau, who knew Mr. Alcott well in 1837, spoke of him on her return home to James Pierrepont Greaves,..." It was Harriet who gave Greaves the books that introduced him to Alcott - so did Harriet later mention the Alcott House 'vegetarians' in a letter to Fanny Kemble? .

- some curious common links between Fanny Kemble and people above:

* The vegetarian poet Shelley's father-in-law was William Godwin, who wrote a play in 1800, which was produced and performed by members of the Kemble theatrical family in London. Godwin would have known Fanny's parents.
* Edward John Trelawny (1792 - 1881) was a close friend of Shelley, and assisted Lord Byron with Shelley's funeral pyre in 1822. In 1833/34 Trelawny was in America where he became friendly with Fanny Kemble and 'he bought a slave for a thousand dollars and set him free'. See: www.bn15.co.uk/history/e_j_trelawney.html
* Meanwhile, In 1832 Fanny recorded in her journal that she was crossing the Atlantic and reading a biography of Byron and works by Shelley. She mentioned that she already knew who Trelawny was when she met him. She had tried to read Byron as a child, but her family disapproved, apparently getting the opportunity when she met Harriet St. Leger in her teens.
* In 1846 Fanny visited the place in Italy where Shelley had drowned [ A year of consolation - link to google books ].
* in the 1850s and 60s Louisa May Alcott in her 'letters and journals' (link to archive.org) mentions Fanny Kemble as a neighbor and seems to have known her quite well.