Article by AnneMarie Berukoff

What can you do about the headlines dealing with the many food recalls in recent months? How often do you feel that the regulatory agencies may not be doing their jobs and adequately following the outbreak of different bacteria when they eventually get reported?

Salmonella is a group of bacteria that live in the intestinal tracts of humans, animals and even birds. Food that is contaminated has no visible signs of pollution and looks and smells normal.

It is always a good idea to review these two tips about avoiding different contaminations:

1. Do not eat raw unwashed foods which can spread the bacteria or raw or undercooked eggs, poultry, or meat. This includes some unintentional foods, even in restaurants, such as garlic butter, Hollandaise sauce, Caesar dressing, tiramisu, homemade ice cream and cookie dough.

2. Cross-contamination is the usual way to spread the bacteria. Do not handle uncooked meats or poultry beside any raw vegetables and fruit. When cutting any meat, use a separate cutting board from the one used to chop vegetables. Wash utensils as they are used. Wash hands often. Do not wipe off the counter with traces of meat juices with a towel and then later wipe fruits or dry dishes.

Now here is a very interesting question. Have you ever thought of adopting a strategy of growing your own food to combat the problem? What if, you could do this in a time efficient, minimal space garden based on natural ecological principles?

Of course, there are many benefits of growing your own natural organic garden. It will help in saving money toward sky rocketing food costs. It will hopefully lessen the overall health and safety issues which are becoming forefront concerns in our daily lives.

For example, the FDA has made several recalls over the past two years that seem to question the safety of our national food supplies.Salmonella has been found in peanuts or pistachios, botulism in canned green beans and E-coli in spinach are among the many questions that people ask about the regulatory agencies and their ability to ensure food safety. Individuals are becoming more aware of this growing problem and the long-term effect of potentially dangerous foods on their families. They are interested in discovering more sustainable methods to reduce the dependence on external food sources and their risk of food poisoning from these very real threats.

The good news is that even without large plots of land, you can start to plan your home garden based on smaller, more creative alternatives.

You can set up hanging gardens without flowers and fill up containers with tomatoes, peppers and strawberries and fill pots and tubs on the back patio with sources of fresh vegetables and herbs.

For the more curious home gardener, you can also investigate special units specifically designed to provide artificial sunlight and hydroponic technologies.

Perhaps the most probable way to grow your own fresh organic vegetables is to learn more about ecological gardening and how to integrate this easy method into a healthy diet and lifestyle.

Even if you live in a unit or townhouse with no soft ground you could create a mini-ecological garden using a series of containers. Polystyrafoam boxes with drainage holes are ideal. Fill them with good potting mixture and arrange them side by side using as many as you can fit onto your verandah or patio. Rather than developing a large composting system, you could purchase a worm farm and add the worm casts to the soil surface as fertilizer. Once the boxes are set up, simply adopt the ecological gardening method.

The Ecological Gardening Method is based on 5 key principles explained in an ebook and video package.

1. Plant densely.

2. Plant a diversity of plants within a given area.

3. Get a good composting system set up and use the compost as a surface mulch on bare patches.

4. Allow some plants to go to seed.

5. Only interfere with the system when a single species of plant over-dominates and simply scratch out excess plants when they are small.

In summary, if you have different serious concerns which you feel may be threatening the health of your family, definitely explore your options in growing your own organic food in a small space, if necessary. Your backyard will never look more beautiful…and delicious.

It will be well worth your health to learn more how 8 hours of effort a year can produce fresh organic foods and save thousands of dollars in fresh grocery bills?

About the Author

Annemarie Berukoff is a retired teacher and networker who researches, writes and strongly advocates for Mother Nature in order to give her a voice on natural health, natural diets, wholefood supplements, organic gardening, the wellness revolution and more. http://www.healthyfamilydiets.wordpress.com

Direct ecological gardening link is http://bit.ly/grEAT4