Planting A Healthy Garden & Helping A Water Problem

Planting A Healthy Garden & Helping A Water Problem plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

It is time to start thinking about planting that family garden and Auburn University Extension's Donna Shanklin gives some examples of fruits and vegetables that can be planted in a home garden that provide beneficial vitamins and minerals.

SHANKLIN: Vitamin A for example – carrots, sweet potatoes, kale. A lot of people don’t eat kale but it’s an excellent source of vitamin A. Spinach, collard greens and again tomatoes. Vitamin E can be found in peanuts, tomatoes again the broccoli and spinach and it’s an antioxidant. And then protein for example, everyone needs protein in their diet. A lot of people aren’t getting protein from their diet. A lot of them are trying to reduce the meat consumption so a lot of them can be found in a lot of bean, lentils. Depending on what region you are in the United States each area seems to have its favorite bean varieties. They can be black beans, garbanzo, navy or pinto. Those are easily grown in the garden for the most part and you get your protein.

Seattle is asking for residents help to combat a water runoff problem and they are willing to pay for it. They are asking citizens to install a rain garden or a cistern to keep rainwater from overflowing the cities antiquated sewer system and they may pay 80 to 100% of the cost of the project. To see if you qualify go to rainwise.seattle.gov and get advice on how to construct your own rain garden.

Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.

The USDA has decided to reconsider their ban on haggis, the national dish of Scotland. If you don’t know, haggis is a type of sausage made from sheep heart, liver and lung that is rolled in oats, onion and pepper and then stuffed into a sausage casing and boiled. Maybe you wish you had remained uninformed. While it’s not a dish that most Americans beat down doors to get, there are a loyal group of haggis connoisseurs.  I myself had the opportunity to try haggis as a teenager at the house of a friend and found it quite tasty indeed. Of course it took some major coaxing to get me to try it. The U.S. has had a ban on haggis since the U.K.’s mad cow scare of the 1980’s and the recent announcement that the Department of Agriculture is now possibly willing to lift that ban has Scottish producers more than a little excited. Again, haggis is probably not the type of food that will be flying off the grocery store shelves if the ban is lifted but it will be a happy time for the more than six million Scottish Americans if it is. Who knows, if given the opportunity more Americans might find that haggis, like the bagpipes, can really grow on you.

Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.