LOOKING for: Why did you become a vegetarian
HNP
23 years ago
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23 years agoJennifer
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Why you shouldn't become a Master Gardener
Comments (15)Another MG here....at least I completed the course but I was unable to do the volunteer work due to a medical problem. I did mine in Thomas Co., Ga. and here they require 50 hrs. of volunteer the first yr. and 25 hrs. every year after that to retain your "certificate". I don't need a "certificate". As for the class....way too much about turf grass! But the reason for that is that many varities of turf grass has been developed at the UofGa. satelite campus in Tifton, Ga....especially that nasty bermuda grass! I wish they had it all back, that stuff is horrible for people who have gardens & flower beds...it gets into everything. I was raised on a farm in central Ill. and have gardened most of my life. So I ended up teaching many things to my class...they were not things the UofGa. would promote cause I tend to use very little to no chemicals! Monsanto gives grant monies to UofGa. so they promote using chemicals for anything & everything! The class was interesting and I did get one very helpful item from it....no matter where you live or what you plan to do with your land...GET A SOIL TEST BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE! See what your soils actually need before you start putting things down that won't help or could make it worse. I found that my soils are in dire need of lime. Since we have several acres, I got ag. lime...it is loose (sorta powder form) so it won't go through regular lawn applicators, I've applied it by hand where I needed it. The thing is, it only cost $20 for one ton, but we did have to haul it ourselves. The cost of one ton of pellet lime in bags would be way beyond my budget. The ag lime also tends to last longer in the soils than the pellet. Most of the MGs in Thomas Co. are also wealthy women and a few men. And since I don't live in Thomas Co. I had another strike against me. My county doesn't give the MG class...it is geared more to field crops, both commidity crops (peanuts/cotton) and field veggie crops. I've learned more from being on several different gardening boards and asking questions than I learned in MG class. I've also taught a few folks things I already knew. So don't limit yourself to just one source of information...gather it from every place you go and then weigh it for how it will work in your area. No one has the same exact conditions as anyone else...even the neighbor next door or across the street/road. We all have to learn what works best for our own!...See MoreWhy Did You Become a Horticulturist?
Comments (27)I became a horticulturist because it was in my blood. Both my parents and both sets of grandparents were avid gardeners. It was what they did in their spare time and as a child I grew up in gardens and the woods of North Florida. I got my AA degree and still had no clue what I wanted to major in so I moved to Colorado and became a waiter at a country club where I met one of the gardeners who tended the landscape not the fairways when I was dumping ice from the shrimp buffet into the shrubs off the deck in the early spring and he objected and explained why. It just dawned on me that was what I was supposed to get my BS degree in. I had to party and ski a bit first and then move back home again but I did get my degree from the University of Florida in Gainesville. I knew it was not going to be a big money career but I also knew I could not work in any kind of office type job. I needed to be outside and to be honest away from people. What it has allowed me is to be successfully self-employed for the last 18 years. I have never advertised and all my work comes from referral. My business is essentially me and one helper. I have never made any effort to hire a big crew and get tons of accounts. My perfectionist nature would cause me to implode trying to keep all that together. The money part, yes I do have regrets, not having saved or bought my own home and living month to month. That has much more to do though with me being a lousy business man than the field I chose. I'd suggest, Dr. Horticulture, that if you are concerned about the money take a few business classes. I wish I had. I have seen plenty of people make plenty of money in the vast vast field that is Horticulture. More then anything it is a function of how much of a priority it is to you and the skills you have to make that happen. Even with my lower middle class life I do not regret the choice I made. As I have gotten older and my body has begun to complain, money has taken on a new priority. For me getting sober was necesary before I could begin to realize the true value of the knowledge I have and to start charging what I was worth and get more selective about who I would work for and what I was willing to do. In just four years that has made a big difference in my income. The simplest answer to your question though is you can make plenty money in the field of horticulture if you are a good business man as well. ilima...See MoreLOOKING for: low carb. vegetarian?
Comments (20)I am not diabetic but I do have insulin resistance as part of another medical (gynocological) condition called PCOS. I have been on Metformin (usually prescribed to diabetics) for a few years now. My dad is diabetic and I am at some risk of developing diabetes, too. I used to be thin-normal weight but began gaining weight when I developed PCOS and insulin resistance. The Metformin has helped control my weight a bit, but I am still overweight because I have relied too much on this drug and continued eating whatever I want. I don't smoke or drink or do drugs, so food has always been my vice. Especially when I am stressed or down, I go to "comfort foods" which are high in carbs. (High-carb foods such as white potatoes are comforting because they actually help increase the level of serotinin in your brain, which is how antidepressants such as Prozac work.) Anyways, a year ago I decided to stop eating meat as part of a health kick to eat lighter, healthier and lose weight. I had been stuffing myself daily and eating lots of chicken. At first I was always hungry, because I was used to eating a lot and the truth is, nothing is quite as filling as meat. I ate all the whole grain bread and veggies and fruit I wanted, but I was always hungry again soon. Then my body adjusted and it became much easier. If you eat whole grain bread, pasta, rice, et cetera, you should feel fuller than if you eat refined carbs. The fibre content in whole grains slows down the rate at which your body converts the carbs into blood sugar, which prevents your blood sugar and insulin levels from spiking up and crashing. When choosing carbs, think of eating high fibre. High fibre is the key to helping to control insulin levels. Refined carbs have little to no fibre left in them. Anyways, I lost weight and then fell off the wagon when Christmas rolled around, as there were delicious cookies and candies and chocolates everywhere! Also, it was hard to eat whole grain carbs all the time, because most restaurants and cafeterias use refined, white flour bread, pasta and rice; they also usually serve white potatoes, not sweet potatoes (sweet potatoes are much better for you). I only managed to lose weight at first as a vegetarian because I packed homemade snacks and meals with whole grain bread from the grocery store, and carried my food around with me all day while I was out and about. Normally I am not so good; normally I buy lunch everyday at work. It's not that hard anymore to eat out and eat vegetarian, but it IS still hard to eat out and eat whole grain carbs instead of refined, white flour carbs. You may see my problem here: I like to eat out a lot but I don't like eating meat or eating refined, white-flour carbs. That REALLY limits my choices when I go out. If I want to eat the way I know I should, I basically can't eat out. Also, there is a misconception that the biggest enemy of insulin resistance/diabetes is sugar and carbs, but the real enemy is saturated fat. It's just that most fattening foods are also loaded with sugar. You need the sugar to make the lard palapable. About 30% of the weight of chocolate, for example, is due soley to its lard content. Saturated fat is the real enemy, but when you eat out at a cafeteria or restaurant, you don't know what kind or how much cooking oil they use. You don't really know the ingredients. This also makes eating out hard if you are concerned with diabetes/insulin resistance, or just weight control in general. I heard that the Canadia Liberal government is planning to get rid of trans fat from school cafeterias, and there is some organization trying to get rid of trans fat cooking oils from all restaurants altogether. I think the next step may be to demand better quality carbs. Diabetes is an epidemic now, afterall! Anyways, I have decided to ween myself off the Metformin because of its side effects. This will mean that in order to avoid becoming obese, I will have to get strict again about what I eat, prepare homemade snacks and meals to take out, and exercise more (strenuous exercise increases insulin sensitivity). When I first told my family doctor I had gone vegetarian, she wasn't very happy. My blood tests had shown that I had very low vitamin B12. Because vitamin B12 is derived primarily from animal meat (it is absent from plant food), my doctor assumed my low B12 levels was due to my dietary changes. I started taking vitamins from the drug store. I'm not sure, but I think that helped a bit. Vitamin B12, like iron, is essential for a lot of things, including hair health. For a couple years now I have been concerned that my hair falls out too much. Well, I recently read that 10-30% of patients on Metformin long-term experience vitamin B12 deficiency (and can subsequently lose hair) because Metformin can actually interfere with the body's ability to absorb vitamin B12! It's all becoming so complicated. For a while I considered just going back to eating meat so that I could stop filling up on refined carbs everyday and then relying on Metformin to help with the resulting insulin spikes, but I have decided no, meat is gross, so I am instead going to just carry around homemade whole grain food with me all day as I go about my business, eat out less, exercise more and get off the Metformin. I know I can lose weight without meat because I did it once before, a year ago. It just takes discipline. Hopefully, my hair will also thicken up again after being off the Metformin for a while. One more thing: a good alternative to rice is quinoa. It is a good grain with lower carb content. It also cooks much faster than rice. It tastes lovely and fluffy. It works well as a side dish in place of rice....See MoreLOOKING for: Do you get any grief?
Comments (21)It's good to see more posts on this topic. Someone, perhaps jokingly, mentioned starting a suppport group.... on those lines... I'm pretty much alone in my vegetarian choice (I know there are other vegetarians in town, but no immediate friends) so I've been searching the internet from time to time for support - just reading what others are doing or about the benefits give me a boost. Does anyone know of a vegetarian message board that's reasonably active, where people provide support for each other? I found one once but lost the address (forgot to bookmark). Carolb, did I get it from you?.... I would also be more than happy to compile names/e-addreses for a listserve of sorts - was on one for a long time for running and it was a huge help. In that case, there were about 15 of us who e-mailed once a week (or occassionally more) to the whole group about our progress for the past week, any problems or injuries or successes, etc. It was a great way to keep my motivation up, find support and help during down times, etc., since I run alone and out in the boonies. If anyone is interested in that kind of thing for vegetarianism I'd be glad to collect addresses and send them out to everyone so we could get going. Let me know!! I think age is a factor in reactions also - younger people often seem more accepting than older - although I will say that my parents are pretty good about it (although dad keeps saying, "But if we go out to eat and I buy you a good steak you'd eat it, right?") :-) I think sometimes people take my choice as an attack on theirs and that's not my intent. Mostly I just keep my mouth shut. I will say that I do find that being a vegetarian has spilled over into many areas/levels of my life that I didn't anticipate - especially since I haven't been a big meat-eater for years and years anyway. Bon appetit, everyone!...See MoreGardener15
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