Many Hands Organic Farm

Nutrition in Addiction Recovery
Rebecca Place Miller

This document has been prepared by Many Hands Sustainability Center (MHSC) as part of its Nutritional Education and Job-Training Program, a program that offers former prisoners recovering from drug and alcohol addiction an opportunity to develop job skills, learn about all aspects of organic farming, and become educated about proper nutrition and healthier lifestyle choices.

This document has been prepared to educate people about how drugs and alcohol can disrupt the normal functioning of the body and how better nutrition can help diminish some of these biochemical and digestive problems. This document only focuses on one specific component of a comprehensive recovery treatment program—better nutrition. It is not intended to be used as a substitute for a doctor's advice or as a recovery treatment program.

The Versatile Stinging Nettle: Jean's Greens #78
Jean Argus

Nettle is a perennial plant found all over the world, usually growing in gardens and along roadsides and fences. Its small, green flowers bloom in drooping clusters from July to September. Nettle gets its sting from bristly hairs that act like tiny hypodermic needles, injecting an irritating substance when touched. Most people develop tiny blisters and an itching rash from live nettle, but its sting is destroyed by boiling water, making nettle tea a safe and popular beverage. Young plants in early spring can be eaten raw in salads before their sting develops.

Herbs for Improved Liver Function: Jean's Greens #68
Jean Argus

Overworked and underappreciated, your liver is as vital for life as your heart. Without it, digestion would be impossible and your body would have no means of eliminating waste products or detoxifying poisons. The liver stores fat soluble vitamins; it produces and stores glycogen, a source of glucose used by the brain and muscles for energy; it digests worn out red cells and some bacteria; it aids in the body's metabolism of proteins, carbohydrates, and minerals; and it manufactures heparin, an anticoagulant. The average human liver weighs four pounds and is the largest solid organ in the body. A healthy liver is a blessing in every way. A congested or overworked liver leads to fatigue, incomplete digestion, lymph infections, intestinal inflammation, kidney or bladder problems, skin disorders, and other symptoms. A malfunctioning liver leads to death.

Review of 'Gut and Psychology Syndrome'
Beth Ingham

Once in awhile you come across a book that causes you to stop and pay attention. Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig was just such a book to me when I first encountered it twelve years ago, and I continue to hold it up as the gold standard for how healthy people should be eating. It is without a doubt the single most important book on diet and nutrition available.

Farm Labor: Working with Ex-offenders
Julie Rawson

It is serendipitous that as I sit down to write this article about working with ex-offenders on our farm the 6 year-old daughter of one of our now full-time farm staff, Anamarie, is sitting next to me drawing pictures and spelling out "cook lunch" as I promised her that we would cook lunch together when I get done with this article.

The Zen of Food Preservation
Julie Rawson, lifelong food processor

When you are making plans to set up housekeeping with someone for the long haul, it is good to know what you have in common. In our case Jack and I, as it turned out, both thought it was important to center our lives around children, giving them meaningful work to do, and to live frugally. Along with our old beat up cars and no mortgage, we hold the preservation of food for later use as a high priority on our homestead.