organicgreendoctor: garden news-produce donations and why i grow tomatoes

organicgreendoctor: garden news-produce donations and why i grow tomatoes: GARDEN NEWS-PRODUCE DONATIONS AND WHY I GROW TOMATOES in our community garden we annually grow about 5,000 pounds of organic produce that we...

garden news-produce donations and why i grow tomatoes

GARDEN NEWS-PRODUCE DONATIONS AND WHY I GROW TOMATOES

in our community garden we annually grow about 5,000 pounds of organic produce that we donate on a weekly basis
twice a week we harvest and make donations to various charities
on this day we harvested this box of produce to a halfway house for men
we also donated boxes to three other different sites
a halfway house for women
a hospice for underserved patients
a homeless shelter

this box above i delivered to the mens halfway house
in the box are
lots of squash such as zucchini yellow squash tatume and trumpeta  squash
tomatoes lots of them mainly early girl and celebration and cherry tomatoes
three varieties of kale curly leaf dinosaur and a heirloom version
lots of green beans
malabar spinach
collards
lemons
peppers jalapenos poblano and bell 
herbs rosemary thyme sage and oregano

each group we donate to are thankful for the donations of fresh organic vegetables and fruits

most of the donations and grants we receive are used to make sure we can continue this service of providing this produce to those in need


each year in the winter i select tomato seeds to plant in my garden and the community garden
for my garden i plant early girl and celebration since they usually do well
i also add black krim and this year i added one called pink boar
the black krim and pink boar look similar and taste the same
i also do a sweet 100 cherry and sungold 

but the real reason i plant tomatoes 
is
to 
grow the cherokee purple
cause if the season is good and things go right
they are the best tasting tomatoes
a true sink tomato

this year several of mine are hand sized and when sliced fill up a piece of bread on a tomato sandwich

these pictured above were tasty and juicey and when i sliced them and put them on a plate at a potluck they went fast

yes i have more this size
i am not sharing them with anyone but my wife she and me
i have to keep her happy you know

so far
i have had a successful tomato harvest this year
with the peak being these cherokee purple tomatoes

yes this why i grow tomatoes

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: August 7th

organicgreendoctor: August 7th: AUGUST 7TH i circle august 7th on my calendar every year its the day that i started my blog in 2010 the day mr h was born the day mr n was b...

August 7th

AUGUST 7TH

i circle august 7th on my calendar every year

its
the day that i started my blog in 2010
the day mr h was born
the day mr n was born
the anniversary for my parents who are now deceased

then
the next day august 8th was the day my younger brother died from alzheimers in 2013

so
august 7th is a happy day 
but
august 8th is a day i tend to get melancholic thinking about my younger brothers life a successful one as a fireman and deputy sheriff and a father a husband a grandfather and a uncle
that day bothers me since he was a year younger than me 
i have the same diagnosis but have managed to delay its saddening effects so far
i wish he could have been able to slow things down
what a difference we have learned about alzheimers in the last 11 years since he died
if we had been born a generation later we might be spared the alzheimers effects on our lives and our families

i always pause in the morning of august 8th usually in my garden in the early morning all by myself with the peace and quiet and i think of him
we all miss him

mr h and mr n two of my grandsons both have the same birthday 
they are both full of life and curiosity
mr h of course got a release on a new life with his new kidney 4 years ago

my parents had a long life together
we always think of them on this day

14 years ago after working in my garden i sat down to watch a pbs show about a housewife and mom that started blogging 
i told my wife she
you know i could do that 
i always wanted to do that
so i did
i have written 4156 blogs and have received 1846478 views of my blog

one i wrote a few months before i was diagnosed was about mild cognitive impairment
a diagnosis i would get a few months later
ive learned a lot about mild cognitive impairment and alzheimers over the last 14 years

after i was diagnosed i have written a lot about alzheimers disease and have communicated with lots of readers about this disease
i have also had several interviews for newspapers tv and websites about alzheimers
i also have done lots of seminars and presentation on alzheimers
my favorite is a simple question and answer session with folks to answer the questions they arent getting answers to

one reporter that interviewed me said my blog was flight of ideas with an ee cummings flare
i dont use punctuation or capital letters

all my writing now that i do seems to be that way
like a generation z or millennial would do

i use to write more about green living and rainwater harvesting but since moving to california i do less on these topics
i do try to write about funny things i see in the news or interesting things
like uses for duct tape

i plan to continue to write my blog as long as my writing makes sense
i realize that i will eventually lose the capacity to write
when i have to stop
i know i will have left a long trail of my thoughts for others to read after i am gone

in the meantime
each year i will celebrate august 7th and feel sad on august 8th

when i cant feel those two days anymore its time to stop

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-14 ways to slow it down

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-14 ways to slow it down: ALZHEIMERS NEWS-14 WAYS TO SLOW IT DOWN for the last 14 years i have been pretty good about doing all 14 of these some like traumatic brain ...

alzheimers news-14 ways to slow it down

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-14 WAYS TO SLOW IT DOWN

for the last 14 years i have been pretty good about doing all 14 of these
some like traumatic brain injury or tbi its too late since i had 3 concussions in my lifetime
i just try to avoid getting anymore

in the medical journal the lancet linked here they wrote about 14 ways to slow it alzheimers down
here is also a review of that article

the secret on these is to start as young as you can to get the better benefits
i aggressively started at 60 but it would have been better if i started at day one in 1950

14 ways

vision loss
im not sure how this pertains but i keep my eye care updated
i have had cataract surgery in one eye and am due to have the other eye done
my vision right now is 20/20
i did live about 15 years of  my life with poor vision before it was detected and i finally agreed to wear glasses all the time

high cholesterol
its mainly the ldl cholesterol that needs to be low as well as your triglycerides
my first cholesterol levels done at the age of 40 showed a ldl of about 250+ and a triglyceride level of around 800
my serum was milky looking instead of being clear
i have kept my ldl and triglycerides normal since i was 40
changing my diet helped a lot as did adding a statin
i realized that this cholesterol problem i have is tied to my apoe4/apoe4 gene that is called the late onset alzheimers gene

Less education
i have a bachelors degree and a medical degree
i did 11 years of education after high school
i mainly used my brain all day long to do my job
all of these lead to more brain cells being formed had i not done all that schooling
its whats called brain cell reserve
since i have more brain cells it takes longer for alzheimers to kill all of them
i also read and write every day

physically inactive
i have always been active physically playing sports bicycling running gardening
most of my exercise i get now is gardening 
i get between 6000-10000 steps a day

smoking
i quit smoking my junior year in college after starting after graduation from high school
i did smoke a pipe some for eight years

excessive alcohol consumption
i was never a heavy drinker
i havent had any alcohol for 4 years
drinking kills brain cells and its rough on the liver and heart

high blood pressure
today i am off meds for high blood pressure as long as i dont have caffeine
i drink decaf coffee in the morning
my blood pressure runs around 124/70
i was on meds for this but after my weight loss and stopping caffeine and coffee i havent needed any meds for my high blood pressure
its important to maintain a normal blood pressure even if it takes meds when you are middle age

obesity
i have never been obese but prior to 2020 when i got covid and couldnt eat much i lost 40+lbs i had started to creep up on my weight
since 2020 i gained my weight back up to 175 which gives me a bmi of around 20

not mentioned is diet which is tied to cholesterol and blood pressure and blood sugar control
i follow the mind diet

diabetes
i never have had problems with my blood sugar
if i did i would aggressively treat it to prevent blindness kidney failure heart failure peripheral artery disease strokes and alzheimers
control your sugar if its elevated
remember whats good for your heart is good for your brain

hearing loss
they have found that hearing loss can lead to dementia as you get older
so far i dont have hearing loss but if i did i wouldnt hesitate to get hearing aids
ok my wife she probably says i cant hear
thats not hearing loss thats just not listening

depression
i also would add anxiety and sleep issues
i have never been a depressed or anxious person but i do have sleep issues 
mainly from taking my aricept or donepezil for alzheimers

infrequent social interactions
staying socially activity may be as important as staying physically active
for me i interact with folks everyday with my volunteering

air pollution
we lived in riverside county for 2 years in the 70s and the smog would get bad there sometimes
now it seems the air pollution from fires can be an issue for ones long term health from all the stuff that gets in the air
luckily the air is not as polluted here as it is further south in los angeles

in the article linked above they wrote 
if its good for the rest of your body its good for your brain
also if its good for your heart its good for your brain

now 
to stay out of the alzheimers world start working all these 14 things as earlier in your life as you can

i think i am doing as well as i am because i have doing all 14 of these things and having been doing them aggressively for the last 14 years

then i added
14 years of donepezil
3 years of aduhelm infusions to remove amyloid plaque

thats why i am able to write this blog this morning 14 years after my diagnosis

the organicgreen doctor