Organic Diet - Instant Energy, Easy Preparation

Speeding for your work? Need instant energy that too in an organic way... Here is the easiest way. This recipe contains all the essential nutrients and can be used as an alternative to the usual food we intake. Adding to it, this can be a healthy organic dietary supplement for 1 year old infants to the 80 year old ones.

This super delicious diet, controls your hunger by providing necessary nutrients needed for the body. For infants, pinch of Jaggery can be added if the little one likes the sweet taste. 

The secret recipe is here.....

Ingredient Name	Quantity
Finger millet (Ragi)	1 kg
Pearl Millet (Kambu)	1 kg
Green gram	0.5 kg
Red Rice	0.25 kg
Roasted gram	0.25 kg
Foxtail millet (Thinai)	100 gms
Horse Gram (Kollu)	100 gms
Barley	100 gms
Almonds	10 nos
Cashew nuts	10 nos
Peanuts	10 nos
Cardamom	3 nos(opt)
Dry ginger	small piece

• Dry roast the above ingredients separately and grind them all. This mixture is to be put in an airtight container and it is assured to remain fresh for a year (can be refrigerated)

• Take a pan of suitable size and add 4 spoons of above organic mixture to it.

                                         

• Add suitable amount of water so that the health mix gets mixed with water without any lumps. Don't worry if the mixture is too watery, because it gets thick on cooling. 

                                            

• For additional taste, add some oats, chopped curry leaves. It adds flavor to the mix.

                                         

• Boil the entire contents. Add pinch of salt to it and keep stirring regularly. The mixture starts to thicken. Once it has reached a semi-liquid batter like consistency switch off the flame.  

                                         

This organic health supplement can be served hot or can be refrigerated. You can adjust the consistency as per your need.

Organic Weight Loss - Detox

Water - Nil Calories, Delicious and Filling

Studies prove that Drinking Water increases Metabolism and in turn aids in quicker weight loss.

Fruits - More Nutrients, Tasty and Refreshing

Taking fruits/ juices have always proved to pump the body with needed nutrients.

Detox ?

A recipe with both Fruit and Water can act as a cleansing and refreshing drink that clears the toxic substance in the body and thus can be qualified as a "Detoxy Drink". The human body has an innate ability to detoxify itself. With the growing adulterated lifestyle, there is a much need to clear the toxins. This in turn relieves the body from the unwanted accumulations thus reducing weight organically.

Detox Recipe

The preparation steps are very simple and same for all of the detox drink,

• Take a clean bottle / jug or a fruit infuser bottle of desired size.

For more healthier/ effective way you can use an organic way - Clay bottle 

• It cools the water effectively.
• Leaching does not take place.
• Non-hazardous 
• Eco friendly 

Mud/ Clay Bottle

Plastic Bottle

• Drop the fruit (as per your need) into the base/infuser after the fruit gets cut into few pieces.

You can add a mixture of fruits and the extract can be used. But it is necessary to know in what combination the fruits need to be added for the detox to work efficiently.

                                  

• Fill it with water and let it rest in the fridge for few hours(minimum 6-8 hours).
• Use a filter to collect the fruit juice infused detox water separately. You can refill water to the bottle and reuse it for couple of times. 

Thick Apple Extract collected 

P.S You can collect a thick extract of the fruit and dilute it with the water when needed. You can add a pinch of salt and pepper to it.

Homegrown Fruit - Organic Comparison

Have you ever noticed dull finish of fruits that grow in your garden compared to the one bought in the market? And does that make you feel that your home grown is of poor quality? Then, you are absolutely WRONG!!

The shiny and fluffy character is definitely not an inbuilt nature of fruit. A well maintained organic plant produces fruit in irregular shape yet it is so tasty and healthy. No conventional produce will match the juicy and healthy taste of an organic home grown fruit. Your home grown fruit is totally organic with no chemicals.

          

          Fresh juicy home grown Mangoes

Fresh organic Pomegranate

 Organically produced fresh fruits - Oranges, Chikoo 

                   

            

Qualities of an Organic food 

• No Preservatives - It doesn't last long since it contains no added preservatives. But this definitely is an added advantage since the fruit remains unadulterated.
• Grown with Natural Fertilizers - Homemade compost and manure is used as fertilizer, which neither affects the soil quality nor affects our health. 
• Smell - These organic produce, render the fruity smell all over when compared to the conventional ones produced.
• Taste - Though the shape seems bit irregular, the taste is unique while the market produce has artificial sweeteners.
• Color - Dull finish with patches of different shade since it does not come with an artificial wax coating.

Wax coated Apples - just scrub it with a spoon/knife to get the wax out

Conventional produce

Chemical coating on an Apple

                                

Visual comparison of the Pomegranate produced in different ways

Left: Conventional produce        Right: Organic produce

                      

P.S For detailed steps on making homemade compost and to set up a home garden please check my previous post.

Effective Home Lawn Design - Neat and treat !!!

Are you in the planning stage of creating your own unique home lawn? If yes, please consider this. The usual way of starting your lawn design is to sketch out a rough outline and developing it from the scratch. No law states that a lawn should be in rectangular or in circular shape covered by colorful flowering plants. Gone are the days where the lawn was just a mow grass covered with flowering plants. The current scenario needs much more.. Beauty and Health! Here is a way to make your lawn healthy for you and our environment.

First of all ensure that your design should cover the below basic qualities,

• Bordering the lawn - This is the most attractive part. A mow grass is always complete with the border, we choose wisely. Either you can use native plants to border so that your maintenance will be easy or choose certain herbs and shrubs which in turn will be an effective use, both for the environment and the user. Your lawn can thus turn into a delightful fragrant filled herbal lawn. 

                 

• Making a cool pathway - Make sure you have a pathway that connects the important focal points of your lawn. This ensures all parts of the lawn easily accessible, especially during rainy season when the total area is muddy. In addition to it, pebbles and stones would be like adding more beauty to your available space.

                       

• Knowing the right plant - Understand your lawn setup and purpose. If you want just for the beauty, go for the ornamental native plants with the mow grass and bulbs. On the other hand, if you have an idea of using your lawn effectively, then go for herbal plants with the addition of veggies and fruit trees here and there to make the look more pleasing both to your eyes and health. 

               

Terrace Gardening - A Beginning !!

As the name suggests, terrace gardening is a platform that has attracted a lot of urban slang. It has become a hobby for most people and is of utmost satisfaction both to the eyes and heart of the people following it.

All most everyone has a question, "What all can be grown as part of terrace garden?" Almost everything can be grown as part of terrace garden. It is the use of available place optimally and efficiently for the betterment of the health of the environment and the humans.

A house can make use of their terrace to meet the daily requirements of the veggies they need easily. It's not only cost effective, more importantly, chemical free and totally organic.

It's not a hard row to hoe. One can easily make use of the waste buckets, pots, bags and containers as a base to start growing a plant. All that is needed is a nutrient rich soil (soil + homemade composts / cow dung),water and sunlight. 

Basic Setup For Terrace Garden:

• Choose a base to hold the soil firmly. It can be anything, that holds the soil tightly with a small opening/hole in the bottom for draining the excess water.

• Fill the base with soil + organic waste (such as cattle dung, vegetable waste) and keep it under the sunlight.

• Sprinkle water to the above soil mixture and ensure that moisture is retained well in the soil.

• After two days, sow the seed or plant the sapling to the soil. Every plant needs just little of water till it attains the sapling stage. Sprinkle water to make the soil wet till saplings sprout out. Increase the amount of water once it starts to grow.

Follow the same process for different plants with different base in different combos.

 

Tomato and Lady's Finger Sapling in Terrace Garden Setup

Homemade Compost - No Chemicals

Every vegetable and Fruit that we get in the market has a touch of chemical, either in the form of pesticide or fertilizer. It not only affects the quality of the produce but it in, turn it affects the quality of soil permanently. And the alarming truth is that, all this comes with the cost of Our Health !!  When you can grow your own vegetable or make your own organic garden, don't you think it is even possible to replace the chemicals in an organic way.  People are getting closer towards buying organic food. It's a different style of agriculture. Organic farmers often control pests by growing a greater variety of crops. They increase the fertility of their fields through nitrogen-fixing plants, or by adding compost instead of applying synthetic fertilizer. Yep !! No chemical, homemade compost is possible with the vegetable and fruit waste that gets piled up as kitchen waste. These Organic Compost feeds the soil with organic nutrients that in turn empowers the plant to produce healthier product. At the end, Healthy, Nutritious, No Chemical produce is achieved.

            

METHOD 1  - STEPS TO PREPARE HOME MADE COMPOST

1. Choose a bag / container / pack as the base to hold the raw materials for compost.

   

   A bucket or a Bag or a Container of any material

2. Make some holes to the base to allow the air to flow freely.
3. Place a layer of soil into the base.
4. Put in all the kitchen waste (esp. vegetable and fruit remains, dried leaves). It doesn't matter if the kitchen waste is dry or wet. 

   

   All your vegetable waste is the raw material for healthy compost

5. On top of the kitchen waste, add some brown matter. Brown matter here indicates materials like wood waste / powder, coconut husk, dry leaves, newspaper bits, straw, husk etc. The ratio of kitchen waste to the brown matter must be around 1:2. That is, for one layer of kitchen waste add two layers of brown matter.  

   

   Homemade compost preparation

6. Close the base with the lid or a plastic cover or a paper and keep away from wet area. 
7. Twice a week give a nice shake to all the ingredients and close the base again.

As days pass, you will notice decrease in volume of the contents. If anytime you find the water to ooze out, it indicates that the brown matter needs to be increased (Add few more brown matter to it). 

The entire contents get transformed to fine particle (sand like) Compost. For a volume of  25 Liter raw materials, it takes 2 months for the Compost formation. 

 

         

        The End - Home Made Compost

Adding a handful of the formed fine particle compost, to a potted plant, feeds the soil with the essential nutrients and increases the productivity organically.

P.S : If you find earthworms in the content, don't freak out. It just speeds up the process.

What is Organic Life ?

The goal of organic life is to "integrate cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity" ... (according to USDA)

Lately there has been more talk about the importance of Organic Lifestyle. Everyone has a question running inside.. Does this even matter? It may not matter to you at this spur of the moment, but for your life to be stress free, happier and most importantly healthier, its all about going green and taking a leap towards Organic Lifestyle. It's a little step that you take towards keeping you and your planet healthier. It's all about SUSTAINABILITY.