We were so excited to hear that an OceanGrown Heirloom CSA is coming to the GTA in spring 2011!

What is a CSA?

Standing for Community Supported Agriculture, a CSA is an arrangement where a group of people purchase shares in a farmer’s yield. The farmer tends to it and then delivers the produce weekly.

• They are is paid upfront for the season (in deposits) and do not have to worry about sales – only on producing the best crop possible
• They can obtain input from shareholders on what they want to eat, so it’s easy to modify supply based on demand

• They can meet the farmer and knows exactly where their food is coming from
• They can influence what is grown since they are shareholders
• They are supporting their local farming community
• They are participating in a more sustainable way of eating

Food that is grown with OceanSolution is highly superior to even regular organic produce because it is packed with almost all of the possible trace minerals your body needs. The colour, texture, and flavour are also greatly enhanced.

Below is the list that they will produce – if there are certain vegetables you want them to grow, let them know and they’ll do their best to grow it!

• Beets – 3 varieties delivered with the tops
• Beans – green, yellow, purple
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Cucumbers
• Carrots – orange & purple
• Herbs – dill, parsley, basil, oregano, mint
• Lettuce – romaine, leaf, bib/butterhead
• Garlic
• Kale
• Onions – bulb & green
• Peas – snap & snow
• Peppers – hot varieties
• Potatoes – white & red
• Radishes – delivered with tops on
• Rhubarb
• Spinach
• Swiss Chard
• Tomatoes – red & yellow
• Turnip
• Watermelon – mini
• Cantaloupe
• Zucchini
• Winter Squash
• Wheatgrass & Sprouts

• Wild Elderberries
• Wild Hops
• Wild Lamb’s Quarters
• Wild Pigweed
• Wild Arugula
• Wild Dandelion
• Wild Mustard Greens
• Wild Purslane
• Wild Nettle
• Wild Horsetail

Shares will go on sale next month. The House of Verona doesn’t take a commission – we just fully support what these fine folks are doing.

We’ve bought the first share of the CSA and will begin integrating their produce onto our spring & summertime menu.

Our spring retreats are filling up and early-bird deadlines for reduced rates are approaching:

Here’s what he provides:

• Astragalus (immunity, digestion, metabolism, heart health)
• Burdock (vitamins A, Bs, and EFAs; cleans the blood)
• Calendula (flavonoids, antiviral, anti-inflammatory)
• Dandelion (almost all vitamins, minerals and aminos)
• Goji Berry (all aminos, 5x vitamin C of oranges)
• Holy Basil (antimicrobial, acne, antifungal, anticandida)
• Lamb‘s Quarters (almost all vitamins, minerals & aminos)
• Maca (libido, sexual dysfunction)
• Nettles (urinary tract, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, prostate)
• Stevia (only sweetener on earth which doesn’t raise insulin)
• Wild Chamomile (flavonoids, diabetic symptoms, anti-inflammatory)
• Wild Cherry Tomato (vitamin C, K, A, Bs, anti-oxidants)
• Wild Mountain Spinach (almost all nutrients and aminos)

Most are easy enough to plant using basic gardening skills.

If you haven’t gardened before, call our friends at the Young Urban Farmers – they are the absolute experts on how to grow food in urban centres.

Growing with OceanSolution also boosts the minerals in your food.

Capillaries are lovely little things.

They’re the smallest of our body’s blood vessels which are in charge of the exchange of oxygen and nutrients between blood and our tissues.

The healthier your capillaries are, the healthier your tissues will be.

For example, if you are trying to prevent wrinkles, having a high amount of functioning capillaries ensures that more nutrients are delivered to your tissues, such as Vitamin C, which is essential to creating new collagen.

The Copenhagen Muscle Research Centre at the University of Copenhagen found that high intensity intermittent endurance training actually induces capillary growth.

This form of exercise (with rests in between high intensity training) also lead to the proliferation of endothelial cells, which are the cells which line the the inner walls of blood vessels.

Endothelial cells reduce the turbulence of blood flow, which lets blood be pumped farther.