Question: Is gardening an effective treatment for depression, and why?

Answer: It’s all in your head! (Vitamin D, neurotransmitters, and your right amygdala)

I have had a stressful few weeks.  Did I say weeks?  Try months (if not years).  I work full time, and just wrapped up my MS in Human Nutrition.  I won’t even begin to list my extracurriculars.  The last few weeks have been study-madness for my comp exam, and wow have I been looking forward to a less packed summer.   Well, right on the heels of my exam, a beloved family pet became ill and passed away.  Already way past my stress quota, the heartbreak was rather unseating.  Although I am a yoga teacher and trained in stress management facilitation, sometimes practicing these things fall off the table.  Usually when I need them most.

My impulse, when this frosting-on-the-cake event happened two Fridays ago, was to crawl under a rock and hide.  I mean, take a day off.  I needed a day to myself, no people, no obligations, no conversations, maybe a bath, and some good old wallowing in misery. I was also facing the busiest weekend I’ve had in maybe a year.  So I cancelled my showing at the health fair I had committed to.  I eschewed my post for Digging Deep (sorry guys).  I was going to stay home and be miserable, and I was going to like it! Saturday morning I woke up, determined to stay home after dropping off my fiancée at a shiitake log inoculation workshop at our community garden.  We drove to the workshop.  It was nice and cool, partly cloudy.  Well, maybe I could stay a little while...

By 2 o’clock that afternoon I was dirty, smiling, and a little sunburnt.  I had to admit that I felt much better than I may have had I stayed home.  What was it that helped?  A quick check-in and inventory of the day yielded these possibilities: social contact/support, exercise, sunshine, fresh air, a present-moment focus on what I was working on - all things that have been demonstrated to uplift mood.  I know I usually enjoy myself when I engage in activities that result in being smeared with dirt as well, but that might just be me.

I know a little bit about how these things support our mood, but thought I’d look for more particulars.  Can gardening, in fact, be effective for depression or anxiety, and are my assumptions about why, correct?  As it turns out, this is not a new idea, and is in fact a form of therapy and area of study called ecotherapy, where activities like gardening and animal care are used to ease depression, anxiety, and stress.  Why does it work?  Well, specific biological claims are not being made (that I could find) about this therapy.  My guess from what I’ve learned in my studies, is that benefits are due at least in part to the reasons I mentioned above.  Sunshine, for example, is similar to phototherapy (the natural equivalent of the artificial replacement).  Phototherapy has been found to improve scores on depression rating tests, and is currently used as a depression treatment.  It also increases vitamin D3 levels in blood.  The research on D3 as a treatment for depression has been mixed, but this nutrient may play a role as well.

Exercise gets a lot of press about its role in treating depression.  Studies have found it to work as well as antidepressants in some cases.   The mechanism at play here has to do at least in part to hormones and neurotransmitters that are stimulated during exercise, that are related to mood and pain perception. Social support has been linked to prevention of depression or depressive episodes, and present-moment mindfulness practices seem to act on the same part of the brain, the right amygdala, as depression. Interestingly, I even found a study that examined the mechanism behind how playing in the dirt can improve your mood - it has to do with mycobacterium stimulation of the serotonin system, implicated in depression.

The take away here is if you are feeling blue, get thee to a garden pronto and dig something, plant something, or simply roll around on the ground. It’s not a substitute for seeing a therapist or your physician, or their recommendations, if you are experiencing signs of depression, but it can help support you in the general ups and downs of life.  The other great benefit is that once your delicious vegetable plants produce, you’ll have highly nutritious food to further support your mind and body.  Sounds like a win-win to me.

Dig Deeper:

American Horticultural Therapy Association

About depression and where to go for help

Question: How do I eat more locally and healthfully?

Answer: Buy weird vegetables at the farmer’s market

There’s nothing better than eating a super fresh, ultra-local, completely in-season, organically grown, incredibly flavorful tomato from the neighborhood farmer’s market. But alas, tomatoes aren’t in season in my region just yet, and they won’t be for a while. Neither will other stand-by vegetables like cucumbers, bell peppers, or zucchini. Luckily, spring farmer’s markets in the northern hemisphere offer a literal cornucopia of other veggies to enjoy.

One of the biggest tricks I know for eating more locally and healthfully is simply to cook more vegetables—and by this I mean a greater variety, not just a greater quantity. Introducing new things to our diets is intimidating. None of us want to waste our time and money on something we don’t know how to prepare, or aren’t sure we’ll like. But adding diversity not only makes cooking and eating more fun, it also introduces nutrients to our bodies and flavors to our palates that we never knew we were missing.

This week, I’ll introduce two cool weather crops you may not be familiar with-- available now at a farmer’s market near you—and give you a recipe to take the guessing game out of an unfamiliar purchase. Both are from the brassica family (relatives with cabbage, broccoli, arugula, and mustard greens) – which contain nutrients proven to be detoxifying, cancer-fighting, and heart disease-preventing.

Tatsoi is an Asian cooking green closely related to bok choy. It can be identified by its bright green spoon-shaped leaves. Tatsoi’s nick-name is“spinach mustard,” which is appropriate since it’s got a spinach-like texture, and a mild mustardy flavor. It can be eaten raw in a salad, steamed, stir-fried, or thrown in a soup. You may even have been unknowingly loving this versatile vegetable in one of those pre-washed salad mixes you’ve been getting at the supermarket.

Hakurei (pronounced hawk-ur-eye) turnips are also Asian in origin. These small (ranging in size from golf ball to baseball) white root vegetables are sweet and tender, nothing like a bitter purple-top turnip you may be familiar with. They have a mild spiciness reminiscent of their cousin the radish, without quite the bite. No need to peel or cook, they can be eaten raw if you want.

Spring “What Do I Do With This?” Stir-fry

To prepare hakurei turnips, trim greens and little roots from the bulbs of one bunch of turnips. Slice thinly.

In a very hot wok or large frying pan, melt one tablespoon coconut oil (or other vegetable oil). Add prepped hakruei turnips and one bunch of spring onions (including the green parts, roughly chopped). Stir-fry until turnips are tender, about 4 minutes.

While turnips and spring onions are cooking, trim the stems from one bunch of tatsoi and chop leaves roughly. Add to hot pan and cook until greens are just wilted. Remove from heat.

Toss vegetables in 2 tablespoons peanut butter, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, and 2 teaspoons light vinegar (such as rice wine vinegar, apple cider, or white wine vinegar). Serve over quick-cooking rice noodles or hearty brown rice. For more protein as a main dish, add stir-fried chicken or tofu.

Serves 2 as a main dish, 4 as side dish

But I've also had a lot of fun figuring out for my stubborn self what works and what doesn't. Tomatoes are easier than I thought to grow from seed; greens have some problems, depending on the green; direct sowing is worth it as long as the weather's cooperating. And the harvest has begun (albeit slowly). I'm planning a bed of mesclun greens under tomorrow night's chicken, and my daughter and I pulled some wayward carrots that were never harvested last year.

Website/Film(s): The Perennial Plate

In a nutshell: Informational, Good for beginners – 5 out of 5 shovels

Daniel Klein is an accomplished chef, an NYU graduate, and noted documentary filmmaker. Together with his partner Mirra Fine (a freelance graphic designer and writer), he has created one of my favorite things to watch on the internet. The Perennial Plate is a low-budget documentary film project that tracks Klein and Fine on their year-long, cross-country journey “to appreciate and understand where good food comes from and how to enjoy it.”  The two started their Real Food Road Trip one year ago (yesterday), and so far they have put together a class-act collection of short videos documenting their exploration of “adventurous and sustainable eating.”

Though I have a feeling I would like anything that this dynamic duo released –honest and un-choreographed filming, interesting characters, inspiring ideas, no preaching or propaganda, and great soundtracks – I especially like the format of the Perennial Plate web episodes. Clocking in at 5 to 10 minutes each, I can easily squeeze in an episode with my morning coffee. No ordering DVDs or tracking down a special screening. Just solid stories available weekly on their website.

The episodes don’t seem to promote an agenda or message; they just hang out with interesting folks and ask them a few questions along the way. I love the fact that the videos feature real people who aren’t necessarily in the spotlight of sustainable/local/ethical food movement. This week’s episode was about an Asian carp fisherman in Minnesota. The one before that featured a very small group of immigrants who use a co-operative work model to run their organic farm in Kentucky. These people are proof that you don’t have to be an ex-professional athlete or a celebrity TV chef to bring change to the industrial food system. (Other favorites include “Moonshine and Molasses” , “Seaweed Man”, and “Eating Insects”)

The project has received attention and praise from some of the most notable names in sustainable eating. Chef Thomas Keller when he calls the series, “both insightful and informative.” As The Ethicurean (another website devoted to ethical food and eating issues) says, “Klein captures both the deliciousness and the philosophical conundrums embodied by trying to eat locally and sustainably.” I couldn’t agree more.

Check out The Perennial Plate website for an archive of all the episodes, as well as recipes and a blog that dives deeper into Daniel and Mirra’s experiences on their journey.

Question: How close do you live to a farm?

Answer: Closer than you might think.

I just spent a warm spring evening with my son and his cub scout pack exploring the Garfield Community Farm. One of Pittsburgh's many hidden gems, this farm is nestled under a water tower at the top of a steep hill in a transitional city neighborhood. Now in its fourth growing season, the farm has reclaimed almost three acres in abandoned residential property and works with local churches and the surrounding community - and its staff and volunteers do a great job teaching local groups about gardening and nutrition. Even if the kids are a little wiggly at the end of the day.

This field trip got me thinking - how easy is it to find an urban source of food (like a farm or community garden) in your neighborhood? Though Pittsburgh's a green city, I never knew there were so many places that grow food so close by. I now know of two multi-acre farms within three miles of my house – within city limits. That's why I'm excited to learn more about Growing Cities, a documentary due out at the end of the year about the many places across the country where urban agriculture thrives. Just like permaculture in Garfield is new and exciting, so are all the other diverse ways Americans are responding to the urban ag movement, in ways unique to each farmer and each city they call home.

It's easy to jump on the urban ag bandwagon - plant a seed. Help some children learn how to garden. Check with your local food pantry about sourcing fresh food. Reach out to places that aren't well-served with produce. Reclaim some lost space. Bring your community together. Someone in your area may already be doing it.

Sources for this post:

Garfield Community Farm

Growing Cities

Sustainablog – What is an Urban Farm?

Question: Why should we grow our own food?

Answer: Let's keep going...

Here in Wisconsin, where I live, the last frost date is supposedly May 15^th. That means I’ll still have to wait an entire week to get into my community garden plot (silly rules!), but in the mean time I’ve been compiling a list of the Top Ten Reasons to Grow Your Own Food. If you didn’t catch my last post, you can read it here. I thought this whole series would take two, maybe three posts to complete, but it turns out I have a lot to say on this topic. I hope you’ll bear with me over the next few weeks as I reveal the rest of my list! Now, without further introduction, here are #8, #7, and #6.

8. Tradition. Many of us who are already growing our own food learned at the feet of our parents and grandparents. As a kid, I vividly remember the obligatory garden tour as soon as we got to Grandma’s house, complete with the newest contraptions she had devised to thwart greedy bunnies.  As an adult, I now realize how much my love for soil and sun is a culturally inherited trait from my mom, my grandma, and from her mother before her.  If I ever have kids, you can be sure I’ll teach them everything I know about growing their own veggies so that they can carry the tradition forward. What do your family’s gardening traditions mean to you? How does your culture grow food differently from mine?

7. You know where it’s been. Have you ever watched a movie like Food Inc. or read an article on something like “pink slime” and wondered, “how did I not know about this?” There’s a lot of sketchy business that’s hidden from the consumer’s eye. Not only do I think it’s morally outrageous that many ingredients and processes in our food are not even labeled, I also find it downright icky. Wouldn’t you rather know that your spinach salad came out of the (super-bug free) backyard instead of having to worry that it might give you a deadly case of e-coli?

In addition to health and ickiness concerns, I also think it’s vitally important to know where your food comes from. American culture does not seem to value food, and it shows: we mix, mold, reconstitute, inject, reject, and infect our food to the point where it doesn’t actually look like food anymore. For example, if the only contact you’ve had with broccoli is in your cheesy broccoli soup, you might have no idea that broccoli is related to cabbage, or that it grows in tight clumps which are actually flowers-to-be, or that it has leaves. Yes, leaves! What if everyone knew what food actually looked, smelled, and felt like; how it tasted? Would we be a little more hesitant to eat “broccoli” that’s been boiled to bits and mixed in with cheesy gorp?

6. Taste. I’ve been luckier than most folks when it comes to eating vegetables , eggs, and even meat as close to the source as possible. I’ve eaten eggs that were laid minutes earlier, pulled up carrots and rinsed them with a garden hose for a sweet snack, and happily snacked on a patch of strawberries right off the vine. This kind of experience can’t be recreated by a fancy restaurant or even your local farmers market; try growing your own and tell me that straight off the vine (or out of the dirt, off of the stem, and so on) isn’t the best you’ve ever tasted. If you take care of your soil and give the plants the conditions they need to thrive, you can eat like a king for the cost of your seeds.

Dig Deeper:

Show your soil some love! http://www.cleanairgardening.com/improving-raised-bed-garden-soil.html

Sources for this Blog Post:

http://grist.org/factory-farms/pink-slime-is-the-tip-of-the-iceberg-look-what-else-is-in-industrial-meat/?fb_ref=fbrw

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/13/MNG71LOT711.DTL