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We just had a wonderful workshop on the “Earth” Element. It comes at a good time here in the northern hemisphere with farmers bringing in their harvests. It is a time to reflect on what really nourishes us. It is not only about food.

What hurt or emotion am I still carrying around with me that burdens rather than nurtures me? Isn’t it time to let go?

More importantly: What am I feeding my mind with? My favourite motto is the ancient Zulu concept of Ubuntu. It not only means that we are formed and shaped by the people and the community around us. Ubuntu means taking responsibility for the well-being of all that is around us because it is that which makes us human.

Surround yourself with negative people and you become a negative person. Giving your body the right nutrients on a body and mind level is a major precondition to becoming a person with a happy and positive outlook on life. We are bombarded with electronic media and information from the Internet. What Information really serves and uplifts us? I like using social media like facebook. It is an important means of staying in touch and getting information, but sometimes it can be too much and is energy-sapping. We lose touch grounding, lose touch with reality or lose ourselves in a virtual world.

That is when it is time to find nourishment in nature, opening the senses to the wind on the skin, the smell of earth, the sound of birdsong, feeling the ground underneath ones feet.

British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has won his long-fought battle against McDonalds, proving that their hamburgers are unfit for human consumption with the fatty parts of the beef “washed” in ammonium hydroxide and used in the filling of the burger.

The story has received little coverage in the mainstream media. Consumers appear bored or numbed by the numerous stories on food scandals in recent years. Or, we really seem to be going into denial as to how much the fast-food industry is destroying our health.

As I mentioned in my previous blog. What we eat is not only destroying our planet but also our health. There is more than enough evidence that the artificial substances in processed foods is responsible for much of the modern diseases such as diabetes, obesity, cancer and probably Alzheimer.

It is a social problem that finds growing expression in both business organisations and governments: The political and economic elite is unable to deal with the changes around us because it is trapped in fixed attitudes and habits.

Good decisions are based a lot on networking with the right type of people, who have the right information.

As a child I loved spending the weekends on the farm of my grandparents. When I think of those sumptuous meals at the family table, I recall the taste of deliciously-sweet pumpkin, sweet potato, peas, beans and many other freshly-picked vegetables and fruits.

As far as food-supply was concerned my grandparents were completely self-sufficient, like most farmers in South Africa those days. Buying processed foods from the supermarket was seen as a “waste of money” that was better spent by donating to the church.

Apart from saving money, you can get the best fresh and organic foods from your own garden. You don’t even need much land to do it. Moreover, it is not packed in plastic and the only distance it travels is from your garden to your kitchen.

In my Blog “Good Foods are no longer nourishing us” I quoted a scientific report from a food laboratory in Oberthal, Germany, that even the common power foods today like spinach and broccoli have up to 50 per cent less nutrients than in the 1950s. The reason: long transportation routes, packaging in plastics and depletion of soils.

We started growing our own vegetable patch this summer and it is a lot less effort than you might think. It only takes up a small section of the garden and will supply your family with a delicious supply of fresh produce over the summer. I can’t tell you how tasty our first tomato pickings were – a far cry from the “watery” stuff that you buy in the supermarket. The fresh salad grown from seeds are hard to beat.

Our first crop 

Courgettes can be grown in patio containers while tomatoes can even be raised on a warm and well-lit windowsill. Beans are just as easy to grown from seeds and can provide fresh crop for several weeks.

If you live in a city you need a little more creativity. But it’s possible and a growing number of people are doing it because its a lot healthier and cheaper. Balconies, patios and even rooftops can be used. Shelves, hanging baskets or trellises can be used to create lovely gardens.

London has even created a scheme for young people to grow their own food to reduce social isolation and to teach them the value of biodiversity.

About a quarter of Britons are now growing their own food, largely because of rising food prices, sharing gardens with other people in land allotment schemes. A variety of community-based initiatives are encouraging urban farming.

In Germany, maintaining a “Schrebergarten” or small plot of land in the city is a long tradition.

First established in the 19th century to teach children the basics of gardening, they were a source of survival for many during World War II. Now it is catching on again among trendy yuppies wanting to grow their own power foods.

For my part I can only say: I’ve discovered a new hobby. It s a lot of fun!