Local Garden Harvest = Local Grown Health
ETC offers an immersion experience in sustainable living: courses and workshops, apprenticeships, and special demonstrations in green lifestyles. Set amongst the Farm’s 5000 acres of protected woods and meadows, the Eco-village Training Center is a living laboratory with a mandate to save the world. Sustainable technologies and principles surround you as you study and work throughout the training center-its eco-hostel, organic garden, forests, swales and ponds—in a permaculture consciousness, within an outstanding networking community of students and teachers[7].7
The Natural Answer Wellness Center – Sparta, TN has provided rural residents with naturally healthy solutions for over 10 years. This family owned business is located in a four story historic downtown building has the room and resources to provide the ommunity a myriad of wellness classes, as well as providing products and services that have been ahead of their time for years.
The Wellness Center carries quality products and has expanded to also include a selection of local honey, produce and Kocher produced meats. Purchasing local could cost more, but as the saying goes – you get what you pay for. Supporting other local businesses using principles of the 3/50 Project, the Natural Answer leads by example. Bringing food to the people from local farmers who actually care about the people! When you buy local, you support your local economy and empower the local people & communities to become more self-sustaining. Not to mention the list in the beginning for reasons to purchase locally grown food! It tastes the way nature intended it to taste and provides the nutrients naturally. Using locally grown food, the wellness center plans to offer cooking & meal preparation classes and taste testing events. It may be true that the average southern cook has never considered eating vegetables without frying them, but no laughing – because I’ve done it myself. A class offers the perfect environment to experiment without commitment or fear of failure. Plus, recipe cards are provided for those who wish to try it at home. The Natural Answer Shopping List provides simple healthy choices for meal planning on a budget.
For those who do yoga and drink Kombucha, the Natural Answer distributes locally brewed deKombucha and hosts tea ceremonies for those who wish to learn more about the healing properties of tea. Although deKombucha is new to Tennessee, it has been around for approximately 3,000 years. Generally, the drink is handed down from household to household as the original source is a mystery. Although you can find the drink gracing some health stores, many pasteurize the drink, thereby killing the active probiotic ingredient. If you don’t live in Tennessee, but wish to explore these types of options to sustain a healthy / empowered life, research your area on the internet or contact one of these institutes for information on sister facilities around the world. Without places and people like this, sharing information and learning how to become self-sustaining would become much more difficult. Don’t forget to support local businesses that care about your health and wellbeing while also taking a stand for environmentally sound practices. Our local farmers depend on us, but in reality we depend on them. Until the industry acknowledges and changes its food production process it has many hidden problems associated with it. Buying local or growing your own food supply when possible gives a higher probability of sustenance that can give the desired results, Energy: Health:
