Plant Moringa Trees for Hunger and Hope

Moringa oleifera is a nutritive fast-growing tree, which is native to India. I learned about this tree a couple of years ago from my friend Aminu Ibrahim from our SolarNetOne project at Katsina State University in Nigera. and I just had to try growing it. This tree has been shown to be capable of reducing malnutrition in areas of West Africa where 25% of children die of malnutrition or related diseases. This plant grows well in areas such as these with drought and poor soil, and it grows wild in many areas where hunger is a severe problem. Locally grown Moringa was used in Senegal to significantly reduce malnutrition in infants, nursing mothers and pregnant women in Senegal by adding a small amount of leaf powder to the diet. Moringa is exceptionally nutrient dense. It has the highest protein ratio of any known plant, and contains all essential amino acids (those that the body cannot synthesize). There are no known side effects to taking Moringa, and it is very easy to digest. 25 grams (0.88 oz) of dried Moringa provides the suggested daily requirements for children: 42% protein, 125% calcium, 60% magnesium, 41% potassium, 71% iron, 272% vitamin A, and 22% vitamin C.

Here is a video that I found about Moringa's use in Senegal.


I have been growing Moringa in Central Florida (USDA zone 9a) for the last two years. I purchased my seed from Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization (ECHO) in Fort Myers Florida. ECHO is a non profit whose mission is to network with community leaders in developing countries to seek hunger solutions for families growing food under difficult conditions. I was very happy that my Moringa trees survived the freeze we had over the winter. The Moringa tree pictured in this blog post is of my largest tree a couple of months after the freeze. New branches grew up from the base after the freeze killed the above-ground portion. I am told that this tree will grow very well from woody cuttings. I have also learned that this plant can be grown indoors if UV light is available. My brother has started a facebook group to promote growing and sharing about this plant. My next step with this plant will be to get trees started from seed or cutting at the Fair Share Garden in Daytona Beach. "Fair Share" is an Urban Garden Project of Salt of the Earth, Inc. a 501(c)-3 nonprofit organization. The purpose of the garden is to grow food for local low income families in need.

Savannah Artist Tamara Garvey

Tamara Garvey is an amazing water color artist and we are members of two of the same teams, Etsy Twitter and Unique Women in Business. Tamara is a graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design and has a B.S. in Biology from Mary Washington College. I love her nature inspired works. Tamara is the featured artist on the Etsy Twitter Team this week. Be sure to check out her interview.

Earth Day Garden Pictures from this Weekend

We had a great time at the Fair Share Garden in Daytona over the weekend. If you were not able to make it on Saturday I hope that you will be able to come out for one our next events. I will be out of town, but the next Garden event will be May 9th on World Fair Trade Day.

We started out with a great workshop on container gardening by Master Gardener Myrna Moore. I learned a few tricks from Myrna. When arranging blooming annuals in containers, plant them densely to encourage blooming, and don't forget to dead-head.


If you are making Earth boxes, you can add charcoal from fish tank suppliers to the water reserviour to prevent fungal growth. Also if you are making an earth box, it is better not to include regular Florida sandy garden soil so as to prevent nematode infestation. To determine if you have a root bound plant in a pot, water it and see if the water comes straight out the bottom. Avoid letting potted trees become root bound. If the roots start to spiral around the pot, that pattern of root growth will be with it for the life of the tree. This can lead to strangulation and death of the adult trees.

Getting some work done in the garden! Volunteers planting Loquat Trees, edible beauty berry bushes and Chicksaw plums.


Our tortoise stuck his head out to say hello on and off throughout the day.


We had a big group of kids at this event. Here they are with Caina from Green Halloween learning about Earth Mother and Celebrating Green.



Arrow and Moira are painting pots for their tomato starts.


The vendor tents. Found and Fused Glass jewelry by Michelle Davidson.

Pottery by Mehg


The Aquarian Bath table.



We finished up the event with a workshop on Sundials by Jason. Here he is getting ready for the presentation.

Week 9 Herb Blog Contest with Nature's Gift

At Nature's Gift we have been pleased and excited about hosting this week's contest. The hard part has been trying to decide what to offer as the prize!

We chose Deluxe Personal Inhalers from our new shipment, filled with the winner's choice of several healing synergies.

We'll ship one of these pretty purse-sized inhalers filled with your choice of our SineEase Synergy for easing sinus pain and congestion, Happy Morning Synergy, recommended for easing the nausea of morning sickness, but also helpful for motion sickness, etc., or our research based depression fighter "Citrus Smile."

To be entered in the contest, respond to this post, here, and at all the blogs listed below.

To make the contest even more exciting, ONE lucky entrant, drawn from one of the listed blogs, will receive a signed copy of Marge's Book "Essential Oils and Aromatics".

You may check these links for some of the reviews, from the Journal of the Northeast Herbal Association, or from The Massage Therapy Journal.

Remember all of the blogs below are participating, so visit all of them and post to increase your chances of winning.

The Essential Herbal

Herbs from the Labyrinth

Patti's Potions

PrairieLand Herbs

The Rosemary House

Nature's Gift

Torchsong Studio

SunRose Aromatics

Garden Chick

Earth Day Computing Spotlight: SolarNetOne

I don't usually make posts about technology on this blog, but I am making an exception, because today is Earth Day and my husband, Scott Johnson, has invented a remarkable eco-friendly Solar powered computing system. The name of the system is SolarNetOne. The following is a short interview I did with Scott to introduce my blog followers to this project.

Cory: What is SolarNetOne?

Scott: SolarNetOne is a system we developed that combines a photovoltaic solar power source with some of the most energy efficient computing hardware available to yield a total package that is perfect for sites off the grid.

Cory: How is this solar powered computing solution significant to Earth day and reducing carbon footprint?

Scott: As the internet and the number of internet users grows, so does the global "power bill" for computing in general. Our system represents a big step forward in lowering and greening the total energy consumption of Information Technology. For example, a computer lab with five modern PC's would draw in the neighborhood of 2 kilowatts, while the Solar Net One, even with all its additional features, draws only slightly more than a 100 Watt light bulb.

Cory: What were the most important factors in choosing an Earth-friendly computer network design?

Scott: I would have to say a) power consumption and b) longevity of the equipment. The former reduced the load on the power grid or alternative energy system, and the latter keeps the electronics out of the landfills for as long as possible.

Cory: Is open source software and linux a significant factor into creating sustainable computer networks?

Scott: Absolutely. Our open development method means that many eyes see our code. I may write 100 lines of code to do a given job. If we were a proprietary software house, that would be the end of it. Instead, another programmer may know a trick I don't and bring the lines of code down to 50. Now the computer only has to work half as hard, with the processor using half the electricity to perform the instructions. Later, another programmer trims it down to 10 lines of code. Now we are using 10% of the energy to perform the same task. Expand this to cover millions of lines of code, and it adds up significantly. On a side note, this is why our software also runs significantly faster on the same hardware.

Cory: What is the best solution for someone that would like to have a green computing system for the home or office?

Scott: SolarNetOne or a variant thereof! Seriously, on a smaller scale, an energy efficient laptop can provide all the computing most individuals need, and can easily be run on solar power.

Cory: I know you have done a lot of computer hardware recycling in the past. Do you have advice for people who are throwing out computers that are too slow or are broken? Do you have any creative upgrading, recycling or reusing ideas to share?

Scott: FreeGeek.org is the champion of open source recycling. with many more chapters opening up, they are becoming a powerful force in computer
recycling.