Great tea tops list of "healing foods"

This online article discusses a "healing food pyramid" at which green tea appears at the topmost level.

In other words, green tea is both "passively" healthy (that is, it contains no harmful compounds) and "actively" healthy—its polyphenols and other compounds "help the body's immune system recognize cells that may be going astray. So they may be one of the first lines of defense for cancer protection."

This healing food pyramid was created by researchers at the University of Michigan Department of Integrative Medicine and is available here, at the university's website.

—Mellow Monk

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Community-supported farming (CSF)

Here's an article from USA Today about a "new way of farming . . . [whose] ultimate harvest may be the preservation of the family farm."

This new way of farming is called community-supported farming (CSF). The way CSF works is that consumers buy "shares" in a farmer's future harvest. They pay a certain fee, on a monthly or weekly basis, both before and during the growing season. (By getting the money up front, the farmer can reduce his or her reliance on interest-accruing bank financing.) When harvest time comes, the vegetables or other farm products are taken to a pickup point, where "shareholders" collect their food.

As you know, preserving family farming the world over is one of Mellow Monk's missions. I like to think that, by connecting you, the tea consumer, directly to the tea grower, we're also engaged in a form of community-supported agriculture.

—Mellow Monk

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