I only attended one Lower Hutt Stroke Club meeting in September because my wife and I travelled to Timaru in the South Island to attend the 70th birthday party of an old schoolmate of mine. He is a Catholic Priest and he was using the opportunity to invite some of our old classmates for a reunion. More about this next month.

At the September gathering which I attended, our daughter, Catherine, gave a talk and demonstration on organic gardening. Catherine is the manager of a shop called 'Commonsense Organics' which has organic groceries for sale and well as other products. She has completed a course at the Wellington Politechnic on organic gardening. She demonstrated, using a bag of organic compost, how stroke survivors can grow their own organic plants such as lettuces, cabbages and other seeds and plants.  

Catherine went on to say the organic agriculture and gardening is vital to the health of the environment and humans. Organic food is grown without the use of chemicals that can harm humans, animals and the soil. Organic growers build up and maintain the fertility of their soil and control weeds, disease and pests using both age-old remedies and modern tools and practices, which organic agricultural researchers are constantly developing. Catherine emphasised that, at least in New Zealand, one can be sure that the food is organically grown if it is certified organic.  

So, she concluded, why eat organic food? Because organic food tastes like food used to taste. She bought some organic food with her for our members to try and Enid and I both strongly agree that organically grown bananas have much more flavour than those purchased in a supermarket. Catherine also stressed that organic food is safe, doesn't contain a cocktail of chemicals, because it was GE (Genetically Engineered) free. It helps the environment, which is very important in order to have a clean, green New Zealand.

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