What's Really Natural

"What is out there that is really natural?"

In response to another raw-foodist's blog post that questioned what was, and wasn't, natural, I wrote:

I invite you to look into "forest gardening."  It's about growing food as nature intended food to be grown.  Instead of planting an acre with one crop, you fill spaces the size of a bed with thirty different things to eat. 

Also, look into what weeds are edible.  Dandilions, for example, are not in the least bit cultivated, and they are extremely good for you (leaf and flower both.) 

The grocery store produce (sadly) only covers less than 1% of all the edible plants in the world.  It's my personal goal to grow as many different things as I can in a small space and eventually grow everything that I eat. 

When you get companion planting going on (plants that leave behind the right soil composition for the plants beside them, or plants that keep away the bugs that plague another plant, etc), you can grow a lot of edibles in a very small space. 

Trying to determine what is and isn't natural is something I've been struggling with too.  I notice that avocados (which I love) give me gas.  I suspect this may be because the avocados come a long way before I eat them.  If I were eating them fresh-picked then the enzyme content would be more than triple what it is when I eat it from the store.  Those enzymes it has fresh picked may be absolutely necessary for an avocado because of the unique oils it contains.  But that's just a guess. 

It is possible that the tomatoes you ate (that made you sick) have come from a GMO strand.  There are so many GMO tomatoes in the world now that it's easier and easier to end up with them in your own backyard without even being aware of it.  Unfortunately tomatoes are going the way of corn.  I rarely get them unless I can find them in odd shapes and colors in addition to being labeled "organic heirloom tomatoes."