Fruits of Our Labours

After attending a Conference in Melbourne, we were faced with the question of whether to purchase food for the two days prior to the next farmer's markets upon our return? Or, upon arriving home, would we find an abundance of food or an empty pantry?

The following photos will provide you with the answer:

These are Brazillian Cherries. Slightly tart when ripe, and very tart when un-ripe. A very thirst quenching fruit.

This is the bush upon which the Brazillian Cherries grow and at its maximum is about two metres tall.

This is the Surinam Cherry bush which grows  a little taller to the Brazillian Cherry.

In this view we see the fruit with the flowers prior to setting the new fruit.

The fruit is sligly sweeter than the the Brazillian Cherry, although still slighly tart. And whereas the Brazillian Cherry seed is somewhat round and usually consisting of only one seed, and occasionally in the largest fruit two, the Surinam Cherry has usually three rather triangulated seeds.

In this bowl we see the last of the black Mulberry crop, along with the shiny black Jaboticabas. These have a very pleasant flavour along with being slightly tart.

The Jaboticabas grow on a small tree which reaches about five to six metres in height when fully grown.

The Yellow Sapote, botanical name, Lucuma nervosa, or Canistal, not related to the other Sapote's, is a very rich, fruit with dense flesh, quite sweet in flavour.

The Lucuma tree grows from five to eight metres tall with the fruit born in clusters. The new crop forms when the current crop is being harvested. Under the right conditions it can bear two or three crops per year.



The Pomelo is a giant tropical grapefruit. The outer rind is very thick and the inner flesh covering the edible part is quite tough and requires tro be also peeled away before eating. Slightly sweeter than the grapefruit grown in the cooler limate.

The Pomelo tree looks the same as any other citrus tree and hardly grows any bigger in spite of the size of the fruit it bears.

The Jakfruit when opened, looks like crayfish and tastes like bubblegum. In the Asian countries it usually made into curries when still somewhat green. It is a sweet fruit, and can grow to be 30 Kilo's in the right conditions, the fruit growing on the trunk or main branches, and can at times even grow on the roots of the tree.

The timber of the tree is used for building in Asian countries, with the young trees being used for fruit bearing. They are then harvested for their timber as they age.

Harmfulness of Prostrate Cancer Treatment

All conventional prostate cancer treatments harm quality of life


by David Gutierrez, staff writer



(NaturalNews) All major prostate cancer therapies reduce men's quality of life through increased urinary incontinence and hampered sexual function, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and published in the Journal of Urology.



Researchers followed 1,269 men who had been treated for early-stage prostate cancer and assessed their urinary continence, sexual function, energy levels, pain levels, emotional well-being and ability to perform daily tasks. The men were also questioned about each of these quality-of-life measures.



Sixty percent of study participants had been treated with radical prostatectomy, or complete removal of the prostate gland. Seventeen percent had been treated with brachytherapy, the implantation of radioactive "seeds" in the prostate gland. Twelve percent had undergone external radiation treatment, 6 percent had been treated with both forms of radiation therapy and 5 percent had been treated with hormone-blocking drugs.



The researchers found that in all surgery and radiation groups, symptoms of urinary incontinence worsened in the first year after treatment and then improved in the second year, but did not return to pre-treatment levels. Symptoms tended to be worse in patients who had undergone surgery.



In men who had been treated with hormone-blocking drugs, urinary incontinence tended to worsen gradually over the course of four years. The researchers speculated that the drugs might lead to a degeneration of the pelvic muscles.



All treatments led to a decrease in sexual function over the first year after treatment, with surgery once again leading to the greatest effect. Yet while surgical patients tended to undergo improvement in sexual symptoms during the second year after treatment, no such improvement was seen in patients who had undergone other therapies. Thus after the second year, sexual dysfunction was roughly similar in men of all treatment groups.



Because the majority of prostate cancers are slow growing and will never pose a threat to men's health, screening for the disease has become controversial in recent years. Doctors increasingly worry that large numbers of men are being subjected to severe side effects without good cause.



Sources for this story include: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS....