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Mountain View News Saturday, September 21, 2024


CHRISTOPHER Nyerges 

[Nyerges is the author of several books including “Self-Sufficient Home” and 
“How to Survive Anywhere.” He also leads wilderness classes every weekend. 
He can be reached at School of Self-Reliance, Box 41834, Eagle Rock, CA 
90041, or www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com]

JOEY

• Tuxedo, age two, born 
September 5, 2022

• neutered, vaxxed, chipped, 
healthy

This handsome boy just 
celebrated his second birthday! He didn’t even have to rent a 
tuxedo for the formal affair because he has his own! He also 
boasts a cute black mark around his nose, accentuating his 
charming good looks. 

You’ll often find him lounging in his cat tree surveying his 
kingdom, zooming across the room, or taking a nap from all 
that playing. Joey will be shy at first, but once he trusts you he will show his affectionate 
side—he loves to be petted and scratched and won't hesitate to plop down in front of you to 
get some extra attention. 

He gets along great with other cats and can be won over with treats! 

Learn and see more of Joey at Lifeline for Pets, https://www.lifelineforpets.org/joey--julius.
html. 


GROWING YOUR OWN VITAMINS

 

Vitamins. Everyone needs them. We should take some every day. And 
they come in bottles, right? Well, yes and no.

The original sources of many common vitamins and minerals are plants, 
and several of these are quite easy to cultivate in our own yards. That means we are getting 
our vitamins and minerals fresh, pure, and in a balanced form. Grow your own vitamins in 
your yard, and eat them in your food. This is not a particularly unusual idea. For millennia, 
people obtained their needed nutrition from the food they ate. In fact, the only reason we’ve 
all become so dependent on bottled vitamins is that our normal supermarket foods have 
steadily become poorer sources of our needed vitamins and minerals. The reasons for this 
are complex, but can be summarized by the fact that too many commercial food produc-ers 
focus more on profit when it comes to our food, and less on the nutri-tional aspects.

Roses are great to grow in any garden because they provide beauty and fragrance. Also, if 
you let the fruits mature (referred to as the “hips”), you’ll have a rich source of vitamin C. 
The only known source of vitamin C that is richer is the acerola. Rosehips contain about 
7,000 mg. of vit-amin C per pound, a remarkable amount. By contrast, a pound of or-anges 
(depending on the type of oranges) contains anywhere between 100 to 250 mg. of vitamin 
C.

To use rose hips, you snip off the orange-red mature fruit. Once you cut it in half and 
remove the fibrous seeds, you could just eat it raw. However, most people find it more 
enjoyable to simmer it into tea, or to make it into jams, jellies, or blended nutritional drinks.

In your garden, seriously consider raising carrots. They require loamy soil, but otherwise 
they are somewhat easy to raise. A pound of carrots (depending how they are analyzed) 
contains anywhere from 29,000 to 40,000 I.U. of vitamin A. Hey, even on the low end, that’s 
a lot! Carrots also provide at least 1,000 mg. of potassium per pound, and they contain 
significant amounts of calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium.

Another good food group for your garden is the tomato and pepper group. A pound of 
whole tomatoes, for example, contains large amounts of potassium (1,107 mg.) and vitamin 
A (4,080 I.U.). That’s a lot! Tomatoes also are good sources of vitamin C, phosphorus, 
calcium, and lycopene (which may prevent certain cancers). Fortunately, toma-toes are easy 
to grow, and we’re all accustomed to using them in every-thing from juice to salad, soups, 
pasta sauce, and pizza. If you grow more tomatoes than you can use, dry or can them for 
later.

Garden lettuce, unfortunately, is not a good source of vitamins and min-erals. Loose-leaf 
varieties test higher in vitamin A, but generally, store-bought, farm-grown lettuce is a poor 
source of nutrients. Consider, in-stead, the humble lamb’s quarter. It will probably grow 
in your garden even if you don’t plant it. Seeds can be purchased from some seed catalogs, 
but this is usually not necessary. Used raw in salad, 100 grams of lamb’s quarter (about a 
cup) contains about 80 mg. of vitamin C, 11,600 I.U. of vitamin A, 72 mg. of phosphorus, 
309 mg. of calcium, small amounts of thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and iron. These figures 
are slightly lower when you cook the lamb’s quarter as a spinach-replacement, or in soups, 
egg dishes, or vegetable dishes.

Since we’re talking about the garden “volunteers,” don’t overlook the dandelions, normally 
scorned and poisoned out of existence in most gardens, they are probably better for you 
than most of what you’re inten-tionally growing in the garden. An analysis of 100 grams of 
dandelion greens by the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows 14,000 I.U. of vita-min A, 35 
mg. of vitamin C, 397 mg. of potassium, 66 mg. of phosphorus, 187 mg. of calcium, and 36 
mg. of magnesium. Dandelion greens are also the richest source of beta-carotene, with 8.4 
mg. per cup. By con-trast, carrots -- considered an excellent source of beta-carotene -- con-
tain 6.6 mg. per cup. Only young dandelion greens are good in salads, and the older, bitter 
leaves can be cooked like spinach or added to mixed-vegetable dishes.

Citrus trees can be called “vitamin trees,” since the fruits are not only a source of vitamin 
C, but a good source of most other vitamins and min-erals, as well as the albuminoids and 
bioflavinoids.

If you have the space to grow a carob tree, or if one grows near you, be sure to take advantage 
of the long, brown leathery pods. One hundred grams of the edible portion of the carob 
pod (which is about a cup of the entire pod, minus the seeds) contains 352 mg. of calcium. 
That makes carob one of the very richest non-meat calcium sources. Even when that same 
volume is compared to milk -- generally considered a good calci-um source -- carob is 
nearly three times richer in calcium. Carob is also a good source of B vitamins. Though 
not a complete protein, it is said that this is the food that sustained John the Baptist in the 
desert for 40 days (hence the name, Saint John’s bread). You can simply eat the pods and 
spit out the seeds. Also, you can crack the pods, remove the seeds, and grind the pods into 
a flour which you add to bread and pasty 
products, or blend into liquids like rice or 
soy milk.

These are just a few examples of how we 
can obtain many of our need-ed vitamins 
from plants growing all around us. One 
good source for nu-tritional information 
is Composition of Foods, published 
by the United States Department of 
Agriculture.


Pet of the Week

 Gentle Lilac is ready to become someone’s BFF. Lilac is a 
four-year-old pit bull mix who is as sweet as they come! She 
has a calm energy and likes to take it easy. 

 Lilac has been out for a number of outings, and she has 
been a model citizen. She has represented the shelter at a 
mobile event where she met tons of people and showed off her 
training. She’s also been on a field trip and had a wonderful 
time- nothing seems to faze this sweet girl.

 Lilac the social butterfly is always excited to meet people to 
get pets, and she likes it even more when they want to give her a belly rub. She is a world-
class snuggler and is very happy to let you give her attention until she blissfully falls asleep.

 Lilac and all other animals at Pasadena Humane can be adopted at no charge on Saturday, 
September 16th from 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. at the shelter’s Free Adoption Day!

 The adoption fee for dogs is $150. All dog adoptions include spay or neuter, microchip, and 
age-appropriate vaccines. 

 New adopters will receive a complimentary health-and-wellness exam from VCA Animal 
Hospitals, as well as a goody bag filled with information about how to care for your pet. 

 View photos of adoptable pets and schedule an adoption appointment at pasadenahumane.
org. Adoptions are by appointment only, and new adoption appointments are available every 
Sunday and Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. 

 Pets may not be available for adoption and cannot be held for potential adopters by phone 
calls or email.


HOT TEMPERATURES CAN 
MAKE CONCRETE AND 
ASPHALT TOO HOT FOR 
YOUR DOG’S PAWS. 

Asphalt and concrete 
temperatures can usually be 20-40 degrees hotter than the ambient 
temperature. If the back of your hand can’t stand the heat on the 
concrete or asphalt for 7 seconds, it’s too hot for a walk.

When it's above 90 degrees outside, bring dogs and cats indoors.


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com