Mushroom Company BTTR Ventures uses Coffee Grounds as Foundation for Growth

BUSINESS NEWS

Urban Mushroom Company BTTR Ventures ushers in new strategy
Founders turn one of the largest waste streams in America into sustainable local food

Garden of Healing®

Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Velez got the idea for their for-profit social venture BTTR Ventures while taking a business ethics course at the University of California at Berkeley's Haas School of Business.

A guest lecturer mentioned that people in East Africa used coffee grounds to grow mushrooms to fight malnutrition. "We both fell in love with the idea of using coffee waste and started doing research and brainstorming," says Arora.

Velez and Aorara founded BTTR Ventures to turn one of the largest waste streams in America into sustainable local food. They do this by using coffee grounds as the substrate.

BTTR Ventures stands for “back to the roots”, a fitting name for a company which donates 10% of profits back to the community. In addition, this venture is creating new jobs in local urban areas.

With a $5,000 social innovation grant from the university, the pair reached out to potential partners, researched mushroom-growing techniques, and tried to identify whether there was enough supply and demand to justify starting the company. They founded it in 2009. Its first partners include Peet's Coffee (PEET), which is providing used coffee grounds, and Whole Foods (WFMI), which agreed to purchase the outfit's mushrooms for 26 of its Bay Area stores.

The company's social mission is to create a healthy food source and needed jobs in urban areas, to save thousands of tons of valuable substrate from ending up in landfills, and to donate 10% of profits back to the communities from which the coffee-ground waste originated.

To show your support of BTTR Ventures, vote for them in the BBC World Challenge 09.

BTTR Ventures is the only US finalist in the global competition aimed at finding projects or small businesses from around the world that have shown enterprise and innovation at a grass roots level.

Please vote by November 12th.


Learn more about voting:

BTTR Ventures: http://www.bttrventures.com/


© 1996 - 2009 The Garden of Healing® Company. All Rights Reserved.

Germany Warns over Dangers of Nanotechnology in Products

TECHNOLOGY

German Authorities emphasize Nanotech's risks; no long-term studies exist
Promising potential of the technology comes with a risk for health and environment. Nano particles can damage lungs and cause inflammation.

Garden of Healing®

German authorities have sounded the alarm over the risks posed by nanotechnology when used in food, clothing, cosmetics and other products.

Germany's Federal Environment Agency has advised consumers against using such products until their long-term effects on people's health has been carefully studied.

Nanoscience is the world of small length scales of objects of physical, chemical or biological interest. It deals with matter on an ultra-small scale. A nano particle is 40,000 smaller than the width of the average human hair.

Nanotechnology has often been hailed as a technology of the future, but it's already here, used in a wide array of products.

Paints with nano particles allows graffiti to be washed off more easily. Tooth fillings with nano particles are less likely to fall out.. Nanotechnology is also used in a variety of food products, such as sugar where the particles make the sugar crystals sprinkle better.

Professor Dieter Stuermer from the Bonn-based Institute for Science and Ethics says people should be especially aware of the danger that nano particles can damage lungs and cause inflammation. In particular, he criticizes nanotechnology companies for not taking enough account of the possible negative side-effects of their products.

No debate about the risks has taken place, critics warn. Not only because there are no long-term studies available on the impact of nano particles on human health. But also because consumers don't even know what products include nanotechnology due to a lack of any kind of labeling system.

The German Federal Environment Agency has called for a clear legal framework to provide a safe way to use the new technology. All products using nanotechnology should be listed, the agency suggests.

In a report the Agency admits that the new technology does not only pose risks but also offers vital possibilities for the environment. For instance, plastic with nanotechnology can help to reduce the weight of cars and planes and thereby help to save fuel.

The German ministry for education and research is convinced that nanotechnology will be a major factor in boosting the German economy as the country fights its way out of the current recession. It believes that sales of nano products globally could be worth three trillion US dollars over the next six years.


© 1996 - 2009 The Garden of Healing® Company. All Rights Reserved.

Fredericksburg Culinary Arts (FBGCA)

Q & A; COOKING SCHOOLS

From SelfcarePro.com
http://www.selfcarepro.com/


Howdy Selfcare Pro!

I'm new to Texas and have been trying to plant a garden in what seems to be less than 10 inches of top soil. As a former waiter, I know and love food, but have never grown it myself. I'd like to attend a cooking school to use my garden bounty and cook my way to better health.

Any ideas or suggestions either about the Texas soil or a recommendation for a good culinary school down South?

Matt S. (Austin, TX)


Hello Matt from Austin!

It's encouraging to see you becoming a Selfcare Pro all on your own!

We are overjoyed to hear that you are seeing how planting your own garden and cooking what you grow can greatly impact your health.

Texas has a rich history of cattle ranching due in part to the meagre top soil which sits upon rock. This is why all you see are short trees and rustic bushes; the roots spread out as opposed to being able to grow deeply into the earth.

As far as cooking schools, here are our suggestions for finding a good one.

Epitourean, LLC is a Denver-based travel company that specializes in culinary trips, and you might want to check with them:

http://www.epitourean.com/

Otherwise our recommendation is the Fredericksburg Culinary Arts (FBGCA) school about an hour's drive from Austin in the heart of the Texas Hill Country in Fredericksburg, TX:

http://www.fbgculinaryarts.com/

There you can attend private cooking classes under the instructor Carol Seminara who has worked as a professional food stylist for national television clients and has catered many events both large and small.

Chef Instructor Seminara is founder of Fredericksburg Culinary Arts whose cooking classes are held at Fischer & Wieser’s Das Peach Haus.

For more about Fredericksburg's culinary scene go to:

http://www.fredtexflavors.com/

You can learn to cook starting with one-to-one training in fundamental skills and methods. Classes are structured to provide hands-on knowledge of cooking materials and techniques, allowing you to build a culinary foundation.

Carol, along with her husband Joe Houde, is owner and innkeeper of the Cottages at Limestone, a Bed and Breakfast in the Texas Hill Country:

http://www.cottagesatlimestone.com/

Seminara is a certified Hill Country Master Gardener, who organically grows many of the herbs and some of the vegetables she and her husband use in their dishes. Fresh, local products are emphasized in her menus which change to incorporate seasonal offerings.

We trust that Carol Seminara would be able to help you grow, cook and savor your garden's bounty.

Selfcare Pro

http://www.selfcarepro.com/


© 2009 SelfCarePro™ All rights reserved.

Eating healthy on a budget; #1 - Make a plan

ONE SIMPLE IDEA

#1 - Make a Plan
Eating Healthy on a Budget

Alicia Bosscher, MPH, RD, CD

It's possible to eat healthfully without spending a lot of extra money on food.

Here's one tip, ONE SIMPLE IDEA, to keep in mind during the time you spend hunting for food down your grocer's ailes.

The first tip is: Make a plan.

Collecting ads and coupons from a variety of publications will take you far at the grocery store. Scan for sales and coupons while you plan meals for the week.

Be flexible and allow sale items to be included in your meal plans.

__________________


The copyright of the editorial Eating healthy on a budget; #1 - Make a plan (in Garden of Healing.Com) is owned by Alicia Bosscher, MPH, RD, CD. Permission to republish Eating healthy on a budget; #1 - Make a plan in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Contact Alicia Bosscher:

Alicia Bosscher
HIV Nutrition & Treatment Support Services Coordinator
AIDS Network, 600 Williamson Street, Suite H, Madison, WI 53703 ~ USA ~ (608) 252-6540
Email: abosscher at aidsnetwork dot org

Related Links:
http://www.aidsnetwork.org/


© 2009 Alicia Bosscher, MPH, RD, CD. All Rights Reserved.

How Nonsense Sharpens the Intellect

MIND

How Nonsense Sharpens the Intellect

By Benedict Carey

Source: New York Times

In addition to assorted bad breaks and pleasant surprises, opportunities and insults, life serves up the occasional pink unicorn. The three-dollar bill; the nun with a beard; the sentence, to borrow from the Lewis Carroll poem, that gyres and gimbles in the wabe.

An experience, in short, that violates all logic and expectation. The philosopher Soren Kierkegaard wrote that such anomalies produced a profound “sensation of the absurd,” and he wasn’t the only one who took them seriously. Freud, in an essay called “The Uncanny,” traced the sensation to a fear of death, of castration or of “something that ought to have remained hidden but has come to light.”

At best, the feeling is disorienting. At worst, it’s creepy.

FOR THE FULL STORY:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/health/06mind.html?ref=todayspaper


Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company. All Rights Reserved.

Ein warmes - und, kühles Refugium

POETICA

Umrahmt von Natur
Irgend alles ist erreichbar - Garten der Heilung

Mark Isaac Thyss
Garden of Healing®

Ihr besondere Seele...

Umrahmt von Natur - ideale Gegebenheiten zum Durchatmen im SpezialKlima - Garten der Heilung.

Berg- und Talwinde führen gute Luft...

Eine ständige Lufterneuerung. Einatmen, ausatmen.

Mit Garten der Heilung -

Irgend alles ist erreichbar.

Ein warmes - und, kühles Refugium.

Einatmen, ausatmen...

Das Immunsystem kann sich regenerieren und das milde Reizklima aktiviert den Organismus und beruhigt die Nerven.

Ihr besondere Seele gilt es zu schützen.

Deshalb setzen wir auf den Schutz der Umwelt - Natur.

Unser Engagement wurde bereits mit Garden of Healing® bedacht.

Wir werden uns auch weiterhin für unsere Naturschätze einsetzen!

Euch.


© 1996-2009 Mark Isaac Thyss/Garden of Healing®. All Rights Reserved.

The copyright of the article Ein warmes - und, kühles Refugium (Umrahmt von Natur; Irgend alles ist erreichbar - Garten der Heilung) in Garden of Healing.Com is owned by Mark Isaac Thyss. Permission to republish Ein warmes - und, kühles Refugium in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Contact Mark Thyss:
GGArgentum, (Garden of Healing®, Inc.), 1223 W. Main Street, #301, Sun Prairie, WI 53590 ~ USA ~ (619) 615-9962

For more articles about natural health and healing, please visit:

http://www.thegardenofhealing.com/