CABG surgery plus nine days

Final blood tests done. Discharge medications received. X-ray films too. Outpatient cardiac rehabilitation (at The Royal Melbourne Hospital starting in a week) organised. Review appointments by cardiologist and heart surgeon fixed. Final physiotherapy and dietitian sessions attended. Patient Cardiocard received. Discharge Instruction Summary signed. Big bag of chocolates plus a card bearing Sweetheart Vivienne’s heartfelt (pun intended) words To the amazing team on the 5th floor. From Ross and his grateful family. Thanks! presented to the staff.

So…Farmdoc leaves the hospital. Reverts from a patient back to a person. Deliberately. Eagerly. Meaningfully.

Due to a 2 kg lifting limit, unable to carry his bags. So his long-time friend Peter – Melbourne’s best physician – carries them. Poignantly.

Met in the Admission/Discharge Office, then walked to the car, by darling Kate. Unforgettably [1]. Met beside the car by Sweetheart Vivienne [2] and darling Indi. Lovingly.

Home Sweet Home. A cliché. But a welcome reality too.

The first day of the rest of my life.

CABG surgery minus two days

A quiet day today. A stroll to Victoria Market with Sweetheart Vivienne. A long chat with Sweetheart Vivienne and darling Emily over brunch. A look at some surveillance video then a quick 2-page report on its content and implications. A skype video conversation with darling sister Sue and brother-in-law Jeffrey. Then a visit to long-time friends Peter and Vonne. Busy, busy. So not much time to think about my hospital admission tomorrow let alone the surgery on Monday. It’s hard to know if I’m getting closer to these events or they’re getting closer to me. Whichever or both is so, I feel strangely calm about it all. Why ‘strangely’? Because I reckon I should feel anxious. What’s about to happen is big. Bloody big. But my mindset remains positive. Optimistic. Which is strange for the cup-half-empty bloke that I am. Tomorrow? That’s another day. Today I’m okay. Really okay.

P.S. Thank you to those who wrote such supportive and comforting comments on yesterday’s post. It’s trite to write it, but I’m sincerely grateful to each of you. Also to Sweetheart Vivienne [1] and darling Kate [2] for blogging about me so lovingly. What a support team I have. I am a truly blessed man.

Four hours: not a long time, but not short either

There’s no compendium today: I’m in Daylesford – with Sweetheart Vivienne and darlings Kate and Meg and their families.

Four hours. Not a long time. But not short either. I couldn’t stand on one leg for four hours. Maybe not even on two legs. Four hours. That’s the time my 9:45 a.m. flight from Launceston to Melbourne last Thursday was delayed. At 8 a.m. before I left home I checked the airline’s website. It showed an on-time departure. But when entering the terminal I saw it’d been delayed. By 75 minutes. The check-in man said the plane was still in Melbourne, With a technical problem. Drat. I hunkered down in the Qantas Club. To wait. I phoned Sweetheart Vivienne. I attended to emails. I reduced my podcast backlog. I wrote blog posts. Time passed. Then another announcement: a further delay. Due to a Melbourne airport security breach [1]. The airline offered lunch vouchers. Thanks for that. My iPod battery drained. I finished the New Yorker issue I’d brought. Time slowed. As if the plane would never arrive. Or leave. But it did. Both. Four hours late. What’s four hours? Not a long time. Better to be delayed by a fixed technical problem than on time with an unfixed one. And better to be delayed by a detected security breach than on time with an undetected one. Oh the delight of commercial air travel. The sheer joy of it. Ho hum.

Finally, I wish you, dear Farmdoc’s Blog readers, a wonderful week.

Mother Nature is...

Mother Nature [1]. Previously I’ve called her ingenious [2], grand [3], angry [4], and mercilessly vengeful [5]. Even muscular [6]. But that’s not all she can be. This growing season’s been a tough and cruel one for most, and maybe nearly all, Australian primary producers. Including darling Brendon and Kate at Daylesford Organics. In the last few months floods [7] (on at least two occasions), locust plagues (ditto) and fungal diseases have reduced their farm’s produce to almost zero – apart from eggs. (Apparently the chooks have continued to lay eggs, oblivious to the adversities just mentioned.) Of couse that’s a huge setback – compounded because in the previous two seasons their produce had won national awards, and they’d been supplying top restaurants. It’s hard not to take all this personally – even though, of course, there’s nothing personal about it. I know [8]. Brendon and his farm team have made plans to ensure future seasons like the present one won’t result in such massive production losses. One must learn by one’s experience and do what one can. But as people in Brisbane and Christchurch can confirm, Mother Nature can’t be totally controlled. She’s perverse, she’s contrary, and she has wry senses of irony and humour. Yesterday darling Kate and darling Jarrah picked some giant blackberries (pictured). As if Mother Nature created these giants as a reminder of who’s boss. And to signal that she’s not a bitch after all.

This week's compendium

Here’s this week’s compendium. This week…

1. 20-27 February to be exact, is DonateLife Week [1a] (nee Australian Organ Donor Awareness Week). I’m still mulling over whether to be a donor [1b].

2. Michael Danby, Federal MP for Melbourne Ports (which includes Albert Park) spoke in parliament against the Grand Prix [2]. Good on you, Michael.

3. I read in treehugger that in the US solar-powered homes sell twice as quickly at a higher price than equivalent grid-powered homes [3]. Here’s hoping it’s so here too.

4. JAMA reported that mobile phone use changes the metabolism in the part of the brain closest to the phone’s antenna [4]. The clinical significance of this remains unclear.

5. further to my 24 January post [5a] the government said the axing of limited practice rights for retired doctors was ‘to protect public health and safety’ [5b]. Let’s see the evidence, then, policy czars.

6. 31 of the 33 Chilean miners rescued from a collapsed mine last October landed in Israel on Wednesday for a week-long visit [6]. I wish them an enjoyable time.

7. the Internal Medicine Journal published Tasmanian research showing knee arthritis severity’s closely correlated with the severity of x-ray changes, and independently with pain severity [7]. Odd that this had never been shown before.

8. darling Kate, in her wondrous Foxs Lane blog [8a], introduced me to the ‘sweater curse’ It’s charming how the curse’s Wikipedia entry analyses it in scientific terms [8b].

Finally, I wish you, dear Farmdoc’s Blog readers, a wonderful week.

The circus moves on. People remain

Last Friday in her Foxs Lane blog, darling Kate wrote ‘I am worrying about those communities trying to pick up the pieces of their lives after the floods. Like people have said all along, the recovery will be a marathon not a sprint, and we cannot forget about them now that the media circus has moved on’ [1]. Of course Kate’s a chip – the first chip – off my old block. But I couldn’t agree with her more. The floods are now old news; if they’re news at all. But that doesn’t reduce their devastation. It’s hard to describe this devastation in words. Pictures do the job much better. NearMap [2] is an Australian provider of high resolution aerial imagery. It images over 2% of Australia’s landmass – primarily capital cities and major regional towns. Its images are updated for 60% of Australia’s population every month [3]. This frequent updating has resulted in these remarkable pictures of Brisbane before and during the floods – made public courtesy of ABC News [4, 5]. (Moving your cursor from right to left across each one converts it from a ‘before’ image to a ‘during the flood’ one.) Whilst this shows the macro physical devastation, it doesn’t show inside homes and business premises. And of course it doesn’t show the psychological and social effects of the floods.

P.S. I’m still aghast at the opposition – especially from the political spectrum’s right wing – to a tax levy to fund infrastructure reconstruction in flood-affected areas [6, 7, 8]. Shame.

Horses for cushion covers

Horses for courses. This expression originated in England, in 1898 at the latest [1]. It means, of course (pun intended) we should stick to what we know, and do, best. Adjunctively, what’s suitable for one person or situation may be unsuitable for another. The news cycle – that insidious and pervasive modern invention – has moved on, leaving the Queensland floods in its wake (pun intended). For the mass communications media have neither soul nor conscience. But, fortunately, some members of our society do. Artists come readily to mind. As a group, artists tend to be sensitive to the human condition and its exigencies. So it’s unsurprising they’ve rallied into action to assist flood-affected Queenslanders. Also that darling Kate’s among them.. Using the finest quality wool, Kate has crocheted a superb cushion cover (or ersatz beanie – modelled by darling Brendon for the photograph) which she’s auctioning on her Foxs Lane blog [2, 3, 4, 5]. The bidding procedure’s here [6]. Bidding closes at 9 a.m. next Monday. The idea’s that the highest bidder donates the bid to the Premier’s Flood Relief Appeal [7] (it’s a tax deduction too) after which Kate will post the prize. It’s a win-win-win-win situation: A win for the flood victims, the auction winner, our society at large; and not least Kate – who’s produced an item of artistic beauty whist helping the flood aftermath effort in the best way she knows. A true ‘horse for course’ contribution. Yet another reason I’m proud to be her dad. So proud.

This week's compendium

Here’s this week’s compendium. This week…

1. the MJA published an Australian study showing bicycle helmets reduce the risk of serious head injury by 80% [1]. Thus the government should resist pressure to relax mandatory helmet legislation.

2. Steven Slater [2a] has a new job [2b]. Good for him.

3. Sweetheart Vivienne alerted me to an Age article emphasising the importance of heritage buildings in the city [3]. Yes – ‘when our heritage buildings are gone we can’t get them back’.

4. a meta-analysis in a Lancet paper concluded that steroid injection of tendon strains revealed a short-term benefit in tennis elbow, but otherwise no benefit [4]. So steroid injection should be used sparingly.

5. a US company introduced nail polish free of noxious chemicals [5]. A no-brainer. Hopefully it’ll be sold in Australia too.

6. Grammar Girl explained the difference between the meaning of ‘disinterested’ and ‘uninterested’ [6]. I hope you’re not uninterested in the difference.

7. Victorian premier Brumby promised a review of the Australian Grand Prix’s future beyond 2014 [7]. He said this eight days before an election. Ho hum.

8. darling Kate’s Foxs Lane blog [8a] jumped from the second-ranked blog in the world in the ‘Needlework’ category [8b], to number one [8c]. Naturally.

Finally, I wish you, dear Farmdoc’s Blog readers, a wonderful week.

Happy birthday to you, darling Kate.

Today’s the birthday of Sweetheart Vivienne’s and my oldest daughter: darling Kate. When I sat down to write today’s post, I began by looking at my posts for her 2009 [1] and 2008 [2] birthdays. For her birthday today I can’t write anything truer and more heartfelt. So I’m not even going to try. Instead I’m writing about another topic near to my heart – but of course nowhere near as near, and dear, as darling Kate is: Goats. Over the 9-10 years I’ve been a goat farmer, I’ve become a fan of their inquisitiveness and playfulness. And the strong maternal instinct of nanny mothers. So I couldn’t resist relaying this treehugger story [3]. How impressive’s that, eh. I like the embedded quote from Peter Bosshard: that nature overcomes mankind’s often destructive engineering accomplishments. I reckon that’s so. Nature has a massive task in front of her. However I predict she’ll prevail over all of mankind’s stupidity. Eventually. This man-nature thing brings me back to my review of Dog Boy two days ago [4]. Darling Kate loving that book so much she loaned me her copy, is a fatherhood badge of honour that I wear proudly. I love and admire much about this loving, thoughtful, considerate and concerned person. But her successful determination to live as close as she can to nature, is also high on my list of reasons. Happy birthday to you, Kate: our oldest kid.

Review Tuesday: 'Dog Boy'

Today’s ‘Review Tuesday’. On page 274 of her remarkable and acclaimed 2009 novel Dog Boy [1, 2], Eva Hornung [3] quotes Dostoevsky [4] thus, regarding animals: ‘God gave them joy untroubled. They are without sin, and you, in all your greatness, defile the earth by your appearance in it, and leave the traces of your foulness after you…’ And that, pretty well, sums up her book. In grungy Moscow Ramochka, a 4-year-old boy, is abandoned by his family and adopted by a pack of feral dogs. The first half of the book’s 290 pages tell the story of Ramochka and his new family. Eventually he becomes a dog in all ways except his appearance and sense of smell. Then, slowly but inevitably, the outside world – of humans – intervenes. Ramochka moves, with predictable difficulty, between both worlds which engage in a kind of tug-of-war for him. Finally he chooses one. Which? I’m not saying. You’ll have to read the book. And you should. Because it’s not to be missed. Especially by everyone who’s concerned by the place of animals in our contemporary world; and even more by anyone calling themselves a ‘dog person’. Darling Kate, who loaned me the book, told me that since she’d read it she’s thought about dogs quite differently. Me? I agree. But it also reminded me there are at least two sides to every situation, and it’s essential to see that situation from more than your own side. P.S. Grateful thanks, darling Kate.

Annie Leibovitz watch out

Today’s ‘Positive and Optimistic Sunday’. I’ve no doubt women and men see the world differently. I reckon the cause’s not environmental. So it must be a genetic thing. To do with that extra X chromosome. Perhaps mediated by hormones. Perhaps not. Anyway, put a camera in a woman’s hands and you’ll get totally different types of images than you’ll get from a man in the same spot. And it’s never too early for a woman to start taking pictures. On darling Indigo’s 7th birthday in November 2007, Sweetheart Vivienne and I gave her a digital camera. So on darling Jarrah’s 7th birthday 15 days ago, our gift was preordained. Darling Kate – her mum – said Jazzy’s obsessed with her new camera. It’s red. And so it’s caused her favourite colour to change. From pink. I haven’t seen any of her photographs yet – but judging by the photo top left, she looks the part. Maybe that’s because her mum (who took that photo, and this one [1]) is a keen – nay, fanatical – and wonderful photographer [2, 3]. I don’t know much about famous woman photographers. But some websites have lists of them [4, 5, 6, 7]. Maybe one day darling Jarrah will be on those lists. If that happens I’ll be delighted to say that Sweetheart Vivienne and I gave her her first camera.

P.S. Darling Pepper, whose 3rd birthday’s today, wants a camera too! No show without Punch [8].

This week's compendium

Here’s this week’s compendium. This week…

1. I liked this article titled ‘Strangest Australian town names’ [1]. Quirky, eh.

2. the journal Neurology published a paper showing greater amounts of walking are associated with greater brain gray matter volume, which is in turn’s associated with lower risk of cognitive impairment. [2]. The threshold’s 6-9 miles (i.e. 10-15 km) per week.

3. ethicalinvestor reported that Australia's big four banks financed over $5B worth of coal projects in the past five years while promoting their green credentials [3]. That’s over six times the amount they lent to renewable energy projects.

4. segueing along, moneymanager.com.au reported that in the last five years, the average annual return of Australian ethical investment share funds was 4.65%, i.e. 10% above the 4.21% yield of mainstream share funds [4]. Love the headline ‘Green is good’.

5. Embark, a non-profit organisation, was launched. It aims to accelerate the roll-out of community-funded renewable energy projects [5]. I wish it well.

6. more proof has emerged of Australia’s looming diabetes ‘tsunami’, along with signs that many of those affected ignore the seriousness of their disease [6]. Ho hum.

7. darling Kate’s Foxs Lane blog [7a] was rated by Wikio [7b] as the second-ranked blog in the world (!) in the ‘Needlework’ category [7c]. I’m not surprised. She deserves it. Her blog’s superb.

8. Sweetheart Vivienne’s ‘Feast and famine’ audiovisual presentation went up on ABC Northern Tasmania’s website [8]. I’s a profoundly beautiful piece.

Finally, I wish you, dear Farmdoc’s Blog readers, a wonderful week.

This week's compendium

Here’s this week’s compendium. This week…

1. in fact yesterday, the ground-breaking ceremony occurred for Hepburn Wind’s two community-owned wind turbines [1]. Good on you, Hepburn Wind.

2. a survey of 235,000 US adults revealed that nearly 10% were depressed. Risk factors were living in the south-east, female, middle-age, black or Hispanic, and no health insurance[2]. Ho hum.

3. there was media coverage about the benefits of resuscitation by Continuous Chest Compression [CCC] compared with Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation [CPR] [3a, 3b, 3c]. It avoids the yucky mouth-to-mouth stuff, too.

4. planetgreen reviewed a book titled Holy Sh*t: Managing Manure to Save Mankind [4]. This is a massive problem. If the solution’s unpalatable, so what.

5. Nutrition Diva listed the ways sugar’s bad for us [5]. Food for thought, eh.

6. the Annals of Internal Medicine reported that getting sufficient sleep may play an important role in weight loss [6]. Interesting.

7. the Age questioned whether Power Bands were snake-oil [7a]. This is relevant [7b].

8. darling Kate blogged about some exciting news [8a] and some sad news [8b]. And today’s darling Jarrah’s seventh birthday XXXXXXX

Finally, I wish you, dear Farmdoc’s Blog readers, a wonderful week.

Review Tuesday: 'East West 101' - Series 1

Today’s ‘Review Tuesday’. Ten days ago darling Kate and Brendon loaned Sweetheart Vivienne and me Series 1 of the Australian TV drama East West 101 [1, 2, 3]. It comprises three DVDs with two episodes on each, plus an audio CD with a 10-minute sample of the soundtrack music. The box cover summarises the storyline in six words: ‘Two Cops. Two Cultures. One objective’. Both the cops work in the NSW Police Force’s Major Crime Squad. One is Detective Zane Malik – a Muslim family man and one-time child crime victim. The other is Senior Detective Ray Crowley – an Aussie loner who seemingly is not the biggest fan of Malik in particular and Muslims in general. The two men fight crimes and, sometimes literally, each other. Set in Sydney’s seedy side, each episode has the Squad working on a new murder simultaneously with some themes which flow through all six episodes [4]. And it culminates in an ending I wouldn’t have predicted in my wildest dreams. I couldn’t fault the acting (especially by Don Hany [5] as Malik and William McInnes [6] as Crowley), the stories (intriguing), the writing (credible), the cinematography (gritty) and the pace (frenetic). Given all this, the tension between the two detectives (personal and religio-cultural) and the music (Eastern, rhythmic, insistent) [7], I highly recommend East West 101. Series 2 is out on DVD [8]. Hint, hint, darling Kate and Brendon.

P.S. Season 3’s in production [9].

This week's compendium

Here’s this week’s compendium. This week…

1. For this [1a] the three atavistic loggers were convicted. But they didn’t get custodial sentences [1b]. I don’t care that their work’s legal and they showed remorse. What do you think?

2. on 9/11 Geert Wilders [2a] spoke at Ground Zero [2b]. He may be a demagogue, but someone has to stand up and say something.

3. on a jollier note, my darling sister Sue sent Sweetheart Vivienne this [3]. Me? Argue with a woman? Never.

4. treehugger wrote of a Chinese pedal-powered washing machine [4]. Twenty minutes of pedalling per load sounds like a good deal.

5. it also wrote of clotted cream sold in Cornwall two miles from where it was made, but which travelled 340 miles to get there [5]. Ho hum.

6. salon.com reported heterosexual women are attracted to men who dance with flamboyant moves [6]. That’s me, babe. (Not.)

7. it also reported a Turkish study concluding fatter men have longer-lasting sex [7]. Cheers. I’m off to buy some creamcakes.

8. darling Kate’s craft virtuosity received more acclaim [8]. XXXXX to you, darling Kate.

Finally, I wish you, dear Farmdoc’s Blog readers, a wonderful week.

List: '9 Essential Clothing Repair Skills'

Today’s ‘List Friday’. In late 2009 I wrote that I’m a physician and not a surgeon because I’m an introvert and not an extrovert [1]. Another reason’s that I’m not fantastically dextrous. I’m not ham-fisted, mind you. (How could a Jewish boy be ham-fisted.) But I’m no dab hand with a needle. At least I can sew on a button – neatly and tightly, as the photograph shows. Today’s list, from planetgreen, is titled ‘9 Essential Clothing Repair Skills – Make Your Clothes Last Longer!’ [2] I, being a parsimonious fellow, am all for repairing things to make them last longer. Clothes included. Clothes especially. But my skills are sadly lacking. Of the ‘9 Essential Clothing Repair Skills’, I possess only two: as I’ve told and shown you, I know ‘How to Sew a Button’ (skill number 1). And I know how to ‘Line-Dry Clothing’ (skill number 9). So my skills neatly bookend the 9-item list. I don’t know why I’ve never learnt the other seven skills. I suppose it’s a male/female thing: males cause the rips and holes and frays, and women repair them. How absurd. I’m 120% sure darling Kate has all nine skills. For her they’re a doddle. She can probably use them blindfolded. While I’d like to learn the seven skills I lack, I can’t see it happening any time soon. I’ve got other skills to learn. Ho hum. And by the way, I love the photographs that punctuate the planetgreen list.

This week's compendium

Here’s this week’s compendium. This week…

1. on salon.com Francis Lam started a series on baking [1]. How exciting. And delicious.

2. evidence emerged that the US baseball legend Lou Gehrig probably didn’t have the disease named after him, i.e. Lou Gehrig’s Disease [2]. Whoops.

3. gizmodo.com posted an astoundingly wondrous series of diptych photographs [3]. Fantastic, fantastic.

4. the journal Circulation published research showing a moderate intake of high cocoa chocolate was associated with reduced heart failure risk [4a]. It can modestly lower blood pressure, too [4b].

5. and Tai Chi was reported to help fibromyalgia [5]. Sure beats medication.

6. an Iowa egg producer recalled 380 million eggs following a Salmonella enteritidis outbreak affecting hundreds of people [6]. It’s Food Inc. in action, folks.

7. an Australian survey reported in the latest MJA concluded the severity of sleep apnoea is increasing. Why? Because obesity’s increasing [7]. It’s Food Inc. in action, folks.

8. this beautiful profile of beautiful darling Kate went up on a fellow crafter’s blog [8]. I am so proud of Kate.

Finally, I wish you, dear Farmdoc’s Blog readers, a wonderful week.

Never, never, never, never give up

After six days away, on Monday I returned to a hill of work. Not a mountain let alone an alp, but a daunting pile nonetheless. So much so that yesterday morning I had trouble getting out of bed to face it. But I did. All through yesterday I persevered – because I knew that if I didn’t, the hill wouldn’t get flatter. By evening, I’m pleased to report, it was almost gone. It’s amazing what you can achieve when, though not in the mood, you’re determinedly persistent [1].

That’s enough about me. But continuing on about persistence, I publicly pay tribute to darling Kate and Brendon. Last Thursday marked nine years since they moved to Daylesford – equipped with lots of dreams and not much knowledge. What they’ve achieved over the subsequent nine years is astounding. But don’t take my word for it – for I’m unashamedly biased – read what the Weekly Times says [2]. Despite my Farmdoc moniker, I’m not a real farmer. Because I earn my living from doctoring. But I know enough about farming to tell you, with conviction, that farming’s a Murphy’s Law enterprise if ever there was one. Self evidently persistence’s paying off for Daylesford Organics. Happy birthday to that ‘amazing little farm punching well above its weight’ [3]. Long may you prosper. I am so proud of you.

Of men and their heroes

On this last day of autumn 2010, I write of heroes. I’ve written several previous Farmdocs’ Blog posts about heroes. (To access them, write ‘hero’ in the Google search box near the top of the left sidebar.) Whilst my heroes list changes ever changes (mostly by lengthening; but that’s another story), I’m fascinated by my children’s heroes – which tell me about my children and, vicariously, about myself:

What a marvellous story darling Kate told on her Foxs Lane blog two days ago [1]. Dreams do come true. It’s inspirational and poignant that one of darling Brendon’s is doing just that. To meet his hero Joel Salatin is one thing. To meet him on Brendon and Kate’s farm is another. And for Joel to be so complimentary – in pouring rain traipsing through mud – is close to if not the ultimate. Well done, Brenno. You’re a star – and a hero of mine. Not that you need it – at all – but my seal of approval’s on Joel as one of yours.

Staying with heroes, today’s the 80th birthday of one of mine: Clint Eastwood [2, 3]. Why’s Clint my hero? One – he’s tall and handsome, of course. Two – he usually plays iconoclasts or other non-mainstream nose-thumbers. Three – he’s now so powerful he can, and does, thumb his nose at Hollywood’s quirks. And four – his film parts are invariably age-appropriate. For a far more esoteric and eloquent homage to Clint, read David Denby’s New Yorker piece here [4]. Happy 80th, Clint.

Lists: ‘15 Reasons to Eat Organic Food’ & 10 tips for optimum vegetable storage’

Today’s ‘List Friday’. After pitifully pathetic lists on the past two Fridays [1, 2], I promised you, dear readers, a much less soporific list today. And I’m a man who stands by his promises. Sometimes at least.

The book I read last week, about men’s health, was big on diet and eating habits [3]. And this week I’m on to a book about Gi [glycaemic index] foods and food preparation [4]. So health, food, cooking, and eating are on my mind right now. Front and centre.

To atone for the last two lists, today I’m offering you two: the first is planetgreen’s ‘15 Reasons to Eat Organic Food’ [5]. And what a broad list it is – embracing nutritional, safety social, environmental and biodiversity factors. Given all this, buying and eating organic food’s a no-brainer. Nutrition Diva agrees [6]. But if you’re a doubter, at least invoke the precautionary principle [7].

Today’s second list, courtesy of darling Emily’s heads-up, is also food-related. But not limited to organic food. It’s thestonesoup’s ‘10 tips for optimum vegetable storage’ [8]. Of these 10, the main one is ‘Don’t refrigerate your tomatoes’.

P.S. Thanks to darling Kate and Brendon for today’s photograph – of Daylesford Organics’ prize winning heirloom beetroot [9].