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I
don't want to exaggerate or anything, but hemp is probably one of the most
amazing plants on the face of the earth!First off, allow me to make a
distinction between hemp and marijuana. Sure, these both come from plants in the Cannabis family. However, hemp
has far more better uses than its role in cultivating marijuana.
Hemp is
commercially grown primarily for its resilient fibers, which can be used in a
variety of products, including hemp clothing, cords, cloth diapers, mulch and
composite materials such as cement. Additionally, hemp seeds are used in foods
and nutritional products. And these are just but a few of its uses. The list
goes on and on.
When compared to cotton, which
is also used in a myriad of ways, hemp wins out for several reasons, other than
that one itsy bitsy minor condition - it's illegal in the largest cotton
producing country in the world - the U.S. The world's cotton crops are treated
with 50% of all pesticides used on the face of the earth.
Hemp, on the other
hand, is naturally microbial, contracts very few diseases and is resilient to
most pests, thus allowing it to be grown on a commercial scale without the use
of any pesticides whatsoever. And due to the rapid growth rate and density of
hemp crops, weeds are suppressed - even through harvesting and the following
crop. This means that no herbicides are required either. In other words, hemp is
inherently organic!
One of the most wondrous things
about hemp is that it improves the condition of the soil by extracting heaving
metals from the earth better than any other agricultural crop, reducing
pathogenic soil nematodes, returning nitrogen back into the earth in addition,
and aerating the soil with its deep tap root. Hemp also improves soil organic
matter with foliage that is left on site after harvesting. In fact, hemp does
such a good job improving soil conditions that winter crops of wheat grown on
plots where hemp grew earlier in the year report increased yields of 10-20%.
Using less water and nutrients to grow, Hemp is truly an eco-friendly
agricultural phenomenon.
Besides its superiority as a
textile, hemp offers excellent nutritional benefits. Hemp seeds are rich in the
essential fatty acids, linoleic and apha-linolenic acid, as well as protein
building amino acids. In fact, the amino acid composition in hemp seeds in
closer to being a "complete" protein source than eggs, meat, milk and all other
oil seeds other than that one other miracle plant we all know about - Soy.
Author:
Ry
ORGANIC LIVING TIPS
AUGUST '07 TIPS
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