Know Your Annuals and Perennials to Eatwell [Step 7 of 8]

Welcome to part 9 of our mini series on Conscious Buying Decisions to Help Climate Change. Last time we covered ‘Buying Seafood to Help Revitalise the Ocean and Ecosystems’. This time we’re looking at ‘Knowing Your Annuals and Perennials to Eatwell’, which is also part of our series on Eating Sustainably.

You can find all content in this mini series at Mini Series: Conscious Buying Decisions to Help Climate Change.

If you already know that you have the power to help climate change and improve your health and happiness, here are the options to make conscious decisions when buying food and drink to eatwell:

1. Check out #VoteWithOurMoney with 6 Steps to Help Stop Climate Change
2. Try the Sustainability Roadmap with 40+ Solutions to Climate Change
3. Use the Company Directory to Help You Grow, Eat, and Live Sustainably

If you want some more facts before making any decisions to help you eatwell, let’s get into the details:

Before we get started, it’s worth saying that this mini series is based on the Kiss the Ground Purchasing Guide. Many of the facts come from the book called Drawdown.

Find the Book Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed To Reverse Global Warming by Paul Hawken That You Can Find Here on Amazon*

There are 8 Steps To Eatwell for Your Health and the Climate:

1. Knowing Your Food Source
2. Growing Your Own
3. Composting
4. Choosing Meat That’s Regenerating Land
5. Choosing Dairy That’s Regenerating Land
6. Buying Seafood to Help Revitalise the Ocean and Ecosystems
7. Knowing Your Annuals and Perennials
8. Going Beyond the Healthiest Foods

In this piece we’re looking at step 7, Knowing Your Annuals and Perennials to Eatwell.

What Are Annuals?

Annual plants are those that only live for one growing season, and must be replanted every year. Annuals generally take more time and energy to grow and manage. Their root structures are typically smaller, which means they can’t access the same nutrients and amount of water as perennial plants with deep roots.

Young seedlings are more vulnerable to weather, pests, and diseases. Many plants in our diets are annuals, including: corn, beans, wheat, rice, lettuce, carrots, and potatoes.

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Annual agriculture can be destructive to soil, especially if farmers plough the same land year after year and harm the underlying fungal network, which is an essential part of healthy soil micro life. However, some farmers are doing things differently, farming like nature, and have begun growing annuals using the Five Fundamentals of Soil Health:

1. Less Disturbance
2. Living Roots
3. Soil Armor
4. Animal Integration
5. Increased Biodiversity

These practices help to sequester carbon in the soil, protect the land from erosion, and make the entire system more resilient to storms and droughts.

Know Your Farm to Help You Eatwell

You can find out how your vegetables and fruit have been produced to help you eatwell by asking your veg shop, farm shop, or farmer a few questions:

1. Get to know your farmers, ask questions about how they raise their annuals
2. Take farm tours and see for yourself how your favorite annuals are grown
3. Ask if the farm uses artificial chemicals or pesticides (if they do, ask if the farmer is planning to transition away from them and grow more like nature)
4. Eatwell by growing your own—it’s easy to grow lettuce, carrots, other veggies, and herbs
5. Learn about perennial alternatives, such as a perennial wheat called Kernza (its roots can grow up to twenty feet deep—helping to sequester carbon and build soil structure!)

What Are Perennials?

Perennials are plants that live longer than two years. In the case of trees and bushes, they may even live for hundreds of years. In general, perennials are better for the environment because they establish deep roots in the soil, protecting the land, and drawing down carbon year after year.

Multistrata perennial systems can sequester more carbon than any other known agricultural production system, sequestering 2-9 times more carbon than most improved annual cropping and grazing systems.

Perennials:

1. Are better at withstanding harsh weather
2. Maintain more consistent groundcover
3. Maintain a strong root structure for multiple years
4. Require less soil disturbance like digging and ploughing

Know Your Farm to Help You Eatwell

Be aware that not all perennial farms are created equal.

Example 1: Imagine a farm where shade-loving berries thrive under the canopy of a diverse species of trees. Now imagine animals grazing between the trees, fertilising the soil. This system farms like nature, like a natural forest, providing greater resilience and ecosystem health. This would be a great farm to eat perennials from.

Example 2: Now, imagine rows of mono-cropped trees stretching as far as you can see. No sign of life, nothing else planted, no animals grazing. This would be a farm that you wouldn’t want to eat perennials from.

It’s always best to choose perennials from farms like example 1—those implementing healthy soil practices and regenerative techniques to take care of the land and soil.

Don’t buy from systems that were planted following deforestation. Investigate how your favourite crops are grown and cultivated.

If you can get onto a farm tour, or speak to the farmer at a farmers market or in a farm shop, you can also ask questions about how farmworkers are treated and paid; and ask if perennial crops have been sprayed with lots of herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides (that you’ll want to avoid because of the negative impacts to your long-term health).

If you want a deep dive into the toxic chemicals used on foods and their negative impacts on our health, check out this amazing Rich Roll interview with Dr. Zach Bush:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWgnkgYtqnw&t

Examples of Perennials to Help You Eatwell

1. Apples
2. Oranges
3. Bananas
4. Olives
5. Asparagus
6. Coconuts
7. Peaches
8. Walnuts

There are many perennial crops that can be staple crops in the same way as wheat and rice: Chestnut, acorn, breadfruit, and moringa are just a few perennial crops that have the potential for becoming staple food crops in the Western diet to help us all eatwell.

Let your knowledge of perennials and annuals extend to liquids and beverages as well. Many of our favorite products come from perennial plants, including:

1. Coffee and tea
2. Wine and cider
3. Vinegar
4. Grape, apple, orange, grapefruit, and pomegranate juices

Check out: Fair World Project : Keeping Fair Trade Real and their Report on the Role of Farmworker Justice Certification and an Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Seven Labels to learn more about the Fair Trade certifications that have the best environmental standards.

Multistrata agroforestry systems can prevent erosion and flooding, recharge groundwater, restore degraded land and soils, support biodiversity, and absorb and store significant amounts of carbon.

Shade grown coffee plants live 2–3 years longer than sun grown plants. They also have better natural pest control, fertilisation, and water absorption—all of which save farmers money: Needing fewer (if any) chemical inputs. Shade grown, multistrata coffee plantations also make for safer workplaces.

Oils

Oils are also derived from either annual or perennial crops.

Look for local oils at your farmers market, farm shop, or butcher that are produced by farmers who are caring for their soil, or buy from companies that maintain strong environmental commitments to help us eatwell.

Examples of Oils Made From Perennial Crops

1. Olive Oil
2. Palm Oil
3. Coconut Oil
4. Avocado Oil

Make sure these products are produced from trees grown in an integrated or silvopasture farming system. Coconut oil and palm oil plantations can be very environmentally destructive, making it essential to research how they’re being managed.

Examples of Oils Grown From Annual Crops

1. Sunflower Oil
2. Peanut Oil
3. Corn Oil
4. Soy Oil
5. Canola Oil

If you buy these oils, make sure they’re produced from products grown using the 5 Fundamentals of Soil Health.

Eating the wrong oil can have a negative impact on our health. It’s always best to buy organic, cold pressed, extra virgin oil as that’s as pure as possible to help you eatwell by avoiding excessive mechanical and heating processes that affect the properties of the oil.

That’s it for this piece on knowing your annuals and perennials to help you eatwell. You can find the next piece ‘Go Beyond the Healthiest Foods’ as well as all articles in this 10-part mini series at Conscious Buying Decisions to Help Climate Change.

Want To Get Updates About This Mini Series?

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Suggested Reading

If you like the topic of this mini series, you might be interested in these reading suggestions with links to each book on Amazon.

Find Kiss the Ground by Josh Tickell Here on Amazon*

Find Soil Will Save Us by Kristin Ohlson Here on Amazon*

Find Soil, Grass, Hope by Courtney White Here on Amazon*

Find Dawn Again: Tracking the Wisdom of the Wild by Markegard and Doniga Here on Amazon*

Find Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming by Paul Hawken Here on Amazon*

Find Diet for a Hot Planet by Anna Lappé Here on Amazon*

Find Cows Save the Planet: And Other Improbable Ways of Restoring Soil to Heal the Earth by Judith D. Schwartz Here on Amazon*

Find Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life by David Montgomery Here on Amazon*

Here Is What You Can Do

• Use this mini series to help you buy products that help people and planet
• Check out #VoteWithOurMoney with 6 Steps to Help Stop Climate Change
• Try the Sustainability Roadmap with 40+ Solutions to Climate Change
• Use the Company Directory to Help You Grow, Eat, and Live Sustainably
• Be inspired. We can help climate change if we do something about it
• Talk to your friends and colleagues
• Share this with others

Want to Continue Your Journey?

VOTE

6 Steps to Start Helping Climate Change

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ROADMAP

Solutions to Help Stop Climate Change

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DIRECTORY

Companies to Help You Live Sustainably

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Where Next?

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1. Read Our Articles
2. Sign-Up to Our Free Email Newsletter
3. Get Started and Vote with Your Money
4. Try the Sustainability Roadmap
5. Use the Company Directory
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Production Notes

This was produced by me, James Walters, as a personal project to help stop climate change by inspiring others to grow, eat, and live sustainably.

Any advice given is the opinion of those involved and does not constitute medical, financial, or legal advice.

* We include links we think you will find useful. If you buy through those links, we may earn a small commission. It’s one way to support our work and to inspire as many people as possible.