Chronic copper deficiency: the hidden plague

My name is Michael S. In this blog, I hope to synthesize my own understanding with current and past scientific research into the role of copper metabolism on human health. Based on evolving medical knowledge and the suffering that I and my friends and family have experienced, I believe the human race is being actively starved of an essential trace element and that our own perceptions of the importance of dietary copper are skewed by historic levels of copper deficiency in the human population, causing it to evolve towards a less copper dependent subspecies characterized by the brain redevelopment known popularly as autism.

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Experimental Farm Network - Monkey Puzzle Tree Proliferation Project

Aimed at younger growers with permanent tenure on their land, this project aims to increase the availability of Monkey Puzzle Tree (Araucaria araucana) nuts/seeds in the United States. These endangered Chilean nut trees take decades to produce (30 years is normal), but once they start they can make tons of huge, delicious, nutritious nuts each year, for a thousand years. Select volunteers will be provided with young trees and/or seeds in order to establish research plantations at select sites around the country.

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Buckwheat noodles and quinoa pasta floating in my soup broth. I make broth with a single chicken drumstick. I add scraps from my supermarket vegetables along with bits and pieces from the garden. If I’m low on scraps I supplement with some organic broth in a box. When I’m almost done cooking my vegetables, I take out the scraps and throw in my buckwheat pasta, which doesn’t take too long to cook. If I run out, only then do I turn to alternatives that may be hiding in the pantry - all gluten free of course, thanks to the wheat allergy I picked up while I was sick. After a few minutes, I add vegetables and my chicken from the air fryer. This is my daily process.

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This is a standard amount of chopped vegetables for my daily ration of soup. When I was recovering from my illness, I would eat much more - at least one and a half times this amount, which was good for about three bowls. I had a lot of weight I wanted to recover. Now that I am returned to health, I average more like one and three-quarter bowls.

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A fuzzy green magnolia bud, wrapped up for winter. I’ve been told that these are edible when they bloom, but rather than eat them raw, you can successfully use them for pickling.

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I recently tried some chocolate flavored macadamia nut coffee creamer in my cappuccino. I was afraid it wouldn’t froth up at all, like many other non-dairy creamers I have tried, but I was pleasantly surprised. What it didn’t achieve by frothing, it more than made up for in taste.

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A big red berry bush at Skylands, along the side of the road to the manor. I’m sure many of the people who volunteer at or visit New Jersey’s Botanical Garden are aware of what this bush is called. Sadly, I am not among them, a deeply embarrassing situation that I hope soon to remedy.

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Red berries at Skylands, NJBG. Not sure what these are. Therefore inedible.

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A piece of soft bark on a bed of bald cypress needles. Squirrels have been known to strip bark off of these trees, perhaps for use in nesting materials, or perhaps to gain access to the tree’s sap or to insects that have burrowed inside. Bald eagles are known to nest in these trees. It may not be considered that useful for humans, but nature sure likes them. As the climate warms, New Jersey will be seeing more, but it will take a long time before they get established and we start seeing the benefit. We should think about planting these trees in South Jersey now.

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The bald cypress has spread beyond its swampy native regions in the Southeastern United States. It is valued as a decorative tree, in part due to its lovely fall color, though it functions also as a source of food for many birds and squirrels. As South Jersey starts to flood as the climate warms, this tree may become much more abundant, and its role in water management and habitat will be essential to New Jersey’s future.

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A bald cypress cone on a carpet of fallen needles. The seeds in these cones are often eaten by turkey and squirrels, but they are also filled with a sap that gets loose when they crack open. If you have one of these next to your driveway, it’s a good way to get toilet paper caught onto your shoes.

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A bald cypress and its cones in late November at Skylands Manor, otherwise known as New Jersey’s Botanical Garden. This is a deciduous conifer and its needles turn a vivid color in fall. The cones are round and its seeds are apparently eaten by various birds and squirrels. I’m not sure if a human would want to eat them.

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A shot of the bare raspberry stalks before they were trimmed down. This bed could probably use a little more compost in the spring. This year was the best harvest yet and I want it to keep going! I’m told that about 70% of all raspberries cultivated in the United States are treated with bifenthrin, a very potent insecticide. Imagine if a majority of homes in the United States had their own raspberry bushes. There would be no need to spend vast amounts of resources to protect this delicate fruit.

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Japanese andromeda at Skylands. Unfortunately, this is not edible at all, but certainly provides much needed color in the late fall.

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I ran into a couple while I was skiing at Skylands a few weeks ago, and we started talking about the changing climate. I mentioned that I was still harvesting raspberries even though it was late November, and I was getting my feet wet walking out to them in the snow. The couple mentioned that they had roses blooming, and I said me too! This is a shot of those roses. Climate change may mean an end to a way of life in South Jersey, but in the north it may mean an extended growing season - one small bright spot in a blighted future.

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Last year, I ran out of room hanging up lettuce stalks along the wall of the greenhouse and I had to hang up some romaine type lettuce in the middle of the space. As is often the case, I neglected to finish the job - but it didn’t matter. I was amazed in January when I found little lettuce plants growing on the greenhouse floor, and they continued to sprout during the whole winter. I realized that I must have knocked the seed loose from the stalks when I was rummaging around in the fall. I had way more romaine lettuce this season because of it. This year, I collected the seed from the romaine type lettuce, and hung up another kind in the middle of the floor. Every time I brush up against it, I joyfully think of the plants that I hope to see sprouting up very soon! 

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I add leek to my soup regularly. I am very fond of all kinds of allium, but leek is an unusual taste and maybe not for everybody. One of my strangest cooking memories is making a really heavy beet soup one afternoon, while watching on television a broadcast of Laurence Olivier’s film adaptation of Henry V, in which leek is notably featured. The soup was very heavy on the beet. Not only did it turn everything red, it made even the leek taste like beet. Since that time, I have relied heavily on chioggia beets, which don’t bleed as much and have a less imposing taste. As Shakespeare’s Fluellen would agree, I want to be able to taste my leek!

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Black berries from Skylands manor, otherwise known as the New Jersey Botanical Garden. It and the surrounding area is also part of Ringwood State Park and is very close to me. A great resource at any time of the year, but I particularly like to go skiing there when there is heavy snowfall. Unfortunately, I am bad at identifying berries such as these. Are they edible? I am guessing not.