The World Miracle Plant - Hemp

[Guest guest]

The World Miracle Plant - Hemp

1st August 2008

 

 

Imagine a plant that can make a plant that can make over 25,000

products from clothing to transport fuel. Well, there is no need to

imagine, Hemp is a wonder plant with great potential that does

exactly that. Here Fran from HempGarden, a company that uses Hemp

Seed Oil to make a range of luxury bodycare products explains in some

easy to read bullet points some very interesting facts about Hemp;

 

HempGarden Hemp Facts

 

* Hemp is the number 1 biomass producer on earth: 10 tonnes per acre

in about 4 months.

 

* Hemp can be made into fine quality paper: 1 acre of hemp in annual

rotation over a 20-year period would produce as much pulp for paper

as 4.1 acres of trees being cut down over the same 20-year period.

Also the long fibres in hemp allow paper made form it to be recycled

several times more than wood-based paper.

 

* It grows well in a variety of climates and soil types. It is

naturally resilient to most pests precluding the need for

pesticides. It grows tightly spaced, out-competing any weeds, so

herbicides are not necessary. It is also a perfect rotational crop as

it leaves the field weed free and puts nutrients into the soil where

it is grown.

 

* Hemp has been grown for at least 12,000 years for fibre (textiles

and paper) and food all over the world. In the UK there is evidence

that hemp was grown from at least 800AD to the 19th century – details

of crops were entered into parish records and fragments of hemp

material have been found dating back thousands of years. Think of

Hemel Hempstead, Hempton, Hemp Hill ….

 

* The products that can be made from hemp number over 25,000. these

include building materials for houses such as particle board, pressed

board, core concrete construction moulds, paints, varnishes, anything

made with plastic, … the list is so long I can't go on!

 

* Henry Ford experimented with hemp to build car bodies circa 1940,

Rudolph Diesel designed his engine to run on hemp oil and BMW is

currently experimenting with hemp materials in automobiles as part of

an effort to make cars more recyclable.

 

* Hemp fibres are longer, stronger and more absorbent and mildew-

resistant than cotton. Hemp fabric is around 7/10 times stronger

than cotton and gets softer and stronger as it gets older. Another

advantage is that it is not water or chemical thirsty in the same way

that cotton is - which currently accounts for 3% of the worlds arable

land, 25% of the worlds pesticides and 7% of it's fertilisers. It is

thought to be UVB protective.

 

* From Persia to China, Eastern Europe to Australia, cultures

worldwide have celebrated this crop as a staple food. The seed and

oil contain a unique combination of many essential nutrients vital

for good health – complete protein, essential fatty acids (the " good "

fats), minerals, vitamins, fibre and carbohydrate making hemp seed

nature's most nutritionally complete food. Research has shown that

hemp oil can boost the natural ability to heal and boost our immune

systems.

 

* Cosmetics and bodycare made with hemp seed oil as its base is

excellent for most skins and dry skin conditions such as eczema and

psoriasis.

 

* Hemp was a vital ingredient for the natural apothecaries of the

middle ages - it was grown in hospital gardens, and was used by

healers such as Hildegard von Bingen (12th century) and the father of

natural medicines, Paracelus (16th century)

 

* The Hemp plant stores carbon dioxide and is a sustainable

alternative to all petro-chemicals.Due to it's high cellulose

content, hemp is an excellent crop from which to make ethanol and

methanol fuels. Through a more complete combustion of hydrocarbons,

they provide higher octane than petrol with less carbon monoxide…so,

a clean burning fuel that cleans your engine whilst it works.

 

It sounds like we'll be hearing more and more about this exciting

plant in the coming years.

 

 

http://www.gardenandgreen.co.uk/#/hemp/4530230962