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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

THE DIRTY DOZEN OF FRUITS AND VEGIES

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/top-12-toxic-fruits-and-vegetables.html

After reading this you might want to go on intravenous feeding. This is awful. I remember as a kid growing up in Staten Island, NY, the Saturday shopping usually included a trip out to Richmond Avenue where the farm stands were. We rivaled New Jersey in the quality of tomatoes, because the soil was sandy out there (and full of Indian arrowheads). They were near my Uncle Joe's kennel, where I was usually on Saturday - I had a thing about dogs and goats and elbow room even then.

The one we frequented most - there were 3 or 4 - had makeshift white stands and I think a roof for shade. Sometimes the produce was set out by the others with a jar for the honor system. Never a thought to cheat the farmer.

It smelled so fresh - everything was sprayed according to how hot the day was. But a little dirt settled into the hearts of the lettuce, clung to the beets, the scallions. The tomatoes were bought until my father's garden came in and we had our own. Then we didn't need to buy from others.

I doubt if there were any chemicals. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they were covered in ddt. Dad had a "Flit" gun. I think he used that for hornets and I think the chemical was ddt.

Chemicals are so harmful. I never minded a worm in an apple. You just cut it out.

I think if everyone was aware of the chemicals (and foreign produce is worse), on or in our food,
the genetics that go into the hybrids, the dangers to pollinators that the chemicals cause, we would be growing our own.

Gardening is wonderful. I am a terrible gardener - I need help. But with my neighbor we produced a fantastic garden without chemicals here for four years in a row. She is too ill to garden now. But every day I pass her place a few doors down, I see our garden patch which was about 50 by 75 feet, and remember standing with a spade on that first day and thinking that I'll never be able to turn all this.

But we did.

Want a garden? Grab a friend.


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