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This is a depressing video - a local news expose in my area about Whole Foods selling lots of "organic" produce, fresh and frozen, from China. It turns out our certifying bodies and FDA/USDA have no involvement in the organic certification process of foreign-grown produce. As with everything, be wary of anything imported from China, but especially overpriced food!!
Incidentally, 60 Minutes had a report about inferior Chinese truffles making their way into the French truffle market and being sold as French. They may even infect their truffle crops!
Oh, and Brazilian OJ may be banned in the US because it contains illegal fungicides.
I had a hard time enjoying cherries from Chile last night, thinking about what they were grown with and their long journey to get here. I thought frozen produce would be my winter answer, but not if it's grown in China!!
I'm in a CSA at the farmers market. The farm is only a mile from my house. I don't think it really saves me much money but the crops are fresh and organic. You get a "grab bag" of veggies each week. It kind of forces you to try new veggies.
Growing your own herbs is a huge money saver. Brandy
I grew herbs, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and green beans at my old house. My husband and I have big plans for a garden in our new house. My aunt is an organic farmer in Rhode Island. We plan to fly her down to help us get started. One of my favorite crops of hers is Malabar/vine spinach. It's wonderful and grows easily in summer heat.
I've often grown my own herbs, and am starting a new herb garden soon. The weather here has been conducive, but the "rainy" season is not over, and you can bet, the minute I plant, a storm will come.
I only have a small balcony, otherwise I would be growing more. Saving money is good. Getting "clean" food is better.
Talking of getting clean food - I have ordered a small freezer (small house small bank account) and am going in with a few people to buy grass fed meat in bulk. 1/4 of a steer costs $7 a lb + S&H. And one of the farmers comes to the market, and would bring me my order, so I wouldn't need to pay S&H.
Granted, I would get more bones and innards, while others want steaks and roasts, but we would adjust the prices accordingly.
I am trying to shift ALL my food to be clean (and, incidentally, green!) while remaining solvent.
You really have to be careful wherever you shop anymore. Whole Foods doesn't have any better produce where I live than I can get pretty much anywhere else for lots less money. When I started reading the "small print" on produce, years ago, I was shocked to see how much of it came from way far away. I've avoided anything from China for years and especially after reading the story about how they dried tea leaves: http://www.rense.com/general77/pois.htm
Reality is that we can be as vigilant as possible and "buy local" thinking that we're safe and then our "local" companies buy stuff from China and repackage it, as in the above article where trucks using leaded gas - which is STILL legal in China - drove over the tea leaves to "dry them out".
I grow my own herbs, weather permitting, but buying fresh herbs in the winter is a crap shoot if you want something fresh. I've yet to successfully grow cilantro and basil indoors in the winter, which is hard to find from anywhere but Mexico, and I rely on them for my business. I should really consider buying grow lights and giving that a shot - but, there are only so many hours in a day......and surely the local gendarme would be alerted to a possible "grow operation" should we have a spike in kilowatt use.
Forgive me for my negativity. It's been a long life of disappointment in humanity.
Resolved MC symptoms successfully w/L-Glutamine, Probiotics and Vitamins, GF since 8/'09. DX w/MC 10/'09.
Sara teaches a class on container gardening, if space is limited for you.
I see you live in Florida where there is plenty of rain. If you have the space and decent soil, you should be able to grow a nice garden. You might want to start small, planting tomatoes and green beans and keep adding things as you become more confident. You have a much longer growing season in Florida and might even be able to plant over two seasons. Our season in Illinois is over, but I just noticed that my rosemary, sage, and parsley are still thriving. We're expected to get our first substantial snow tomorrow.
I can, freeze and dehydrate the vegetables and fruit from my garden. It is very rewarding to grow your own produce, and you can trust what you're eating.
Gloria
You never know what you can do until you have to do it.
Not to put a damper on home gardening, but I have read some reports of community and inner city gardens where lead and other industrial chemicals in the soil made the resulting produce much more dangerous that store-bought produce. Having the complete history of your land or dirt you buy is important to ensure safe crops.
I have read just a little bit about eating local products, or your own produce, versus products from away. The theory is that you eat what is in season throughout the year--early greens to squashes and root vegetables--and thereby get a well-rounded diet over the course of the year. Of course, we have modern storage solutions that the farmers of generations past did not, so we can freeze berries and whatnot to better preserve the vitamins to eat in the winter that they could only can and preserve, or dry. And then the early greens come up just when you are ravenous for something fresh...
I don't buy fruit from Chile anymore. I can't buy a whole lot of stuff that is organic, but I read somewhere that the thin-skinned fruits like strawberries and grapes are the ones that are worst for pesticides, besides apples. I also buy organic root vegetables because they retain pesticides. Oh, and celery. Other than that... I am thankful that there is a local store that buys mainly local produce, and they run specials often on their organic stuff. I bought organic Fuji apples for 80 cents/lb. this week.
Marliss Bombardier
Dum spiro, spero -- While I breathe, I hope
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Hashimoto's Thyroiditis - Dec 2001
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I have been buying grass-fed beef and pork and am enjoying them both for the taste and probable health benefits. I did a CSA many years ago but found I didn't use a lot of the out-of-the-ordinary vegetables.
I have had very good luck growing basil with an AeroGrow...not so much the cilantro.
There's something very satisfying having lovely herbs growing during Minnesota winters.
The produce I've heard that has the highest levels of pesticides are apples, bell peppers, celery, cherries, imported grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears, potatoes, raspberries, spinach and strawberries. The ones with the least amount of detectable pesticides are asparagus, avocadoes, bananas, broccoli, cauliflower, kiwi, mangoes, onions, papaya, pineapples, sweet corn and sweet peas.
I've been wondering about Sara too. I hope all is well.
My husband knows a high-level Whole Foods Exec and brought up the video to him. He told him the video was old and "not true (anymore)." We both plan to read the labels very closely now, particularly for frozen produce, to see if this guy really knows what he's selling!!
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