Yep, you read that right. I’m of the era (and I can’t find the post on Facebook that spells it out though I’ve shared it on my own timeline) that talks about being thrown out of the house in the morning to play until I got hungry enough to come back for lunch, and then again in the afternoon until the streetlights came on, at which general time it was getting dark and time for dinner.
[Updated January 10, 2013: I found it on FB yesterday – this is the graphic I was thinking about:
Yay!]
Part of growing up in that era is that as kids we ended up eating a little dirt. Our moms didn’t hover to the point that anything dropped on the ground was scooped up and washed with soap or alcohol before being given back. We picked it up again, put it in our mouths, and consequently ended up eating some dirt.
Well, I’m Back to eating some dirt and it’s a good thing.
For years I’ve been seeing these organic produce delivery services generally in Southern California. Unfortunately, I live enough on the edge of town (but still actually In town, mind you) that nobody has yet been willing to deliver to my house. Hopeful click by hopeful click to each new website promising to bring organic family farm veggies to my door, and nada . . . until Abundant Harvest Organics.
Found them a couple of weeks ago. Turns out they have a Saturday distribution center at a local community college, and Even Better, some enterprising lady has decided to make few extra bucks ($5 per week) picking up at the distribution center and delivering to local homes – including mine! 🙂
So, for $22.xx (plus $5) delivery per week, every Saturday morning a small box (supposed to be enough for 2 people for a week) shows up on my porch. I’ve been very impressed and wanted to share.
Both of the photos above were what I got last Saturday –
Top Pic:
– oranges
– bartlett pears
– potatos
– carrots
– sweet potatoes
– butternut squash
– beet
Bottom Pic:
– thyme
– lettuce
– green onions
– collard greens
Each delivery also comes with a single, double-sided flyer talking about the items in the box, which farmer grew what, and offering up recipes to make with them. This post is not meant to be an advertisement necessarily, but if you’re interested and live in CA, hit up their website and see if they deliver near/to you.
Looks great, right? First thing I did was have a slightly gritty salad. I took half of one of those heads of lettuce, carefully washed and dried it (I can see I’m gonna need a salad spinner and soon!), cut it up, added some other stuff and chowed down. I swear I washed it carefully and still had a couple gritty bites and I don’t care.
I really love that this food Looks like it was in the ground where it was grown probably no more than a couple days before it landed on my porch.
I’m glad to be back eating some dirt.
As time goes on, if I’m so moved, I’ll share some of the dishes I make with my beautiful, organic, local-family-farm-grown produce.
Riding the BC Roller Coaster 
Hey this is excellent! I get the same thing! I get a weekly delivery of farm fresh organic food delivered with all the veggies and fruit etc. It’s really hard to go back to the regular supermarket stuff after that. I don’t think it’s my imagination; I really do think you can taste the difference. Organic food *does* have a better flavour in my opinion.
I did a WordPress photo challenge a while back called “Green” and I included a photo of the contents of one of my boxes rather like you have up there.
Good luck with your new healthy eating plans! You definitely won’t regret it. 🙂
Thanks! I’m hoping I can almost stop buying conventional veggies. Unfortunately, most of our food supply in the last 50 years has lost much of its nutritional value through poor land management, so that organic does not necessarily contain more nutrients than conventional these days, but I like still like organic for two reasons: (1) to protect our ability to grow food for longer by being gentler to the land itself, and (2) as I know you’re aware, I’m in treatment for breast cancer right now, and I just think eating fewer pesticides is a good idea – plus you’re right so far that it Does seem to taste better!
Yes, I know about your health situation and I’m so sorry. You’re absolutely right, going organic as much as possible and eating a high-veggie/fruit diet is an excellent and very intelligent step to take. I think there’s enough science to back that up. I hope you’re not feeling too bad and that the treatment is proving successful. xx
Thank you again. I’m in the thick of it right now, so I’ve sort of forgotten what it’s like to feel strong and well, but treatment will eventually end, and so far it seems to be effective so there’s that. 🙂
Oh that’s tragic, you’ve forgotten what it’s like to feel strong and well! Oh my goodness, I’m sorry but that just breaks my heart. I get grumpy after having a cold for a few days. You have tremendous strength to stay in good spirits through this. My heart goes out to you and my thoughts and prayers are with you. (Sorry, I can’t remember if you believe in anything or not, but just in case, I shall say a prayer for you tonight. Hope that doesn’t offend you.)
You’re so sweet. Yes, this was a high-spirited post, and no, that’s not always me, in fact not often me, these days. Read the post before that one? Thank you for your prayer – I believe in positive energy (whatever words one attaches to that is fine with me). I just keep holding on to the thought that “this too shall pass,” which is from my culturally (tho not religiously) Jewish upbringing, second only, of course, to: “they tried to kill us, we survived. Let’s eat!” 🙂
I remember those magic words; they helped me through a difficult time. 😉 Positive energy is a lovely way to look at it; and I shall send as much as I can in your direction tonight, because tonight I have lots of it, and plenty to share. 🙂
I’m so glad they helped you too! And I will gratefully accept whatever surplus positive energy you have to spare…