Summer has arrived! Yippee!
Not only does summer gift us with the best weather of the year, endless opportunities to get outdoors and enjoy every activity imaginable but also the gift of the freshest organic produce to grace our tables (“hold” the harmful and dangerous pesticides!).
In fact, this weekend while visiting my in-laws house, I was assembling a wonderful BLT (I normally steer clear of bacon, but it smelled so temptingly good, I couldn’t stop myself!), but the lettuce was fresh from my mother-in-law’s garden so it felt a little more justifiable. It was so organic that I actually had to wash off the dirt and lovingly picked off two tiny little green bugs and released them back into the yard! (My sister-in-law and niece thought I was nuts!) If the lettuce had come from the grocery store I probably would have squealed in horror, but knowing it came from a true organic garden, it just kind of felt acceptable!
Maybe you have a backyard garden (not me, unfortunately… we have far too many trees and ravenous deer… they’ve even come onto my patio to get my veggies when I’ve attempted to grow them!). If you were lucky enough to participate in a CSA, you’re probably already enjoying some amazing bounty. But if not, remember to take advantage of the season. Locate your nearest farmer’s market (check Local Harvest or the Farmer’s Market sites if you need help) and indulge in locally-grown, organic produce while you can.
Remember the dirty dozen and the clean 15 too… the necessary and unnecessary organic produce, if you feel you need to pick and choose what to buy.
Since our own garden isn’t an option in the foreseeable future, I will be visiting the local farmers markets and taking my mother-on-law up on her offer to “come by and just take what I need”… the dirt and bugs are just a part of nature’s goodness!
I am exactly the same way about bugs and fresh organic food! I could care less if a little creature is on my fresh food, I just wash it off and go along with the “5 second rule”. My grandparents have their own backyard garden and grow all their veggies and fruit there. Although I don’t quite have a green-thumb, I do enjoy finding fresh cucumbers and zucchini in each patch. There home grown produce makes the best addition to any dish, especially fresh homemade pasta sauce.
This is a great “refresher” post to remind us all what a great time of year it is to enjoy so many healthy, yummy options!!!
We’re growing our first garden and as someone who is really phobic of bugs, I love this garden! Not everything is doing so well so far, but it’s our first year and I’m hopeful. I will say it’s tacky looking though with the rabbit fence I had to put around it so the rabbits don’t eat the berries and lettuce. Now I want a BLT!
Nina – NOTHING beats homegrown produce… EVER! 🙂
Green – absolutely agreed!
Frannie – Whatever you have to do to enjoy that fresh, organic goodness…rabbit fence and all!
Pingback: » Reusable produce bags… that don’t produce trash. - Mom Goes Green
Pingback: » 10 simple ways to raise green kids. - Mom Goes Green
Pingback: » 10 simple ways to make grocery shopping “greener”. - Mom Goes Green