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Reading Room:  Animal,Vegetable, Miracle Book Club - Interested?  |
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textilelover
True Blue Farmgirl
557 Posts
Dianne
Middletown
NY
USA
557 Posts |
 Posted - May 02 2010 : 04:03:26 AM
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Tina, Works for me! And I am really enjoying this book...and the discussion. Dianne
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." --Leondardo da Vinci |
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - May 02 2010 : 05:14:50 AM
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I'm going to try. I am halfway through with the 3rd chapter now. It's so good. And I bought some Royal Burgandy bush beans and they are all coming up! I can't wait for the pretty purple beans now. The pictures are beautiful on the packages. Did you notice the inside is full of info also?
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
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dreamingofafarm
True Blue Farmgirl
157 Posts
Tina
Bangor
Pennsylvania
157 Posts |
Posted - May 02 2010 : 07:40:50 AM
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Kristin,
I love the packages from Botanical Interests too. Information inside is like finding a hidden present! I am container gardening and interested in planting beans - are bush beans good for containers?
Since we have good feedback we'll move to two chapters per week with Sunday and Wednesday question postings. Here is this week's question for Chapter 3:
This chapter focused on heirloom versus mass produced and GM foods. Provide an example of your own shopping experience comparing a mass produced or GM food to an heirloom. What was the difference in taste, texture, color, smell for the fruit or vegetable? At the time you bought the mass produced or GM food why did you choose it? What access to heirlooms exists in your area?
Looking forward to everyone's feedback!
Talk to you soon,
Tina
Farmgirl Sisterhood #1355
"It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones afterall." - Laura Ingalls Wilder |
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prariehawk
True Blue Farmgirl
2914 Posts
Cindy
2914 Posts |
Posted - May 02 2010 : 9:51:07 PM
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I've eaten heirloom peach tomatoes and they tasted so much different than the tomatoes I was used to eating...they were so tender they nearly melted in your mouth. Now I won't buy tomatoes at the store, I have a garden and am growing an heirloom variety--Brandywine. More and more I feel dissatisfied with food items I purchase at the grocery store. I'm pretty new to this so I'm not sure what access there is to heirlooms in this area.
cindy
"There is more to life than increasing its speed". Mahatma Gandhi
Visit my blog at http://www.farmerinthebelle.blogspot.com/ |
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textilelover
True Blue Farmgirl
557 Posts
Dianne
Middletown
NY
USA
557 Posts |
Posted - May 03 2010 : 04:31:15 AM
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Chapter 3 really hit home with me! I grow my own heirloom tomatoes (and encourage others to do so as well) and buy other heirloom varieties from the farm market, even though they are pricier. It's all about the taste and scent for me (they certainly don't look "uniform"). GM foods are more plentiful here (even at the farm market) than heirlooms, but more and more specialty farmers are growing and selling heirloom veggies and fruits. When I have bought GM produce, it was because nothing else was available or I was limited to shopping at a supermarket. I am going to try to grow more heirloom veggies this summer (thanks, Amy Grace for the squash seeds) and buy more at the farm market. Dianne
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." --Leondardo da Vinci |
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patchworkpeace
True Blue Farmgirl
478 Posts
Judy
Jackson
Michigan
USA
478 Posts |
Posted - May 03 2010 : 11:44:39 AM
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I grew organic seeds in years past, but am trying some heirlooms this year.
Judy
Success is measured not by the position one reaches but by the obstacles one has to overcome to reach it. Booker T. Washington |
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - May 03 2010 : 1:37:36 PM
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At our farmer's markets here there are alot of people that grow heirlooms. I am about 80% this year. And I will be waiting for my tomatoes. I will not be buying any store tomatoes at all. I will do without. There is NO comparing them to taste, color, smell or price. Mine are priceless. And I will be having chicken pot pie if any chicken even thinks about getting some this year. Better not be happenin', girls! And I cannot bring myself to even think about mass produced anything.
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
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textilelover
True Blue Farmgirl
557 Posts
Dianne
Middletown
NY
USA
557 Posts |
Posted - May 03 2010 : 3:16:19 PM
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Kris, I laughed out loud when you threatened your chickens with pot pie if they ate your heirloom tomatoes! Mine ate every single one off the vine last summer and even left the remains for me to find. Sometimes I think like "Mrs. Tweedy" in Chicken Run! Dianne
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." --Leondardo da Vinci |
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graciegreeneyes
True Blue Farmgirl
3107 Posts
Amy Grace
Rosalia
WA
USA
3107 Posts |
Posted - May 03 2010 : 5:11:00 PM
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My basset hound will eat heirloom tomatoes off the vine if she can get them:)
Tomatoes are definitely worth buying heirloom, and even better if you grow them yourself.
Conventional tomatoes don't even taste anything like a tomato, nothing!! Plus I read a really horrifying article about the conditions that tomato pickers live in, in some places in Florida it is truly modern-day slavery, and how do you know which ones are safe, ethically speaking? Better to get local!
Amy Grace
Farmgirl #224
"use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without"
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prariehawk
True Blue Farmgirl
2914 Posts
Cindy
2914 Posts |
Posted - May 03 2010 : 5:48:07 PM
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I don't know how it is for the migrant workers in other states, but they pick the peach and apple crops around here (SW Illinois) and the houses where they stay are small but clean and nice.They're almost all HIspanic and seem to be closely bonded. At least that's my perception. They don't seem to complain, just move on when their job is done. The owners of the orchards are glad to have them and I haven't heard any stories of mistreatment Maybe it's different in Florida or California, but here, they don't seem to have it too bad.
"There is more to life than increasing its speed". Mahatma Gandhi
Visit my blog at http://www.farmerinthebelle.blogspot.com/ |
Edited by - prariehawk on May 04 2010 6:33:06 PM |
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dreamingofafarm
True Blue Farmgirl
157 Posts
Tina
Bangor
Pennsylvania
157 Posts |
Posted - May 03 2010 : 6:07:45 PM
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My experience with heirlooms are tomatoes and beans. I cannot stand out of season tomatoes - particularly for the texture. I make a lot of pasta sauce here and out of season tomatoes just don't give it any flavor. Pole beans are one of my favorite vegetables. For this type of veggie, I particularly appreciate heirlooms because of the unique color and flavor they give - really unlike anything I have ever had. My only local resource for heirlooms is the farmer's market and the season is late here so I will have a little while longer that I have to wait. I am trying my hand at planting heirloom seeds of my own this year though, so hopefully I will have plenty of my own veggies too.
Farmgirl Sisterhood #1355
"It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones afterall." - Laura Ingalls Wilder |
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - May 03 2010 : 7:59:29 PM
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I planted 3 different kinds of heirloom beans this year. Well, 2 really. The Blue Lakes are organic. But the Contender and Royal Burgandy are heirloom. They are all coming up now and all look totally different. It's really neat. I thought a bean is a bean but they aren't. I have always grown BL beans so this is a first for me to have other kinds. I can't wait to see the beautiful purple beans when they start growing. Now what mass produced GMO bean is going to be purple? That just amazes me. And this bean has been around for a long time. I have also planted 2 different heirloom field peas that I got from old farmers at the market last year. And another guy gave me some old corn field beans. I haven't gotten them planted yet. I have to wait now for it to dry up again. But this is really exciting and pretty new to me to be growing a heritage from seeds. Very exciting. I go out every day several times a day just to see the progress. My True Gold sweet corn is all coming up too. I will be saving lots of that for next year. I only have 1 row.
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
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graciegreeneyes
True Blue Farmgirl
3107 Posts
Amy Grace
Rosalia
WA
USA
3107 Posts |
Posted - May 04 2010 : 07:55:19 AM
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We have a lot of migrant workers in our area too, lots of fruit crops as well, and I'm sure things could be better,but they aren't awful. This particular article was in Gourmet magazine and specific to tomatoes - possibly just one company but industrial farms are soooo big these days that could equal a lot of the market share of tomatoes.
Amy Grace
Farmgirl #224
"use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without"
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textilelover
True Blue Farmgirl
557 Posts
Dianne
Middletown
NY
USA
557 Posts |
Posted - May 04 2010 : 4:00:28 PM
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A few more thoughts about Chapter 3...I knew how hybrids did not reproduce naturally, but to learn that GM seeds also include a "terminator gene" really made me mad! To make farmers dependent on a company for its seeds year after year is inhumane and a form of slavery! The sidebar about Percy Schmeiser was priceless. I was fuming--but not surprised-- to learn that Monsanto won the case. And of course, another negative factor of GM crops is that our honeybees and other pollinators are suffering. If we depended on just one or two sources of food to survive (and we do, according to BK and Michael Pollan), we'd be sick too. Eat your heirlooms! Dianne
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." --Leondardo da Vinci |
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dreamingofafarm
True Blue Farmgirl
157 Posts
Tina
Bangor
Pennsylvania
157 Posts |
Posted - May 05 2010 : 04:58:43 AM
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Hello Everyone,
I really enjoyed chapter 3's discussion! Since we are moving to two chapters per week, I'll be posting questions on Wednesdays and Sundays. So, here is the question for Chapter 4:
BK writes in chapter 4, "If you find yourself eating a watermelon in April, you can count back three months and imagine a place warm enough in January for this plant to have launched its destiny. Mexico maybe, or southern California. Chile is also a possibility."
For Chapter 4 discussion how about if we put this thought into practice? When we go to the grocery store, how about if each of us choose an out of season vegetable/fruit we see there and report back on what the fruit/veggie is, what we think the growing cycle was, and where we think that means it came from.
Wishing everyone well! Looking forward to your comments!
All the best,
Tina
Farmgirl Sisterhood #1355
"It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones afterall." - Laura Ingalls Wilder |
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textilelover
True Blue Farmgirl
557 Posts
Dianne
Middletown
NY
USA
557 Posts |
Posted - May 05 2010 : 3:01:31 PM
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Tina, Are you at teacher? What creative questions! I'm going to the SUPER market tomorrow and I usually dread it, but I'll look forward to doing my homework. Do you know, I still have that asparagus from Peru in my fridge?!? I couldn't bring myself to eat it, so into the compost it goes! Dianne
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." --Leondardo da Vinci |
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dreamingofafarm
True Blue Farmgirl
157 Posts
Tina
Bangor
Pennsylvania
157 Posts |
Posted - May 05 2010 : 3:45:46 PM
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Hi Dianne,
No I'm not a school teacher :-) What a lovely compliment though! You know I felt a little guilt while writing the question. Last week I bought watermelon cut in cubes in the deli as a snack. I should have known better since I've been reading this book! It was so disgusting tasting I ended up throwing it out and feeling guilty afterwards.
I go to the store this Friday, so I'll be on the look out for my fruit or veggie that traveled the farthest!
-Tina
Farmgirl Sisterhood #1355
"It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones afterall." - Laura Ingalls Wilder |
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - May 05 2010 : 7:12:20 PM
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I was wanting to make guacamole and looked at the avocados today at Aldi's. They are from Mexico. I didn't get any. The mushrooms were USA. Not sure where. I really don't mind buying from Fla. since they are so close. But nothing against Calif. (I was born there) but it's just too far away for my food to come from. I have to have bananas though. They are from Costa Rica. Where is that? anywhere near Fla? My granddaughter loves a banana with brown sugar on it after school. And I like them in my kefir smoothie with fresh from my garden strawberries. So they are my one weakness.
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
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prariehawk
True Blue Farmgirl
2914 Posts
Cindy
2914 Posts |
Posted - May 05 2010 : 7:26:22 PM
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I fixed some sauteed fennel tonight and it came from California. But it was organically grown according to the label. If it takes 80 days to reach maturity (acoording to my seed packet) then the fennel I had began its journey from seed to my table in February. I don't know much about the growing seasons in California but I guess that's pretty typical. Seems a shame to ship it so far, doesn't help my carbon footprint much. But it did taste good. I plan to plant some fennel soon, when the ground isn't so saturated. then I'll be eating in season. And I can't wait for the Farmer's Market to open.
Cindy
"There is more to life than increasing its speed". Mahatma Gandhi
Visit my blog at http://www.farmerinthebelle.blogspot.com/ |
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patchworkpeace
True Blue Farmgirl
478 Posts
Judy
Jackson
Michigan
USA
478 Posts |
Posted - May 06 2010 : 11:40:09 AM
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Kris, I love bananas, too, but they are some of the most genetically altered foods there are, unfortunately. It's kind of hard to have a banana split without a banana!
Judy
Success is measured not by the position one reaches but by the obstacles one has to overcome to reach it. Booker T. Washington |
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Catherine
True Blue Farmgirl
166 Posts
Catherine Ann
Temple
TX
USA
166 Posts |
Posted - May 06 2010 : 11:53:47 AM
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Much of the produce in my grocery store comes from Mexico, which "technically" isn't as far away as some places, but I've heard that the controls on chemicals is even worse there than here, so there's no telling what is being sprayed on the fruit and veggies. Most of the organics seem to come from California. I'll be so glad when my garden actually starts producing!
Bananas are something I buy very seldom, as the conditions of banana farmers are so horrible- in many cases pretty much slave labor, and the chemicals used are so bad for them and for us. My grocery store does sell organic bananas, but not Fair Trade ... yet!
I'll take a closer look at the labels when I shop this weekend, too.
Interesting discussion ladies :) .
Blessings,
Catherine
http://lovelivingsimply.blogspot.com/
Judge each day not by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant. ~Robert Louis Stevenson
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roseella
Farmgirl in Training
32 Posts
32 Posts |
Posted - May 06 2010 : 12:05:58 PM
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I was in Barnes and Noble bookstore today and this book was recommended to me by the young lady working there.
I do not have a garden and wonder how to have fresh vegetables. It is a challenge.
A new store is coming to town called Earth Fare. It is supposed to have healthy food choices.
Off to read the book.
Peggy
http://myviewpaintingstoo.blogspot.com |
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dreamingofafarm
True Blue Farmgirl
157 Posts
Tina
Bangor
Pennsylvania
157 Posts |
Posted - May 06 2010 : 3:13:19 PM
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Hi Peggy,
Nice to have you join the discussion! You are going to love the book!
-Tina
Farmgirl Sisterhood #1355
"It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones afterall." - Laura Ingalls Wilder |
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - May 06 2010 : 3:45:42 PM
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Well that's just great. Now no bananas? We have Earthfare here. I do buy organic bananas when I am in those stores. I wonder how they are treated on the organic farms. There is just so much to think about before we even can take a bite of food anymore. Can a banana tree grow in Georgia?
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
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Catherine
True Blue Farmgirl
166 Posts
Catherine Ann
Temple
TX
USA
166 Posts |
Posted - May 06 2010 : 5:17:41 PM
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Kristen,
I've been wondering the same thing ... just in Texas LOL! I do know that Logees.com has some dwarf bananas that grow in containers, might be worth a try! Sad to say, you have to think way too much before you buy or eat most everything these days :( . But, times are changing for the better, if ever so slowly.
http://lovelivingsimply.blogspot.com/
Judge each day not by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant. ~Robert Louis Stevenson
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Reading Room: Animal,Vegetable, Miracle Book Club - Interested? |
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Animal,Vegetable, Miracle Book Club - Interested?
