On Food

I found a nice little summary pocket guide here on the foods that have the highest and lowest pesticide exposure. Did you know that (according to their website) you can cut your pesticide exposure by 90% if you avoid or buy organic the top 12 offenders?

Interestingly, I found that a couple of things I always buy organically are on the best list, so I am going to reconsider buying these organically (onions, avocado, broccoli). Of course, this only looks at how much pesticides the end product has, not how much is poured onto the plants and into the soil. Buying organic is almost always better but can be awfully expensive.

I'm also trying to figure out how to eat more local and fresh foods. The 100 mile diet where I live takes a lot of effort. Our growing season is so darn short that most of the year almost nothing is in season. I've realized that probably the best way to do this is preserve food from the summer to eat in the winter - isn't that what our prairie ancestors did? So, hopefully I can plan things next summer to put the best summer fruits and vegetables in the freezer and we can rely on stuff shipped from Peru a little less. Another idea I had was to grow food indoors. Our house is just too small right now and the light's not very good for indoor gardening... I'm trying to figure out if I can do this even on a small scale. Herb pots, anyone?