Consummate Produce

As local food grows legs and gains attention across the world, there is this notion to hold it in the highest regard possible. While farming is one of the most noble professions on the planet I feel I need to remind people that someone growing vegetables next door to you can just as easily dump pesticides and herbicides on those vegetables as someone 1000 miles away.

We all love local food, but don't trust it beyond reproach. Know your farmer or let Greenling know them for you. Michael Pollan describes it as surrogates for getting to know the farmers. Remember that Peaches are the most polluted fruit available (meaning even after washing them there are more pesticides found in a peach than any other fruit or veggies - up to 96 pesticides were found in test samples). So those yummy Texas peaches you enjoy may be loaded with chemicals. They might not be, but you'd have to ask the farmer. Greenling's Texas peaches, of course, were certified organic this year so they had absolutely no chemicals applied to them. They sure were good!