Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Tiniest Radish

Things have REALLY slowed down in the garden. We've been indoors most of the time, focusing on learning and playing. To keep the kids filled with fun summer garden memories, we often look at our garden book (filled with many of the pictures that are on this site, plus more). We still eat lots of veggies, but all of our harvest (and the harvest shared with us from friends and neighbors) are long gone. The last of Uncle Loren's green peppers and onions were used up a couple of weeks ago. So the veggies we eat are from the grocery store--organic when possible, though I admit not always.

What's Up With Sudden Inexpensive Organic?

Incidentally, I've noticed in just the past few weeks that the grocery store I usually frequent (Meijer) has been carrying a LOT more organic produce. Oddly enough, the prices are not that much higher than the conventional produce. This is defnitely a new development, and I'm realizing that the organic 'trend' is becoming much more mainstream in my area. Though I understand that "big organic" companies are not all they are cracked up to be at times (read my review of Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma for a brief explanation), I do think that having the option of organic is exciting. The fact that the pricetag is barely higher than conventional (at least at this particular store) makes me feel like organic will possibly soon be more in reach for everyone. However, I am a natural skeptic, and I do question the sudden availability. My eyebrows raised when I began to see bags of organic apples, at only a few cents more expensive than conventional apples. I have read that apples, in particular, are extremely difficult to grow organically. So my natural suspicious nature has me wondering: have the government's organic standards suddenly become more lax, and I missed it? Am I being duped here? I've learned to be very cautious of taking anything in our food system at face value. So I'll be seeking some solid answers to this development that seems *maybe* a bit too good to be true. In the meantime, I am buying up this organic produce and we are all enjoying it.

And now, finally getting to the title of this blog entry....you've got to see this radish. I'd given up on making a cold frame for this year, but our radishes and cabbages have hung on and lived. I thought I'd pull one up just to see if the plant was producing anything at all, and there it was! A long and thin, itty bitty radish. In January, with no weather protection at all. If the plants are this determined to make it with no help whatsoever, I am excited to think about what we will be able to produce once we come up with a cold frame or other weather protection! Oh and by the way...this tiny radish may not look like much, but it tasted phenomenal!