Produce aisle as motivator?

[puglogic]

Last night I had to go buy some green beans. Mine aren't quite bearing yet, and hubby had a craving for green beans.

I saw a grumpy, picky side of myself in the produce aisle that I don't see any other time of the year. I noticed how icky the produce seemed - wilty lettuce, dehydrated green beans, tomatoes as hard as a rock, apples flown in from halfway across the globe.

Middle of winter, I'm not noticing this as much. But I become so spoiled during the veggie gardening season, so used to the taste and feel and look of super-fresh produce, that in the store I sound like a spoiled five-year-old, "I'm not eating THAT!"

I went home green bean-less, and lo and behold, the neighbors had brought over a sack of Roma green beans (and a huge zucchini). Beautiful, firm, snappy-crisp, heavenly.

Sigh. I love this time of year. Even if it makes me seem snotty. :)

[Gina]

I also love the summer produce. And I adore Romano beans. I have some more ready to pick in a day or two. Unfortunately the bunnies have been hard on the beans this year.

Last year I went to the grocery store wanting a few zucchini. They were abyssmal of course so I decided to grow more this summer in order to freeze -opps, meant to say dry- some slices. I figured my unappealing dry slices would still taste better than winter-bought 'fresh' zucchini.

So, yes, the produce aisle is a great motivator for improving the garden.

I miss the good old days of good summer fruits too. Most of the things like peaches, nectarines, apricots are hard, picked underripe, and when soft, taste like cardboard.

About the only acceptable produce in groceries are onions, bananas, and potatoes. But then I'm very picky.

[jania]

Yeah, me too. I just don't buy anything at the store now that I have decided to grow myself. It limits me but makes my own stuff taste even better and certainly keeps me eating seasonally.

[Kevin]

Supermarkets drive me nuts. Here we are in August, so the earliest varieties of English apples are available, and while those are on the shelf right now, there are many more varieties from South Africa and even New Zealand. Right through the main part of the apple season it will be the same, and while it can be nice to have a crisp, fresh New Zealand apple in April or May when our domestic varieties are past their best, it's just crazy to have a global apple trade all year round.

What really gets me is green beans. All year you can buy little plastic wrapped trays of round podded green beans, which are flown in from Zimbabwe and Zambia. Most of the cost must be in aviation fuel and packaging. Oh, and flowers. Cut flowers from Kenya, also flown in. When I was a kid you didn't see cut flowers before March, when daffodils came in by boat from the Isles of Scilly or the island of Jersey. Our lives were not noticeably poorer for the lack of beans or flowers in mid-winter.

I only have 20 square metres of raised vegetable beds, but this year I'm making a special effort to keep them productive into autumn and winter. I've sown Kale, Mizuna, Kailaan (Chinese broccoli) and spring cabbage, along with winter radishes which grow to the size of a cricket ball and can be used like turnip. In September or October I'll be sowing some hardy peas, for an extra-early crop next year, and some quick heading calabrese under cover. Even if we have a winter like last year, with snow on the ground for several weeks, we should get something to eat right through to spring.

Kevin

[Gina]

I went to the grocery looking for some stir-fry greens yesterday - something along the lines of bok choi or ?. My own are just in the seedling state. What was there was shockingly poor. Yet it was a relatively nice produce section. I know they try, but the leaves of everything were just too beaten out to be appealing. And expensive. I ended up getting some broccoli, and some bagged baby spinach that looked nice. Other than a local farmer's market, I don't know a better way to market more delicate produce and keep it relatively affordable. They must have to throw away lots of what doesn't sell.

A garden really does spoil one.

[Rosemary]

Asian markets are often the best source for fresh vegetables, particularly green such as bok choy. At our supermarket, bok choy is often $2/lb and looks rather bedraggled, but at the Asian market it's $0.75/lb and lovely.

[Gina]

That's a good idea. There is one very near our Trader Joe's. It does tend to be more expensive, at least for some things, but I'll check their greens out. I do get my fresh ginger there since it is so large and lush and it's well worth the extra $.

[Marianne]

A garden really does spoil one.

Yes, it does.
We moved to the sticks a few years ago. One smallish grocery store within a 20 mile radius. Fresh (?) produce and fruit is fairly expensive here in Kansas. A while back the store had bell peppers (not organic) for $1.75 each. They were about the size of a large lemon. :o(

My homegrown ones are even smaller than that, but at least there's a lot of them and they are pesticide/chemical free.

I planted chinese cabbage several days ago when it started cooling down. Today it's supposed to hit 97 F and I'm afraid they're goners.

[redfox]

I cannot buy the so-called food at so-called "regular" grocery stores... and really haven't for the last 30 years. Our food co-op is so superior! Real, organic, well-raised food is just different from the junk passed off at the big-box places. For the life of me, I don't understand skimping on good food and buying cheap junk. Good food should be expensive! It needs to reflect the full cost of producing it. We've been lulled by the last 50+ years of agri-biz into thinking food should be cheap, and being offered the crap that has resulted in so many modern diseases. Ya get what ya pay for... Of course raising it is always best!