Black Gold!!!

Today I would like to talk to you about Black Gold.....no not the kind the Beverly Hillbillys found...but Manure...yes Manure....don't wrinkle up your nose....it is a good thing, a very good thing!

I have seen so many friends and family members spend lots of cash buying all kinds of "magic" potting mixes and fertilizers to get the best looking flowers and most productive gardens. Finally this year I was able to convince a few that spending all that money was unnecessary!!

All you need is Manure!!

Ok maybe that is an over simplification but.....let me explain. The Average cost of store bought super growth soil is between 4 and 5 dollars a 20lb bag,(let me use the example of the flower bed we build at my family's house) ...... They would have needed around 10 bags of the premixed stuff so that would have cost...around $50 bucks....just for the soil. So since I was in charge of getting all the supplies together I went and got 8, 40lb bags of top soil for around $1.50 each and 2, 40lb bags of composted Manure for about $1.50 each. A neighbor had some peat moss they shared so no cost there.  I spent a grand total of about $15 bucks. That is a $35 savings!!!

Now we mixed a bag of soil about a half a bag of manure and enough peat moss to double the volume in a wheelbarrow and filled the spaces we were going to plant.

We purchased 4 flats ( about $10 worth) of flowers from a local greenhouse that looked a little past their prime, since it was later in the season...but with a small amount of pruning and a good dose of water the plants FLOURISHED!!! ( well the squirrels liked one of the varieties of flowers we bought so they didn't make it!!)

SO instead of spending a total of $68 for flowers and "super soil"  we spent....$25 for the flowers, soil and Manure for a grand total of $43 in savings! Not too shabby!! And convincing that skeptical family member who didn't believe that it was going to work...PRICELESS!!

Now before you go out and buy manure there is a few things you should know.......

You should always get composted manure preferably from cows. Cows go through several digestion processes that animals like pigs and horses do not ...so almost all weed seeds and plant disease will be killed after passing through a cow's digestive system and as we all know composting actually makes this even more true. ( we don't want to put contaminated manure in our flower beds and gardens) Don't get me wrong, you can get horse or pig manure but just make sure it is  composted so you are not inadvertently putting weed seeds where you don't want them!

Also....please do not be afraid that it is going to smell !!!  There is a little smell but it is not like driving through the country side during the spring and fall while the farmers are spreading manure on the fields ( otherwise referred to as "fresh country air" ) I promise you your flowerbed or garden will not smell like that!!!

I am pretty sure you have all started your compost bins for next spring ...Right???? Well the combination of your compost and a few of the ingredients listed above and I am positive you all will have the best looking flowers and gardens in town!!

Food Chain

Oh yes I have been inspired to write another blog so soon. To my dismay, It has become all too clear that many people do not understand our food chain....and by this I mean the process that our food takes to get to us. So I am going to explain.......

Several times a day while I am stocking ye ole produce I am asked "is this fresh"? Or I hear the comment.."oh just in time for the "fresh" produce. Or.... "do you have anything that is "fresher"?

I am sorry for what I am about to do........

I have to crush your thoughts that your produce you are buying at your grocery store is remotely "fresh".

I know I know.....it is our job as your friendly produce workers to make everything look as "fresh" as we possible can but....alas....it is not as "fresh" as you want it to be!!!!!

 NO matter if the product you are buying is organic or conventionally grown it is at least ....at least 30 days old when you pick it up at the store. ( Caveat.....When stores offer local grown produce it may be "fresher")

Ok a little explanation is required.....we all know that produce is grown on farms.... ( it gets my goat major food makers are advertising "farm fresh veggies" in their products...where else would they come from???) Most of these farms are located in California, Washington, Florida...and several other states so lets follow a specific product.

California grown strawberries.......so these little gems are picked when almost ripe, packed, sent to a distributor...or there may be a couple of distributors before they "land" some where. Here they may be kept several different ways.....some produce is stored in oxygen deprived coolers to slow the ripening process, some are iced, and some are sent through a process to actually ripen.....ok so now a grocery store decides it needs some strawberries so they order them ( usually 2 days before they arrive) then they are received by the store and stay in the cooler until they are ready to be displayed.

Keep in mind I can not say for sure how long this journey takes....very few products actually list when they have been picked so even to us produce workers it is kind of a mystery how long these things have been "off the vine".

Do not forget that there are specific growing seasons for specific items. When a product can not be grown in the US we get it from countries around the world to include....Brazil, Chile, The Netherlands, Mexico and several Asian countries that grow very specific kinds of produce.... so that chain is long and takes much more time and is more expensive.  ( Some people get very frustrated in the middle of January when they can't find strawberries that have been grown in the US...... but January is not a good time anywhere in the US to be growing strawberries!!)

Now when a store is advertising " A new crop of apples" this week it truly is the newest crop of apples....the ones you bought last week were still from the previous year....yes the previous year.

Please don't think I am telling you not to buy wonderful fruits and veggies.......I want you to buy them  and lots of them...they are good for you....but just realize the process behind getting that produce!

In a perfect world we all want to buy stuff that was just picked off the vine this morning...but in reality the only way that will happen is if we do it ourselves!!  But if consumers still demand strawberries in the middle of winter....we will provide them....and people will buy them no matter what the cost. Until we as a country start to reform our habits and eat produce while it is in season... our food will still have a very long road to travel before it hits the grocery store shelf.

Recycling

I have been trying not to be to political or controversial on this blog however, there is something that has really been annoying me lately. In this political climate of unemployment and tough financial times I can only think of an easy solution that would bring about many jobs and also help our environment.  What could be such a great thing???

MANDATORY NATIONWIDE RECYCLING!!!!

How would this help???  Well there are many ways.

First, Did you realize that 75% of our domestically produced natural gas is used to make water bottles?  Bottled water...really? Yes it is true. Only a very small fraction of these bottles are recycled! I see it every day, cases upon cases of bottle water purchased  and where I live there is not mandatory recycling so I know that most of these bottles are going into the landfill.....and they will be there for hundreds of years...yes hundreds. I don't want to bore you with all the facts and figures but for instance recycling a single plastic bottle can conserve enough energy to light a 60W bulb for up to 6 hours and there are 24 bottles in a case of water......that is a lot of energy to be saved!!

As far as metals go they are usually recycled more frequently because people get paid by the pound for these metals.....but we can still do better. A recycled six-pack of aluminum cans could save enough energy to drive a car five miles, or, it means one recycled aluminum can is equivalent in energy to a half a can full of gasoline.  ( and I know a few readers of this blog have experience with six packs!! )

Much glass has been replaced by plastic because plastic is lighter and easier to ship.

And with the invention of email, computers and a lot of people finally being aware of recycling, paper and cardboard is very widely recycled. But still.....Each year more than 900,000,000 trees are cut down to provide raw materials for American paper and pulp mills for all uses.

Now I know some of you live in states where there is mandatory recycling and bottle deposits I just don't understand why this is not a requirement for the nation! ( And some of you may be thinking how could recycling help our economy?) Well here are my thoughts......

You have to have people to collect, sort and process the recyclables this equals job creation!!!!

We can save tons...yes literally TONS of fossil fuels by recycling which will increase our energy independence and reduce the need to drill and frack wells in wildlife and watershed areas.

Nobody seems to want a landfill in their back yard but I have often hear..."but recycling is such a hassle", Really???  How big of a hassle would a landfill be In your back yard??   Recycling one ton of plastic saves 7.4 cubic yards of landfill space....think of how much compacted waste would fit in that amount of space! You have to admit our landfills are not getting any smaller! We are, and have been, encroaching on wildlife habitats for years for our landfills....so If we can make the landfills smaller....we can have more "green space" which is more beneficial than a landfill!

SO what can you do??? Well besides recycling.....write letters, emails and make phone calls to your elected officials to encourage them to put laws on the books in favor of recycling!!!  Talk with people about recycling, set an example for your children by recycling. Ask yourself how can we be such a technologically advanced society that ignores something so simple as recycling???

Food Safety

In light of the recent outbreaks due to contaminated produce I would like to give you some advise on how to reduce your risk!

I currently work in the produce department of a grocery store and with out getting too specific, as so as not to scare you away from produce, I will be gentle in telling you about the stuff that goes on that you may not be aware of.....

First off there is no official law or rule that your produce stocker must wear gloves while handling your produce...unless we are cutting up the produce then we must wear gloves!

People are really not all that careful while walking through the produce department......yes they do not cover their mouth while coughing or sneezing....they may drop stuff on the floor.

Some feel the need to handle every piece of produce before making their selection...they smell it, knock on it, flick it....to make sure of the freshness of the product.

They may go through several bags of grapes to select the perfect grapes.

This list could go on and on and on.....

So what are you to do to protect yourself??


WASH ALL PRODUCE BEFORE YOU CONSUME IT!!!!!

Now you don't need to buy all the fancy products out there that claim to rid your produce of any nastiness it may have. All you need to do it fill your sink with cool water and add a cap full of bleach to wash your produce in. Make sure to rinse well !!!!

You may be asking yourself....why should I wash stuff like melons and things with a very thick skin??? This is what I explained to the husband one day when he asked the very same thing.....yes certain things have very thick skins .....however when you cut through the skin and drag your knife through the "meat" you are also dragging what ever was on the skin to begin with...dirt, bacteria or what ever else all the way through the product!!

Be informed about what you are buying!!! Your local produce workers should know about all recalls and where their products are coming from....so just ask...if they don't know have them find someone who does know.

And be aware that even organic products can harbor stuff we don't want to ingest so they must be washed too!!!

I hope this was helpful and did not scare anyone because that is not my intention I just want everyone to be aware!!!