Breaking out of the Produce Contamination Craze

 I have written a bit before on the unfortunate frequency of various diseases being contracted all over the U.S. as a result of poor handling of produce sometime between the sowing and the shipping of whatever fruit or vegetable is cause for suspicion.

Presently, the specific produce causing a "stomach bug" that has affected almost 300 people in Wisconsin, Illinois, Texas, Nebraska, and a few other states is not yet known.  But it just makes me want to stress even more the benefits of growing one's own food, if only to supplement the food one might buy from their local grocery store.

Right now, my family veggie garden has a few squash plants, a young watermelon plant, some corn stalks and sunflowers, two eggplant...plants, a thriving zucchini plant and two tomato plants, which have just begun to fruit regularly as we head into late summer.

Small eggplant from our garden

Gorgeous Zucchini Blossom :)

 The beauty of it all is that the plants are relatively self-sufficient, needing to be watered only once a day in most cases, except when its pretty hot (it can get to be around 100 F or higher here in SoCal).  Not only that, but all of these plants take up relatively little room in our backyard, leaving much of our backyard open for frolicking and play.

The best part, however, about having this little vegetable garden, is knowing exactly where my produce came from, how it was raised, what kind of chemicals (NONE) were used on it, etc., a knowledge which is seems to have been rendered a luxury to us Americans lately; ignorance of such facts here can unfortunately spell disaster for one's health, as we have seen time and time and time again.





What am I saying?  Go out back, find a small plot of soil, and go plant some tomatoes or squash!

Trust me, you and your health will be happy you did. :)

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http://news.yahoo.com/stomach-bug-linked-produce-sickens-285-people-11-132017385.html