Good, better, best

Oh so true.

I always appreciated how fortunate; how blessed I was living back home (CA) where abundant, local, fresh organic produce was available year round, and CHEAP versus all the opposite here.

BUT, what it has made this tough gal do is dig in and figure out how to get the best I can.

MOST of my produce is not organic. What the store has that is organic does not look or smell good - looks dead; came from halfway around the world, and is expensive.

I've had some CSA's in the past, however not very successfully.
BUT, I have cultivated enough 'contacts' to get a LOT of my stuff grown locally, and organically!

I also (live in a condo) have a 3 x 3 "Square Foot Garden" outside my front door and grow my own organic Swiss Chard, Arugula, basil, parsley, spinach, and kale. I have a friend who grows ALL my greens in her yard, organically, and allows me to pick to my hearts content for free (in exchange for some of my famous muffins! LOL).

I buy a 25 pound bag of organic carrots once a month from Publix and they now have a better supplier of organic celery.

If possible, I try to AT THE VERY MINIMUM purchase those on the "dirty dozen" list (most highly sprayed fruits and vegetables) ORGANICALLY and the others (avocados, bananas, pineapple, etc.) conventionally.

The exciting thing is that this area is growing (more diversely - people moving from other states)and causing more demand; but also people getting more educated about their health and so a local Farmer's Market will be opening soon (granted probably NOT organic) and we are making headway!

There is a VERY high incidence of cancer in our grade schools here and it is quite suspect. The good thing from that is that people are searching more.
Just this last week, three co-workers asked me about my juicing.

Now if I could just find a good, organic cucumber and beet 'farmer'! LOL

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