Re: Ripe Tomatoes Was: Ripe oranges
riedy wrote:
>
> Actually, I think supermarket tomatoes are getting to taste better and
> better. And there seems to be a greater variety. This year I stopped
> vegetable/fruit gardening almost completely, having finally faced up (or
> grown up) to the fact that I was captive of an old mystique and that
> insisting on raising much of my own has not been worth the time, energy
> and primarily the expense. There is now such a
> wide range of reasonably priced, good quality and frequently organically
> grown vegetables and fruits offered in the supermarkets and specialty
> stores that I don't miss the constant battle of the vegetable plot at all.
Where good quality organically-grown produce is freely available, I
agree the only real impetus for producing one's own would be the genuine
enjoyment and satisfaction that some mad people like me get from growing
them. However, with other commercial crops one must always remember that
they are produced with fertilizer regimes which tend to lower their
vitamin content and also are quite likely to retain traces of the (often
very dangerous) chemicals with which they have sprayed. Even though
these latter are usually at a level considered "safe' by the
authorities, some at least could have a cumulative effect on one's
health, which I prefer not to risk for my household if I do not have to.
In any case not all of us have such easy access to organic produce as
you do. Our nearest organic shop is half an hour's drive away while our
local supermarket, which is only five minutes drive from home, will not
stock organic produce because it reckons it is too expensive for there
to be much demand. (the penalty for living in a country whose entire
population is less than one of your medium-large cities!!)
Moira
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata,
New Zealand (astride the "Ring of Fire" in the SW Pacific).
