Re: Ripe Tomatoes Was: Ripe oranges

In my heart of hearts I have to concur with your sentiments, but
unfortunately the reality of my situation steers me to other options.
Perhaps we are by a stroke of fate more fortunate here in that the organic
gardening movement, if it did not originate in this country, was embraced
and developed here, impelled not only by Mr. Rodale but also by Rachel
Carson and a host of others who early on inveighed against pesticides and
pollution and all that. Undeniably it's been slow going with a lot of
corporate impedance (and frankly, some proponents of organic gardening
can be a turn-off, too), but I think it has caught on to a considerable
extent.  I first began doing much of my grocery shopping
at an organic growers' cooperative in New York City in the late 1960's.
(Much to the dismay of some of my friends for whom I was an uncertifiable
kook--though I admit to being only a quasi-hippie.)  However, my awareness
of "naturally-grown" foods came about a decade earlier when I lived in
Turkey and met a gracious old gentleman, a true voice in the wilderness,
who autographed his thick tome on the subject for me and instructed me in
the art of ascertaining with a plumb line whether a vegetable was alive or
dead.  Unfortunately, a lot of organically-grown foods years ago was not
of the highest quality and you gritted your teeth at the prices.  But
that has changed a lot with awareness and demand for "healthy" food.
Ten years ago I moved to the Southwest.  In area, this is the fifth
largest state in the Union.--121,335 sq. miles.  The population is barely
over 1.5 million (half of that of the borough of Brooklyn where I came
from in New York City).  It is one of the poorest states in the U.S. as
the gaps in public infrastructure and our legislators constantly remind
us.  (My friends said I was crazy to move to "Middle America" and I am
still shaking off the dust of the culture shock.)
But I have to tell you  that even in my village of 8,000 people, our
three supermarkets, all  within a few minutes drive from my place, carry a
prominent array of organically grown vegetables and other "natural" foods
at prices not significantly higher (any more) than the run of the mill
stuff.  And that latter, too, sprayed or not, is generally of a quality
produce years ago cannot compare with.  Also there are several summertime
farmers' markets as outlets for excellent local growers.  I say all this
only to indicate what consumer demand can do.  The market does listen.
They wouldn't be selling such stuff out here in the sticks if there
wasn't an informed demand for it.  There is an organic farming and
gardening association in the state that has probably done a lot of
lobbying.  

At this point, in my best of all possible worlds, I would wish for a
plot of food plants with the ability to naturalize, indicating they need
at best only minimum help, maybe just a spritz of water from time to time.
So far the only vegetables that meet the test at my place are Swiss Chard
(Beta vulgaris cicla), the daylily species Hemerocallis fulva, and
Arugula (Eruca sativa, which disproves the catalog writers). Oh yes, I
suppose I should count Principe Borghese tomato which faithfully puts up a
plant or two every year.



On Tue, 21 Sep 1999, Tony & Moira Ryan wrote:

> Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999 09:23:35 +1200
> From: Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
> To: Mediterannean Plants List <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
> Subject: 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).
> 
>
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