The Dirty Dozen

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away"

We've all heard that one right?

Apples are a wonderful food.

Easy to store.

Easy to take along with you.

Most kids love them.

They are good & good for you.

Or are they?

Have you ever heard of  "The Dirty Dozen" ?

No, not the movie .

"The Dirty Dozen" is a list compiled of fruits & vegetables with the highest pesticide content.

These are fruits & veggies you would buy at the store, take home, wash & be ready to eat.

Apples are #2 on the list .

Here is a link with the complete list http://www.foodnews.org/fulllist.php

Here is a link showing how they came up with the list http://www.foodnews.org/methodology.php

Here is a link showing how to reduce our exposure to these pesticide laden foods http://www.foodnews.org/reduce.php

The single best thing we can do is to eat organic.

One of the things I really like about this list is it shows you where to spend your money.

The foods that are relatively low on the list, with little to no pesticide residue, go ahead & buy from the grocery store.

The fruits that are the worst--peaches, apples, strawberries-- spend the extra money & buy organic.

Does it bother you as much as it does me that the foods we count on to be the healthiest are loaded with deadly poisons?

Does it bother you that the fruit salad we made for a healthy treat may give our children cancer?

Does it bother you that the big, green salad full of fresh veggies is full of pesticides as well?

It bothers me.

A lot.

As 'homesteader' we strive to grow much of our food. But we live in a area with a short growing season & tempermental weather at best.

We do end up buying  fruits & veggies to supplement what we grow.

And most of what we buy is on the "Dirty Dozen" list.

Grrrrrr. Frustrating.

So we have decided to try & buy as much as we can organically.

We have a few grocery stores in town that carry organic foods.

We can also order some fresh foods from http://www.azurestandard.com/

If you have never checked them out you should. They are 'local' to us here in Oregon but they ship to much of the west.

I'm not writing this to make you feel guilty or to drum up business for anybody.

But to give you the information you need to make knowledgable decisions about your families health & well being.

Blessings.