End of the Season

The leaves have turned color, the air has a chill in it and the garden is done for the year. A few tomatoes are clinging to the vines, and I hope they have a chance to ripen before the first frost.

It was not a good year for my garden. The intense heat and heavy rains burned up leaves and rotted carrots and onions. The Thai eggplant only got about as big as a golf ball and then stopped growing. I did get some nice cucumbers, bell peppers and hot peppers. The heirloom tomatoes were delicious, but I didn't get as many as I would have liked. One pumpkin grew, a little larger than a softball. It was cute!

In spite of the unfriendly weather, I'm still happy with my little garden. I'm looking forward to next year! Happy Autumn!

Arsenic in Apple Juice

You may have heard recently that some apple juice brands in the U.S. contain arsenic. Yesterday, I watched a segment on the Dr. Oz Show about this issue. The FDA does not currently have a safe level of arsenic set for apple juice. Some testing is revealing levels much higher than the the safety level set for drinking water.

So how is arsenic getting in the apple juice? Some American companies purchase apple juice concentrate from China, Argentina and Brazil. In these countries, pesticides containing arsenic are used. To avoid the chance that arsenic is in your children's juice, you need to buy organic or read the labels carefully and only buy juice made from apples grown in the U.S. It can be hard to find the country of origin on labels. In one spot the labeling may say it is an American product, and in another spot it may say that the apple juice concentrate used was made in China. At the grocery store this morning, I found a bottle of apple juice that said the country of origin was printed on the bottle neck, but the information was not there.

It is also important to realize that apple juice concentrate is not only used in juice. It can also be found as a sweetening agent in other products. In these products, there is no way to know where the juice concentrate comes from. We need to press the FDA to change its policies. Until then, I will only buy organic apple juice. I encourage you to Google this issue and/or read the links below and make your own informed decision.

Testing Finds Arsenic in Apple Juice - from Food and Water Watch

Dr. Oz Investigates: Arsenic in Apple Juice

Wealthy Chinese begin growing their own food

This is a link to an interesting BBC article about recent food safety issues in China and how these issues are prompting some to grow their own food. The food scares are strange: glow-in-the-dark meat, exploding watermelons, melamine-tainted baby formula. What I found sad is that only those with the time and money can grow their own food. Poorer citizens are at the mercy of the food industry producing the unsafe food.
BBC: Wealthy Chinese begin farming after food-safety scares

My Garden in August

Things are going well in my little garden, even with the intense summer heat. I've been getting lots of ripe Yellow Pear tomatoes and Juliet tomatoes, a small Roma variety. Now some of the larger varieties are starting to ripen. I've had several hot peppers and bell peppers ripen and some cucumbers are coming on. The lettuce and sugar snap peas wilted long ago in the 90+ degree weather we've been having all summer.

One of the plants that I started from seed that survived was a Thai eggplant. The seed came free as a thank you gift from the heirloom seed company I ordered from this spring. I didn't know if the plant would survive, but I planted it outside anyway. Recently it shot up in size and put on buds. This morning I found this pretty little bloom.

I'm curious to try this eggplant variety and I hope the bloom produces an eggplant!

Stay cool!

Progress on Frankenfish Ban

In an earlier post, I explained the issues surrounding genetically-engineered salmon. The House of Representatives passed a ban on these "frankenfish." Recently, a bi-partisan appeal has been made to the FDA by both members of the House and members of the Senate to end the FDA's plans to approve the genetically-engineered salmon. A draft of the same ban is being drawn up for the Senate's vote. This bi-partisan appeal is a good sign! Hopefully, our lawmakers won't let us down on this issue!
Lawmakers Tell FDA to Back Off on GE Salmon - article

First Tomato of the Season

I found the first ripe tomato in my garden this weekend. It was one of the Yellow Pear variety. It's small, like a cherry tomato, but pear-shaped and yellow. They taste great in a salad! I have a lot of green tomatoes now. Bell peppers and hot banana peppers are also appearing. Yum!

Locavore Programs

Nationwide, a movement called the 100-Mile Meal is educating the public about the benefits of locavorism. The movement promotes eating food that originates within 100 miles of where you live. Athens, Ohio is pushing that idea a bit further and has started the 30-Mile Meal. The link below has a nice little article about it. I feel lucky to live close enough to Athens to take part in its rich locavore traditions!
Athens proudly sits near the top of the locavore food chain - Athens News article

July is 30-Mile-Meal month. If you have the chance to visit the Athens area, this website will provide more information and a map of participating food producers.
The 30 Mile Meal - Athens, Ohio

The national 100 Mile Meal movement's website is here:
The 100 Mile Meal Diet