Fickle weather is a great time to remember ( from the Israeli Organic Agriculture organization):
Why does my organic fruit rot so fast?
Almost all organic consumers face frustration by a fruit or vegetable that rots within a few days, before we manage to consume it. We have become accustomed to conventional fruits or vegetables that last even weeks. What makes organic produce rot faster?
The answer is – nature at work. But, the correct question is what makes conventional produce stay fresh far beyond what nature planned?
A long shelf life is the desire of every conventional grower, packing house, retailer, marketer and consumer. In order to extend the shelf life of conventional produce they use a variety of chemical preparations, usually fungicides or hormonal preparations. A combination of pesticides against fungi and diseases and hormones which inhibit the natural ripening processes are the main causes of long shelf life of conventional fruit.
The first group of preparations contain a variety of poisons against fungi that may develop post-harvest and there is a variety of materials and mechanisms of toxicity of these products. Some of the fungicides are systemic, meaning that they penetrate into the tissue and act within the fruit and not only on the surface (so even if you wash the fruit with water and soap the material remains inside). Since there is a variety of fungi that may develop in storage it is often customary to combine multiple pesticides. The second group of substances is hormonal, and it's purpose is to cancel or retard the natural maturation processes that cause fruit to soften and thereby allow prolonged storage (MCP-1, and such).
Two main methods are used for the application of these pesticides and synthetic hormones: spraying or immersion in a bath. Needless to say, all of these materials are expressly prohibited in organic agriculture. Organic fruit and vegetables are picked and that's it!
So what do we do? We understand that nature does what it does and we eat fresh, organic, healthy produce in its season.
In this season there is a great abundance of fruits and vegetables that are organically grown and are healthy and tasty.
To health!
Yours, Maggie and the garden staff
We expect in our organic vegetable baskets (draft only):
White beets 🙂
cabbage
Leeks
Green onions
Japanese pumpkin
lettuce
Cucumbers
Tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes
parsley
Zucchini
In the larger organic vegetable baskets, also:
New Ziland spinach
celery
Fennel
dill
Organic fruit baskets;
Melon
Apricots
Nectarines
In larger ones, also:
Bananas
and Strawberries
