I Have No Spine
I am spineless! I may talk big and and loud but when it comes down to confrontation and conflict…well I shrink in the face of it. A couple of Saturdays ago I ran into a friend with very high “organic and healthy standards” at our Farmer’s Market. Her kids were shoveling delicious strawberries into their mouths hand over fist. I asked her if they were organic and she said when she asked the farmer he told her they do not spray and that they were as close to organic as you could get without being certified. Well, if that was good enough for my friend, Sheri, this was good enough for me! I even went a step further and asked for their card and directions so that I could go and pick these “organic” strawberries for $2/lb.
And pick we did! When Sheri saw my blog post she inquired where we picked such delicious looking strawberries and I told her from the Farmer at the Farmer’s Market! Well, good Mom that she is, she called and asked a few more questions and it turns out that those strawberries aren’t organic at all. They spray fungicide and insecticide and my kids and I, as well as my friends, all ate the berries straight out of the chemical patch! Ughh!!!
So my plan was to catch that farmer in a lie this morning and yell at him with all my motherly madness. But when Abby asked them if their berries were sprayed they said, “Yes.” They were honest. With that, my fur settled down and I walked away with my tail between my legs. I couldn’t say anything because well… after all my “no spray mentality” was hear say. Although I know he lied to Sheri, well he didn’t directly lie to me. At least that’s my spineless excuse for not roughing him up. So, sorry Abby for not giving you a good blog post full of blood and gore. Maybe next week. Or in my case, when I grow a spine.
But hear were some of todays highlights
I was so excited to take this and 40 other photos of these fish in a bowl that I have no idea what they were doing at the Market! Besides looking pretty!
A brass band was visiting this week
And here is what I hauled home this week!
I am pretty sure this weeks quarter recipe will be an excellent beet and cumin recipe that Joe and I love! So stay tuned.
Tags: friend, friends, Joe, recipe, walk
But hey, those photos are to die for again! I love how you caught your reflection in the instrument!
And truly, when I asked the Farmer if they sprayed, the young guy manning the booth told me that they were …”as close to organic as possible without being certified…”
I took that to be a “no, we don’t spray”, and I happily bought some (presumably unsprayed) berries. (which were delish, by the way!)
Replaying his comment, I realize that Farmer Boy gave me a very vague answer…perhaps I should have asked for a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.
Later, after I saw your pretty berry blog pics, I decided to call and just double-check that they don’t spray (because we wanted to u-pick there too), and, well…I got the actual farmer directly on the phone, asked him “do you spray?” and he danced around my question for 10 minutes before finally admitting that he sprayed! “What exactly do you MEAN by spray?”, he asked me. ‘What do you consider ‘spray’?” He also admitted that they instructed their teen helper at the market to reply to the “do you spray?” question with a “we’re as close to organic as possible…” answer.
Sneaky farmer!
I’m sorry that I was misinformed and that you bought oodles of berries as a result. For what it’s worth, they sure looked delicious, fungicides and all
That is one sneaky little farmer.
Sheri