Vegetating

Though the coast of California is mostly an overpopulated quagmire, the interior valleys are amazing agricultural centers; funny what happens when you add water to soil that hasn't had much in 5000 years.  So, I'm used to really fresh fruit and vegetables, crunchy nuts.  Some of it may be a bit tasteless, since they harvest it before it is truly ripe, but at least you have a good 4 or 5 days of shelf-life for even the most fragile strawberries once you get them home, and weeks on other things. Today I was at Kasko, and they were selling broccoli that had turned brown for half off.  And at Samkaup the other week, several bags of grapes were moldy.  Considering the unbelievable use of fuel just to get that sort of produce here, this strikes me as really awful.  So, I started buying only Icelandic produce, and was amazed to discover my potatoes and carrots going moldy in the refrigerator in 4 days.

Comments

Iris said…
This is very interesting. Just yesterday I told Anthony how creepy I find it that here in the States it seems to take days for berries to mold (you have about a day at home) and weeks for vegetables. I think there is a tomato in this fridge that got bought when we came here and it is still good as new...Anyone else thinking genetical engineering?
August 3, 2008 at 3:46 PM
Lissy said…
Genetic engineering or pesticides.
August 3, 2008 at 4:27 PM
Iris said…
Nice subtle way of correcting my mistake there. Thanks :)
Feel like skyping soon? My big translation is due tomorrow morning, so I would be available any time starting tomorrow.
August 4, 2008 at 4:18 PM
Lissy said…
I didn't even NOTICE the typo. The title of my blog also suggests that, umm, typos might happen. I'll skype you about skype..Palmer maintains a hectic skyping schedule.
August 4, 2008 at 7:09 PM
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