Food for thought....

You know that moment when you sit down to eat your dinner and think to yourself  "I wish someone had defecated on this food"? No...? Oh!

Today's blog is about the fresh fruit and vegetables we buy in our supermarkets, and the many reasons why I think we should be growing our own.

1) You could save a fortune!!

    Ever looked in a bag of potatoes you've had in the cupboard to find one has grown roots, then thrown it in the bin? Leave the roots to grow around an inch in length then throw that potato into a hole in the back garden and cover it over. In a few months time you can have new 15-25 potatoes. 

Years ago, 6 strawberry plants were bought. They have split now into around 30 plants, each produce around a punnet of strawberries. Tesco's current online price ranges from £1.35-£2.49 a punnet depending on the quality you want. 30 punnets of their value strawberries would cost me at current prices £40.50 a year.

5 years ago I bought a pack of mixed pepper seeds (4 varieties) for 99p. This included around 20 bell pepper seeds (yes I've realised since I could have just saved the seeds from a pepper now, but at the time it seemed like a good idea). Each pepper plant can grow around 6-10 peppers, so 20 plants could provide a minimum of 120 peppers. Tesco's current online price is 72p a pepper. 120 peppers would cost me £86.40. Save the seeds from a pepper and you can keep growing peppers for free for the rest of your life. I can think of plenty of things I would rather spend money on, and if you grow too much you can sell some on to family and friends!

2) It can be so quick and easy!!

     I find being in the UK has its benefits.... Like lots of rain! Generally means if I plant something outside (which usually isn't a very ceremonious occasion - throw the seeds down, cover with a bit of soil and then water), I can ignore it until its ready to be picked. The 6 strawberry plants that divided into 30 on their own, and a net was thrown across them to keep the birds out. Other than that, they get no attention unless it hasn't rained for a while, then its a quick blast with a hosepipe. Not exactly time consuming.

You want some runner beans, it may take you 2 minutes to pick a few handfuls off the plants. It takes far longer to walk round the supermarket, locate them, weave your way through women with pushchairs, dawdling elderly and children running around (or plough through them with your trolley), then wait to be served by the slowest checkout assistant known to man.

3) Its fresh!!

    You never quite know how long it has taken some supermarket "fresh" produce to go from field to shop shelf, and sometimes it may sit on the shelves for days, and if its a loose product, may have been handled by dozens of other people who probably haven't washed their hands since scratching their ass. Lovely! I witnessed an elderly gentleman in my local supermarket, rub an apple across the crotch of their stained jogging bottoms before looking at it and putting it back again. How many people can honestly say they wash their apples before eating them? Bet you will now though! 

4) You don't need to use pesticides!!

    There are plenty of studies that show that the use of some chemicals cause cancer. You can barely open the paper or watch the news without hearing about it. EPA considers 60 percent of all herbicides, 90 percent of all fungicides and 30 percent of all insecticides carcinogenic.  If you are growing your own food, you have control over what does, or doesn’t, go into it. The bottom line is that pesticides are poisons designed to kill living organisms and can also harm humans. In addition to cancer, pesticides are implicated in birth defects, nerve damage and genetic mutations. Using such methods as "companion gardening" to keep pests away. Such plants as marigolds keep away whitefly, and mint deters aphids. Mint also aids the growth of cabbages and the flowers attract hoverflies which eats many garden pests. Plus, who doesn't like fresh mint with their potatoes?

5) You don't have to eat faeces!!

     You were waiting for why I used THAT opening statement weren't you?! We all know farmers use animal manure on the crops. But did you know they also use human faeces? It is true, often called bio-solid also known as "granulite", it is smeared all over the crop plants, and often the crops themselves rise to the surface and come into direct contact with the manure. Of course it is chemically treated, and who doesn't want to eat bleached pooh?!

 When I was studying for my biology degree at university, I studied Food Safety. Did you know the vast majority of all upset stomachs are caused by food poisoning cases of some degree? And that around 91% of all food poisoning cases are caused by eating food contaminated by faeces? 

Such strands of food poisoning bacterium like Norovirus is the leading cause of gastroenteritis, or what we commonly think of as stomach flu and is the second most common virus after the common cold. 

Norovirus is usually transmitted from the faeces to the mouth, either by drinking contaminated food or water or by passing from person to person. Because noroviruses are easily transmitted, are resistant to common disinfectants, and are hard to contain using normal sanitary measures, they can cause extended outbreaks. 

Campylobacter is found in the faeces of chickens and is often contracted through eating contaminated vegetables.Studies have found that campylobacter is found in 88% of chickens.

Escherichia coli (or E. coli) are bacteria that live in human and animal intestines. The bacteria do not make animals such as livestock and deer, which harbour the bacteria in their intestines, ill.

Toxoplasmosis is caused by animal faeces which can contaminated food and water, and is thought that 22.5% of the population will have suffered from this by the age of 12. In some areas this may be as high as 95%. 

Cryptosporidium is caused by both human and animal faeces and is resistant to chlorine rendering "just giving it a quick rinse under the tap useless". 

Shigella bacteria (also called bacillary dysentery) are generally transmitted through a fecal-oral route.  Foods that come into contact with human or animal waste can transmit Shigella. Thus, handling toddlers’ diapers, eating vegetables from a field contaminated with sewage, or drinking pool water are all activities that can lead to shigellosis. It is highly contagious. Salmonella bacterium are commonly found in the faecal canal of poultry.

Hepatitis A is a contagious, and usually foodbourne disease, however is the only one you can currently be vaccinated against. It travels in faeces, and can spread from person to person, or can be contracted from food or water. 

Now honestly speaking, I don't exactly fancy these kinds of illnesses, and growing my own produce means I can decide what form of fertilisation I want my crops to receive. I keep a compost bin that I throw waste fruit and vegetables scraps and garden waste into. It's not difficult, means my dustbin doesn't smell of rotting food and provides a more safer way to grow my food crops.... and it is free!

So why do so many people choose shop-bought produce over homegrown? Sometimes its not having a garden. When I lived in a second-story flat I had window boxes, and there were allotments nearby. So perhaps its either laziness or ignorance to the overwhelming benefits of home-grown food.