That when we garden, nature,
at times, has a way of making your composted organic garden of veggies
sometimes get defaced by natural happenstance, be it the wind blowing off the
flowers for fruit to form or insects taking that first bite or animals, wild and
or domestic defecating on your precious home grown foods… it is not always as
one may want to think.
Not much can be done about
the wind, since it does blow in different directions and even the best laid idea
diagrams for locations of your garden cannot always be prefect!
Fencing is one way to go to
keep many varmints out, but others can climb over it or somehow manage to go
under or find some way around that and even our own domestic pets can forget
that the raised beds are not for them in the dark of night, or just be
attracted to them due to that amazing aroma emanating from them, perhaps from
that neighbor’s cat having just used it as a litter box!
Horrors!
But it does happen, but not
in ours thankfully, that is at least recently, since we decided to wait until
the fall here, in Southwest Florida, due to it
being way too hot for most crops now. Our winters are even better for many
edibles.
Washing all freshly picked
items is one way to counteract any unwanted possible diseases on your fruits
and vegetables; here is one I found online but I have been doing this in my
lettuce spinner without exact measurements, probably too much of each.
“Instructions:
1. Add 2 cups of
water, 2 tbsp. lemon juice and 1/4 cup of baking soda
an empty spray bottle. Use caution because the baking soda and lemon juice may
react to one another and foam up.
2. Put the lid on the spray bottle. Shake the contents
of the bottle
well before using.
3. Spray your
produce liberally with the homemade
vegetable wash. Allow the produce to sit with the wash on it for 5 minutes
before rinsing under stream of cold water and scrubbing it clean with a scrub
brush.”
vegetable wash. Allow the produce to sit with the wash on it for 5 minutes
before rinsing under stream of cold water and scrubbing it clean with a scrub
brush.”
It’s your health so follow
those directions with purchased at the grocery ones, even already been washed
ones and Farmer’s Market produce too!
Be safe with all edibles,
better to err on the side of caution.
In my opinion if you do not
wash off all that cleaning concoction above it won’t hurt you at all! After all
it is just lemon juice, used in many salad dressings and baking soda great for the
digestion! But check with your local health department or county extensions to
be sure; warm water is preferable instead of cold for this latest parasite to
be killed.
Health officials in Iowa and Nebraska said they linked the illnesses in their states to packaged salad mix -- containing iceberg and romaine lettuce, carrots and red cabbage -- but federal health officials said they were not ready to say if the sickness in the other states were linked to the same salad ingredients.
The parasite is spread when people eat food or water that has come into contact with infected feces.
People get Cyclospora infections from some fresh fruit and vegetables that probably came into direct contact with an infected person or contaminated water. Fruit and vegetables grown or packed outside of the United States may have a higher risk of having Cyclospora on them, health officials said.
Previous epidemics of cyclosporiasis have been traced to contaminated lettuce, basil and raspberries grown in Guatemala, Mexico and the United States.
The Cyclospora parasite cannot survive freezing therefore is it not common on cold-weather crops, such as spinach, broccoli, cabbage, or greens harvested in the winter.
In addition, the parasite cannot survive heated water at about 60 degrees or cooking so wash produce with warm water.
Wash hands with soap and water before washing produce and after handling produce to minimize the risk of cross-contamination.
People should always wash hands after going to the bathroom, changing a diaper, or before touching food. Use plenty of soap and warm water, and get a good soap lather and rub hands together to loosen and wash away germs.”
On tonight’s note of concern
for all of us, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy
good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share all those overages
with you know who and we will too!
And next time please be here
or be square, ya hear!
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