The Dirty Dozen

I have been reading and gathering information on organic foods. Even before organic was in, I wished I could have some control over what my family consumed. I wished that we didn't have to eat all the chemicals that went into our food. While I would love feed my family a completely organic diet, I cannot afford it. I have chosen a few biggies to put my money into. First on the list is organic milk. My daughter drinks the most cow milk in our family. I have switched to buying her organic milk. My son's soy milk has always been organic. I am also focusing on the dirty dozen list of produce. The list is formulated by measuring the amount of chemicals absorbed by the fruit and vegetable and ranking them. Then it is curved. Peaches take in the most pesticides. They are given a score of 100. They do not take in 100% of pesticides, but they do take in the most if any fruit or vegetable, which is why they are given that score. The rest are ranked on the curve started by giving the peach a score of 100.
The dirty dozen are as follows:
1. Peaches
2. Apples
3. Sweet Bell Peppers
4. Celery
5. Nectarines
6. Strawberries
7. Cherries
8. Kale
9. Lettuce
10. Grapes (from outside the USA)
11. Carrots
12. Pears
There is a complete listing found here: http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/nutrition/a/pesticides.htm



I am hoping that my garden yields some good veggies this summer. I love that I grew it and I know what went into the soil and onto the plants. The plants are huge thanks to late spring rains. I have about 12 green tomatoes and 4-5 cucumbers. I am watching the zucchini squash, acorn squash and green beans. They all have flowers. Last year my squash did not pollinate. I've seen lots of bees buzzing through the garden, so I'm hopeful. My okra plants are not doing well this summer. I have planted twice. I have about 5 plants after planting about three dozen seeds.