Growing your own is easier than you think!
Yesterdays news reported that tainted lettuce has sickened at least 19 people in Ohio, New York and Michigan, including students on three college campuses, prompting a recall throughout much of the country.
The romaine lettuce is sold under the Freshway and Imperial Sysco brands in Alabama, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
This is just another grim reminder that our industrialized food system is broken. When it comes to food, bigger is not better. This “big lettuce” was being shipped to 24 states! Think of all the gas those trucks burned and spewed into the atmosphere to send all that lettuce to your local super market or school cafeteria. How did this lettuce become tainted with E.coli? Most likely via contaminated water supply. How did the water supply become contaminated? It could be due to a CAFO (confined animal feeding operation) nearby containing excess animal waste that leaked into underground aquifers. It sounds like The Cat in the Hat Comes Back to me!
What can you do to make sure your lettuce is safe? It’s easy. Grow your own! Lettuce is one of the easiest plants to grow. You can get creative with the container if you like. All it takes is some seeds, sunlight, some good (clean) water and 21-28 days. You’ll save money too, a packet of seeds will get you loads and loads of lettuce. Your kids will eat more salad too, if they are in charge of planting, watering and harvesting.
Warning! Lettuce may become a “gateway drug” for other vegetables! Once you realize how easy it is to grow your own, you’ll be searching the seed catalogs for more adventures!
