Savor the flavor ...BABY

Its been along while since I have blogged about what is going on at Long Bean Farm. Mostly this has had to do with having to deal with the plight of the modern day farmer. The weather and needing to pay bills. This winter was the coldest and wettest many in the Brazos Valley can remember. It had a huge negative affect on my crops and I had to start working extra hours as a nurse to cover the losses in curred from starting the CSA spring season late as well as limiting themembership. The good things is that we recovered from the drought and will probably have less pests. So I have been neglecting the blog. Well the bad weather is over and I am happily harvesting those thigs that survived the cold wet season. Some of these things grew slower than normal and I have noticed that as a result of this they have a much more intense flavor. My spinach is amazing and the carrots that wintered over have a wondrful sweet earthy taste that is excellent in soups. The beets greens are especially green and abundant.
I served a spinach salad on Easter and my mother remarked to me that the spinach reminded her of the kind she used to be able to get in bunches at the the local grocer or farmstand when she was younger. She commented that she had forgotten what Spinach really tasted like and that the flavor was strong.
My moms comments got me really thinking about why my spinach tasted different. First of all my spinach was planted in late early February and the spinach she gets in the bag was plantedMarch and harvested in 20-23days forcing quick growth using lots of commercial fertilizer. My spinach had 20 days longer to absorb the nutrients and manufacture the vitamins , chemicals and most importantly the flavanoids that a mature slow grown vegetable provides . It is the flavanoids and phenols which provide the aromas , flavors and colors of spinach but more importantly it is these flavanoids that provide antioxidant acitivity that are helping to make our immune systems healthy so that we can fight off diseases and cancers.

So... Why the baby vegetable craze.... Why are people so willing to pay so much for packaged washed food that does not provide the nutrients of thier cheaper mature unwashed counterparts . It is because the word baby elicits a picture oof something pure and good in our minds and it is already washed and in a ready to serve bag. Commercial agriculture has tricked the well meaning vegetable eater into thinking that the baby greens are more nutrious and pure, when in fact these mildly flavored quickly grown foods ounce for ounce do not provide the same nutrients that thier mature slow grown counterparts have. Here are a few truths about baby vegetables that are similar to human babys...it doesn't cost much to make one but the are costly once you get one. The same thing goes for baby veggies.
The cost to produce a 10 ounce bag of baby greens is about 1/2 of the cost of the mature ones . Less days less water less chemicals, quicker turn over in the field and quicker return of investment.

Now i want you all to understand that I am not plugging my CSA as I do not need anymore members ... I have a waiting list .... but I want my CSA members and all the people who choose to eat mature strong flavored vegetables to know that they are doing the best thing possible for thier bodies.

This week my CSA members recieved about 9 pounds of slow grown just picked lettuce , spinach and other greens and nutritious herbs . They paid about $28.00 for this food. this works out to about $3.10 per pound. The lettuce and other baby greens bought at the store sell for about 2.99 per 10 ounces. making the same weight prepackaged food cost $4.78 per pound.
I do not know how to calculate the value of better health but I do know the cost of illness. Become rich by investing in the right food for your body. Easy and mild are not always the routes to success.