When you take a look at the lists you may not be surprised, the Clean 15 is full of items that we don't eat the outside of, while the Dirty Dozen is made up of items where you traditionally eat the skin. When I first heard of the list I had a mini ah-ha moment. But then I thought, wait, something doesn't seem right. I need to research this a little more. So I asked the person I knew who would have the answer, my friend Laura.
I first met Laura about 3 months after we moved to WNY in January/Feburary of 2010. I found her family's farm on localharvest.org, Laura raises heritage Turkeys and Chickens for meat and eggs and her father keeps bees. I immediately became a loyal egg and honey customer and Dann & I developed a fast friendship with Laura and her parents. You see, Laura was 15 when I met her. Laura is the reason Dann & I have our fabulous ladies right now, they are chicks that she hatched for us. And Laura is the reason that Patches lives on, she saved Patches by introducing us to one of her egg customer's that was looking for a rooster!
Laura's passion is local and sustainable agriculture and she devours any literature/seminar on the topic and has a mental retention that I recall at that age (..at least I think I used to have that kind of mental retention). I guess my years in corporate management have helped me delegate out what I need to know and remember, so when I started with my "hmmm, something doesn't sound right with this whole clean 15/dirty dozen thing" rather than research it myself, I turned to Laura and the conversation went something like this: "Laura, this clean 15 and dirty dozen thing just doesn't sound right to me, but I can't put my finger on it." Laura responded something like "The clean 15 still support the use of pesticides, so you are supporting the effects of pesticides on our farmers, soil and environment. You can do that if you want...."
I don't want to. I want my farmer and the farmer's family and community to be safe and healthy. I want soil that swarms with worms and bugs and grubs and all sorts of creepy crawlies that I can and cannot see. One of my new experiences this summer has been spying worms in the morning, it's not just the birds and the bees if you know what I mean.... And it makes me happy, it is a sign that we have healthy soil where they want to live.
You see, the effects of pesticides don't go away just because you ingest lest pesticides when you enjoy the pulp of the pineapple, or that sweet summer corn. The farmer, his/her family and their neighbors, the soil and the environment are all still impacted by the horrible effects of pesticides. And I won't even start on the whole GM (Genetically Modified) seed thing where they put the pesticide RIGHT IN THE SEED. Think about it. I give you just one second to figure out how to wash off pesticides from anything grown from GM seed that contains pesticide....
Don't get me wrong, I have my reservations about organic also. There are still pesticides used in organic, they may be "less" harmful, but they are still there, especially as organic is becoming more and more commercialized. I trust organic from the farm down the street that manages only a few acres, where I know the farmer and the farmer's family. I'm not sold on corporate organics.
As Barbara Kingsolver wrote in Animal Vegetable Miracle " 'Certified Organic' does NOT necessarily mean sustainable grown, worker friendly, fuel-efficient, cruelty-free or any other virtue a consumer might wish for." This is why we buy our grass-fed/pastured meats from local farmers and not at a grocery store. When a friend stated "You can buy grass-fed beef at Wegman's." I responded, "It's from Uruguay!"
I'll stick to local thank you.
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