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Mazinaw_musings_Soap_the_Spinach

Feature Article March 20

Feature Article March 20, 2003

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Soap the spinachIt is getting to that time of the year when our stored summer garden produce is being exhausted and we have to rely on local stores for the 10 different fruits and vegetables a day that Health Canada tells us to consume for a healthy lifestyle. We older folks pay attention to these things when we see what is happening to those of the younger generations who have been raised on pop and junk food. For most of us it has been a great life, and we wish to prolong it a few more years without being devastated by poor eating habits.

The last of the frozen lasagna with the garden spinach is gone and the remaining container of borscht with its dark red beets is being hoarded as a treat. The packages of frozen beans, peas and tomatoes are reduced to just a few. Carrots have been exhausted and the potatoes and onions are beginning to soften in cold storage. Soon we will have to rely solely on purchased produce and trust that it is as beneficial as our homegrown.

It is always with some trepidation that I pick up a package of imported spinach when right beside it on the shelf is a display of special soap telling me to wash the produce carefully before use. No longer can I pull a carrot, wipe it against the leg of my jeans and munch away while contemplating Mother Nature's handiwork in my garden; the imported ones also need to be soaked in soap.

A sign posted above some produce proclaiming Organic Grown makes me wonder how the non-organic fruits and vegetables have had their innards manipulated to make them more colourful, tastier or exist longer before rotting back to compost. I read recently that our sweet bananas will be disappearing within a couple of decades as their genes have been so changed to satisfy our taste that they can no longer resist their natural diseases and present crops are being decimated. That is scary and I muse about what those induced banana genes may be doing to my inner workings; I do like bananas and have eaten many.

What is the answer? The obvious one is to plant a bigger garden next year and try to recall the old-fashioned canning recipes that our forefathers used, but I am not certain that my Significant Helpmate is willing to stand over a hot stove during the summer to boil the bacteria out of canning jars. Another alternate is to buy another freezer and add to the consumption of electricity and depletion of our resources.

Perhaps I should have more faith in scientists and readily eat their concoctions, but these are the same fellows who invent weapons of mass destruction and soak up natural resources to satisfy our hollow amusements and pleasures; I am not convinced that they always have our basic well being as a high priority during their manipulations.

There certainly are many good things about scientific research, but there have been many 'advances' that havent been revealed as problems until too late.

Caution accompanies maturity and I muse that perhaps in this mad rush to accomplish perfection, civilization would be wise to slow down a bit and better evaluate what is happening during our progress. Or am I just a jaded old fellow who doesn't appreciate modern trends and is having trouble keeping up on this wildly spinning globe?

With the participation of the Government of Canada