I'm a huge fan of our super-tasty Oregon strawberries, which put the California varieties (at least the ones shipped up our way) to shame, taste and appearance-wise.
This week I started buying strawberries from a farmer's stand on Salem's south Liberty Road, in the parking lot by the Salem Heights Hall. When I brought them home, my wife asked "Are they organic?"
"No," I told her. "But they're local." A mild husband/wife argument ensued.
I feel that we need to support local farmers, even if what they grow is non-organic. Otherwise we'll get more and more fruits and vegetables trucked in from far away, increasing Oregon's carbon footprint and decreasing our taste buds' pleasure.
My wife puts a lot more emphasis on eating organic. She's appropriately wary of pesticides, and conventional strawberries are #3 on EWG's "Dirty Dozen" (a 2011 shopper's guide to pesticides in produce). EWG's advice is to buy organic strawberries.
Well, for some reason it's hard to find local organic strawberries. And when they're available, the price is high -- especially compared to what Fred Meyer has been selling organic California strawberries for (two pounds for $6, or even $4, if I recall correctly).
So Laurel is eating comparatively tasteless organic strawberries trucked in from California, while I've been feasting on sweet, juicy local berries.
Yesterday, when I stopped by the farmer's stand to buy another 1/4 flat for $7, I asked how much pesticide was used in growing the strawberries. Even though I've been buying stuff at this stand for many years, I'd never asked that question before.
A woman told me, "They're only sprayed in the flowering stage. After that, no pesticides are used." That was reassuring. For me, at least. My wife continues to stick with her organic California strawberries.
The local strawberry seller also said that she's been involved with growing Oregon berries for more than fifty years, starting when she was a child and followed the "pick one, eat one" rule.
That was how I did it also, when I frequented U-pick fields soon after I moved to Oregon from California in 1971 and felt like I'd made it to Strawberry Heaven. I ate them without any washing; but back then we also drove cars without shoulder belts or air bags.
The woman told me that a lot more pesticides were used on strawberries in the old not-so-environmentally-aware days. Given how many pounds of Oregon strawberries I've eaten during the forty years I've lived here, this struck me as both present-day good news and historic bad news.
Bottom line for me: I love our local berries -- raspberries, marionberries, blackberries, blueberries, and especially strawberries. When I can buy them organic at a non-exorbitant cost, that's what I'll do.
Otherwise, I'll happily keep on eating local non-organic strawberries. They're one of the healthiest foods, so hopefully the antioxidant and other benefits will outweigh the detrimental effects of any pesticide residue.
(I've been blogging about Oregon strawberries since 2003, soon after I started HinesSight. See "Strawberries say so much," "As Oregon strawberries go, so the state," and "Help me save Oregon strawberries.")
Why not grow your own strawberries? It's not that hard. You can do it pots. Make your own potting mix: 1/3 peat, 1/3 compost, 1/3 vermiculite. I mix some bokashi (Google it) in with the potting mix. Nothing like your own berries. Raspberries aren't that hard either although you need some posts and wires and you have to prune them once a year.
From the great video tour of your place and from my recall of it you could be producing a lot of food.
Posted by: Randy | June 16, 2011 at 06:03 AM
Randy, we've made a few attempts to grow strawberries in pots/planters. That didn't work very well. Given the many deer who frequent our yard, for a "real" food garden we'd have to build a high fence -- as our neighbors do who want a vegetable garden.
Given all the time and trouble it'd take to do this, we've concluded that buying from local farmers is the best way for us to get fresh local fruits and vegetables. And sometimes we reap the bounty of neighbors with a garden who find themselves with too much zucchini or whatever on their hands.
Posted by: Blogger Brian | June 16, 2011 at 10:39 AM
I would love to buy OG strawberries from a farmer, or u-pick them around Salem, but apparently none are to be found, unfortunately. The pesticides used on crops are not just detrimental for human health, remember, but for other forms of life too. I wonder WHY we can't get OG strawberries around here?
Posted by: Maggie | June 17, 2011 at 04:25 PM
Salem Wednesday Market (downtown) has at least one stand with organic local berries—Denison's. They are from Corvallis and do not come to the Saturday Market. Their berries are the same price as the other nonorganic berries at the Wednesday Market, but they are more expensive than the Salem Heights market berries, which are the cheapest I've seen around for local berries.
Posted by: Laurel | June 18, 2011 at 06:00 PM
We've got them in our flower bed and they grow like weeds! An old roommate planted them years ago, so I'm not sure how hard they were to start, but I do nothing to them now and they keep spreading and producing more and more fruit. (We're down in Corvallis). Maybe you just didn't have them in the right environment? Not sure if they need sun or shade more.
Posted by: Jennifer M. | June 29, 2011 at 11:44 AM
I really appreciate supporting local and I do when I can but not at the cost of my health . I know the pesticides , herbicides cannot be seen or tasted but just imagine they could be, we wouldn't eat anything that was sprayed . You know the old saying " what you don't know won't hurt you" well what you can't taste or see does. Growing up on a farm i didnt know that people even sprayed chemicals on food , weve become so mass producing that we've forgotten what it means to eat healthy.How great it would be if everyone like you would just refuse to buy the pesticidic ones, I know that it would make a difference. I finally crested the hump myself and with every person that I can influence I'll advise them to do the same.
Posted by: Lori | June 20, 2012 at 02:05 PM