The dirt on my dirt

I am SO not a gardening expert.  Not even close.  Where this new found need to cultivate comes from is anybodies guess.  But I've done a lot of reading, and research, and taken a few classes.  One of the most interesting things I have learned so far is that the soil you choose to garden in makes a HUGE difference in how your food tastes.  For those who know anything about gardening, you're thinking Duh!? But people, I was raised in suburbia with processed foods and the Reams produce section.  I didn't see my first beet until 2009, until then I thought they grew in Western Family cans.

That being said, two of my favorite reads on understanding the origin of your food is Barbara Kinsgsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and Michael Pollen's In Defense of Food.  They have provided this ignorant nutritionist a plethora of knowledge through their fascinating story telling.  Reading these along with a few others is my guess for where this garden fire in me got started.  

I was speaking with a gal the other day who was raving about garden tomatoes and cucumbers.  She said "I don't know why they taste so much better from the garden?"  I had to stop myself from giving her more information than she actually wanted.  I wanted to tell her about when food is grown at home you can control the soil, chemicals, and other additives to your food.  I wanted to tell her about how when we eat food that is actually in season and grown locally it actually has all the nutrients it is supposed to, which is why it tastes so amazing.  I have learned that through the beauty of science we have figured out how to grow food to look amazing.  Yet, it is always lacking in taste and nutrients.  Did you know that grocery stores will only accept produce that is a certain color, shape, and size?  Even if the nutrients in the crooked cucumber are the same as the straight one?  I stopped myself from going into this diatribe with her.  I kinda doubted she wanted to know the real reason why food from a home garden tastes SO much better than the impostors in the produce section in the middle of February. 

Next time you are in the produce section, I want you to notice something.  Isn't it strange how all the food is the same shape and size as all the others in their respective category?  All the carrots are the same width, length, and color.  All the green onions are laid out exactly the same length and each bulb is the same size as the next.  All the apples and oranges are the same shape and color, without a single blemish.
Don't get me wrong, this appeals to me too.  I love order and consistency like the next Obsessive Compulsive person.  But I have learned that in order for our produce section to look this beautiful, we waste a lot of perfectly good food, and we continue to be conditioned that this is normal. 
When I was in Jamaica last fall, I experienced some amazing food.  Each morning at the resort there was a beautiful breakfast spread with tons of fresh local fruits.  At the fruit buffet, I asked the woman what she was cutting up.  Oranges.  A fruit I'd eaten for 30 years.  But their skins were blemished, and the color was not the crayola orange color I was accustomed to.  She started to apologize to me that the produce in Jamaica is not as pretty as the produce in the U.S.  I stopped her right then and there and told her there was no apology necessary.  Wasn't I the ignorant one that couldn't classify an orange outside of a Safeway?  I explained to her that the chemicals applied to our foods were not to be coveted.  That the produce in Jamaica was amazing, and that I hadn't ever tasted such delicious oranges.  Because I hadn't!  They were juicy and delicious.  So what if they had a few blemishes?  Don't we all wish we were held to a more realistic standard?

So what kind of soil did I get you ask?  I had my soil delivered from McFarlane's Bark and got a 50% Fine Compost, 40% Screened Soil, 10% Sand mix called Scottish Blended Soil.  It is pitch black and full of manure.  Yummy.  I am trying to learn that manure is my friend.  And sometimes bugs.  I am such a city girl.
Anyway, here's hoping I am starting out on the right foot with the proper soil to feed my plants.  I had a guy today tell me I can grow anything out of soil so great.  Here's hoping dude. 

I find it oddly amusing that I had to read in a bunch of books that it should be unnatural for me to expect the produce to look exactly the same each time I buy it.  But, not to expect that for the taste.