Fourth of July at a Connecticut Farm, June Vol. II

Dear Mad Hatters,

The past 2 weeks have been a bountiful harvest with endless snap peas, head lettuces and early zucchini.  The weather has cooled off, and the sun is shining.

Now I think we may be heading into a saddle week.  The springtime vegetables are just about done, and the summer vegetables are almost ready, but we may have a week where there is a lull in the field and the plants sort of pause for a moment, and then start producing like crazy again.  We will be seeing cucumbers, green beans, tomatoes and peppers soon.

There was a study published in the journal Pediatrics, regarding pesticides and occurance of ADHD in children, which I am just going to quote here:

"...researchers found that for every tenfold increase in the urinary concentration of pesticide residue, there was a 35 percent increase in the chance that the child would develop ADHD...the study found that children with the kind of metabolites left in the body after malathion [a conventional pesticide] exposure were 55 percent more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD." -source, AOL Health "Do Pesticides and Allergens Cause ADHD?"

A 55% increase in ADHD from malathion metabolites found in children's bodies???  Those are not odds I want to take with my children.  And yet here we are as a society pushing people to eat more fruits and veggies, available in our supermarkets and giant box retailers year round from all over the world.  If we, as consumers, don't take the time to find out how our food is produced, we suffer irreparable damage.  It doesn't seem right or fair.  And for every report like the one above, there is a report saying organic is no better than conventional.  So it is up to each one of us to decide for ourselves the risks we are willing to take. 

Growing organic vegetables is not as easy as growing conventional vegetables, and we know since we do it every day.  And yes, sometimes bugs destroy our crops.  But that is a risk I am willing to take.

But enough about that!  This is party weekend and we intend to party!  A little family and friends, a little hanging out at the pool, a little James Taylor/Carol King at Tanglewood, and the Ridgefield Farmers Market, where Mad Hatter Farm will have:

Gourmet Lettuce Mix

gorgeous head lettuces

Arugula

Mizuna

Zucchini

Goldy Zucchini

Scallopini Summer Squash

Sugar Snap Peas

SNow Peas

Gren Onion

French Breakfast Radishes

Herbs

Flowers

and more...

"You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness.  You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism."  ~Erma Bombeck

Happy Fourth!

Jeff and Alix