A Healthy (?) Summer Harvest

It's hard enough to plan healthy, nutritious, low-fat meals that are appealing to one's fast-food-favoring husband. But my head is spinning (and my stomach churning) with all this talk about the chemical-laden, contaminated, mislabeled products in our food supply. There's the seafood from China, the green onions from California, and an ever-growing list of pet foods. A new story from the San Francisco Chronicle finds that the problem is worldwide.

Luckily, it's summer, which means prime time for fresh fruits and vegetables from the farmer's market, and even a few from my own backyard. There's nothing like tasting a freshly cut tomato, still warm from the sun, and knowing that the corn you're buying was harvested just down the road, just yesterday. Charlotte's Regional Farmer's Market is a great choice for variety, especially during the week when visitors are sparse.

I'm smart enough to know that some (if not most) of these farmers use pesticides and that local does not necessarily mean unsusceptible-to-contamination. But to me, the fewer hands that touch it and the shorter distance it travels, the better. If only I had that land in the country to sow my own seeds.