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Saturated Apples
I recently restored a cottage on a friends farm. The cottage is nestled under oak trees, near the foot of a hill, overlooking a beautiful green valley. The setting is lovely, with a natural spring feeding crystal clear water into a river, which meanders through the valley.
The setting was so picturesque and peaceful, I decided to stay over in the cottage, rather than commute every day. My first day, a Sunday was idyllic - unpacking, wandering around the valley, enjoying the scenery and the peace, while mentally preparing for the job in hand.
I was awakened at 6am on Monday morning by a harsh mechanical clamour. Directly across the valley is an apple farm, and I could see a tractor slowly moving up and down the rows of trees in the orchards, towing some kind of high pressure spray equipment. A little red tractor, followed by a billowing cloud of insecticide which caught the early morning sun as it floated amongst the trees and across the valley. What was particularly disturbing was the extent of the insecticide cloud - this was the first time I had seen crop spraying first hand. These machines pump an extraordinary amount of poison onto the trees and surrounding countryside. Equally disturbing was that, apart from breaks to rest and replenish his poison supply, the spraying continued right through until 6 pm.
To my bitter disappointment, at 6am the next mor
ning, it all started again. The tractor again spent the entire day endlessly dragging it poison cloud through the orchards, stopping only for brief periods.
To my amazement, not only did the spraying continue on the following day, but the day after that too, and the next. Astonishingly, the spraying continued from Monday to Friday, all day, for the entire six weeks I stayed in the cottage. Presumably, it was happening before I arrived, and quite likely it continued after I left. The farmer must have spent a colossal amount of money spraying what I judge to be hundreds of tons of insecticide.
Needless to say, I no longer eat apples, or any other fresh produce unless I know they are organically produced. I will gladly pay more for my produce if it is certified organic, and I will accept that it may be blemished or smaller than its insecticide-soaked non-organic counterpart.
After having my eyes opened by a little red tractor, I will no longer be so short sighted as to focus only on the appearance and the price of fresh produce. Nor will I believe the glib assurances offered in advertising and on packaging, that our food is safe to eat.
If I find myself in doubt about the cost of organic produce, I will ask myself one question - will eating this item be beneficial or detrimental to my health? Judging by the way farmers saturate their crops with chemicals for weeks and weeks on end, I refuse to believe that these foods can be beneficial to human health.
The setting was so picturesque and peaceful, I decided to stay over in the cottage, rather than commute every day. My first day, a Sunday was idyllic - unpacking, wandering around the valley, enjoying the scenery and the peace, while mentally preparing for the job in hand.
I was awakened at 6am on Monday morning by a harsh mechanical clamour. Directly across the valley is an apple farm, and I could see a tractor slowly moving up and down the rows of trees in the orchards, towing some kind of high pressure spray equipment. A little red tractor, followed by a billowing cloud of insecticide which caught the early morning sun as it floated amongst the trees and across the valley. What was particularly disturbing was the extent of the insecticide cloud - this was the first time I had seen crop spraying first hand. These machines pump an extraordinary amount of poison onto the trees and surrounding countryside. Equally disturbing was that, apart from breaks to rest and replenish his poison supply, the spraying continued right through until 6 pm.
To my bitter disappointment, at 6am the next mor
To my amazement, not only did the spraying continue on the following day, but the day after that too, and the next. Astonishingly, the spraying continued from Monday to Friday, all day, for the entire six weeks I stayed in the cottage. Presumably, it was happening before I arrived, and quite likely it continued after I left. The farmer must have spent a colossal amount of money spraying what I judge to be hundreds of tons of insecticide.
Needless to say, I no longer eat apples, or any other fresh produce unless I know they are organically produced. I will gladly pay more for my produce if it is certified organic, and I will accept that it may be blemished or smaller than its insecticide-soaked non-organic counterpart.
After having my eyes opened by a little red tractor, I will no longer be so short sighted as to focus only on the appearance and the price of fresh produce. Nor will I believe the glib assurances offered in advertising and on packaging, that our food is safe to eat.
If I find myself in doubt about the cost of organic produce, I will ask myself one question - will eating this item be beneficial or detrimental to my health? Judging by the way farmers saturate their crops with chemicals for weeks and weeks on end, I refuse to believe that these foods can be beneficial to human health.
Tags & Keywords : health,sustainable,healthy,organic,insecticide
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