2023 Dirty dozen released

LaurieLovesLearning

It was mentioned in another discussion that I read that one person was surprised that corn was on the safe list. Someone said they thought it was on the list "because it is GMO and therefore less pesticides are used on GMO." This is generally untrue, but a widely spread comment to try to make GMO sound safer in some people's minds & ease guilt in others'.

But, I know from a cattle farmer who grew the GMO corn, that the corn is designed to put holes in the stomachs of the corn borer. As far as I know, this is the main purpose of the GMO corn. It isnt to resist a pesticide...however, that may be yet another thing that may have been done. I don't know.

This farmer always taste tested the corn, that he fed his cattle, in his field. Shortly after the last time he did this, he went into the hospital due to stomach problems. After testing, they found holes in his stomach. He said he would no longer feed his cattle GMO corn because this is what it will most likely be doing to them as well and he enjoyed his cattle too much.

Most GMO is heavily sprayed due to the plant being lab designed to not die from a specific herbicide, so GMO is usually a sprayed product.

There also pesticides, contaminated water, artificial fertilizer, and contaminated bio-solids also used in many fields. It isn’t only herbicides that contaminate field grown food. It's disheartening to realize that even produce grown without purposeful contamination can also be affected by drift, chemicals in well & municipal water, runoff and contaminated bio-solids.

Considering clean eating, and the skills many of you possess, how many of these dirty dozen can or do you grow yourself? Do you source any from a clean source even if you can’t grow your own?

https://www.ewg.org/

Here are the dirty & clean lists. If you wish to have a free digital copy, click the link above.

Torey

Horrifying story about your cattle farmer acquaintance, @LaurieLovesLearning! I avoid anything with corn oil. I read the labels very carefully for that component as it really aggravates my stomach.

Off the dirty list, I can grow strawberries, spinach & all other greens, apples, cherries (sour), peppers, blueberries and green beans. I don't have grapes but my neighbour does, so I might try to get an arbour established this year. It has been a back burner project for awhile (that has never had a fire under it), so this year might be right time.

Pears are a bit iffy although there are pears in the area at a slightly lower elevation, closer to the river. I have a source for any pears I need.

I can't grow peaches or nectarines but I know a couple who regularly comes up this way, from the peach growing region in the Okanagan valley. They have started an organic farm and orchard, although the fruit trees have only been in for a couple of years. But they know other growers who are growing organically or at the very least, spray free. So I can access clean tree fruits that way.

LaurieLovesLearning

As for us, our fruit growing ability is limited by our location.

Our strawberry grower uses very little "on purpose" chemicals as evidenced by his very weedy patches. Unfortunately, there will be runoff in the water he uses from the creek. Ants always eat strawberries that I've planted.

I can grow spinach.

We don't eat kale or collards. Mustard greens get devoured by the flea beetles which have become problematic over the years due to the chemicals used in surrounding fields. I suspect that anything kale or collards would get devoured by cabbage moths, etc. too for the same reason. I don't even try brassicas because of this. It is not worth it.

Peaches, pears, & nectarines don't grow here. We love peaches, but don't eat the other two.

We love cherries and are trying to grow some prairie hardy varieties ourselves. Unfortunately, they don't & won't give us the amount of medium- large cherries we prefer to have on hand. Nankings will give good juice & jam, however.

Blueberries are a favorite as well. Saskatoons make a decent substitute, but a yearly harvest isn't dependable. I prefer Canadian wild blueberries.

We try to source local apples. If we buat fresh, its organic apples. They taste much better.

We don't eat grapes often. They ate mainly in fruit salads in summer. I wish we could grow large, seedless ones here, but no. We can source small native & hardy varieties for jams & jellies, but that doesn't work so well in fruit salad. My grape vines are not producing well and the grapes are super tiny.

We actually don't eat many green beans at all. I'm going to replace mine with dried bean varieties this year. I can put away a few bags of "green" beans with these varieties if I wish, which will be way more than enough.

We have grown hot & sweet peppers with great success. It's now time to get those started indoors.

Lisa K

My understanding of the "Clean List" are mostly fruits and vegetables that have skins that are peeled, if that is the case they use, then corn has the husk covering the corn.

However, runoff and GMO is a whole different issue. As far as Strawberries, a report I did one years ago, benzene is one of the chemicals that strawberries absorb which is why I do not understand why so many of our local growers grow them along roadsides.

LaurieLovesLearning

@Lisa K In that case, it makes sense that it made it onto that list, but the whole plant takes the chemicals in, not just the peel (or husk, pod or whatever) as people are lead to believe.

It still bothers me when it is said that washing the outside of a fruit/vegetable gets rid of spray residue. This washing practice was mentioned in the article as beneficial to get rid of spray residue.

All that washing does is possibly clean off some physical residues like dirt & possibly matter that gets onto the outside from field to your grocery bag in handling. Hand harvested produce can have all kinds of "extras" as people touch it with unclean hands. This is the same in the stores. Sprays get right into the plant. You cannot reduce nor rid the product of them after the fact.

At least corn is a fairly easy thing to grow.

kbmbillups1

I'm sure I read that papaya is GMO. So, it might be clean pesticide wise but it's still GMO.

LaurieLovesLearning

@kbmbillups1 Yes, the majority of them are GMO.

Lisa K

@LaurieLovesLearning I agree, there are so many more factors involved. One of our local small nurseries, sells both organic and non-organic plants even though their practices are organic. the reason is because the plants that are not labeled organic are close to other properties that they do not own or control.

@kbmbillups1, seriously, now papayas, UGH!

VermontCathy

@Lisa K It has always puzzled me that potatoes are not on the Dirty Dozen list.

There is probably an assumption that you will peel them, but some of the nutrition is in the skins, so I don't peel them. I stronly suspect that if you include the skins, they should be firmly on the Dirty Dozen.

Unfortunately, organic potatoes because very to get in my stores once COVID-19 supply shortages kicked in, and they have never really recovered. Any my attempts to grow potatoes at home have not been very productive. They take up too much of my limited space and produce too few potatoes per seed potato to justify the effort.

LaurieLovesLearning

@VermontCathy I suspect that because the potatoes are grown underground and the prevailing marketing in North America for glyphosate is that it is inert once it hits the ground (blatantly untrue), that they must be okay. Thus, being put on the list.

Lisa K

@VermontCathy and @LaurieLovesLearning also certain plants absorb chemicals while other don't. When researching this many years ago for one of my Horticulture classes, I learned that strawberries absorb benzene and spinach absorbs either arsenic or lead (like I said many years ago).

For potatoes, they will grow easily if you have buckets and you can use either soil or leaves.

water2world

Oh my!

This really makes me think!

@Lisa K how do you grow the potatoes in buckets with leaves? Thanks

jowitt.europe

@LaurieLovesLearning it is frightening. I wonder if the list is the same in the EU. May be not much different. I grow almost all vegetables and fruit from the dirty list. Except nectarines and pears. And I can very well do without nectarines and pears. But I do not produce enough to cover our needs, thus in winter we buy apples and potatoes. From organic farms. Hopefully we do not get the dirty stuff.

i am about to order papaya from a farmer in Spain. After your remark @kbmbillups1 I have to be careful not to order from the wrong farmer.

Lisa K

@water2world in the fall I use the leaves from my Ash tree, first I but a small layer of the leaves and then the potatoes that have started to sprout. Then I put a thin layer of leaves on top and as the potatoes grow (the greenery) I just keep putting a thin layer to cover up the stems until the bucket is full.

VermontCathy

I grow most of the plants on the dirty list, and buy others from trusted local sources (e.g., blueberries). Unfortunately, I can't grow enough to give me a full year's supply, so I have to supplement with purchases from the store.

Despite picking blueberries in large quantities in season and freezing them, I still have to buy them about half the year because we eat them with breakfast every day.

Strawberries I grow myself in quantity and eat them fresh or in jam. I seldom buy them elsewhere.

Spinach, lettuce, and mustard are grown in quantity in spring and fall, but are in more limited supply in summer and completely unavailable in winter.

Apples I get from my yard or a neighbor and make jelly, butter, and baked goods in quantity. I never buy them.

I grow green beens in quantity and can and freeze them, so I rarely buy more.

Peppers are hard to grow here. I'm planning to get some cayenne transplants this year, but I have failed to grow hot peppers from seed or to get enough yield from bell peppers. We only buy and eat bell peppers occasionally, but we need a lot of hot peppers for the dishes that I make!

Most of the other things on the list we don't eat (pears, nectarines, kale, cherries, etc.

kbmbillups1

@jowitt.europe I wonder if it's just the papaya here in the US that's GMO?

jowitt.europe

@kbmbillups1 thanks to your question I read more about GMO. It seems that only one kind of Papaya is GM and that is not the one I ordered. In Spain (I order my fruit mainly from Spain) most of municipalities are GM free it seems. The GM fruit and vegetables have to be labelled, thus I will have a proper look at what I buy. Anyway, with late spring I stop buying fruit. Then I harvest in the garden and forage.

kbmbillups1

@jowitt.europe That's good that GM fruit and vegetables have to be labeled there. That's not the case here. So I try to buy only organic.

LaurieLovesLearning

@Lisa K That is a fascinating idea. I wonder if you could do that with more types of things.

I wish had known this last fall. So after thinking on this practice...the only problem I'd have is that at that point, nothing more will grow due to the cold & winter coming. I'd either have to save leaves until spring or keep the bucket in the house under lights or something.

Lisa K

Hhmmm @LaurieLovesLearning I will have to think about that, another use for leaves is if you have a shredder (I have one that vacuum up the leaves then mulches them) you add to your soil that way you can use less and you then reuse you leaves.

I also line my buckets with leaves so that it adds bulk, nutrients and keeps the soil from running out the holes in the buckets (you can also use screen to keep the soil from running out the holes if you do not have leaves).