The Ides of March, also my brother’s birthday, Happy 24th Birthday Jared, ushered in the start of a beautiful spring; the time of blossoming flowers, vibrant yellows and reds, gorgeous sundresses, and unfortunately, like myself, a case of terrible allergies.
The other day, I went to a beautiful spring wedding reception; and as a gift the family gave away flowers to represent the growing relationship of family and friendship. The flower in front of me was the Primrose, a beautiful yellow tint flower. This happened to be the same name of a character in the popular book, The Hunger Games, which I thought was pretty cool. It’s a cool book; you should check it out.
This flower made me think about gardening and my own green thumb. I don’t really have much experience in gardening but a couple of springs ago, I took care of some tomato and bell pepper plants. I didn’t really do much, just water them every once and a while.
In return, these plants produced tasty medium sized tomatoes and peppers, which I put on bagels, salads, and sandwiches. They tasted fresh and healthy, but the best thing about them is that they came from my backyard. I felt accomplished and rewarded.
I think it is really important to support local farms and, if you’re ambitious, try gardening. By buying local seasonally grown produce, you support produce that doesn’t need to be stuffed with pesticides and preservatives; you help maintain the quality of land use and soils; you get to enjoy it.
Unfortunately, it can be expensive to do this, and realistically, you’re probably going to buy the $1.50 per pound tomatoes from Giant over the $2.50 ones from Whole Foods. It’s ironic and sad that to buy from your backyard can be more expensive than buying from a farm miles away.
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