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When we moved to the Bay Area, I started going to the farmers markets and was blown away by the quality of the vegetables. Peas grown at Iacopi Farms in Half M

When we moved to the Bay Area, I started going to the farmers markets and was blown away by the quality of the vegetables. Peas grown at Iacopi Farms in Half Moon Bay were crisp and sweet. Zuckerman's Farm grew a special kind of squash bred specifically for flavor (honeynut squash). Fresh plums pulled off of trees in San Francisco were just bursting with juice. Mashed potatoes made from La Ratte potatoes. And Delta asparagus — wow. Now that we've left the Bay Area, I find that I'm even more disappointed by grocery store vegetables than I used to be. The vegetables are dry, wilted, flavorless — repugnant even. No wonder children don't want to eat them. Seriously considering setting up a miniature green house and growing my own stuff at this point.

ferdowsi 5y ago
You were previously buying family-farm vegetables and switched to industrialized, grocery store produce. You can definitely walk into a Safeway in SF and get garbage produce. Hopefully your local ecosystem supports some native farming that you can make use of.
nine_k 5y ago
Check if a farmer market is held near where you live. It may be seasonal, but it's still better than dull vegs around the year.
- VLM 5y ago
  Around here its the same brands and same cardboard boxes at the farmers market, the upscale supermarket, and the organic supermarket, although they mark the price up at the farmers market because of the extra labor and substantial fees the market charges, also its sort of a hipster tax. In addition to paying to park at the farmers market.
yumraj 5y ago
Which farmers market? Not all farmers markets here are equal, so curious.
mycall 5y ago
Vertical farming is replacing green houses these days.
icedistilled 5y ago
More people should grow some food in their yard. There's quite a few benefits to it in addition to getting a small amount of produce like better understanding of natural cycles and more of a connection to the environment that sustains us.
- rpmisms 5y ago
  Steve Solomon is the go-to guy for how to grow nutrient-dense backyard produce.
kossTKR 5y ago
A good example of this is "good" Tomatoes versus the slimy, gooey, tasteless thing you find in supermarkets. It's like a completely different vegetable. Personally, i feel like something is "unbalanced" or missing in me as i get these flashes of "waking up" not to some euphoria or bliss but just clarity that feels "normal" that sometimes lasts for hours. I'm pretty sure most people are deficient in various "hard to measure" nutrients - i myself for example have felt completely changed after megadosing B12, but as with most supplements the effects rarely lasts. The culprit i suspect is mostly soil depletion and diet that despite being more varied often is grown from "diluted" soil, and with most calories from incredibly refined and therefore nutrientlesss fats and carbohydrates. Gut biome is probably another important mirror aspect in this system.
- cududa 5y ago
  Growing up, money was tight so we shopped at Aldi. American and European Aldi are a bit different, US is more budget conscious and it’s reflected in product quality. So I always thought I just didn’t like vegetables. In my early 20’s I realized vegetables vary in quality, and that I in fact did like a lot of vegetables! Tomatoes, lettuce, broccoli, love it if it’s the good quality stuff
- dorchadas 5y ago
  I actually got a blood test this week checking various nutrients and vitamins (due to some tingling in my toes and fingers). Turns out that, while I wasn't deficient, I was on the extremely low end of B-12. Hoping it'll make me feel better in other ways since I've been given a supplement to help fix that.

ferdowsi 5y ago

You were previously buying family-farm vegetables and switched to industrialized, grocery store produce. You can definitely walk into a Safeway in SF and get garbage produce. Hopefully your local ecosystem supports some native farming that you can make use of.

nine_k 5y ago

Check if a farmer market is held near where you live. It may be seasonal, but it's still better than dull vegs around the year.

VLM 5y ago
Around here its the same brands and same cardboard boxes at the farmers market, the upscale supermarket, and the organic supermarket, although they mark the price up at the farmers market because of the extra labor and substantial fees the market charges, also its sort of a hipster tax. In addition to paying to park at the farmers market.

yumraj 5y ago

Which farmers market? Not all farmers markets here are equal, so curious.

mycall 5y ago

Vertical farming is replacing green houses these days.

icedistilled 5y ago

More people should grow some food in their yard. There's quite a few benefits to it in addition to getting a small amount of produce like better understanding of natural cycles and more of a connection to the environment that sustains us.

rpmisms 5y ago
Steve Solomon is the go-to guy for how to grow nutrient-dense backyard produce.

kossTKR 5y ago

A good example of this is "good" Tomatoes versus the slimy, gooey, tasteless thing you find in supermarkets. It's like a completely different vegetable. Personally, i feel like something is "unbalanced" or missing in me as i get these flashes of "waking up" not to some euphoria or bliss but just clarity that feels "normal" that sometimes lasts for hours. I'm pretty sure most people are deficient in various "hard to measure" nutrients - i myself for example have felt completely changed after megadosing B12, but as with most supplements the effects rarely lasts. The culprit i suspect is mostly soil depletion and diet that despite being more varied often is grown from "diluted" soil, and with most calories from incredibly refined and therefore nutrientlesss fats and carbohydrates. Gut biome is probably another important mirror aspect in this system.

cududa 5y ago
Growing up, money was tight so we shopped at Aldi. American and European Aldi are a bit different, US is more budget conscious and it’s reflected in product quality. So I always thought I just didn’t like vegetables. In my early 20’s I realized vegetables vary in quality, and that I in fact did like a lot of vegetables! Tomatoes, lettuce, broccoli, love it if it’s the good quality stuff
dorchadas 5y ago
I actually got a blood test this week checking various nutrients and vitamins (due to some tingling in my toes and fingers). Turns out that, while I wasn't deficient, I was on the extremely low end of B-12. Hoping it'll make me feel better in other ways since I've been given a supplement to help fix that.