Wednesday, April 27, 2011

mmm.... Lettuce!!


I just love this time of year! The weather is lovely and warm and we’re starting to transplant some of the seedlings into the field. Pretty soon our farm will be transformed with the fresh brilliancy of lush green crops.
One of our crops I’ve been enjoying especially much lately is our romaine lettuce. The heads are big & bushy, tender, sweet & crispy all at the same time. Just the other day I made a delicious green smoothie for our lunch by blending one head of the lettuce with one whole pineapple – it was exquisite. And of course it was good for us too! Romaine lettuce is a good source of many important nutrients including folic acid, several vitamins, and it even has fiber while giving you almost no calories.
Oh, and one other quick note – lettuce is listed as one of the “Dirty Dozen” in produce (in other words, it is one of the 12 foods that has the highest levels of pesticides on it & is recommended to buy organic). When you think that it doesn’t have a skin that can be peeled off or can protect it – like say a banana – it makes sense that all those leaves are being exposed to & collecting the pesticide chemicals. Yikes… Makes me so glad that our lettuce is both organic & veganic!!

In the picture:
Young romaine in the foreground, then mature in the background
Chives & also Lolla Rossa lettuces on right
Peas in bloom on left