Time to Face the Music

There are so many things I have 'wanted' to do with my life in my everyday routines, but just never found the time or was too lazy. But, with having a baby, I find that it is time to 'face the music' and be the person I have been wanting to be so that my child will be taught the things I believe in. I'm talking about clean eating. Coming from an agriculture background, I have certain feelings about home-made and home grown. I want my child to have the best start to life with a healthy body and mind, and I truly believe it starts with breast milk (which is why I'm still nursing) and then homemade food. I also have started to think more about my choices of products for my family such as organic and local grown. I have always, always wanted to purchase more locally grown food products as the local farmers markets and local grown meats. I also have wanted to purchase more organic foods. I have seen many times filter around the Internet and Facebook the following lists:

Here is the Dirty Dozen- this is where you want to spend the extra money on organic produce whenever possible:

1. Apples
2. Strawberries
3. Grapes
4. Celery
5. Peaches
6. Spinach
7. Sweet Bell Peppers
8. Nectarines- imported
9. Cucumbers
10. Potatoes
11. Cherry Tomatoes
12. Hot Peppers

And here is the Clean 15 list for 2013.  These are the items with the least amount of pesticide contamination found so these are not as high of a priority when buying organic.

1. Sweet Corn
2. Onions
3. Pineapple
4. Avocado
5. Cabbage
6. Sweet Peas- frozen
7. Papaya
8. Mangos
9. Asparagus
10. Eggplant
11. Kiwi
12. Grapefruit
13. Cantaloupe
14. Sweet Potato
15. Mushrooms

And there is also a Dirty Dozen Plus- these items are not on the Dirty Dozen list but still something to try to find in organic if you can:

1. Summer Squash 
2. Leafy Greens (kale and collards in particular)

I got these lists from one of my favorite coupon blogs and they also have a list of these for on the go, go here! 

 I also want to incorporate cleaning the fruits and vegetables properly (water and white vinegar) after purchasing or before eating.

These things don't seem like hard things to do, but it means getting everyone that shops to get on board, then remembering what to buy while in the store, plus adding an additional step of washing when you get home and as you unpack. Doing all of this on top of my all ready busy working and being a mom schedule... daunting. BUT, it's time to put my wants for my family as my priority! It's time to put this into action. 

My last thought is... how has our country become a place that doesn't always have nothing but the freshest, cleanest homegrown food for all of our residents? When has agriculture changed to mean we have to pay more and go the extra mile to feed our families the best? Makes me sad for my daughter's future.