Buy fresh local produce or compost ?

Howdy neighbors

I read your article on buying local fruit and veggies and I couldn’t agree with you more. My wife and I took a drive to the beautiful Annapolis Valley and stayed overnight at a B&B around the middle of August and the next day on the way home we decided to support the local fruit and veggie growers so we stopped at a small fruitstand in Kingston. The woman was minding the stand for her 2 children who had gone for a swim. Blueberries, peaches, plums, corn, beans and more was displayed in open boxes, the woman was friendly and told us we were welcome to sample any of the product before I bought, so I did try a yellow plum and it was firm and delicious, we bought plums and peaches and cream corn and the only reason didn’t buy more is because we already had cukes, peaches, beans and blueberries at home. We had a pleasant conversation with the woman and we headed down the road towards Berwick to find some hard icecream. Somewhere close to Aylesford we seen a sign on the left side of the highway for hard ice cream so we pulled into the parking lot of a small road side market, the wooden building was about 30 feet long and there was a young 30 ish woman running it. I seen that they had mackintosh apples, carrots, squash and local spinach so I bought some of each, I asked my wife if she wanted ice cream and she wispered to me “not here”. I should have taken that as a sign of a problem but I didn’t because I’m thick as a brick sometimes. I took the produce up to the woman asked her if the spinach was local, yes from Canning she replied but when I tried to engage her in friendly chit chat she declined to partake so I payed and left, I should have taken that as a sign of a problem but I didn’t because I’m thick as a brick sometimes. When I walked outside a man pulled up in a vehicle and started to unload produce and carry it into the market so I said a few words to him and again I got the bums rush, I should have taken that as a sign of a problem but I didn’t because I’m thick as a brick. So we get home and wash a few apples and my wife says, the apples are badly bruised, I bit into one and sure enough they are soft and last years apples and my wife reminds me that it is too early for this years crop. oh, I responded. Well lets cut up some of those carrots and we can also make a spinach salad she said. The carrots were also bad and when I cut open the bag of sealed spinach a foul smell hit me like a brick to the face, the only thing that I can compare the smell to is the misty, plague type smell that surrounds the outhouse at Lawerencetown beach. I haven’t cut into the acorn squash yet and may just put it into my HRM composter bin along with the local apples, carrots and the spinach. I could have picked the dumpster behind the Superstore in Dartmouth and got fresher, healthier produce and I could have saved the $12. Will the government let anyone open a road side stand and sell poison to tourists? I say tourist because I can’t believe the local people would buy rubbish such as what I was sold and tourists are very unlikely to return to the stand once they leave the area. Isn’t someone from a Government agency inspecting these small roadside stands? Are we allowinfg people to raid dumpsters behind large grocery chain stores and sell it to any poor unfortunate soul who happens to fall into their roadside web of deception. What kind of people would knowingly sell you garbage?The Annapolis Valley residents are proud of their agriculture products and this type of shoddy business practice isn’t giving a good impression to Nova Scotians or to tourists from out of province. I will continue to shop at roadside stands but next time I will be asking where and when it was grown and if I can sample some or open the bag first.

This article appears in Aug 21-27, 2008.