Suspicious Spinach!

Spring is coming...I think! (Currently there is a new blanket of white snow on the ground here). But in a few weeks, (weather permitting) I will plant the early veggies in my garden. I love to get lost in seed catalogs this time of year and dream of all the things I want to plant and how I want it to look and taste. For lunch I had a spinach salad and as I opened the plastic container that reads "Organic Baby Spinach" I see a leaf with a few holes in it. Now to the untrained eye these could have happened during handling, packaging, or maybe it  grew that way. But I know better, they are munch holes from some little insect living in the field where this spinach was grown. Some might be grossed out by the thought of bugs on their food, but I have come to the realization that for me bugs are better than the alternative (food treated with pesticide). There are many reasons I plant, water, tend, harvest, sweat and work hard to produce a garden every year, the first is that I enjoy it very much. My mom always said "it's cheaper than therapy" and I agree, it is great for emotional and physical health! But another reason is that I know everything I did to the food that was grown in my garden.And when I serve it to my family I know there are no harmful chemicals used. Now having said that, I know why farmers feel the need to use these chemicals, when people buy a head of lettuce in the grocery store will they pass it by because it has chew marks taken out of it? Probably! But not by me, I get a little nervous when things look too good! I have had many battles with bugs in my garden, but avoid the use of pesticides and chemicals. That means getting creative to find other means dealing with the little "buggers". I have decided that I'm willing to share with the bugs. As long as they don't get more of the food than we do, we have no problem. (Except squash bugs, those nasty things are my mortal enemy and I have a strict kill on site relationship with them!) Since no amount of pesticide could kill those things I physically dispose of these little guys. I bring this up today to get us thinking, "is what I am feeding my family safe?" We live in a place where we have just about any food we want, whenever we want it. There is a movement towards food that is grown in a safer way. I realize this costs more, but we must think if we are what we eat, no wonder there is such a rampant increase of cancer and other yucky ailments. So next time you see a bug in your lettuce or a bite taken out of your spinach leaf, just think, "could be worse, could have been heavily treated with pesticide". By the way excuse the bad nail polish, i haven't had a professional mani in years!