Fresh this out!!

Have you ever wondered what a ripe red tomato tastes like freshly plucked from the vine? Have the sensations to grow your own produce and relish in the beauties of the Earth ever pondered your thoughts? I come from a place where nothing is ever frozen, freeze-dried or processed and fresh produce is in my everyday vocabulary. Nothing can “beet” organic vegetables or freshly picked crops. I believe everyone should experience a true food orgy that does not come from a restaurant but from your own back yard.

Since the beginning of time people have grown and cultivated their own foods. When did it become acceptable to microwave your dinner, or skip on down to the local grocer and buy what they say is fresh meats and vegetables. Life used to be so simple and now we can barely find the time to cook a meal at home. Over 65% of average American family's eat out more than three times a week. When did this become an American past time? Homes nowadays are equipped with two microwaves and double Dutch ovens yet; half of the homeowners have never even used them. There needs to be some organic regulation. You cannot say you have experienced food until you have tasted the Earth within your own garden.

My family has grown their own food for generations and never once has my mom used a microwave while preparing dinner. The Earth can offer you so many things and the naked raw eloquence of fresh produce can tantalize the taste buds of even the most picky eater. Try for instance the beet, and no I do not mean the little round, soggy, fake purple pathetic excuse for a vegetable, that you can find in most salad bars. Many people look down on them because they look like pieces of chalk, most won't even give the little guys a chance. Yet, did you know that they are packed with vitamins and cancer fitting enzymes? When picked fresh out of the ground the beet smells sweet like a honeysuckle vine in mid June. The bright, rich, intoxicating purple gives your eyes a run for its money and the dark veins running down the sides of this exotic vegetable enable you to see where every nutrient is carried throughout this beautiful plant. There is nothing you can say bad about a vegetable that can give you so much in return. When boiled or baked the beet transforms into a plethora of magentas and deep purples. Who could turn down such a beautiful creation from the Earth? They are never soggy when cooked correctly and rarely would true fresh foods connoisseurs desecrate a vegetable so tender by cutting it into small stale round chips like in the salad bars you are all too familiar with.

In conclusion there are so many foods and wonderful experiences that people miss out on simple because they are too lazy to plant their own garden or visit a local farmers market. The next time you taste buds yearn for a freshly picked beet or a decadent carrot do not look in the fridge, look at the Earth.

-Devin Short