PSA

Good news. . . I'm not talking about Miley Cyrus or N*Sync today.
Today, we're talking about washing produce.  Always wash your produce.  No brainer, right?  I thought so too, but I can't tell you the number of times that I have seen people ask if produce is organic and then begin eating it without washing it.  Just because it doesn't have chemicals does not mean you can skip washing it.  You don't know what that produce has touched before it gets to you.  You don't know who has touched it before it got to you.  Take a U-Pick for example, it's organic, you're picking it, should be safe, right?  What if some other picker went to the bathroom, did not wash their hands, went to pick your fruit and then decided against it. . . now those dirty hands have touched the fruit you're about eat without washing.  I know this example seems extreme, but it could happen and the bottom line is you can avoid foodborne illness by using safe food preparation practices.  
Okay, time for me to step down from my soap box.  Before I get down though, I'm giving you a recipe for a produce spray that I found on, you guessed it, Pinterest.  The vinegar and lemon in this spray have natural anti-bacterial properties.

Ingredients:

1 cup water

1 cup distilled white vinegar

1 tbsp baking soda

1/2 of a lemon

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a container and then put in a spray bottle.  **Do not put in a spray bottle and shake to mix.  Remember from school, baking soda+vinegar=volcano/blowing up balloons/chemical reaction?**  Spray mixture on produce and let sit for 5 minutes. Scrub and rinse.

**I've had weird reaction with peaches. . .I think it had something to do with the type of skin. . .but I have used this with cucumbers, tomatoes, apples, grapes (i.e., things with a waxier-type skin) without any weird reactions.**

Hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

Very Pinteresting. . .

I don't know about you, but I am a HUGE Pinterest fan.  If you are unfamiliar with it, Pinterest is an on-line cork (or pin) board.  You can either search for ideas/information as you would in any other search engine or you can find information via your friends, which you can then put into a category and save for later use.  

**A word of caution, time speeds up when you are using Pinterest.  You may sit down at three in the afternoon, just to quickly grab that recipe you saw, and BOOM! it's five in the evening and your husband is coming through the door wanting to know what's for dinner. Consider yourself warned -- this could happen to you.**

For those of you who are already on Pinterest and those of you who are willing to try Pinterest despite my warning, please "follow us." http://pinterest.com/wethammocknurse/  We will be pinning recipes for your fresh Wet Hammock produce, ideas and information for your own garden, and anything else we find pertinent or interesting.

We hope everyone is having a great week and we can't wait to see you on Pinterest!

  

Goals and the Small Farms Conference

Long time no post.  First and foremost, I wanted to let everyone know that our new goal for this blog is to post at least every Tuesday.  It becomes so easy to push things aside when you're busy, even when your excited to tell everyone about your adventures, so hopefully this will help everyone out in the long run.  You will know when to look for new posts and we will have a specific deadline we need to meet.

Now that we have to "business" stuff out of the way, let's talk about fun things!  At the beginning of August, Mr. Douglass and I attended the Florida Small Farms Conference.  It was my first time and I had no idea what to expect, but I was hoping that I was going to have a good time.  We arrived early Saturday morning and were greeted by a beautiful Florida farm to fork breakfast. We had quiche made with local eggs and produce, fresh watermelon, and local stone ground grits.  Unfortunately, they didn't say where the grits came from, just that they were local.

  After breakfast I walked the floor and looked at various exhibits, then it was time for class!  I took three ag business classes, so that I could better understand our growing business and help Mr. Douglass to the best of my ability.  Plus, attending those classes help add bonus points with the hubby! ;)  After the classes and shows had concluded, they had a meet and greet for the participants, exhibitors, and experts which was amazing!  They had local chefs from various restaurants in Central Florida who specialized in farm to fork cuisine.  It was all wonderful, but by far my favorite dish was the goat taco made by Chef Kevin Fonzo of K Restaurant.  I know, you're thinking what I was, "Goat tacos?  Sounds sketchy," but they were delicious.  Seriously, you must check them out (http://krestaurant.net/).

It's hard to top the food, but I also have to mention (as a proud wife) that Mr. Douglass spoke as a "local expert" at a class on blackberries.  I wasn't allowed to attend his session (per his request), but I did sneak in at the end and get a picture.  It was a good day for everyone.