Spring!

Hi muffins! This post is coming to you from NEW YORK! I’m so excited to be home! Every time I cross the border and see the I <3 NY signs it feels like an elephant climbed off of my chest and I can finally breathe again.

Speaking of breathing again, it’s Spring time! The best part about spring time is clearly the increased skin exposure (you know you love a good bicep) but coming in a close second is seasonal produce! 

The best way to get seasonal produce is obviously to grow it yourself. I know a lot of you live in apartments or houses that just don’t have the space for a garden but fret not my pet I have the solution for you- container gardening for apartment dwellers. 

I know it’s not possible to grow all of your food or raise your own meats in your home. Honestly, I have no idea why you wouldn’t want to at least raise this little guy in your apartment, but to each his own. 

If you’re not into the DIY veggies your next best option is to head on down to your local farmers market. You’re not sure where that is? I gotchu- click here. Scroll down and type in your zip code. Silver platter, ya welcome. Farmers markets rock because they give you the opportunity to talk with the people who are actually growing your food. You’re giving back to the local economy, you’re getting food which is higher in nutrient value because it was picked more recently, and you can ask the farmers about their practices. 

Another great way to access local produce is by joining a CSA. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Each CSA is different but the basic idea is that food is grown on a local farm and you buy a “share” of the produce at the beginning of the season and then you get a portion of the produce grown throughout the season. Check out the details on CSAs in your area here. 

Now I know you little veggie lovers are all about local and organic produce BUT I’m also not crazy, I know sometimes we have to make exceptions. Ever hear of the dirty dozen and clean fifteen? These are lists of produce which have the highest and lowest amount of pesticide/chemical residues. The dirty list has expanded since it originally came out, shocker. You should ALWAYS wash your produce, even when you are peeling the skins off. You should also ALWAYS buy organic when shopping for produce on the dirty list. You don’t want herpes-I mean-cancer do you? I still recommend you buy organic and GMO free all the time but when you can’t, make sure you are choosing produce from the clean list to avoid toxins as much as possible.

And hey! Since the sun is shining and the snow is melting get your little tookus outside and synthesize some vitamin D.

What are you most excited to do now that the weather is warming up? And what is for dinner tonight?