Supplement to the Oregon Daily Emerald
Friday, April 1, 1977
I
Back to basics
Once there was food. Now there is calcium
stearate and calcium disodium etna, BHA and
BHT, sodium caseinate and sodium benzoate
and sodium busulfite and enough others that es
timates have the average American downing
1,800 chemicals in food daily—about five pounds
of food additives annually.
Thank agribusiness, thank them again for the
Red Rock tomato which reportedly won’t bruise
when thrown at politicians. Bless them for pack
ing apples in vinyl chloride and pumping oranges
full of orange. Remember peach ice cream—it
ain’t so peachy however. Some companies sub
stitute cherries that have been blanched, dessi
cated, chemicalized, colored and flavored for
those little bits of peach.
And in the wake of the recent UFW
Teamsters settlement in California, agribusiness
may just bolt to Mexico and ship produce directly
from land where labor is cheaper.
It isn’t only chemically-laced food which
sends us all burrowing into backyard gardens
these days — it’s walking into the supermarkets to
find that steak, pound for pound is cheaper than
green peppers, that pork chops are bargains be
fore mushrooms. And in the West Coast’s
drought, which some say is the world’s worst
today, prices should be fierce come summertime.
Economics and politics aside, gardens mean
a lot more — they are our creations, with a little
help from soil and water, worms and ladybugs,
friends and neighbors. Spirits of all kinds soar in
the garden, and damn if the ear of corn that you
grow from a kernel doesn’t taste better than any
that can be bought.
Gardening isn’t an impossible commitment
either. Plots are available throughout Eugene,
vegetables can be grown in apartment patio
boxes, flowers need little more than a bed. And so
the Emerald offers some suggestions, some be
ginnings.
Inside
A rose is a rose is...
Is a rosebush full of thorns? Or a thombush
full of roses? Whatever the answer, Jim
Daugherty examines these bushes and their
proper care on Page 2B.
Apartment flora
Good vegetable gardens don’t always mean
lots of country acreage. The confines of a city
apartment can work just as well for some plants.
Barbara Price tells how on Page 3B.
Harvest time
Harvesting is usually the most fun part of a
garden. But sometimes even all the friends, rela
tives and neighbors in the world can’t consume all
the vegetables and fruits it produces. For tips on
drying and canning your harvest for later use,
check Page 7B.
To the last drop
Drought conditions still hover on the
Northwest's horizon for summer. Kevin Comas
key gives a few good pointers on how to soak
your water supply for all it’s worth in the garden.
See Page 8B.