"These were grown in actual soil!" (cross-posted from rec.arts.sf.fandom)

I'm in the middle of putting together a tossed salad for dinner. (Despite at least four thunderstorms, it's oppressively hot and humid--salad and bread will do.)

I have a head of Simpson's lettuce I picked up at the Union Square Greenmarket. A nice leafy green lettuce, loose head--I bought it because I'd never heard of this variety.

I tore off a few leaves (salad for one), and took them over to the sink to wash them. The bottom of each leaf had rich black dirt clinging to it.

I thought "These were grown in actual soil!" and then realized how profoundly weird it is that this is noteworthy.

I suspect that most of the lettuce I get was also grown in actual soil: but it's been carefully removed before the lettuce reaches the supermarket or greengrocer. I wash lettuce out of habit and training, and in case it's been sprayed with noxious chemicals.

I will now go and tear up watercress, purchased at the same market stall but, unsurprisingly, without black soil clinging to it.

For dessert, I have strawberries. Good, ripe, local strawberries. Which may or may not have been grown in actual soil.

"These were grown in actual soil!" (cross-posted from rec.arts.sf.fandom)

I'm in the middle of putting together a tossed salad for dinner. (Despite at least four thunderstorms, it's oppressively hot and humid--salad and bread will do.)

I have a head of Simpson's lettuce I picked up at the Union Square Greenmarket. A nice leafy green lettuce, loose head--I bought it because I'd never heard of this variety.

I tore off a few leaves (salad for one), and took them over to the sink to wash them. The bottom of each leaf had rich black dirt clinging to it.

I thought "These were grown in actual soil!" and then realized how profoundly weird it is that this is noteworthy.

I suspect that most of the lettuce I get was also grown in actual soil: but it's been carefully removed before the lettuce reaches the supermarket or greengrocer. I wash lettuce out of habit and training, and in case it's been sprayed with noxious chemicals.

I will now go and tear up watercress, purchased at the same market stall but, unsurprisingly, without black soil clinging to it.

For dessert, I have strawberries. Good, ripe, local strawberries. Which may or may not have been grown in actual soil.