On several occasions today I’ve been asked about what I do to prepare my produce and kitchen for uncooking & juicing. I do not use vegetable peroxide, commercial sprays, or any special drops to clean my vegetables (it’s a sham). May be it’s just me but I don’t see any point in adding more stuff into my food.

How to Prepare Your Food:

• Step #1 Keeping your kitchen countertops, refrigerator, cookware, and cutlery clean! Never leave your cutting board or knives just sitting around on your counter, store them in a safe area where it will not be exposed to anything.
• Always wash your hands before preparing and handling food.
• Keep fresh greens, fruits and vegetables away from uncooked meats to avoid cross-contamination (sorry if this is a DUH thing to say, but it’s just a friendly reminder).
• Choose healthy looking, ripe fruits and vegetables when you shop.
• Wait until just before you eat or prepare your fruits and vegetables to wash them. Fruits and vegetables have natural coatings that keep moisture inside, and washing them too soon will make them spoil sooner.

How To Wash Your Produce:

• If I am using spinach, watercress, kale, or dandelion greens I like to soak them (alone) in water after they have been trimmed and the bad pieces have been plucked out.
• After the greens have been sitting in the water for a while you will notice lots of dirt and mystery bits in the bottom of your container.
• Take the greens out, rinse the container, change the water, and soak the greens again. It helps if you swish the greens around. I’ve mentioned before that I let mine soak over night, note you I wake up at 4am so over night for me is different 😉 That usually means only 4 hours or so.
• Afterwards dry or spin your greens well so all debris are removed.
• The leftover water can be used to water your plants or yard.
• It’s a huge help if you buy organic produce too 😀
• Don’t trust labels saying that your greens have been triple washed; the packaging could have bacteria too. Many vegetables are growing in this bacteria, the best thing to do is make sure you wash all your produce yourself!

How To Prevent Your Juicer From Making A Mess:

• Wrap your pulp bin in a plastic bag
• Some juicers are screwed together on the sides, make sure everything is tight and put a towel over it just in case
• Place a mat or towel underneath your juicer and the container that you are juicing into
• I usually keep something like a sponge near by just in case
• Keep your trash bin or compost bin near by
• I use a vegetable scrubber to clean out the parts of my juicer before I start washing it. This way most of the fiber has already been removed, preventing any damage to your garbage disposal and pipes.
• Clean your juicer ASAP! Letting it sit around makes it more difficult to clean and slacking off with cleaning it well can cause mold.
• Every so often soak your juicer parts in warm water with baking soda, lemon and/or vinegar. Scrub the parts of the juicer with a clean brush.

So, what’s the big deal with soil it’s natural who cares. Soil is made of water, air, mineral particles, organic and inorganic matter and organisms. Yummmmmy! Some soils use fish bones or other animal bones, called bone meal, as a fertilizer.

Usually when beef cows are slaughtered their bones are ground, steam, and made into bone meal. Bone meal is seen as a “natural way” to grow bigger plants because of the high levels of phosphorus. Even with organic plants, a mix of bone meal fertilizer and rotted manure is used to create, a balanced organic fertilizer.

I’m personally all set with bones and rotted manure in my tummy, organs, skin, and overall IN ME, JESSICA. I am a living being gosh darn it!

In the past years e coli scares have been on the rise. Food poisoning bacteria outbreaks have been due to field contamination before the greens are even harvested. A few causes are; water, wildlife, and nearby livestock, all of which could be sources of bacteria causing food poisoning.

Besides buying organic, try to buy as much local produce as possible.

• Go to farmer’s markets
• Meet your farmers
• Join a CSA program
• Start your own garden
• Get a community garden going
• Trade your homegrown produce with other gardeners or for other materials

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