L&F Homestead

Is your food irradiated?

Quick answer: not if it's locally grown and/or organic.

According to this blog from Mountain Rose Herbs, foods in U.S. supermarkets must be labeled if they have been treated with radiation, but many consumers will miss this info if they're not actively looking for it. While radiation kills pests and bacteria and prolongs shelf life, it can also reduce certain nutrient levels and cause other changes in food.

Is this bad? Not always. But on an individual level, you may choose to pursue cleaner, less processed foods by buying fresh and local (I was once told that asparagus is the #1 radiated food that gets imported into the US. It cannot legally enter the country without radiation because it harbors so many insects).

You have to ask yourself: would I rather eat something that's been doused with chemicals to prevent spoilage, or blasted with invisible rays, or neither, or both?

Are My Herbs Irradiated?! Learn About Irradiation in Our Food System & How to Avoid It Food irradiation is common in mainstream food production in the United States. So what is irradiation and how does it affect your herbs and spices?

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(Note: I'd conjecture that herbal teas have featured in considerably fewer wars than black tea, but I'm no historian)

Howdy, friends! Just letting you know that we will NOT be at the farmers' market on Saturday 5/23. We'll see you the following week on the 30th!

May showers bring May flowers (we guess).

We're grateful for the rain! We'll see y'all at CAFFM this Saturday :)

Earth Day Fest is only one day away!

🌍 𝗧𝗢𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗥𝗢𝗪!

www.gulfshoresal.gov/earthday

Happy Saturday! Come find us today at Coastal Alabama Farmers and Fishermens Market !

We are so excited to be a part of the Gulf Shores Earth Day Fest on April 22nd! We'll have a tent set up during the festival portion of the day from 3:30-6:30pm. We hope to see lots of new and familiar faces!

🌍 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝘁 𝗠𝗼'𝘀 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗧𝗪𝗢 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆!

Kick off the morning with sunrise yoga, paddle out for a nature paddle + clean‑up, then come back in the afternoon for an Earth Day Festival packed with music, learning, local love, and eco‑friendly fun.

For more information, visit us online at www.gulfshoresal.gov/earthday or call 251-968-9824.

Friends,

We will NOT be at the market this coming Saturday, 4/4. We hope everyone has a nice, restful weekend and we'll see you back soon!

I think that something beautiful about herbalism is forming personal relationships with the plants and letting them guide you. I was going to harvest my comfrey plants today, but something just told me not to. They were too beautiful. I sat down with this one, pruners and basket in my hand, and admired the purple flowers and thought about the pollinators that will benefit from them. There will be plenty of time to harvest later.

One of my favorite parts of doing business locally is sharing plants with the community that thrive in our climate! We grow a variety of herbs and vegetables for teas, cooking, and some just for fun and to support our native pollinators (looking at you, milkweed 🐛). We always try to bring a sampling of the plants we grow to the market to help people stay connected to nature and gardening and to know where their herbs come from. If you ever want to talk plants and gardening, we're all ears! 🌽 🤓