 sj |
||
|
||
BS: Lettuce Price Fixing?
|
|
|
Subject: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: Charley Noble Date: 15 Mar 02 - 08:27 AM I was reading this morning in the papers that here in the states the lettuce crop has been suffering because of unseasonable freezes in the southlands, raising concerns about escalating prices and price gouging by the less than scrupulous. A vision immediately came to me of the Security & Exchange Commission conducting an investigation, jailing the offending parties who would then shout from their cells: "Let us out! Let us out!" Maybe there's a song in this!;~) |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: mack/misophist Date: 15 Mar 02 - 08:48 AM Right. O-pun the doors. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: SharonA Date: 15 Mar 02 - 09:16 AM News reports say California lettuce is supposed to go up to $3 a head here in Pennsylvania. It's time to grow your own! |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: paddymac Date: 15 Mar 02 - 09:39 AM Charley - what have you been sipping so early in the morning? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: John Gray Date: 15 Mar 02 - 10:08 AM Currently $1.50 in my part of Oz ( US $0.75 ) Take a leaf out of our book. JG/FME. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: RichM Date: 15 Mar 02 - 10:16 AM Lettuce pray for price relief...
I'm old enough to remember when fresh fruits and vegetables weren't available year round. I still love preserved beets (yum), and pickles.
I know, I know, this makes me sound like an old fart (which I am!)...but commercial growers still can't deliver a decent tasting "fresh" tomato to ya... Rich McCarthy
|
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: rangeroger Date: 15 Mar 02 - 09:22 PM I've been watching the price go up here in Idaho.3 days ago it was $1.98/lb.in one store, today $2.49/lb in the same store.Another store was $3.63/lb. A head of lettuce usually runs about 1½ to 2 pounds in weight. Most iceberg lettuce comes from the Imperial Valley in California. Several years ago the same thing happened to the price of lettuce, though in this case it was heavy rains in the dessert flooding the fields ad cusing the lettuce to rot and moulder.The price was over $1.00 per head at that time in San Diego. While this was going on I flew to Atlanta to meet a friend and go hike the Appalachian Trail. During the drive through Northern Georgia to the trail head I saw several grocery stores in small rural towns selling lettuce 3 heads for a $1.00. It was advertised as California iceberg. rr |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: GUEST,Boab Date: 16 Mar 02 - 01:19 AM A head of lettuce in Canada Safeway---almost $4 ca.. The fact that they appear to be getting sale for them indicates to me that there are either some dumb folks going shopping, or a lot of people are mighty afraid of scurvy! |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: katlaughing Date: 16 Mar 02 - 03:07 AM Safeway in Wyoming has had red-leaf lettuce, my faourite, consistently between $2.50 and 2.99 per head for the past few weeks. It's always more expensive here, for anything, because of the shipping. RichM, that is my biggest lament of buying vegetables..the tomatoes never have any flavour, not even the vine-ripened more expensive ones, nor the organic. We are moving to an area of Colorado which has rich soil, a long growing season, and lots of wonderful produce stands. We will have plenty of room for a garden of our own and I am really looking forward to stepping out, picking a ripe tomato off of the vine, still hot from the sunshine, and eating it in glorious ecstacy. Want me to send you a few?*bg*
Many days they have lingered
Tis the sigh, the sound of the hungry |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: Mr Red Date: 16 Mar 02 - 06:34 AM Gawd Helpus - Lettuce Spray |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: RichM Date: 16 Mar 02 - 08:00 AM Kat, I'll stop by in season, and have a real tomato with ya. I'll bring the salt; and a bottle of wine--what goes well with fresh 'matoes??? :))) |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: John MacKenzie Date: 16 Mar 02 - 08:37 AM Avocados go well with fresh tomatos, washed down with a nice cold bottle of Chardonnay. I also find that the only ones with any flavour in the supermarket at the moment, are the baby plum tomatos. YUM YUM .....Giok |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: Bat Goddess Date: 16 Mar 02 - 08:43 AM If you're talking iceberg lettuce -- and I think we are -- who needs it? Even apartment dwellers can have a couple pots of mixed leaf lettuces on their windowsill or balcony (sown a week or so apart to alternate -- one for harvest and one for growing). Pennies, no effort, always fresh and TASTY (that's the operative word -- iceberg has no flavor at all). Very quick growing. Linn |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: Charley Noble Date: 16 Mar 02 - 08:51 AM Let us LEAVE this thread for more fruitful pursuits! |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: JudeL Date: 16 Mar 02 - 11:43 AM Rich you asked what went well with fresh tomatoes: try sliced red onions with a drizzle of olive oil and chopped fresh basil |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: katlaughing Date: 16 Mar 02 - 12:04 PM Ummmm, ummmmm it's breakfast time here and all I want is a bowl fo fresh tomato slices marinated in vinegar with onion slices! Sounds good to me, RichM. We''l grow some of the big beefsteaks with you in mind. Linn, I've read somewhere that iceberg has absolutely no nutritious value at all and so there really is no good reason to eat it. Yet, it remains the cheapest and the most common used in salads, etc. Have you read anything along those lines? Charley, shouldn't it be: "Let us LEAF this thread for more fruitful pursuits!"**bg** Papa was a rutabaga Mama was a cabbage They never ever lettuce spray The moisture mists in bay They shrivelled up, all dried out Were thrown in the bin While we marched in the front way To become grocer's fresh prey Oh well, its baaaadddd. I just woke up, the critters are nibbling my ankles for food and I still wanter tomaters! kat |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: glen197 Date: 16 Mar 02 - 02:37 PM The answer is urban gardening...All you need is a Southern or eastern window, some potting soil, some water and some pots...perhaps a little plant food as you go along. I have grown my owne Bib, Boston, Romaine, Cherry Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Herbs,Zuccini, and for fun Roses! In the summer I only visit the green grocer when I have company expected....I grow enough for my househiold of one. My only disaster was near death from trying to grow a pineapple from the top....It works and is fun, but do noy chose a jagged leaf variety.....I went a way for a week and came back to find my bedroom filled with long jagged skin tearing leaves. Glen |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: SeanM Date: 16 Mar 02 - 04:42 PM As a note on the original 'price fixing' idea... Living in CA, and having friends living in the Central Valley growing region, they're not kidding. In Clovis (near Fresno, midway up the valley and closer in to the Sierras) it actually snowed for the first time in decades. Where I'm at (high desert, southern CA), it froze at night for a couple weeks straight. There will be relief though. According to an analyst's report in our local paper, the growers - realizing the high prices to come - overplanted for the next harvest. Once the weather turns (and that may be a little while - it's gone back to unseasonable cold), there should be a major bumper crop of lettuce to glut the market. M |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: DougR Date: 16 Mar 02 - 09:45 PM I think it's George Bush's fault. DougR |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: Banjer Date: 16 Mar 02 - 09:56 PM I checked three places today. Two large grocery chains and one small farmer's market. The farmer's market was $2.39 the one large store was $2.99 and the third store was $1.69. Makes no sense, all came from the same source! |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: Dicho (Frank Staplin) Date: 16 Mar 02 - 10:52 PM Kat, the San Luis Valley in Colorado is high and very cold in winter, but the sun shines a lot. Don't remember the details, but stories were printed about how the local people were using attached greenhouses on the south side to grow all sorts of vegetables. I don't know how much winter sun you will get in your location, but it might be worth checking into. We get greenhouse tomatoes throughout the winter in Canada, but they are just as tasteless as the other commercial toms. I have always said lettuce is for rabbits but use a variety of vegetables and tomatoes raw. There are always some that are reasonable. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: Gypsy Date: 16 Mar 02 - 11:26 PM Well, speaking as a grower.....if you can get it, and afford it, be glad you don't have the work of growing it! When i buy off season anything, am just glad to have fresh, instead of what i canned last fall! |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 16 Mar 02 - 11:33 PM Homegrown's all right by me Homegrown's the way to be. (Song from somewhere - sometime - in the past) Kat you will love Colorado - but it is not that different than Wyoming - plains or mountains.
However, you can enjoy fresh vegitables earlier in the season...by using... hot-frames on the south of your house to give you a "jump on Spring." They are made from discarded old windows - on a raised bed - and the real "secret" is to use horse manure (at the very bottom layer of the hot-box-bed) around Valentine's Day to provide heat for early germination. For early tomatoes, use Early Girl, or the Siberian and dig a deep "cat-hole" in the frame, as the shoot sprouts... pinch-off the lower leaves and bury the stem, again and again. When replanting get the extended stem/rootball 20 inches, 50cm, into the outdoor soil with only the top split of four stems. Because of an extended root system (ten times greater or more) along the entire stem you will have phenomenal tomatoes.
Now will you finally, shut up?
Sincerely, |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: katlaughing Date: 17 Mar 02 - 12:04 AM garg, I grew up there, remember? All of my family going back to the great-great grandparents grew up there, had fabulous gardens and let me tell you, there's a big difference in having those BIG mountains and also in being a few degrees south. Eastern slope of Colorado, out towards the plains, okay, similar to Wyoming, but up in the mountains, over on the Western slope, lots of difference. Lot longer growing season, rich river valley soil, and LOTS less wind! My sister was reminding me, tonight, that I had such a grand garden last time I lived there, that I actually sold some of the produce, as well as canned some. Dichodarlin', it's Colorado, unless one is somewhere like Telluride, in a trench between huge mountains, there is tons of sun in the winter.*bg* Love the San Luis Valley! Might do a little hothouse on the south side. If we get time and energy, we want to add on a screened-in patio which could be made into a hothouse. Then, again, I've grown herbs and tomotoes inside in the winter before, too. I've got perfect windows for hanging plants which could be filled with cherry tomatoes...yummy! kat |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: Charley Noble Date: 17 Mar 02 - 04:48 PM Sigh! My wife spent the whole day at work meditating on this perplexing question: why didn't the suspected lettuce price-gougers use their CELL-PHONES to call for bail bond? The obvious answer: they were worried about the ROAMIN' charges. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: katlaughing Date: 17 Mar 02 - 06:29 PM LMAO!! |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: Mark Cohen Date: 18 Mar 02 - 03:16 AM Doug, you've finally seen the light! Praise the Lord, another soul's been saved!!! Aloha, Mark |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: GUEST Date: 07 Apr 02 - 01:57 AM Price is down to 1.29 US per head |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: GUEST Date: 07 Apr 02 - 08:29 PM This is the site for information about growing lettuce. http://www.icangarden.com |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: GUEST Date: 13 Apr 02 - 05:39 AM Price is now down to 69 cents U.S.
You know, cabbage was a good refreshing alternative during the temporary price spike.
Why is it some people look with paranoia and thoughts of conspiracy upon temporary conditions within society? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: Charley Noble Date: 13 Apr 02 - 05:30 PM Guest, I just enjoy puns. Sorry if you thought I was serious. I'll try to turn over a new leaf. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: catspaw49 Date: 13 Apr 02 - 05:53 PM Before I made a crack about, "How come there is no iceberg lettuce hybrid named Titanic?".......I thought I'd check first. There isn't....But I did find this cute article on home-grown hybrids: Therefore, anticipating a longer-than- normal winter, I have gone to my collection of seed catalogs and selected obscure varieties that perform best in cold weather. Here are some and their catalog descriptions: Polar Pear: What this fruit lacks in appearance it makes up for in taste. Succulent meat beneath hairy white skin. Lake-Effect Zucchini: When the windchill dives into negative numbers, turn on the sprinkler up wind of this award winner and watch the fruits really pile up. Evergreen Bean: Unlike its less-hardy deciduous relative, this variety laughs at the cold by producing all winter long. No need to process this garden favorite -- it is already frozen. ArcticChoke: This variety is ideal for areas where sunlight is limited, such as the north sides of buildings and in freezers. Salt Watermelon: High sodium content lowers the freezing point, yielding vine-loads of monster fruit. Dark skin makes them visible in deep snow. Eskimato: When your supply of seal blubber runs out and you've eaten all your sled dogs, you'll be glad you planted this cold-tolerant, heavy producer. Bunyon Onion: Developed for Minnesota winters, this variety is so huge it will require a big blue ox to pull them out of the ground. Holl Opee Nyo Pepper: This Scandinavian favorite is so hot it is often ground and used as organic ice-melt. Sleet Beet: Even a bad ice storm won't keep you out of the garden when this beauty awaits. Titanic Lettuce: This iceberg hybrid is head-type lettuce that is self-insulating by forming mostly beneath soil level. Broccolichen: This early variety is best suited for rocky soils above timberline. CucumBur-r-r-r: This newly introduced hybrid is so prolific in cold weather it will give you the shivers. Hollyflower (ornamental): This creamy white garden staple is ready for harvest by Christmas for use in wreaths. Sass Squash: A Himalayan heirloom winter squash seldom seen by Westerners. Columnist Gordon D. Fiedler Jr. can be reached at 823-6363 Ext. 145 or by e-mail at sjgfiedler@saljournal.com. Spaw |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull Date: 13 Apr 02 - 08:22 PM Who is gargoyle? Is he mad? he seems a bit weird to me. Marc Cohen-Are you the same Marc Cohen that sang walikng in Memphis? If so I like it, well i Like it anytway I just wonderd if it was you.Good piona playing) |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: catspaw49 Date: 13 Apr 02 - 08:47 PM Garg is our longtime resident troll and flamer....but he's our in-house guy and very knowledgeable when he wants to be. Right now he's in a pleasant phase so try not to disturb him. And no, this would be the Doctor Mark Cohen who's a pediatrician in Hawaii and a great guy. Spaw |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull Date: 13 Apr 02 - 08:57 PM ThabksSpaw, I know now that Marc cohen is not the real one because I just play his CD and he has not got an e in his nams.john |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull Date: 13 Apr 02 - 09:00 PM Ps Do you wantto see a piture of my guitar? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: GUEST Date: 14 Apr 02 - 04:31 AM I fix mine as a ceasar salad using Newman's Own dressing, anchovies and fresh grated parmesian cheese. Cost is about 15 cents per serving |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Lettuce Price Fixing? From: GUEST,BOAB Date: 14 Apr 02 - 04:41 AM Got organic lettuce today on Vancouver Island at $1.40 Can,. a head. I think they probably had to compost so many of the four-dollar specimens that they finally came to their senses. |