...though the EPA may have passed its use, there's been some mumblings that California (the state with some of the largest strawberry growers) may ban it's use.  Since large-scale strawberry production is mainly done in California (nearly 80%), if it was banned in that state, it would pretty much cripple the pesticide's use.

We'll just haveta wait and see what California does.

Go to Maine in July (and on the right hillsides, in June), and you'll find the most delicious wild strawberries growing everywhere.  Picking them is a chore but then so is going to the grocery store.  

I'm not saying we all need to be farmers.  But how sensible is this "lawn" culture we've developed.  Not that the 1700s were a good time but back then nobody would have dreamed of keeping an acre of grass neatly manicured to exactly 2 inches high.  Dig up that lawn and put in a garden.  Not only is shipping green beans and strawberries from California bad for the earth, it's also bad for local economies, and bad for the farm workers who are exploited thousands of miles from our eyes.  

And yes, that may mean that we can only eat strawberries in season.  But it seems that all of humanity has this hyped-up pace.  We all need to lower our heart rates and feel the pulse of the earth.  Winter is not the time for eating strawberries in Maine...unless you've canned the summer's surplus.

I completely agree with you on the lawn issue...what a waste of the land!  We could all get enough produce from our own backyards if just took the time to use the available space.  Lawns are digusting..we put fertilizers and poisons all over them just to make them "look" good.  If your grass doesn't do well...maybe it's trying to tell you something. Like I don't belong here!

Also hurray for the eating locally! I can't agree more with you!  Buy your foods locally and save on the fuels used to truck your fruits and veggies!  If it's december and you didn't can anything I guess you'll have to summer to taste them again! Eat seasonally like our parents and grandparents had to.  People need to step back in time to get healthier..everything that's in the store is just full of pesticides and other disgusting items.  Look at the meat people eat, it's not safe to even cook for your family.  That's why I gave up meat..too many issues with consuming it!

Tom, another terrific article. I'll be sending this to my food-and-society cronies as usual. Thanks for the work. I hope a lot of people are following your bylines as closely as I am.