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Those Oranges? They're Special

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 30, 2008

Is it just me, or do the fruits and veggies you grow yourself taste WAY better than the produce you get at the store? Even the (forgive me 'cause I love ya, Fresh Market, really I do) organic stuff.

Apparently, our iguana agrees. I'm told it is eating my butter lettuce by the bunch after turning up its nose (snout?) at a store-bought mix. Oh, yeah, the rest of the family likes it, too.

Home-grown tomatoes are, it seems, always the best. Strawberries, too. Even if - like me - you can only manage to grow a few berries at a time, they are worth the work.

What really surprised me, though, is my first crop of oranges. They're coming in now - pineapple oranges to be precise - and they are delicious. Yes, they have seeds. And, gosh, they're a mess. But they taste just the way you want an orange to taste.

I know what you're thinking: Duh! They're fresher!

That's true. I can wait until the fruit is just the right amount of ripe and pluck that one perfect orange. (Or three. On Saturday, I ate three.)

But I wonder if there isn't more to it than that. I wonder if there isn't a bit of pride attached that makes the stuff I grow taste perfect to me. And my family.

And, of course, our iguana.

Kim Franke-Folstad

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