garden news-is it the onions

GARDEN NEWS-IS IT THE ONIONS 

this is a picture of my onions i grew several years ago at the country n
after harvesting them and letting the stalks dry up we would cut off the stalks and drop the onion down the leg of a pantyhose
then
a knot was tied to separate the onions from each other
this allowed air to get to the onions so they wouldnt rot
we then hung them in our garage snipping off an onion whenever we needed one
the onions would last for months this way

i tried this after moving here to santa barbara but it didnt work as well
the humidity is higher here and it doesnt get as warm
so 
many of the onions would rotten
so
the next season and subsequent seasons instead of making these onion chimes
we chopped up the onions
then
threw them in a blender
then
froze them in gallon ziplock bags 
so
whenever we needed onions for cooking we just took out the ziplock bag and broke off whatever amount of onion the recipe called for

now these are organically grown onions from my garden plot so i know they are chemical and germ free

sometimes you need a fresh onion for things like a salad or tacos etc so i just buy one 

i usually dont think much of it 
i just buy it and use it

for my beans and stews and soups and casseroles etc we just use our disease free onions from the freezer

this weekend i bought an onion to use in our taco salad

on monday i woke up nauseated and felt washed out and had some gastro issues that lasted about one day 

i didnt really think much about it until i saw this news item linked here about a salmonella outbreak from contaminated onions from mexico
it has been found in 37 states so far
most folks have mild symptoms but for those younger and immunocompromised folks they might get a little sicker

 i looked at the sticker on the last onion left but it only had the variety of onions
ie dulce sweet onion and not the name of the company from mexico getting the blame for this 

note a huge amount of our winter produce comes out of mexico

i think this onion will not be eaten or composted its going into the trash
just to be safe

this reminds me of the spinach shortage that occurred several years ago 
spinach all across the us got contaminated with some bacteria usually its e coli or salmonella that was making lots of folks sick
in the grocery stores you couldnt find spinach at all

at that time at the country n i was growing malabar spinach that grows on a vine
it likes warm weather
the smaller leaves work good in salads
the larger leaves work well in casseroles and spinach dishes
i always add some to my beans and soups

we at that time during the spinach shortage were giving way bags of spinach to folks needing it for cooking etc

i got the original plant about 15 years ago from the local nursey
it reseeded itself for years
when we moved to santa barbara i pulled a few plants up and transported then here
the first day i got here i planted them in my garden 4 years ago
i have abundant spinach in my garden most of the year here

i have potted up 4 inch pots of them to sell or donate from our garden
we also have it planted several places around the community garden 
next year
we plan to plant a whole row of malabar spinach since the soup kitchen and food pantries will take it

no worry about germs spreading from this organically grown spinach

so
was it the onions
maybe
maybe not
but
that left over onion with that label on it is now gone

the organicgreen doctor