I strongly considered signing up for a share or half a share of an organic CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) last spring. I couldn't find a friend to split a share with me and wasn't up for driving to pick up my weekly box of fresh vegetables organically grown 30 minutes away on a CSA farm selling shares to the public. While I plant a small, organic vegetable garden which yields terrific tomatoes, broccoli, spring lettuce, cucumbers, pumpkins and herbs, it's not big enough to provide a wider variety of the veggies we also love -- carrots, beans, potatoes, peppers, and the like.

But after reading Julie's Health Blog this morning on the declining nutrient values in food, I picked up the phone and bought half of a CSA share from a farm much closer, only 15 minutes away. Julie reported on Brian Halweil's analysis of a British study that measured the nutrient value of foods between 1940 to 1991 -- Halweil is a senior researcher at The Worldwatch Institute. In the quest for a higher yielding food supply, nutrients in the U.S. and U.K. food supply are eroding. Here are a few facts Halweil cited from the British study:

• It took three apples in 1991 to equal the iron content of an apple from 1940.
• Potassium in spinach dropped 53 percent, phosphorus by 70 percent, iron by 60 percent and copper by 96 percent.
• Iron content in meat dropped an average of 53 percent. Less nutrient-dense feed grains/forages are part of the problem.
• The higher the yield of corn/wheat/soybeans, the lower the protein/oil, same goes for vitamin C, lycopene and betacarotene in tomatoes.
• Farming strategies to increase yields are good at fostering bigger, faster growing plants, but they do not absorb as many nutrients from the soil.

However Julie raises the big question -- aside from fewer pesticides and nitrates, does organic food have higher nutrient values? According to a scientific review by The Institute of Food Technologists, it's too soon to say.

Other than organic milk, our family does not purchase organic fruits and vegetables at the grocery store -- the main obstacle is price. But I'm excited about our half CSA share. The farm is just up the road and costs $200 for an every-other-week box of just-picked veggies June-November. No genetically modified veggies, no pesticides, no major fossil fuels burned to transport the food thousands of miles either. My CSA requests half-shareholders invest ten hours of work on the farm during the season, and I can bring the kids -- we love digging in the dirt! And as a novice vegetable gardener, I'm looking forward to hanging out with local organic gardening experts. If you'd like to check out a CSA near you, search here.

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I know, I know, it really is a rant post, thinly disguised as a post about organic food.

But really, does organic food have to be dirty? I don't know about you, but I find that when I buy organic food, it tends to need a lot more washing than the conventional fruits and veggies. Tonight, for instance, it has never taken me so long to make a salad in my life. I had to wash, wipe and dry each individual leaf, due to the dirt and dead bugs. Yuck! It makes me understand why some people don't choose organic.

Does anyone else have this problem?

I know organic is better. I am not ingesting pesticides, the soil used is less depleted due to proper crop rotation, which means more nutrients, and it is great for the environment. But there are some days I don't want a head of green leaf lettuce to consume the better part of my afternoon.

Yes, I will continue to buy organic, and I will probably even try not to complain about it anymore. But I was just wondering if it is just me?

I buy a lot of organic food, especially fruit and vegetables for my one-year-old baby. I have mostly assumed that organic is better for him because of the lack of pesticides but I haven't considered that I might be wasting my money.

According to some experts, certain kinds of organic produce simply aren't worth the cost.

For example, bananas: "You are peeling away the skin and they just don't hold nearly as many as pesticides, so you can buy regular bananas," one expert said. Of course. Except I didn't consider that when I bought those organic bananas sitting on my counter.

Here is a list of produce where "regular" works just as well as "organic." You can save money by not buying organic versions of these fruits and vegetables:

1. Asparagus
2. Avocados
3. Bananas
4. Cauliflower
5. Corn
6. Kiwi
7. Mangos
8. Onions
9. Pineapples

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