Oh, great. I haven't been buying romaine for quite a while, because of the frequent outbreaks. But, figuring it should be over by now, I just returned from Costco with a 5 pack. Thanks for the heads up. I'd rather toss it in the compost heap than get sick. But now I have to go shopping again, and it is crazy out there.

Me too, just threw away a three pack

Ugh...brand new 3 pack that we had part of last night.

I haven't bought any lately, but I would be returning it to the store!

I often wonder where are bathrooms for the pickers to go?

dcarch

There are plenty of portable restrooms and hand washing facilities at the farms in California, where I lived for many years until recently. I drove by thousands of acres of lettuce farms every day in Salinas California for 35 years. But the wild animals who live in the area have not been trained to use them. And there is canal water that's contaminated.Most lettuce comes from California, Arizona and Mexico. I can't speak for Mexico, but American produce workers do have access to sanitary facilities.

D’arch - Exactly! I used to work in a giant greenhouse (mostly ornamental plants but some veggies). There were a limited number of port o potties - barely adequate during the slow period - during the busy season not so much. One of those situations when I was introduced my unconscious privilege when I never ever worried about walking to the distant only bathroom.

Here's a news article from 2011 that explains some of the causes of previous outbreaks, like the one in 2006, and measures taken since. It's interesting reading.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2011/11/25/five-years-after-deadly-e-coli-outbreak-salinas-valley-farmers-struggle-to-rebound/

Sheesh - just bought a 2-pak this morning! Well, out it goes... and another trip to the store, it seems. Thanks for the heads up! I'd rather be safe than sorry, and I know my guests will appreciate it too.

I buy green-leaf lettuce instead of Romaine.

I often wonder where are bathrooms for the pickers to go?

I think I read that it's from livestock, upstream.

I grow my own!

I bought nice salads for today's dinner. :( I dutifully threw them away while apologising to the halved hard boiled egg that was staring at me in reproach.

Quesadilla's anyone? Does baked off leftover pumpkin pie filling count as a vegetable (well, pumpkin is technically a fruit, but still...)?

I grow my own salad year round. Two years now...five years experimenting winter grow.

A learning curve as expected but very simple.

10-12 days to harvest. 50cent salad.

Just gave a surprise box to a friend/co-worker this morning...(he was beyond thrilled)

My Salad greens are much larger containers than these but he will have a nice holiday!

I gave him a 'starter' box. An x chef. He raises ducks and has supplied us with eggs and fresh caught LongIsland fish fillets all; summer.' fair-trade', : )

He is making cocktails with my rhubarb juice/biters.

I now have 4 co-worker 'students' growing salads in small city apartments.

It figures. Elery loves iceberg but I just won't eat the stuff, it's just too.....watery....or something. Odd texture anyway. I can eat romaine, but I usually don't, and just added a head of romaine to the chicken bucket. They'll be happy with some nice green vegetables for their Thanksgiving meal, I guess.

Like Sleevendog, I've grown microgreens and it's really easy, as are sprouts. Since I eat about one salad a year, I don't bother any more, but for a regular salad eater, it's a relatively simple option.

Annie

Sleevendog, that's very cool! But can you really grow enough, or do you just do the harder to find ones and buy filler?

Remember that regional chart of Thanksgiving side dishes from a few years back? The South had Mac and Cheese, I think as their dominant one. The entire West was salad! I eat salads for breakfast. :) Annie, I get not liking wet lettuces, but there are many delicious soft dark green leafies... And the leaves are just the carrier for all the other lovely vegetables. I know better so I'm talking myself out of it, but reading that Annie only eats one salad a year makes me want to feel sorry for her. ;(

Sleevendog....tell me more....do you have ligths? Or just a south window? I used to grow romaine in my garden and it was lovely! I could make a salad with the lovely thinnings and then thin further and when it made a head, I could cut the head tall and 2 or 3 new heads would grow from the stump.
But then the trees grew and the shade came....and that was the end of my little kitchen garden.

It is safer to eat pie than to eat greens.

I like to buy and plant a mixture of lettuces! Makes a good mix! 1or 2 leaves from each type feeds the 2 of us. Fed 8+ at TG with plenty leftover. The romaine is already starting to grow back!

Just noticed the couple of questions...No, no fillers needed. Last nights salad with a frittata. Easily 4 large salads. The rest put in a smoothy at work.

And a pic this morning of what is downstairs under lights.

I have about 30 varieties I grow in rotation. Not always a blend but over-produced for the holiday long weekend. Sometimes just the daikon, red Rambo, china rose radish with fresh cucumber sliced. Simple lemon dressing. Or the crunchy sunflower shoots with the five blend pea shoots and a fresh sliced golden beet, different dressing. I will probably purchase once or twice a nice buttery Boston head for a avocado wrap at some point but the variety is so flavor punched I use mandolin paper thin veggies like a salad taco. No real need for any extra head lettuce.

10-12 days to harvest. And still fresh up to a couple weeks. Un-cut. Nothing fresher than a scissor snip an hour before brunch/dinner.

Because these are young and not producing fruit, (like a tomato), a simple Ikea led light will grow macro greens. Last winter we had a month of gray snowy days. I set up a small shelf in my kitchen pantry and grew without issue.

A rare sunny day I do have a south shelf in that one kitchen window now that the trees have lost their leaves.. I just shuffle them around. A 9-12 inch deep shelf, 3 feet long/wide can produce salad all winter/year.

The trays spend 2-3 days under pressure so the seeds have good contact with the soil. The tiny trays on the right are for my work/co-worker friends, (my students, lol) ...I start 3-4 medium trays Sunday mornings. Takes all of 15 minutes. The rock 'weight' day three will be pushed off to the side/counter or on the floor the life force of seed is so strong!

Once we consume, more salad is ready to replace that shelf space! Coolio,lol.

Not at all trying to convince anyone to grow or eat anything. Just that the food value alone is good enough for us. My FIL had his first heart attack at 48 and never ate a veg. DH is 63 and heart healthy and will eat that entire bowl of salad. His usual lunch snack is a raw veggie bowl...nuts\,cheese/mixed grain. Different every day. Granola,fruit,yogurt for breakfast. He even adds handfuls of greens.

I could do 365days of salads starting January one...

Sherry - do you like Belgian endive? They are pale and crisp. They are continuously on my future garden experiment list. I believe you grow the endive in the garden and dig up the roots to force inside.

Sleevendog - I love your set up! Usually sometime in February I start craving fresh greens - this year I am already buying salad. I have a freezer full of veggies. I like sprouts but prefer micro greens.

I need to extract my wire shelves from our craft show rotation. I have grow lights that fit on them.

Thank you for the inspiration!

I read in the paper today that Florida grown romaine is now safe.

It's hard to believe in this day and age when they know where you are/have been, what you ate for lunch, what you bought and at what store, who you spoke to, what you liked or clicked on online, pretty much what you are thinking, etc...

That they cannot track the farms that tainted lettuce (or whatever) came from and not have a need to recall ALL OF IT.

OK, done ranting.

doucanoe, I just read that they have located the source of the contaminated lettuce, it's from California, so now they say if the romaine is from Arizona, Florida, anywhere except California, it's safe. If you can't determine where it's from, don't eat it, obviously, and don't eat it if it's grown in California. That makes it easier, at least, for those who actually like salad/lettuce. I'm not one of them, so I'm happily "uncontaminated", LOL.

Annie