back in february, i took a business trip to florida to visit some tomato growers/packers, and i was fortunate to get to see lots of different kinds of produce while i was there.  it’s funny because i have loved literally all fruits and veggies since i was a tiny child, but i never would have dreamed that i would be so involved with produce in my career!

and wow, you guys, it’s a lot of fun.  never underestimate the time and effort that goes into getting that little salad onto your plate, because let me just tell you, it’s not an easy process!  i hadn’t been on a farm tour before [well, at least an official one for a large produce company], and i fell in love.  the farmers are so knowledgeable about all things produce, and they have all kinds of crazy stories about the wild animals that they encounter on the farms.  black bears, 14-foot pythons, wild hogs, alligators – they’ve seen it all.  it’s amazing to see the items you buy all the time at the grocery store in their natural state.  [like who has actually seen an eggplant on the vine?!]  plus it’s so peaceful and beautiful in the fields.  God did an excellent job at making produce so appealing to the eye and palate.

these pictures are from farms near the west coast of florida [naples] and in central florida [basically the everglades], although we were on the east coast for short part of this trip too [pompano beach].  it’s hard to believe how much we did and how much area we covered in a couple days!  and of course being in tropical paradise was really tough, especially for a wimpy-in-winter texas-raised girl in february.  twist my arm, right?  even if it was cloudy for most of the time that we were there.  the vibrant flowers made up for the dreary weather, i suppose.  my only regret is not getting to dip my little toes in ocean.  next time, florida.

{our hotel in tropical paradise}

{a garden}

{different types of tomatoes}

{eggplant and tomato plants}

{my little tropical scarf!  it went with the territory}

{beautiful salads from chops city grill}

{wild salmon}

{illuminated palm trees}

{tomato greenhouse}

{potato fields}

{tomatoes}

{check out the color of that fruit!}

{oranges}

{the orange picker}

{these oranges will be used for their juice}

what a wonderful opportunity this was.  can’t wait to go on more farm tours in monterey in july!