Saturday, November 17, 2007

FRESHIES


Fresh vegetables and fruits are much sought after down here. We depend largely on military transport planes to bring fresh food to us. However, when the weather is bad or other types of cargo take precedence, we may not see fresh fruit and veg -- called "freshies" -- for weeks at a time. Today, after about 14 days with no freshies, we were happy to see some lettuce laid out for the evening meal. What a treat!

McMurdo does have a greenhouse, pictured above from outside and inside, but it isn't big enough to supply the ~800 people here now. The greenhouse was built in 1989 from existing buildings by a group of volunteers. I'm not sure where the produce ends up, but whoever gets to partake is lucky!