Spin Class

This past Saturday, my wife Angelia and I patronized the Hanover County Master Gardener's Plant Sale in Ashland, Virginia.  She bought a hosta for a shady part of the yard, and I considered purchasing a vegetable plant or two.  In the end, I chose to purchase nothing.  I couldn't get past the thought that I could buy one plant or spend the same amount of money on 2 packets of seed and wind up with 20 or 30 plants instead.  Plus, I have plenty of plants in the greenhouse begging to be put into the garden.

We visited the nearby Goodwill Store after the Plant Sale, and there I did make a purchase.  I found this very sturdy and very cool salad spinner.  Now, you might be thinking, 'what does this have to do with gardening?'  Well, I grow a lot of leafy greens.  Lettuce.  Mustard.  Arugula.  Spinach.  I grow them in soil, and when they are picked, they are...well, they're dirty.  They need cleaning, or you'll wind up with a mouthful of grit, which does not lend itself to an enjoyable dining experience.  When I am picking greens, I usually keep a couple 5-gallon plastic buckets of water nearby.  When I my hands get full, I put the greens in a bucket.  When I'm done picking, I dunk them, let the grit settle, and put the greens in a basket.  They go inside the house, where they usually get another wash.  

However, you don't want to store wet greens.  They'll rot faster.  So, a salad spinner is needed.  Actually, it's required due to the volume of leafy green stuff we grow.  

Now, 2 years ago we purchased a salad spinner.  We found it at Target.  Some TV chef or designer I'd never heard of before had his name on it.  It was nice.  We got it home, I started spinning salad, and I broke it the same day.  We returned it, but by then they were sold out of that particular spinner.  Eventually we settled for the spinner above.  It's fine, and it's worked for 2 years, but the hard clear plastic bowl that forms the base of the unit has developed cracks and leaks water.  Not an issue with drying the salad, since our goal is to remove the water, but it is an issue for the countertop, and anything we would like to keep dry on the countertop.

The 'new' blue spinner is far superior.  It's bigger, and can hold more spun-off water in the bottom of the bowl.  The gear mechanism feels much sturdier than the string-pull action on the old spinner.  It's also made out of a flexible-type plastic that will not crack.  It's in perfect condition, and works great.  For me, having quality tools to use adds to the experience.  Considering it cost $4.25 versus the cracked spinner that cost $18 new, I think it was a great purchase.  Here's a video of the blue spinner in action: