I love traveling thru the Modesto to Fresno area and look at that giant salad bowl. Back in my truck driving days in the mid 70's, I used to load all kinds of stuff around there to haul back to Salt Lake City. I was fascinated to watch lettuce or carrots and broccoli come in from the fields already washed and packed in boxes and on pallets. They would pull into one dock, unload them into a giant flash cooler for 30 minutes, then pull 'em out and load 'em on my trailer. 14 hours later they were in SLC and the next day on the shelf in the store. Does not get any fresher than that.
I too was happy to get away from the milk barn. I love cows, but I love the ones that you just feed till you eat them way more than the ones you have to babysit and coddle every day!!.