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Re: organic fiasco



Hate to say it, but this is very old news to those of us who've been in the
trenches for lo these many years.

All the confusion and hype around "organic" is why I operate a CSA, have
dedicated my life and my small personal fortune <HAH!  Send money!> to
developing and nurturing CSAs, and encourage fellow confused and hyped
souls to not only join CSAs but get intimately involved with them.  Know
your farmer.  When the chips are down and the unsustainable agricultural
and food distribution system falls apart, farmers will reveal their
humanity by taking care of the people who took care of them.

Don't rely on the Government or even the Land Grant Universities to define
what's "safe" or "healthy".  Let's face it, the most ethical LGUs get
billions of dollars for research from the chemical companies and maybe
$50,000 from places like SARE.  Guess where their loyalties reside?

I learned how to grow food without artificial chemicals as a personal
survival issue -- cancer, collapsed immune system, and multiple chemical
sensitivities.  Now in remission and nearly full recovery from all, thanks
to great good fortune and lots of hard work.  I hope others can elect to do
the same without the motivations it took to get me moving.  But I sure
don't fault them if they haven't moved yet when their motivations aren't at
least as strong!

My point is, we each have to find our own way.  Many times there is no one
answer or treatment.  That's part of the beauty of CSAs, each one can
develop to meet the specific needs of its farmers and members.  I actually
think that a centralized codified set of definitions and rules is not a bad
thing, it's about time some of us got out of the habit of calling that
overgrown mess of out-of-control weeds "a natural cover crop".

At the same time, I'm saddened to know that such a monster is needed.

I wish everybody who eats would just get their food from somebody they've
taken the time and trouble to bother to get to know, so they have an idea
about their practices and philosophies and ethics.  Wouldn't that be a
different paradigm?

Dori Green:  Writer, Farmer, Facilitator
Ash Grove Community Farm & Center for Sustainable Living
http://www.servtech.com/public/funfarm/index.html