The Selling of Organic

re: The Selling of Organic

MPC — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 13:38:38 GMT

www.nimanranch.com Go have a look at what the Niman Ranch and affiliates call a "vegetarian diet."

Under their Schedule A they list 90 different "feeds and feedstuffs permitted in backgrounding and finishing beef for Niman Ranch..."

The "vegetarian diet" contains soybean hulls, soybean meal, soybeans, corn distillers, corn grain, corn gluten, corn ground high moisture, corn ground earlage, corn silage, corn syrup and corn stalks.

A "vegetarian diet" of corn and soybeans do not make the beaf "GRASSFED," and I wouldn't touch this beef with someone else's fork!!!

re: The Selling of Organic

Rose Marie Waldram — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 03:48:49 GMT

40 years ago I learned a chemical one of my children and I had, by Double-blind testing, been found allergic to was an ingredient in more than 50% of all drug medicine. In researching alternative ways to regain and maintain health, I discovered this same chemical was also in chemical fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides and subsequently in the produce grown with them so, in addition to a total avoidance of drug base medicine, we learned how to grow our own food (includes "kitchen sprouting" as well as home gardening) and we began purchasing only "organic" (or went without).

We have not been disappointed. You are, indeed, what you eat. Now,we are seldom, if ever, sick --and then only because of deliberate poisoning by skeptics who refuse to believe or the ignorant who don't know better.

The chemical we are allergic to? Fluorides. ["Some can be as sensitive to fluorides as others are to penicillin."]

re: The Selling of Organic

dmarsing — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 07:14:50 GMT

Does anyone read Grist? I just read about a very tricky maneuver that will allow pesticides to be used on organic farms and antibiotics and several other drugs to be given to cows that produce organic milk. There is a bunch of other stuff, but it infuriates me just writing about it. How can they get away with it? The only way we can insure the health and safety of our family is to grow and raise it ourselves.

re: The Selling of Organic

Daveo — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 23:43:57 GMT

How come if there is so many of us that feel the same way, why is it taking so long to get the message out. Come on, spread the word one way or another. Talk about it, have a web page about it, write letters to your papers, or just cry it out in the middle of the street. Let us be the majority and the alternative be the crap. I know money is a big factor but with more people speaking out more often things will eventually change. It has to.

This is not about winning anything or changing everyone (the universal law says that everything has an opposite) its about knowledge and using that knowledge to do what's right. A lot of people already know what to do to be healthy but don't do it. Give em a hand but don't hassle them.

re: The Selling of Organic

Jennihul — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 23:56:26 GMT

Ya know, some people are never satisfied. We want organic. We fight for it. Now we are getting our wish and we find something else to complain about. How on earth do you think that organic food can be grown in large enough quantities to benefit the world, rather than just a clique of tree-huggin hippies? Not on quaint little farms, that's for sure.

As long as it fits the criteria for organic, which is enforceable, we should be pleased. If not, don't buy it.

Choosing local and in-season is a whole different ball of wax. Don't stain the efforts of organic farmers by dissing them because the world is suddenly interested in their products.

Jennifer

re: The Selling of Organic

curious7 — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:51:16 GMT

In today's world money rules. Big business has convinced the government, and it did not take much, to step into the world of "Organic." What truly is organic, and what is not. On the extreme, one organic farm is free of any deliberate intrusion of perto chemicals, or artificial weed killers, fertilizers, etc. As for live animals, they would have free rain, to come and go as they please. Eat only that which is naturally available. Compost, would be the only means of enriching the soil. Some allow manuer, pureists do not. Then the prepared soil, would produce high quality produce. Land use would be rotated, and allowed to rest every 7th year.

Though once the government stuck it's money grubbing hands into the mix, anybody could be organic, and without even knowing what the word means. Posers if you will, in the mix for the money. Thus the USDA organic seal. Big whoop. But what you should look for is the Organic Consumers seal, and there may be others, but this is what I am fimilure with. Oh yes and learn to read the code words used on the ingredient labels.

re: The Selling of Organic

butterbeans — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:54:58 GMT

The bastardization of the word 'organic' can be seen in something like 'organic canola', a complete oxymoron, since canola is a genetically engineered plant derived from rapeseed.

re: The Selling of Organic

Beccadog — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:18:26 GMT

Mercola cited or stated that: //While herbicides are not nearly as dangerous as insecticides, they still are synthetic chemicals introduced into the environment and clearly are not something that will improve your health.//

Herbicides generally damage a area of your body. Most insecticides are neurotoxins. They damage the brain and nervous system. On the other hand, herbicides and fungicides often cause cancer, a different kind of danger. In independent study after study, herbicides increase the risks of non-Hodgkins lymphoma in farm workers, and likely people who live on or near farms.

All of these chemicals either attach to the soil (hence, are in the dust which is carried by the wind), or run-off into streams, ponds or percolate into the groundwater. (Hence, the reason for carbon block water filters attached to your reverse osmosis or distillation processes. Carbon captures the Volatile Organic Compounds.)

Organic agriculture traditionally has not used synthetic chemicals. This was not part of the organic method promoted by J.I Rodale in Organic Farming, or Organic Gardening and Farming publications, which the practice was founded. Vested interests have allowed for the creation of pest controls by the chemical industry for organic agriculture. However, the allowed so-called /inert/ or other ingredients are often as toxic if not more so that what is labeled on the container as the active ingredient.

Here is the 2002 list 4 or inert ingredients of minimal concern. www.epa.gov/.../inerts_list4.pdf

I suspect there is a struggle going on within the Bush Administration between those that want to turn organic into a sham, and those who want to follow the law and preserve the integrity of the organic standards.

re: The Selling of Organic

Eva Lahonen — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:31:48 GMT

I personally feel organic is the only way to go ahead. I always choose organic ... if possible and available ... also for my 6 parrots. I have thru the experience of many years noticed that if I give my parrots the option ... organic vs. non-organic ... no question what they will choose. E.g. having eaten organic grapes for a while and suddenly no organic grapes are available ... it takes quite a few days before they will eat the commercial, pestiside non-organic grapes. Also they do not find seedless grapes interesting. My parrots don't read Finnish and I have no lables marking which in their buffet is organic and which is not. Somehow they just know.

Eva Lahonen

re: The Selling of Organic

chubby — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:31:07 GMT

I should also have mentioned the possibilty of growing some of your own veggies during the winter in GROW TUBS --- where the plants are watered from the BOTTOM UP --- and G E" REVEAL" BULBS ( the ones with the bluish tint ) will work as GROW LIGHTS --- if you dont have a suuny place to grow things ----- and how about growing WHEATGRASS or BARLEYGRASS and JUICING IT ?? ---- any expert experience and knowledge about that ?? There are CLAIMS that it is HEALTHY STUFF ----- chubby

re: The Selling of Organic

chubby — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:20:39 GMT

GREAT ARTICLE ---- The problem of how to find healthy food in THE NORTHERN STATES during the winter ( without buying the pesticde laden stuff in the supermarket )is not an easy one to deal with ---- IF YOU HAVE THE TIME --- you can DRY YOUR OWN FRUITS --- I make my own sauerkraut in a ONE gallon crock --- very easy to do ---- YOU can CAN or FREEZE when there is an abundance in the summer --- canning involves HIGH TEMPS which may destroy too much nutrition --- QUESTION --- have there been any scientific evaluations on HOME FREEZING food and how MUCH NUTRITION remains in the food if done properly ? If you are knowledgeable about this --- please E - MAIL me at kennyk4@ verizon.net as my wife and I are seriously considering doing this ---- COLD STORAGE ----

( the old root cellar concept ) is a good possibilty also if you have a home where you can do it PROPERLY --- but we live in an apartment peace chubby

re: The Selling of Organic

KenF — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:01:45 GMT

Everything is organic except for the mostly manufactured addictive chemical products. There was a time not very long ago, when this was not an issue or a concern. The life energies in the foods are what nourish and that's why people ate less and were thinner. Today overtorqueing the people and then food stuffs (excess fertilization, etc.) has left us all less well.

The old saying "you are what you eat" -- realize that the more long odd names of ingredients are what your body is rapidly becoming.

Realize that the fertilizers, pesticides, and things nuked on the yards are what people breath and drink in some of the suburbs.

What we eat, others down the food chain eat, and we in turn eat again.

We've been creating a lethal coctail and now organic is the label (that is probably designed to hunt organic out of existence by making too many focus on it).

Stop spraying the yards and find areas where dogs don't pee, and much that grows there on its own (like dandelions) is actually edible. Instead it's sprayed and plucked away in favor of carpets of mandated green in the burbs which are sprayed with chemicals that make everyone ill.

Big Business and lots of livelihoods are built in the pyramids on these things. Hard to change unless we want to be well over other things.

re: The Selling of Organic

quiet radical — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 11:10:24 GMT

I would add this to the comments about the lack of trust in "commercial organic" (how's that for an oxymoron?) Start by looking for food producers in your area. I offer these three sites to begin with:

Greenpeople.org, localharvest.org and if you are in the northeastern US, search for your state NOFA chapter listing. All of these sites will point you to local CSAs,farmer's markets, and mail order sources for really real food! If you arel ucky enough to have an organic farmer in your area, get to know them. We thrive on praise and happy smiles of contented veggie eaters. If you are able to, volunteer to assist once in a while. It benefits both you and the grower. You will gain true appreciation for the effort required to produce the food that gets to your table. Knowing it's source, and having a hand in it's nurturing it, makes it taste wonderful! Happy hunting, or should I say, "foraging"?

re: The Selling of Organic

HealthCoachSandraG — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:29:48 GMT

CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) are one of the best ways to be green, help yoursellf eat well. support your local economy and support the small organic farmer. By purchasing a share, you buy your organic produce in advance and help support your local farm. In the growing seasonl, you receive a weekly share of fresh organic produce that was either picked that day or pick it yourself. My clients, friends and family have found a tremendous amount of enjoyment from joining their local CSA. You can get your kids involved by having them come and pick the veggies with you. Kids are more likely to eat healthy when they are involved with the whole harvest process.

re: The Selling of Organic

shaneperrone — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:14:26 GMT

Everyone wants a piece of the pie :/