Buying Local Should Include Buying Organic

re: Buying Local Should Include Buying Organic

jawilliams — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:27:46 GMT

Grow your own food is the best way to save money and feed your family. Layered Gardening is so easy just lay down manure or compost where you want your veggies herbs and such in a row.. Then mulch the ground with hay. Then have a greenhouse or buy sprouts and plant them in rows. I learned this from an organic farmer and then i read a book on it. It keeps the ground below moist. The sun dosent dry out the soil. Its ORGANIC! No Tiller, No Gasoline. No Tractor. Also if you lucky enough to have cattle on your farm. Just feed them hay all winter long where you want your Garden. The manure will greatly fertilze the ground and you dont have to gather it.

re: Buying Local Should Include Buying Organic

Peacebird5 — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 01:23:38 GMT

As to critters in the garden, have you ever tried strawbale gardening? It keeps the plants off the ground so it's not so accessible to pests. Google it.

re: Buying Local Should Include Buying Organic

ladybug — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:51:58 GMT

ambug,I love your new name for the FDA,will help spread it around

re: Buying Local Should Include Buying Organic

ladybug — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:37:41 GMT

As leit says,learn as much as you can,if you don't have time to go to your local organic farmer for tips,the net has lot's of info,just google organic gardens,or food,you should get about 10,00 sites to check out.

re: Buying Local Should Include Buying Organic

ladybug — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:33:46 GMT

I'm wondering where these people are from,most people haven't ever asked about how their food is grown,or where it's from.I see people in health food stores making as many uniformed choices as folks in the grocery store.Most food coops are starting to look like grocery stores.90% packaged products.Now Dr Mercola needs to address the fact that all organic isn't organic by USDA standards.The USDA allows farmers to use non organic chicken bedding in the fertilizing programs.Land is allowed to be called organic after a much shorter time sitting without chemicals on it.Some chemicals are allowed now.Also,farmers can plant their organic fields next to chemical fields.Gmo fields can also be next to organic fields.Don't get me wrong I still buy organic,as it is still better for you.But I prefer foods listed as chemical free.Now That I'm finally getting my health back from the doctors that were doing their best to keeping me sick,I am now growing alot of my own food again,and keep planting more.Also,we have one organic farmer at the farmers market,and he is about four time more expensive that ANYONE else,the coops included,If there was only me,and no one else in my family,than I could afford him,that is, if I could make that kind of money.Organic is getting too expensive for the average person,what with rising prices across the board.

re: Buying Local Should Include Buying Organic

tlraffaele — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:52:32 GMT

I recently started purchasing most of my fruit and vegetables from a company called abundant harvest organics that operates in So. California. The produce is all organic and grown in the central valley. They have a weekly pick up point in many locations and some friends and I take turns picking it up so only one of us is actually getting in a car and driving to pick up the crates of produce.You can add on products like Raw milk, organic chicken, and other organic products. If you live north of Los Angeles check out the website to see if there is a drop off point near you and try it out. The website is www.abundantharvestorganics.com

re: Buying Local Should Include Buying Organic

CCurtis — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:38:00 GMT

I have grown my own small backyard garden for many years using organic ferterlizers and pest repellants, however this year I have little to no garden due to the 4-legged pests. The only thing they are not eating is the basil. I have a fence around the garden, but somehow they are either digging under or going over the fence. I've caught one woodchuck and one opossom so far in my have-a-heart trap, but the biggest problem seems to be the chipmonks that burrow under the ground (and one more woodchuck that is too smart for my trap). They're eating everything! Not even letting the tomatoes ripen first. I wouldn't mind so much -- I plant more than enough -- if they would just take one tomato and eat the whole thing. No, they have to take one bite out of everything! I know this is a health site but growing and keeping my own food is tantamount to my health! Does anyone have any suggestions for repelling or trapping (humanely and organically of course) these critters?

re: Buying Local Should Include Buying Organic

Food is Medicine — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:04:47 GMT

We have a weekly farmers market here that is exclusively organic, but the prices are so outrageous high I rarely buy from them (i.e. garlic $10 a lbs). There is a local farm stand about 10 miles from where I live. When I asked about the use of pesticides and chemicals, the owner assured me that they didn't use anything but good old cow. I took her at her word until one day I heard her arguing on the phone (at her stand) with the local chemical distributor about returning chemicals they hadn't used that year. I guess short of spending time in the field during growing season or being close, personal friends with the farmer, you can't be sure what you are getting.

re: Buying Local Should Include Buying Organic

Mamachibi — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:47:46 GMT

A keyword is appearing at Farmer's Markets in our area: Producers Only. There are many local roadside stands with huge shipping boxes full of melons—the same shipping boxes that are used to get food to stores over hundreds of miles. "Producers Only" means you can't sell at the FM unless you have personally produced the food. I also heartily recommend looking into Community Supported Agriculture. You'll get great local, organic food at a fraction of the specialty store's cost.

And what is with the "homegrown" signs on produce at the grocery store? Do they really expect me to believe that some backyard farmer picked those oranges and dropped them off at the Kroger to sell?

re: Buying Local Should Include Buying Organic

ChickenFarmer — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:13:22 GMT

If you want the best food, freshest food, safest food, grow it yourself. It amazes me how there has been such a shift away from home gardens. 20 years ago, garden centers in the spring would be mostly veggie plants and a small section of flowers. Now, one has to hunt to find the tomato plants. You say you don't have room? If you have a patio, then you have room to grow some of your food. I was supplying much of my fresh veggie needs 30 years ago when I lived in a townhouse. My garden was three feet by 20 feet. I ate well out of that garden. There wasn't room to grow corn, but I had tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, lettuce, radish, squash, chard, and several other kinds of veggies. Now, about 95% of my food is from my own land. All my meat comes from my land, dairy too when my goats freshen, and most fruit and all veggies, and half of my grains. I do grind all of our flour and corn meal. I buy some of the wheat for I like kinds of wheat that can not be grown locally. If you don't want to grow your food, then join a CSA, support a local farmer, we are an endangered breed.

re: Buying Local Should Include Buying Organic

DizzyIzzy1 — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 23:25:55 GMT

I was at our local farmers market yesterday and was amazed how out of 9 stalls selling fruit & veges, only one was organic (and sold such obscure produce I didn't buy any anyway as I'd have no idea what to do with it, and by the time I'd found something it would've gone rotten!). I had one man try and convince me non-organic is the same as organic, and a woman try and sell me ice-cream full of hydrogenated fats, diglycerides, soy oil etc and pass it off as 'healthy' and 'totally natural' (she tried very hard to stop me looking at the ingredients, assuring me "It's all natural, with milk from our own herds"... ya right).

Thankfully there's a new greengrocer open in town who is honest! Not all of his produce is local or organic, but some is both and he's open about which is and which isn't, and extremely helpful - he'll often give you a plum or an apple to eat on your way, and knows me now so lets me know what's ripe, what's not quite right yet, and what's organic and where it's from. The world needs more people like him!!

So I guess it pays to look around and ask questions, and stick to your guns. Even farmers markets aren't infallible.

re: Buying Local Should Include Buying Organic

CATRYNA_203 — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 23:07:10 GMT

EarthWindFire:
At our Farmer's Markets the produce does not have to be organically grown. Most that are state that fact on their awnings. I agree those stupid stickers are beastly to get off. You end up damaging the produce to get them off (making divits in the fruit). So, what's with that?

In any case, there are plenty of Farmer's Markets somewhat near us on any given day and plenty of people to choose from among the markets.

re: Buying Local Should Include Buying Organic

BeeGirl — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:50:17 GMT

I always thought I didn't like apple juice until I tried fresh, organic, raw from the local farmer's market.
One day last year the community park provided a press for free and invited everyone to bring either their own apples or a jug. I hope they do it again this year. Yum!

re: Buying Local Should Include Buying Organic

Brian1 — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:39:57 GMT

Organic foods from farms are usually much cheaper than from health food stores. At a health food store, the organic spinach costs $2.99 for about 1/2 lb. bunch and at the farm, the spinach was $2 for a 1 lb. bunch i.e. 1/3 the price.

re: Buying Local Should Include Buying Organic

eheath_203 — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 16:20:12 GMT

Purchasing fresh produce, "in season" and "local", as well as organic has an added bonus of helping the consumer of these foods with the proper nutrient profile required to best acclimate to their environment.

Food grown in a hot climate will have a different nutrient profile than food grown in a cooler climate, etc.

This is why an individual in a hotter climate may do much better with more fruits in their diet than vegetables during the hot seasons\summers, which will allow them to better deal with the heat, while a person eating a diet high in imported fruits while living in a colder climate can never seem to get warm. Living in a colder climate, more vegetables and roots are in order...

Potassium/sodium ratios...

We must realize the importance of cycles in our eating habits which should\will change as different local foods go in and out of season... Eating the same, day in and day out throughout the year, will only work well for those who live in more temperate climates.

Eating local and in season for a year, and forward, will alone improve and maintain ones health greatly. Foraging wild, local, in season, foods may help too; If you do this, do not harm the wild producing plant, say a prayer of thanks, and be mindful to replant\scatter the seed in or near where you harvested on future trip\hike.