Friday, June 13, 2008

Organic or not organic, that is a question.

This is a post about why I don’t eat totally local and organic. I am committed to eating local as much as possible but my farmers market has many sellers that are conventional growers too and it seems like the organic produce is pretty scarce there. I don’t like to buy from these local conventional growers because even though it is fresher they have no one to be accountable to as far as their pesticide use. At least large veggie farmers are tested and hopefully a little more cautious in this area because there own bottom line is at stake. I know many home gardeners that never found a pesticide and herbicide they did not like and dumped them on at whim. What it boils down to is that I am just afraid to buy from these growers. I will buy from those who say they grow organically locally, if I can at all afford it (even though they are not certified because of hassle and cost). I do try to ask some questions though about their methods and if I don’t like the answer I move on. I have also stopped buying strawberries and other berries because I know these are heavily sprayed crops. Once in a while I will get organic ones but this is very rare.
I would love to be able to go to the store and buy all organic produce but because of the cost, if I did that I would not eat much and end up going back to SAD (Standard American Diet). I know that it is not the best but I believe it is much better than eating the SAD. Sometimes people have to make measured choices about what is best, sorta best, and really not good. I am not writing these posts to complain but to maybe help people navigate these issues better.
Unfortunately I will have no apples, cherries or plums on my trees this year. I planned on drying some with the dehydrator that hopefully I am getting in a week or so but looks like that is not going to happen because they all froze. Oh well, I can hope for next year as hopefully we will not have a weird late hard freeze like we did this year. I do have a large patch of blackberries that are blooming so if I get to them before the local foragers do, I will eat some fresh and dry some. YUM!
I am so looking forward to getting that dehydrator though. Thoughts of sprouted seed crackers made with all kind of flavor combinations keep dancing around in my mind. I really can’t wait. I want something dry and crunchy now!

2 comments:

Andrea said...

Hi Rosemary,

Found your site through Bunny Berry. Where is your AFTER picture? Just curious.

All the best to you,

Viv

Rosemary said...

Hi Viv,
I am going to get that picture on here as soon as able my little camera died recently. I would like to do a 'six months in' video if I can figure out how to get it on here. Thanks for stopping by.