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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Organic delusions

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  • From: "J Bailey" <jbmail@isomedia.com>
  • To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Organic delusions
  • Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 20:52:57 -0700

A lot of areas you'd think were rural (as in farming) are really poor in local produce. I found a similar situation in Eastern WA. Crummy farmer's market (mostly crafts). no local growing tradition, and walmart being the closest, cheapest option for folks. It was horrible.

My new home that we carefully researched for it's nice mix of rural & city, has a huge buy local movement http://www.sconnect.org/ . The farmer's market has been going strong for over 10 years and the city just invested in a covered area for more booths & year round sales. There is a pretty good push to educate people in the differences between organic & beyond organic. And also that local can be better than organic if you have to choose. Our co-op is opening a second store soon, and they sell local as much as possible, with items labelled as to origin.

My house happens to be located within a few miles of most of the "real" organic growers in the county, so I can buy at the co-op, the Saturday market, or right from the farm. The main mono-culture crops here are berry & dairy, otherwise most the the agriculture is small organic/niche farms, and the population seems to appreciate it.

I wish everyone could live in a place like this. Not that there aren't issues and problems, but there is a big headstart on sustainable culture here that people encourage and nurture.

--Joanna of Seven Trees
http://seventrees.blogspot.com/

----- Original Message ----- From: "Laura McKenzie" <laurabrownmckenzie@worldnet.att.net>
To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, June 12, 2006 7:03 PM
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Organic delusions


Dedicated organic consumers tend to buy locally and not at Walmart so the
niche Walmart thinks it is going to corner will be a shaky one at best.
Families thinking about buying organic and who see no problem with buying
from Walmart might be tempted to buy organic but I don't think they will do
so on a regular basis. I agree too that organic standards are going to be
diluted to drive down prices and this will probably happen soon. Then
dedicated organic consumers will be even more driven to buy locally where
they can see how their food is grown and *not* buy from Walmart.

As more people try organic at Walmart stores I wonder if they will be
inspired to learn more. If consumers are better educated, buying locally
will seem quite reasonable to most of them.

You all, one thing to keep in mind is that many people are in a situation
like mine. I live in a rural area of Alabama that is in transition to being
"a quaint place to live...". McMansions are sprouting up and forest and
field are disappearing. We're set to lose another 400 acres along a
pristine creek in a few months to 800 dwellings. I must travel 34 miles to
buy "locally" grown produce. This farmer's market is "upscale" where
tomatoes (not organic) are sold at a dollar each and half a pound of
blueberries go for $8. Another farmer's market is 40 miles away. Most
people selling at that market are actually re-sellers and their produce is
poor. I can travel 4 miles to a very very small grocery to pay about 140%
the normal price on most foods with not one organic anything or locally
grown anything on the shelf or I can travel 8 miles to buy Walmart food.

We tried to start a farmer's market here. Everything the farmers brought
was bought with the exception being the people who brought mostly bushels of
yellow squash. Still the farmers did not return and the market fell apart.
NONE were organic.

For some reason there is a perception in my area that it is impossible
(IMPOSSIBLE) to grow organic. Because I'm still working very hard to make
my gardens decent due to very poor soil, I have been able to do little to
change that perception. Hopefully this season or next I can change that
perception. I'm making steady gains : )


<>`` ><>`` ><>`` ><>`` ><>`` ><>`` ><>``
Laura's Homeschooling, Garden, and Genealogy Site
is found here: http://home.att.net/~ekyorigins
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