Market Farming

["Hook Family" <guldann AT ix.netcom.com>]

 Well great few days of interesting digests.  Can tell the growing season
responsibilities are easing.
When I read about the new USDA organic label what I mostly feel is sadness.
The square peg of organics has been ground into a cylinder and jammed into
the round hole of Ag BUSINESS.
BUT for years and years the organic growers have been saying conventional ag
must be replaced with organics to save the environment.  Well I guess we
sort of got what we wished for.  It is a good thing that thousands of acres
are now not being drentched in chemicals, more chemical free food will be
available for people to eat chemical free. But it still keeps us on the
annonymous, large food miles, cheap food mentality tread mill.
Soooooo,  for all of us for whom all our markets are local thats the niche,
in a way it was always the niche, the early organics philosophy included
that.  One could say that the word LOCAL is the brand name and in all
honesty its the taste that brings my customers back.  Of course they are
very glad it free of pesticides (very rarely even use organic ones) but its
the taste that wows them.  And while I wish I could find a study I KNOW my
very ripe and just harvested food is more nutricous just by virtue of being
eaten before it degrades.  I think my customers KNOW that as well.

I am never going to go international or even interstate so I have the face
to face advantage.  My new market is a little coop.  They too are very glad
the food is pesticide free but they are equally glad its local.
They were low on eggs and requested I bring some in.  I brought in a huge
amount, 2 dozen :).
She said something about organic and I said they are not, but I said I
brought in a little sign.  I printed out a sheet of little pictures of my
acutal chickens, a couple were when they were chicks, one was eggs in the
nest box (with a golf ball, wonder if anyone will notice).
I typed a cutsie description something like we are Green Hill Farms chickens
happy to bring you eggs this week, we live cage free in a normal flock
dynamic (rooster and hens) we range in age from 7 months to 4 years.  FYI
wrote on most conventional farms hens only live one year. I signed their
names they all have names.  I was going for the humane animal respect niche
:).  But its true I really have such few chickens because one thats all I
want to deal with and two I like keeping them for years. I am afraid I think
of them as pets, sorry very not business like of me :). So we tagged them
the same price as all the rest and we'll see.

I think I am going to print up something about the new regs and how they are
good and not good and how the public should still buy organics but they need
to when at all possible look for LOCAL.

Oh well guess I'll just keep growing and weeding and yacking to customers
Beth