It seems everywhere you go now farmers markets, green grocers, supermarkets etc are all offering organic produce. The industry is huge, and that is because people these days are far more concerned with how their food is grown, transported and stored. For the purpose of this article, I will be talking about fruit and veggies, and not meat.
I was asked last week is my produce organic? The short answer is ‘no’, the longer answer is ‘depends on your point of view’. Organic is defined in the dictionary as relating to or derived from living matter, (of food or farming methods) produced or involving production without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or other artificial chemicals.
The Certified Organic definition is that 95% of all ingredients must be organic sourced from a certified organic supplier, with the remaining 5% all natural and allowed as defined by the Organic Standard. To be certified organic you must be registered and pass annual strict audits, which look at the methods and products you use to grow your produce.
So, by that definition, no I am not an organic gardener. I do however try and be as organic as possible, that is I do not spray with any chemicals that are artificially or chemically made, I only use natural mixtures such as chili mixed with garlic etc to control bugs, I don’t use grow lights, I do however start my winter seedlings in a small sheltered warmer position, to get a head start on the last frost. I used to crop rotate, but lately I have been getting into companion planting.
I guess a more fitting title would be ‘ Almost Natural’, that is food grown in a manner that is as close to possible as it grows in nature. This is not entirely accurate, because there needs to be an enormous amount of human input, creating the gardens, preparing the soil, sowing the seeds etc, but if you take all of that into consideration, I try to let the plants do their own work and I don’t like altering where I don’t need to.
Another method which his very popular and productive is to graft your fruit trees onto rootstock, I do it and it is done everywhere throughout the gardening world, but that is another example of altering the natural state of the plant.
Why is Organic so popular?
There are many reasons, it may be the popular belief that the less you alter, or synthesize the growing process, the more nutritious and better for you the final product is. This seems to make a lot of sense, there are a growing number of health conscience people who want pesticide and chemical free food, as they believe it can be linked to allergies, and even sever health problems in newborns, and complications later in life.
Some farming methods are indeed unsustainable, it is estimated that we have lost half of the worlds topsoil in the last 150 years, and a lot of this is to do with modern agriculture. The rise in popularity of organic and natural farming will hopefully start to reverse this trend. I think it is very important to know where your food comes from and how it was made. I am teaching my kids all about it, I don’t want them to think it grows pre packaged on a shelf, I want them to see the love and time that it takes to grow that one apple/sweet corn/carrot etc.
Organic is not only popular with the health conscience and environmentally aware, many parents, teenagers, kids and grandparents want to eat this way, and a lot of your grandparents did. I personally think that’s a good thing.
But is Natural just as good?
Again it depends on your point of view. One of the most important factors for me is ‘local’, how far has the food had to travel to get to your plate? Urban gardening is on the comeback, and I would hope that the majority of urban gardeners out there are doing it as natural as possible. I’m not advocating avoiding farmers markets or green grocers, I think they are needed, and the farmers need our support, but the more food you can grow yourself, the better for you and your family, the environment and your bank account.
I would say the answer lies somewhere in the middle, try and grow your food as organically as you can, this will in turn lead to it being very natural. Don’t worry too much if you need to cut some corners, there’s no rule that states you must harvest your own seeds yourself, if you don’t have enough time or resources, why not try swap some excess fruit for some of your neighbours new tomato seeds? Or trade some rosemary for some strawberries.
Food swaps are an amazing way to meet like minded gardeners in your area. Each year I grow more food than we need (sometimes deliberately sometimes due to a bumper crop) so giving it out to friends and family is fine, but there are a certain number of plants I struggle with every year, like blueberries, I have had no luck at all, but my sage and rhubarb are plentiful, I’m sure I could find someone who has the opposite problem and trade them.
One could argue that due to the very strict rules on what is labeled organic, and the far more relaxed rules on what is labeled natural, would mean that organic is a much safer bet. This may have some truth in a commercial sense, but if you have grown the produce yourself, you will know exactly what has and has not gone into it, so natural can be just as good as organic in many situations.