Another Disappointment and Another Opportunity!
I just learned something I never know before. Did you know that Certified Organic Fruits and Vegetables are sprayed or dipped in chlorine to disinfect them? I don’t buy or eat conventionally grown food, if and when I can help it. I always buy organic seed to grow, for some of the same reasons. I believe organic is better for the environment and also for us, but in the case of seeds, they are hardier. Most plant seeds are grown in spoiled rotten conditions. They are babied to produce the highest number of seeds from each plant that is possible. Organically raised plants are not babied, they are grown in harsher, real world conditions. They are selected to survive the conditions they will encounter as organically grown plants, you know, exposed to pests, fungi, dense planting to reduce weeds, realistic amounts of water. Real world conditions.
But what is the journey that brings these organic, nutrient dense, powerhouses to the stores. It is a story full of romance and sadness. I have become disillusioned with organics and the more I know the more unhappy I am to pay the premium prices. Let me start my rant by saying that they are better for the environment since they are grown without all the “cides”: pesticide, herbicide, fungicide that lead to genocide. That is a good thing. Also, let’s not forget the organics are not allowed to be GMO’s. For me, that is huge. I have never consented to being a lab rat.
But my disillusion has been born from other issues surrounding organics. I have never liked that organics have chased the money and followed the conventional market in lock step with imported, out of season foods. For all that might be saved without the “cides”, is negated by the fossil-fuels needs to grow and harvest on a mega scale, truck, ship and train the food all over the plant. And if the food is out of season, no worries, it’s summer someplace all the time.
And today, when I discovered that Certified Organic fruit and vegetables are disinfected with chlorine or another approved chemical, I feel I am nearing the end of a tortured relationship. I am not going to throw the Certified Organic chlorinated lettuce out with the e.Coli, but this has really forced me to gear-up my game. Next summer I am going to start growing our food with a passion and energy I have not exerted.
Windkist Ranch 