I don't buy a lot of organic food.  If I do it's from small farmers in my area and typically they're not even certified organic.  I've been deceived too many times to trust the label... most of it is simply marketing anyway.  And the thing that just adds to the lie for me is that I find a whole lot more "organic food" is from California... I live in Maryland and we have lots of farms here and in nearby Virginia and Pennsylvania, so I'm a little confused about why they trucked it so far if they really care about the health of people and the environment.  Anybody?

I refuse to pay $5 for a gallon of Horizon "organic" milk when they use the exact same feedlot practices as Borden milk producers at $3 per gallon.  I care about organics, but I refuse to pay for a lie.  The label means nothing to me anymore so I just try to grow as much food as I can at home, support my local small farmers, and buy what I need from the grocery store to fill in all the gaps, carefully checking the ingredients on the package.
 
Don't missunderstand me... I'm just a regular gal trying to make balanced decisions about the health of my household, the health of the environment, and the health of my pocketbook.  I do believe in the Organic Ethos and raise my animals and vegetables without chemicals, such as antibiotics and pesticides, in a humane and environmentally responsible way.  I believe that Food Security is as important here in the U.S. as it is in Africa, I care about Fair Trade, I cheerlead for Eating Locally, and support having a Sustainable Table.  And, by the way, I also live in the real world; yeah... holy cow.  And I need to square it all based on what's right for me.  I'm not the Krazy Organic Lady nor am I gonna judge you for your choices.  Shoot... I have to make my own choices at the grocery store and some of them might surprise you.  But I do want to know what's going on around me, how it affects me, and how my actions impact the planet so that my choices are informed. 

Oh yeah... and I want truth in labeling, please.  I think some folks don't educate themselves because the truth is scary and their entire propaganda house of cards will fall down.  A lot of people never look into the difference between "all natural" and "organic" (a world of difference when you're dealing with large agribusiness) or, for that matter, what "organic" really means to the specific food product they're consuming.  They heard on a commercial about just how good company X's product was for them.  Well, I do understand the organic ethos and if I'm gonna spend the extra money on the "organic" label I want that label to be true... kind of a reasonable request, don'cha think?

Ok... so the catalyst for my post today is that I saw a few interesting milk alternative products at the store recently.  While it's true that I don't need any more kinds of milk (I currently have both whole goat and cow milk in the fridge right now) but I like to look.  Something I'd never heard of before was Oatmilk and I was suddenly interested in the wonderful whole oat properties I could add to my diet. I don't do soy milk and find almond milk to be much too sweet for my taste but I wanted to give this Oatmilk a try.  The first thing I looked at was the ingredient label and while I was inspecting the high sugar content (19g!), I also saw a prominently displayed logo and annotation indubitably pronouncing every Pacific Natural Food product as guaranteed to be "certified to the source".  Interesting... note to self: research this claim.

I tried the Oatmilk and I really enjoyed it... it's tasty stuff.  It has only a very subtle grittiness, it's not thick or cloying and it's not much sweeter than regular milk.  It's never gonna be mistaken for real milk but that's fine because didn't plan on replacing my real milk.  I also liked the packaging: it's minimal, totally opaque, easily collapsable but sturdy enough that I can get at least one or two more use out of it for re-purposing around the farmstead. 

So now I know I like it.  It does come all the way from Tualatin, OR tho... hmmmm.  Well, this is when I do a little research to find out more about the company and their organic "certified to the source" labeling...

Now I just told you that I don't exclusively buy organic, so why do I care?  Because they're making a claim - they're making a promise.  I care that there are moms and dads out there who are worried about GMO's and OP's in their kid's food.  I'm raising a lot of my own food, not everyone can.

Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.  I'm so disappointed in you, Pacific Natural Foods.  Cornucopia.org gives you zero beans on their scorecard because you refuse to share your independent sourcing.  Why?  It means they'll just dig deeper and that's when we all find out that your labeling is just a big fat lie... I might have purchased your products in the future except that now I sort of have a problem with your crappy attitude.  

*sigh* China?... Really??

In the words of ol' Kin Hubbard, "Honesty pays, but it don't seem to pay enough to suit some people."

This kinda makes me question Oregon Tilth, they're the Organic Certifier for PNF.  The first sentence on their sites certification page claims that Oregon Tilth Certified Organic is a "...symbol of organic integrity. OTCO provides a system that combines strict production standards, on-site inspections, and legally binding contracts to protect the producers and buyers of organic products."  I see their name on several organic products at the grocery store so that's got me narrowing my eyes at everything even more than before.  Hmmmm... Grandma used to say that when you lay down with dogs you get up with fleas. 

Well, I'll get off my soapbox for now.  As a parting gift to the folks who made it through this entire post, I offer the Conupocia Institutes' most recent newsletter.  I believe that as long as you stay educated you can make informed choices - whatever they may be._
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This Newsletter from the Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin based Organic watchdog group, will empower consumers and wholesale buyers who want to invest their food dollars to protect hard-working family farmers. 

Federal law requires that organic food products be produced in ways that promote ecological sustainability, without the toxic inputs and genetically engineered ingredients that are  common in the conventional food system. Increasingly, these organic products are forced to compete with products that claim to be “natural.”

No requirements or restrictions exist for foods labeled “natural.” The term often constitutes nothing more than meaningless marketing hype promoted by corporate interests seeking to cash in on the consumer desire for food produced in a genuinely sustainable manner.

Unlike the organic label, no government agency, certification group, or other independent entity defines the term “natural” on processed food packages or ensures that the claim has merit.

The Cornucopia Institute’s latest report, Cereal Crimes: A Look Down the Cereal and Granola Aisle How “Natural” Claims Deceive Consumers and Undermine the Organic Label explores this growing trend of labeling conventional foods as “natural,” focusing on breakfast cereal and granola. (Watch the video)

Companies use various strategies to create the illusion of equivalence... Read More
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Yeah, I march to the beat of my own drum.  {shrug} meh… it makes me interesting (or weird depending on your perspective). 

As odd as it sounds to folks who buy all their veggies at the supermarket, there was a time in my life when I did a lot of canning.  I had more time in my time then… I actually did a lot of sewing and crafting and other dorkey stuff, like square dancing.  Hmmmmm… where did all my “free” time get off to? I guess the ducks ate it.

Most folks do their canning in the oppressive heat of August because that's when the biggest portion of the fruit is ripe.  It’s a cruel trick of timing to be trapped in an already steamy kitchen with 10 boiling pots on the stove and a pressure canner hissing loudly for hours on end.  This is why I would like to build a “summer kitchen” outside where I can do the everyday grilling as well as the canning.  No sense in heating up the house that you pay good money to cool, right?

So, the reason I wasn’t canning with the rest of the country is that, while I had a million blossoms in the garden, I was terribly short on pollinators this year.  That's why there's no tomato sauce or pickled peppers or salsa or green beans put up at my house for winter {sigh}.  I had just about enough to cover some of my own meals but not all the extra I had planned and planted for.  There's always next year... guess I may need to look into raising my own bees since Monsanto is doing a bang-up job of killing all the others.

However, I do have other things that need to be put up for the winter.  My friend, George gave me a large grocery bag full of apples from his tree, which were preserved this weekend. And next month I plan to put as many chickens into Mason jars as possible so that making dinner doesn't require 24 hours of thawing a whole bird.  Some days I just can’t spare the brain bandwidth to plan more than 5 minutes in advance.  I would like  an order of convienent chicken triple grande, organic half-skinny, no-foam, low salt, without the preservatives please.

To that end, this weekend Farmer Jackie and I dusted off the old canning equipment and pulled out my boxes of jars, lids, and rings.  It was a good test run before the serious work began.  She also made 3 big pots of soups for us to freeze so that we could have healthy, hearty (and thrifty) lunches for the next couple of weeks.  MMMMMMM… made from scratch lentil, split pea, and yellow pea soups.  Yummo! 

So once the dried legumes were re-hydraded, the various soups were set on the stove to do their thing...

We got to work on cutting up George's awesome cow pasture apples
(yeah, everyone says to peel them, but I'm a peels-on kind of gal)

Then we got the jars all sterilized and lined up to be filled

Lids and rings also got some super hot sanitizing action

Filled up and ready for a hot water bath

All Done!  2 dozen+  pints of apples are yummy for my tummy...

Stored away in the basement pantry just askin' to be turned into apple dumplings...

Let's not forget the mucho yummo soups we (read: Jackie) made for weekday lunches...

Man!  We're good... LOL!
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I've been asked by folk outside of my normal "crunchy" community, "why would people buy your farm products if you're not certified organic when they can get organic products at Walmart or the supermarket?" 

That's a perfectly legitimate question and actually reminds me to put myself in an average consumers shoes.  Most of the folks I spend time with are other small farmers or conservation minded people like me (AKA "crunchy") and I forget that not everyone subscribes to Mother Earth News or has slowfoodusa.org bookmarked. 

It's true, I'm not certified organic.  The fact is, it would cost me nearly $1000 for that certification and I will never, ever sell enough surplus to justify the cost of a buzz-word endorsement from the USDA. 

I raise my animals primarily for my own consumption and enjoyment (I love those silly birds!).  I was tired of not knowing what, when and where my food was coming from and it doesn't get more local than my own backyard.  I only sell a portion of what I raise in an effort to provide my friends and neighbors with wholesome food and hopefully to offset my management cost a little.  Raising 20 vs raising 40 roasters is just about the same amount of work.  Honestly, I make no profit at all on my little side business, especially since I charge less than the big corporate organics.  My sole profit is knowing I'm doing the right thing for me, the animals I raise, and by spreading that out a tiny bit within my own community by selling at a wholesale price.  And my local demand still outpaces - by a wide margin - my ability to produce on my small scale (it's a one-woman show, for goodness sake).

Here's why other small, local farms and I have loyal customers: "Organic" in corporate agribusiness is a big.. fat.. lie.
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