organic Ohio

Submitted by Susan Miller on Sun, 05/03/2009 - 08:18.

The Hot Spots for Organic Food

  • May 2, 2009 NYTimes metrics section of the business pages

The graphic linked here surprised and pleased me. I have driven through western Ohio and seen the ditches sprayed with killing herbicides. I have seen the miles of herbicide and pesticide sprayed croplands and I have read about the confined animal feeding operations in Ohio. But somehow tucked in with all these big ag operations, organic farming seems to have landed a foothold in Ohio. Take a look at the graphic linked in the NYTimes article. We have a way to go, but it is telling.

If you think that buying organic at the grocery - things such as Earthbound Farms organic meslun or purportedly organic fruit from Oregon is "the way"... imagine that your organic produce, grains and legumes might come from Ohio. We've got a way to go, but if more farmers take the leap, in three years, we could be as densely organic as Vermont, Maine or Wisconsin. Imagine an organic urban food revolution where demand drives supply in Cleveland. Three years from now, thousands of local organic urban growers transforming Cleveland into orchards, vineyards, vegetable beds, grain fields... Hmm... "Cleveland gets a perm" (Cleveland gets permacultured).

There's a bright golden haze on the meadow,
There's a bright golden haze on the meadow,
The corn is as high as an elephant's eye,
An' it looks like it's climbin' clear up to the sky.

All the sounds of the earth are like music,
All the sounds of the earth are like music,
The breeze is so busy it don't miss a tree,
And a ol' weepin' willer is laughin' at me!

Oh, what a beautiful mornin',
Oh, what a beautiful day,
I got a beautiful feelin'
Ev'rything's goin' my way.
Oh, what a beautiful day.

Rogers and Hammerstein (abridged)

Here's something I learned from an attendant at a recent permaculture design event. Peaches grow best in Northeast Ohio because of the "heat sink" provided by the lake. I didn't get a chance to ask about this further. Does anyone out there have the science background to explain this to me. I love peaches (my mom's family grew them in Georgia). Peach orchards in Cleveland neighborhoods? Excellent! OK... could we grow figs here?

( categories: )

   I noticed a three year

Submitted by None on Sun, 05/03/2009 - 11:42.

 

 I noticed a three year waiting list to gain organic certification from the Department of Agriculture. I really want to know that what is being called Organic, is organic, it would be very detrimental to have that certification questioned or discounted. That could happen.... 

I have yet to go over the content of this, asking what are the standards?

www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB

 

 100% natural and organically grown is gaining popularity, which make it trendy and that’s profitable. So many will look for opportunities to cheat. There have been incidences recently of claims to be kosher by food processors that are not.

You know we do not have prisons for fakers and liars, fines though and penalties, then you get into cheating makes more money even when you get caught.

That's why we have to read the laws and read between the lines as well, holes are hard to see. 

. It’s all about personal honesty and integrity. There are people that will say, “just tell them it is and how would they know” If you had a farm next door who is it that ensures what they do is safe? Or who makes sure what they claim is true?

That is why we should see what they buy and then what they sell, if the organic farm is selling much more than his counterpart, are they or do they have an account with suppliers that sell products that uses violate organics. There are also metrics on labor costs to production that would signal unfair labor.

You see it yet, tier one banking> primary account>agriculture

Money in an money out, organic agriculture today can be linked to non-organic products. It is all about purchasing accounts linked to revenue accounts and making infeasible to do it. Accountancy of who sell what and who buys it.

 

That is a term I made

Submitted by None on Sun, 05/03/2009 - 18:43.

That is a term I made up “tier one banking“, it has nothing to do with tier one capital.

It would be the functional separation of transactions from the leveraging and investing of a capital.

Primary accounts that everything would pass through, direct deposit and direct withdrawals. An biased system that’s operating revenue would be derived from transaction fees. Personal and commercial as well as public registries, that would describe in detail were the money comes from and were it goes.

The current processes of ratings and accountancy are inherently corrupt and biased.

A standardized system that everyone would use, money in and money out.

Figs

Submitted by Tremont Farmers... on Sat, 06/06/2009 - 21:12.

Susan, I live in Euclid, and have had a fig in the ground, unprotected for about 6 years.  Some years the top dies back more than others, this past year, most died back, but the roots have stayed alive, and it is now sprouting beautiful new leaves.  It is tucked in a nook, a bit sheltered from the wind, and right up next to the house, so it gains warmth from the brick.  Many have grown figs in colder climates and protected them by either wrapping them in burlap, or, believe it or not, bending the whole tops over and burying them in soil for protection for the winter.  I get at least several large handfuls of yummy figs most summers.