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Growing Organic Food for the Masses

Before I begin: here are some snippets from the World Health Organization (WHO) — which I’m not a fan of citing due to their funding from billionaires and giant corporations, which impact the research and TRUTH of what they recommend (agendas being pushed.) But seeing as even the WHO admits and is “concerned” (to say the least) about pesticide use, I figured it’s helpful to share.

The most aggravating thing is that even though the WHO acknowledges this and wants to change it, they still don’t speak of an ACTUAL solution. They dilly daddle, for fear of ruffling feathers, and simply don’t state what we.actually.need.to.do.


We live in a broken food system. There have been a lot of mistakes, fatal mistakes, and it’s infuriating because even though the evidence is point blank in our faces, they aren’t ready to talk about ACTUAL changes that need to be made. They speak only of solutions that keep the system running… they aren’t willing to change the system's structure or society for the greater good. In my eyes, short-term “pain” or “suffering” (from profound changes we need to make) would amass to long-term gain. But people are selfish and only care about the NOW. Because now = them.


Ok, read on, bear with me, and I hope you walk away more aware and ready to change your life if you haven’t already!

Source:

  • Pesticides are potentially toxic to humans and can have both acute and chronic health effects, depending on the quantity and ways in which a person is exposed.

  • People who face the greatest health risks from exposure to pesticides are those who come into contact with them at work, in their home or garden.

There are more than 1000 pesticides used around the world to ensure food is not damaged or destroyed by pests. Each pesticide has different properties and toxicological effects.

Many older, less costly (off-patent) pesticides, such as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and lindane, can remain for years in soil and water. These chemicals have been banned by countries which signed the 2001 Stockholm Convention, an international treaty that aims to eliminate or restrict the production and use of persistent organic pollutants.”


“As well, the disadvantages of pesticide use are significant. They include domestic animal contaminations and deaths, loss of natural antagonists to pests, pesticide resistance, Honeybee and pollination decline, losses to adjacent crops, fishery and bird losses, and groundwater contamination.”


AND SO I BEGIN.

As we learn, we love to share. Gabriel and I have been discussing the topic of “organic” for years now, and Gabriel suspected a little foul play/wool being pulled over his eyes.

Gabriel started wondering how big chains like Lidl, Waitrose, Woolworths, <<insert large supermarket chain in your country>> can keep up the demand for organic food to feed the masses. He began wondering because as we started our food-growing journey, he realised that organic food is harder to grow and delivers much lower yields than food that has been “protected” and treated with synthetic/toxic chemicals and fertilisers. One look at what our neighbours harvested versus us was evidence enough!

And on top of that, he realised he wasn’t growing “organic” food… Organic food STILL uses pesticides and herbicides, albeit “approved” by the higher powers.

Gabriel wasn’t even using “organic certified” pesticides or herbicides. He just planted the seeds, watered them, and let them grow. We jokingly called our food “bareback veg.” We didn’t know if there was a name for it.

When you grow bareback food, it is more at risk of being damaged by the natural elements (bugs, drought, frost, weeds.)

When you grow organic certified food, you are a little better off because you are allowed to use pesticides and herbicides that are classified as safe and biodegradable. So, you will most likely receive better yields than the “bareback” approach.

I suppose “truly organic” is the best line to use for us, hey.


You can scroll to the bottom to read definitions and descriptions of farming methods for your understanding and knowledge.


Now, without pepping on for too long… I want to share what I recently learned, confirming Gabriel’s suspicions.


I learned this while researching for my side job, a “regenerative agriculture and biodynamic” farm in Utah, USA. I learned that the farmher (yes, spelled farm-her on purpose!) Sierra didn’t advertise selling organic produce from her market garden. I asked why, as it’s a fantastic selling point! Anyone with half an ounce of knowledge knows that organic produce is what we need to advocate for through our everyday actions, such as where we spend our money (vote with your fork, etc. etc.!)

And Sierra led on to tell me that she uses growing and farming practices from Regenerative Agriculture and Biodynamic farming methods, which led me down a rabbit hole of research. I learned that Gabriel and I were farming KIND of along those lines… albeit we needed to ditch the “ploughing” and “tilling” — practices which are SO damaging to our soils (and without healthy soils, we have no food, we can’t GROW food…)


Side note: Before starting our growing journey, before we “returned to the roots”, Gabriel read a book by Sepp Holzer about permaculture and, from that, is doing his best to apply permaculture methods, although not 100% as we are still on his mothers land, who naturally has a fear of “not having enough”, (a tough life lived, and naturally she feels safer using chemicals and ploughing practices to ensure a good yield of food.) Gabriel put an end to chemicals and 50% of the ploughing but hasn’t figured out the best way to stop it altogether without losing too much yield. Once moved onto our land, on The Hill, he can engage 110%. I digress.


This is a vast topic, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep this short and peppy! Why am I trying to anyway? Most likely due to the lessened attention span of everyone globally, and I am concerned about getting the message across, at least to my loved ones, before they “time out” and press snooze on me! But guys, stay, please stay. This is super important, and if you can’t stay for me, STAY FOR SOLOMON! (My son, aka, the next generation!)

So let me share a snippet of how organic agriculture compares to regenerative agriculture and why certified organic food isn’t all it's made out to be.


For most people, organic produce is the best option available - and it is MUCH better for the health of our bodies and the planet than conventional produce; conventional produce is covered in toxic pesticides and herbicides which disrupt the microbiome of our guts as well as the microbiome of the soil… disrupts/kills… both words are true. Definition of the microbiome: the microorganisms in a particular environment (including the body or a part of the body). For example, “we depend on a vast army of microbes to stay alive: a microbiome that protects us against germs breaks down food to release energy, and produces vitamins."


What I learned is that when you're buying organic produce, you're not necessarily buying produce grown using Earth-friendly practices that properly care for the soil. In fact, organic farming can (in some cases) be just as destructive as conventional farming. This is due to MONOCULTURES. Definition: cultivating a single crop in a given area: "the replacement of natural forest with pine monoculture."

Monocultures are destructive because healthy soil needs biodiversity, like our human gut microbiome. Biodiversity means that we offer the soil (or our guts!) a range of nutrients utilising different plant species. The varieties all work in synergy to ensure a flourishing soil microbiome. If we only plant wheat, or if we only EAT wheat, the soil, and us, will end up with a host of health issues (due to nutrient deficiencies), which will lead to chronic inflammation and chronic illness. You could go as far as saying that the health of our soils is in dire straits; they are chronically inflamed and urgently need the attention of a functional medicine doctor (or the handiwork of an experienced permaculture/regenerative agriculture farmer!)


The problem is that food needs to be grown for the MASSES. Because as a collective, we’ve stopped growing and have herded ourselves into the cities in search of a “better” and more luxurious life.

Now, the Certified Organic label is awarded to producers who don't use chemicals from a particular list but say nothing about what they ARE using, how they're farming or if they're giving back to the soil. Organic agriculture has unfortunately gone down this path to be able to quickly mass produce crops with the 'organic' label. I bolded that because it’s important; they’re trying to feed the masses, who are working within the “system”, unable to grow their food and living in high-rise buildings and contributing to the country's economy by means of systemic jobs.


And what’s more, becoming and maintaining a 'Certified Organic' label is a rigorous and costly process involving annual testing, auditing, reviewing and approvals. This is another reason why Sierra avoided the official labelling process, as she felt it was another way to be controlled and exploited by the government.

Our current state of organic agriculture is closest to a sustainable model where ecosystems are not being destroyed, but they're not being healed or regenerated either. However, the organic label really doesn't specify how the land is being treated. So a farm can be certified organic but still be abusing the soil and desertifying land so that it's no longer able to sustain life - a degenerative and very unsustainable and destructive practice.

My SOLUTION, which of course is founded through Gabriel, so OUR solution, as we try and solve all of the world's problems during pillow talk at night… Our solution is, of course, you guessed it, a Back to the Roots approach to life. A little bit more hands-on-living vibes and less complaining about the chipping of perfectly manicured nails: it’s nuts to think that we are all born human, and within a milli of a second, our psyches are being shaped and conditioned into being a ‘certain someone’. But if we strip back the masks and peel the onions to our cores, we will find we are all just human, all capable of living joyfully, harmlessly, and equally. (And yesss I know being equal isn’t fair because some of us are lazy, deceitful and decided on living on vices rather than virtues… but if from birth we were shown the proper way, the true way, it would be close to impossible to want to be anyone but helpful to the collective.)

Back to conventional agriculture, the farmers aren’t to blame here. Conventional agriculture (food being grown and doused in toxic chemicals and fertilisers) are due to today’s profit-driven corporations and the under-supported farmers' need to increase crop production consistently. Since the industrial revolution, we have intensified the harmful practices of deforestation and the nurturing of selected animals and plants on land that result in the removal of ecosystems and biodiversity. And remember, we need diversity not only to thrive but to live!

Unfortunately, many farmers have only ever been taught practices such as over-tilling and buying chemicals that promise increased production. Many think that they are doing the right thing or that it is the only affordable option if they want their farm to survive, when in fact, these are the very practices that pull them deeper into trouble and further towards destroying their soil for good.

Since the rise of cities and the urgency and desire for everyone to live in the “hubs”, food has been outsourced to grow, resulting in the devastation that we know today.


In a dream world, if we all went back to smaller communities and left the overcrowded cities, and relearned lost skills like growing food, shoe making, seamstressing etc. etc., we’d abandon many of the current issues we now face.

But focusing on food, it isn’t meant to be grown on such a large scale, or at least it isn’t in ONE spot with one crop (monocultures.) If we went back to growing in our backyards and growing a diverse food garden while learning about soil and regeneration as we go… if if if.



We are supposed to know what it’s like to only eat berries in summer and pumpkins in autumn…. In contrast, now we ship avocados from Mexico and bananas from Colombia… instead of just being okay with the fact that they’re not in season. We demand too much.


Our departure from seasonal eating applies to all areas of our lives. If we don’t eat seasonally, we certainly aren’t living seasonally either, burning the candle 365 days per year, never stopping to rest, revive, and survive.


As well, please remember I share as I learn! I haven’t been eating seasonally. But in the last few months, I’ve been dropping away my “extras” (silly superfood powders from other countries and fruits out of season.) And I know I am also in a great position to live what I preach, given that we are attempting to grow most of our food and preserve it for the winter months, too… (meaning, I CAN have berries, but in frozen or compot form!)

So, one solution for you at home is to eat locally and seasonally. In Australia, do we really need to order acai berries from Brazil, or can we stick to Kakadu plums from Western Australia? Here are links to seasonal food guides in Australia, America, the UK, and Eastern Europe.


Seasonal good guides for your convenience.


I digress. Eating seasonally is another topic for another time.

When money and power drive action, you will find harmful and vice-full behaviour at the helm. Being rich is addictive and expensive, mind you. The richer you get, the more you need to protect your riches! But that’s why we are so sick-minded. WE. I am not excluding myself! I tell myself that I want more money to set myself up to how I see perfectly and then, once that’s done, more money to try and help the world. But why isn’t enough enough? Why can’t I live peacefully with just enough? I go back and forth, back and forth. Mark Twain says that a sleepy conscience is a peaceful one, and I do agree. Mine isn’t peaceful at all!


Now that I’ve shared my bit about organic agriculture, you probably wonder what to do with the information.

Well, firstly, remember that organic still is better than conventional. And, if you visit your local farmers' markets (a delightful activity to be doing!), it’s a good idea to chat with each farmer and ask if they grow conventionally or organically (or regeneratively!) — because like Sierra, they may be organic without advertising. #Trulyorganic or #betterthanorganic is what it is!


And another point is not to blame the farmers, as hey, at least they’re growing! They’re ahead of you if you’re buying. But it’s to gently plant seeds of change, showing that people are learning about the destruction of conventional agriculture and the importance of changing it.

And it can’t all lay on the farmers either; in reality, as we’ve learned, it’s unsustainable to grow for the masses — which means the masses need to know to grow too.

I have provided links to informative and inspiring movies below, which I highly recommend viewing.

We need to “check” ourselves a little bit. Stop demanding so much. Start taking more personal responsibility and begin thinking for the next generation, so they won’t look back and blame us for our lack of foresight and care.


I’ll end it here for today. Please add your two cents below, your shared knowledge or ask some questions! Happy to converse.


Until next time,

Ally (and my darling Gabriel!)

Some definitions of farming methods for your convenience:


Regenerative agriculture is a healthy and sustainable farming practice that benefits the Earth and helps reverse climate change by healing ecosystems and replenishing soils as we farm.

Biodynamic production is today's best option, which operates closest to regenerative practices. Biodynamic produce is automatically organic but also looks after the land and ecosystems with its practices.

Organic (as it is today) is a label for produce that doesn't use a particular list of chemicals but does not govern what products ARE used, how the food is grown or if the land/soils are looked after. Organic produce is much better than conventional produce, but it does not mean it is grown sustainably.

Conventional farming uses seeds that have been genetically altered using a variety of traditional breeding methods, excluding biotechnology and are not certified as organic. Conventional farming uses chemical fertilisers to promote plant growth, while organic agriculture employs manure and compost to fertilise the soil. Conventional farming sprays pesticides to eliminate pests, while organic farmers turn to insects and birds, mating disruption, or traps.




 
 
 

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