To Be or Not To Be Organic?

There's a lot of controversy about whether or not we should "waste" our money buying organic produce. There will always be controversy when one group of people are losing money while another group is thriving. It seems like we are all so lost in our little world that there is no room for anyone else to be successful especially if it is at our expense.

Well, sure, survival of the fittest, and all that, right? We are all born with the instinct to survive no matter the cost to others, right? My personal belief is that we are put on earth not so much to live on our instincts but to actually see if we will live a higher law that prepares us for the life we live after this one.

Example: when we are growing up, our sibling slugs us. Instinct dictates that we slug back. Yet, we have a higher law that says we are to turn the other cheek and walk away. If someone needs our coat, survival mode tells us, "No, I need it for myself so that I don't freeze." A higher law says to not only give him the coat but offer other articles of clothing that he might need as well to help him be more comfortable in the coming freeze. So, where does that leave us? Coatless and with a few bruises where we have let people smack us around, yes? We are told that if we do these things (turn the other cheek and look out for the welfare of others over our own needs) things will go better for us in the life to come than if we simply choose to follow our survival instincts. Certainly an amazing amount of faith in the hereafter is required for us to live the golden rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Whether a person believes that eternal rewards are dependent upon the choices made here in mortality or not, one cannot live a life of service without learning that realizing that we are happier when we try to reach outside ourselves. Those who are most miserable are those who so self-absorbed as to think the world revolves around them. In fact, it has been suggested that when we feel most put-upon, we should find someone we can help.

So, lest the reader think I am again rambling, what does all this have to do with whether or not we should be buying organic fruits and vegetables?

Once upon a time in a land not so very far away, humans ate what they could find growing on trees and in the ground. All of their effort every day of their lives was spent searching for the calories needed to sustain their lives. No thought went into the nutritional value of the foods they were eating, and I'm sure they found that a mango satisfied them more than a handful of dandelion greens. Yet, hopefully he knew instintively that he needed a few of the green (not calorically dense) foods to sustain his life as well.

Of course all food was "organic" in the sense that it had not been chemically treated in any way. Once man started domesticating his food (i.e. growing it himself instead of depending upon what could be found in the forest and field), he soon learned he had to move frequently as the soil would not continue to produce food in the same place over and over again. At some point, he learned that he could enrich the soil in a variety of ways and moving to another piece of property every couple of seasons would not be necessary. He learned to emulate nature as she prepares her seed beds for their constant replanting: mulch them well, allow spent crops to go back into the soil, and plant cover crops so the soil does not lie fallow in its "off season".

Still there was no chemical manipulation of the crops. While there was work required to accomplish the enrichment methods, healthy strong crops resulted with no need for supplementation. What about insect and fungus control? The farmer knew a certain percentage of his crop would be lost to the natural elements of nature and planted accordingly.

Later, (when chemical warfare was being discovered during the World War I and II period and there was an excess of chemicals when the wars were over) men determined that plants would grow if fed man-made nutrients. In fact, they would grow faster and give greater yields. ("Yields" refers to the amount of a crop that is produced on a given amount of land - usually an acre.) While they were at it, they determined that pests could be killed and further increase the yields. The motivation for these "improvements" was profit margins, not nutrition.

Prior to the beginning of the industrial revolution (around the turn of the 20th century), most people grew their own food. Those who did not, like a fur trader or a lumberjack, used their skills to barter for food. Once men started to leave their farms to work in the "city" where factories were being built, providing food for people became its own industry. Talk about the ideal "get rich quick scheme"! Everybody's got to eat!

The name of the game became "cheap" "fast" food. No longer were nutrients important. We had reverted back to our original "hunter/gatherer" instinctive survival mode. We lost sight of what the land had given us maybe because we had never appreciated how much it had contributed to our well-being. Lately we are beginning to realize that we gave up a lot more than just hard work when we gave up the family farm.

While we concede that chemicals grow more vegetables faster, can we not also admit that something has been lost in this process? I have grown fruits and vegetables organically for over 30 years. It is not easy. It is not a job for someone looking for a fast buck. Why do we bother?

There are a lot of people a lot smarter than I am finding out there are a lot of scientific reasons why organically grown food is better for us. I am sure there will be many more discoveries about this in the years to come.


I recently heard a discussion on a popular talk show where the host said we all need to buy more organic food so that the cost can come down and make it more affordable for everyone. I think the thing most people don't understand about this is that organic food doesn't necessarily have an inflated price tag on it. (I know there are inscrupulous marketeers out there who will disprove that statement, but I am referring to the true farmers who are growing food organically because they believe that they are doing the right thing.) The problem is that we have been paying so little of what food should cost that in contrast organic food seems to be overpriced.

An example is a double cheeseburger at McDonalds. How in the world can you tell me that 1/5 of a pound of cow musculature PLUS her milk needed to make 2 slices of cheese PLUS a few incidental condiments can cost $1? They are still paying butchers and cheesemakers, and there's the crewmen necessary to actually grill the meat and the cashier required to take your order and package it up for you. It is intentionally "deflated" for reasons not entirely aparent at first sight. (Please watch Food, Inc. for a great explanation for how this works.)

So, why does a box of organically grown strawberries cost $4.50? Anyone who has ever tried to grow their own food has a better appreciation for why it costs as much as it does. My best advice to everyone is to grow organically what food you can, and buy what you cannot grow from those who do it organically.

So what happens everytime we buy a fruit or vegetable grown by conventional methods? We'll take the "better for your body" argument out of it. We all have the "Walmart" mentality that cheaper is better; when will we learn that this is not necessarily true?

What it boils down to is conscious eating. Do we think about what went into the food we are putting into our mouths? One of the reasons so many people are becoming vegans is because they ARE thinking about it in terms of the flesh products they previously enjoyed.

Let's think about it in terms of the produce we consume as well. Do we want man-made chemicals and pesticides in our bodies, or do we want nutrients provided by nature in perfect harmony with our needs? Every dollar we spend sends a message. Do we want 10 peppers for $1 that are grown on lifeless soil that are sprayed with poison to increase the yield on a subsidized farm with unfair wages? Are we willing to pay more for a pepper grown on a healthy soil by a farmer that is not government subsidized that is paying a fair wage to his workers because it is the right thing to do? Are we willing to get out there in the yard and put in the hours necessary to produce a few of the things we eat every week? It is a tough question that goes far beyond how much something costs.

This week: things with zucchini! Our crop has finally come into its own and we will be enjoying lots of zucchini goodies this week. I think I'll try a zucchini hummus: 2 cups zucchini, peeled and sliced, 1 clove garlic, 4 tablespoons tahini, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon paprika, for garnish, 2 tablespoons parsley, for garnish. In a food processor with the s blade, process the zucchini, garlic, tahini, lemon juice, and olive oil until smooth. Place in a serving bowl and garnish with the paprika and parsley. Serves 4.

We've enjoyed our green spaghetti this week: shredded zucchini mixed with queso verde and marinated broccoli. Marinated mushrooms are good with this, and we had cherry tomatoes with it too. Very delicious.

I made some buckwheat pizza crusts this week you might like: 3 cups buckwheat groats, sprouted, 2 avocados, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup fresh basil, 3 tablespoons Italian seasoning, 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 3 medium tomatoes. Grind all in a food processor until it is a paste consistency. Spread it on dehydrator sheets to dry.

We also had some caramelized onions to have on our pizzas with the queso verde and marinara sauce:

Mix 5 large onions, sliced thinly, with the following blended sauce: 1 cup pitted dates, 3 tablespoons Nama Shoyu, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1/4 cup water. Spread on dehydrator trays. This can be eaten "wet" if you want it to be like sauteed onions, or you can dry it more to make it crunchier.

Desserts this week are apple crisp, pumpkin pie, chocolate mousse layered trifle, key lime pie, and chocolate macaroons.