What did you do in the garden today?

In the late 40's I walked behing my grandpa in his fields that he worked from start to finish with a mule. He never owned a tractor. My uncle made movies of me walking behind him as he cranked on a backpack duster filled with DDT. Vegetables had top be pretty and clean or now one would buy them. A couple of years later in another state a neighbor left a mixed up batch of liquid DDT for me to stumble upon and I drank it. Parents to me to the hospital and got my stomach pumped. Now over 70 years later consumers all to often think by paying a much higher price for vegetable labeled organic that they have not been sprayed with anything. Sad news is it just has often been spray with a new and improved insecticide approved by the same people that once approved DDT. At least one of the new ones requires a special type of respirator to be worn by the applicator. I learned a lot when I took and EPA certifications class for applicators long ago to become a certified operator and passed it but never got a license as EPA was ripping people off that wanted to do things right. There are things right now on the market that should not be allow to be used today as the toxic level it has on bees. I get riled real easy when I walk down the aisle where the box stores have it out and anyone can buy it and misuse it raking havoc on our food chain.

Absolutely true! You cannot trust the labels. Getting certified to be 'organic' is rather an exercise in loopholes.

Elliot Coleman talked about this many years ago. He was trying to get people going on an informal, self-governing group of farmers who would label their produce as "Authentically Grown". It didn't take off, but it would have been terrific.
 
Absolutely true! You cannot trust the labels. Getting certified to be 'organic' is rather an exercise in loopholes.

Elliot Coleman talked about this many years ago. He was trying to get people going on an informal, self-governing group of farmers who would label their produce as "Authentically Grown". It didn't take off, but it would have been terrific.


But what is “authentically grown”. This type of label makes me roll my eyes bc it’s a made up phrase. A living plant is authentic, it is grown…it is authentically grown no matter what chemical are or are not sprayed on it. Also, self regulation only goes so far. Yes, absolutely it would so nice if people could be trustworthy throughout the group…but, even in good wholesome (or whatever you want to call it) groups, there will be some who are a bit lazy and not as detail oriented and would not check or verify things (labels, for example), or the cash strapped one that cuts corners bc they are trying to stay afloat …etc. Then regulators stepped in. So, why did the government step in with food regulation to begin with? Bc there were hugely varying standards in food production and quality- that group did not successfully self regulate. The US has standards of identity for certain foods, and sometimes these standards have been requested by the manufacturers themselves to protect their products from cheap, low quality overseas products. Milk in US is not vegetable oil based and does not have veg oil in it, bc of regulations, but this is not true everywhere else. Etc, etc…

There is nothing wrong with some regulation, and to be organic is an exercise in paperwork for sure, with a cost associated with it for the producer. But, it’s a way for a group of consumers to know something about a product without spending an hour to research before buying a product. It’s not a perfect system by any means.

The organic maple syrup does make me scratch my head though….isn’t ALL maple syrup pretty much organic? No one is spraying their maple trees to get better production…the process is collect/boil/bottle…also seems pretty basic and “organic” but some paid the $ and filled out paperwork to be organic. Maybe there’s something I don’t know about maple trees and the syrup that could make it not organic, but that’s one product that is a bit confusing.
 
I wonder about putting a little fence around the potato plants and putting several chickens inside. Would they clean the plants for you?
It's too close to the road for me to feel comfortable letting them forage there. Plus I read online (take with a grain of salt) that chickens won't eat them

I did pick a boatload off this morning and threw them in some soapy water. I'll spray neem tonight after it cools down a bit.
 
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But what is “authentically grown”. This type of label makes me roll my eyes bc it’s a made up phrase. A living plant is authentic, it is grown…it is authentically grown no matter what chemical are or are not sprayed on it. Also, self regulation only goes so far. Yes, absolutely it would so nice if people could be trustworthy throughout the group…but, even in good wholesome (or whatever you want to call it) groups, there will be some who are a bit lazy and not as detail oriented and would not check or verify things (labels, for example), or the cash strapped one that cuts corners bc they are trying to stay afloat …etc. Then regulators stepped in. So, why did the government step in with food regulation to begin with? Bc there were hugely varying standards in food production and quality- that group did not successfully self regulate. The US has standards of identity for certain foods, and sometimes these standards have been requested by the manufacturers themselves to protect their products from cheap, low quality overseas products. Milk in US is not vegetable oil based and does not have veg oil in it, bc of regulations, but this is not true everywhere else. Etc, etc…

There is nothing wrong with some regulation, and to be organic is an exercise in paperwork for sure, with a cost associated with it for the producer. But, it’s a way for a group of consumers to know something about a product without spending an hour to research before buying a product. It’s not a perfect system by any means.

The organic maple syrup does make me scratch my head though….isn’t ALL maple syrup pretty much organic? No one is spraying their maple trees to get better production…the process is collect/boil/bottle…also seems pretty basic and “organic” but some paid the $ and filled out paperwork to be organic. Maybe there’s something I don’t know about maple trees and the syrup that could make it not organic, but that’s one product that is a bit confusing.
Yes, it IS semantics, but organic farmers are disallowed from selling 'Organic' produce without walking over and sitting under the government's umbrella.
 
Yes, it IS semantics, but organic farmers are disallowed from selling 'Organic' produce without walking over and sitting under the government's umbrella.
We, as consumers, have to do our own investigations and not rely on labels that are meaningless. DDT used to be considered "safe", too.

Consider the coatings being put on fresh produce to keep it from spoiling, Apeel:

https://drtenpenny.substack.com/p/what-they-doing-to-our-fruits-and

I can't grow everything I eat but I am trying to add my own vegetables and eggs to my diet, and avoid food of a dubious origin.
 
The Captain Jack insect spinosad powder did not kill the mosquito larvae in my test water bucket. Also, the soap ratio need to be increased, since the mosquito was able to lay their egg and not drown. I up the dawn dish soap to 1TBS to 2 gallon water and this is the only bucket out of 5 with live larvae. In addition, it was the only one with a 5 inch net cup bucket cover half way on, so I did the same thing for my other soapy buckets.
 

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