Grow Your Own Magazine

Sometimes a day spent at the allotment is time to escape into a world of birds and bees and the feint and low sunshine of late winter. But at some point I am reminded that my plot is squeezed between a chemical factory, a gasworks and a busy main road. And it is usually the chemical smells that remind me.

Which makes me wonder about my efforts to grow organically in the presence of air filled with...I don't know what.

Maybe it's my ignorance that worries me. Maybe the industrial sites pose no threat whatsoever. Maybe it's the fallout from the cars on the main road that should be my main concern. I have visited various sites to try to educate myself but don't really feel any the wiser.

As so many of our allotments sites are in towns and cities is there a way in which we can find out what pollutants may find their way into our veg?

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it's written in the wind that we're two, carved out in the sand that we're real,
it's lit up in the stars that we're true, we're destined in the sky to be glad
Paul Weller
http://johntygreentoes.blogspot.com/

johnty, I can feel a debate 'coming on' again?!
Ooh, you are a one!....

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With Love,
Wellie

Give it some....

http://hollycottagegarden.blogspot.com
BLOG UPDATED Sunday 2nd November at 19.30hrs

Of course you don't know what is in your crops unless you have a soil analysis...but rest assured, that if you personally grow organically, then it is guarenteed to be more natural and chemical free than anything bought in the supermarkets!!
A bit at a time.......

Just look at locally bottled water...highland spring....high radiation????

A famous shortbread maker from Scotland brings two 30000 litre loads of organic cream from Devon to Northern Ireland each weekend. This cream is churned to butter on a Monday morning and after a night in a coldstore is transported to Scotland the next day where it is made into shortbread biscuits. From there it is transported all over the UK to the supermarkets .

While this is "organic" and what we supposedly want, when you take into account the miles that it all travells to end up in your shopping basket I have to ask "Is this really what its all about?"

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Et tū, quis es?

Not necessarily, but I don't think that's the real point is it?

Where do ordinary shortbread manufacturers get their milk from?

I would suggest that if Scottish organic cream was available it would be used - more investment in enabling farmers to go organic is needed!

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

Lovely pic of the Hazels on your blog Johnty. I've got mine bought to plant in my kitchen garden.
I think the answer to your organic question is, no, it can never be completely organic. Some efforts are self defeating as I think they create more problems than they solve. But just because we can't do everything, doesn't mean we shouldn't do anything. I just try to be as organic as I can in my way.

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From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

At least we know that the cows are in a certified organic herd and looked after accordingly. The cream might have travelled a fair bit but the welfare of the animals producing our food is also very important.

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But, is the grass the cattle eat chemical free or is it treated to help it grow more vigorously?

Bramble the land has to be chemical free for a certain number of years for it to get the organic certification.

I know Rat has info on this.

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Totally agree. Organic must take carbon into account.

__________________
it's written in the wind that we're two, carved out in the sand that we're real,
it's lit up in the stars that we're true, we're destined in the sky to be glad
Paul Weller
http://johntygreentoes.blogspot.com/

I like the sentiment here. I follow the rule, "the greatest sin is despair" - i.e. it's important to do something against the odds if it's the right thing to do.

__________________
it's written in the wind that we're two, carved out in the sand that we're real,
it's lit up in the stars that we're true, we're destined in the sky to be glad
Paul Weller
http://johntygreentoes.blogspot.com/

LJ - but is butter truly organic if it has flown from New Zealand? It may not harm the consumer of the butter - but all that CO2?

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it's written in the wind that we're two, carved out in the sand that we're real,
it's lit up in the stars that we're true, we're destined in the sky to be glad
Paul Weller
http://johntygreentoes.blogspot.com/

JT which would you rather - butter from NZ with anti-biotics/factory farmed cows or butter from NZ from organically farmed cows?

Its sometimes a compromise - I prefer the path of least pain (at least where meat farming is concerned).

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

Soya spread

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it's written in the wind that we're two, carved out in the sand that we're real,
it's lit up in the stars that we're true, we're destined in the sky to be glad
Paul Weller
http://johntygreentoes.blogspot.com/

LOL!

I always thought I should have been a Jane! (sic)

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

Ah but is that truly organic or is it a highly processsed gloup

I personally grow against my consience for instance.

I don't use Chemical fersiliser or sprays on my veg crops. My CHrysanths however I am quite happy to use sprays on them because this is the only way I can control some Diseases (White Rust - another import from the continent) and I feed them with Chempak Fertiliser because I want/need consitency.

I do use muck on my lottie but I have no idea if the animals that it came from are pumped full of steroids & antibiotics and I am quite at ease to resort to the use of Roundup if needed.

So as you can see I try to keep to organic principle where possible but I truly believe in pragmatism.

If it's a choice between starvation & GM crops what do you think you would do if you live in Africa?

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ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

But it isn't though - although Monsanto would have you believe otherwise!

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

Don't ask Monsanto - Ask Live aid

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ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

Johnty the question was about organic British cream. We have strict organic regulations in this country. I would never buy organic from abroad.

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You would never buy organic from abroad because we have better regulations, or because it's produced so much CO2 in its travels, or both?

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it's written in the wind that we're two, carved out in the sand that we're real,
it's lit up in the stars that we're true, we're destined in the sky to be glad
Paul Weller
http://johntygreentoes.blogspot.com/

I have to be honest Johnty it is the strict regulations that we have in this country for organic produce rather than the CO2.

How can we be sure that organic produce from abroad is really organic and that they have the same strict guidelines for the care of the animals?

Non organic produce and organic produce from abroad should in my opinion be virtually banned. Lettuce and spring onions from Asia?? How bloody ridiculous!

Before anyone says about bananas, oranges and other fruits that we can't grow in quantity in this country I did say 'virtually'.

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