Is there any such thing as organic?

[johnty greentoes]

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?

[wellie]

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

[Nicos]

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????

[beefy]

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?"

[smallblueplanet]

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?"

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!

[Alice]

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.

[Lesley Jay]

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?"

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.

[bramble]

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

[Lesley Jay]

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.

[johnty greentoes]

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?"

Totally agree. Organic must take carbon into account.

[johnty greentoes]

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.

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.

[johnty greentoes]

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.

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?

[smallblueplanet]

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).

[johnty greentoes]

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).

Soya spread

[smallblueplanet]

LOL!

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