The Dirty Dozen wake up call

[girlbug2]

How many of you have heard of EWG's yearly list of the top dozen most pesticide-contaminated foods:
http://willtaft.com/organic-food/the-dirty-dozen-of-food/

Neurotoxins!!!

I have two kids. The wake up call for me on that list was apples and strawberries, which we consume as a family in great abundance. Thankfully, we have four peach trees, so we avoid the #1 offender mostly (I am too lazy and/or cheap to spray my trees with anything, and compost doubles as good fertilizer and mulch-- so I became an organic gardener by default).

After seeing that list last week, I made a commitment to buy those items only organically from now on. I realize that there are other heavily sprayed foods not in the top dozen, but this buying organic thing is new to me and I am taking it in baby steps. My budget will get too stretched if I tried to do it all at once.

Also note there is a "Clean 15 list". A lot of the fruits on that list are tropical. It would seem that bananas, broccoli and onions are among the "cleanest", what a relief!

http://www.foodnews.org/walletguide.php

How worried are you about pesticides on your food? Any other organic gardeners out there?

 

[Flea]

Thanks for passing this on! I'd seen the Dirty Dozen list before, but it was helpful to see the list from the opposite perspective too. I used to have a veggie garden, but my current place has no patch o' dirt. That's a work in progress ... In the meantime I try to hit farmers markets as best I can.

 

[Marginal]

I have doubts that organic is automatically better. For example, one local organic farm demanded raw (untreated) water for their farm. So they were in actuality pumping pesticides, fertilizer, random prescription drugs etc straight onto their fields.

Another local farm sells produce out of their house, jammed packed with cats (and their leavings), and the veggies are prepped by soaking them in the home owner's bath tub. So I guess that's more of a buyer beware kinda thing that anything else. (Not meaning to imply that all organic veggies are soaking in some guy's bath tub at some point!)

There's also zero clinical evidence that eating organic food is in any way healthier.

 

[cdunn]

Evidence for the relative contamination of "organic" food tends to be contradictory - it highly depends on local factors. In Greece, for example, they found evidence of increased mercury content in "organically" grown grains, because of the concentrative effects of their fertilizer cycle, which included manure. Another studies in another place in Europe contradicted this, but used a slightly different fertilizer cycle.

Remember, though, that for every pesticide you take off, there's another toxin or organism that can get taken up because you're using manure for fertilizer, instead of nice, sterile materials out of the oil barrel. Collectively, it should be a question of risk balance and necessary production. ("Organic" produce yields less than commercialized farming per season.) It's a shame that those questions will likely never get asked, though.

On another note: I hate the label "Organic". What the heck am I eating, ground iron ore?

 

[girlbug2]

I'm not familiar with the specifics, but I understand the process by which a product in the USA is able to be labelled "certified organic" is very rigorous and demanding. The untreated water farmer in the above example was probably not "certified" under those conditions, regardless of his personal claims to being an organic farmer.. It's a legal term, after all.

I do agree though, there are plenty of counterarguments that Organic isn't as fantastic as it's popularly cracked up to be.

An honest look at the (very) small organic section of my supermarket shows sometimes nice produce, sometimes sad, limp specimens. The strawberries vary a great deal in quality from one week to the next. I would rarely buy the wilty-looking lettuce. The citrus looks OK however as do the root veggies, broccoli and apples. However my youngest complained yesterday that his organic granny smith apple "tasted weird" and I had to agree, it wasn't very good.

I desperately need to find a better source for my organic produce!

 

[girlbug2]

On another note: I hate the label "Organic". What the heck am I eating, ground iron ore?

No, organs ripped out from the bowels of the Earth

 

[Live True]

First, girlbug, thanks for the info! Second, eating healthy or living "green" can be expensive at times, but I'm a strong believer in doing what you can. You know, the whole.."if everyone did something, no one would have to do everything" belief. Life is too busy/crazy to guilt yourself over these things! So good for you for doing what you can!

I like shopping at farmer's markets, and will buy the occasional things like strawberries at Whole Foods, etc. But I can't afford to do that as often as I'd like. So I try to garden what I can, buy organic when feasible, and simply WASH everything I buy from where-ever! The biggest concern, as I understand it is fruit/veggies with thin skins (like strawberries), as they can absorb environmental baddies the fastest. Oranges, etc...are thicker and not as big a concern.

In my opinion, the most important thing, though is to buy locally when you can...because you can get to know the people you are buying from...that's the best defense I know! Besides farmer's markets, you might want to look into CSA's in your area. The prices seem expensive up front, but if you calculate what you get over the full time, it's really a good deal. Sometimes, you can go in with a freind, as well, which helps cut the cost. In addition to getting seasonal food, which teaches your kids (and in my case, me) something beyond just food...you get to try some new things, and you usually get to meet the person(s) who are growing your food. From the website below, CSA's are:

"Community supported agriculture (CSA) is where a group of folks buy seasonal shares of a farmer's produce, in essence, they have a stake in the farm. The farmers fresh fruits and vegetables are normally delivered each week to a location where each "buying group" then further divides the food into individual shares. CSA's support organic farming, permaculture and biodynamic farming methods for sustainable agriculture. "

Here's the website: http://www.greenpeople.org/csa.htm
Now this is mostly US, but there are some Canadian entries and one entry each for UK, Australia, India, Mexico, Puerto-Rico, and South Africa (I'm sure they are not the only resources, just the ones that have asked to be listed. So there may be more in your area that aren't listed here. I found some closer to me by checking the bulletin boards at the local whole foods.

If any of you are interested in learning more about what is involved in organic certification, start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_certification

I know there are better sites, but I think I've :soapbox: long enough!
http://www.greenpeople.org/csa.htm

 

[Live True]

oh...and I do organic gardening as much as time (and new baby) allow. I currently have herbs, tomatoes, peppers, radishes, kale, peas, and strawberries growing...usually only enough to supplement our table, but my husband has discovered there are several foods he really DOES like...when they are fresh and grown for flavour not shelf life qualities. I say organic because I don't use added chemicals, etc..mostly compost and a fertilizer made of cheap horse feed (seed meals, really) and some occassional additives like horticultural lime and kelp/blood/bone meal (which is a altered as needed recipe based on a more complicated one from here: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Orga...01/A-Better-Way-to-Fertilize-Your-Garden.aspx )

Flea, I have clayey soil, so I do something called lasagna gardening (from a book of same name), it involves wet newspapers, garden and kitchen waste, and soil...you can build a bed virtually anywhere in a few hours, and plant the same day....even my clay has become very plantable in the areas I started a few years ago. Raise beds, baby...saves your back in sooooo many ways!

 

[Carol]

I do agree though, there are plenty of counterarguments that Organic isn't as fantastic as it's popularly cracked up to be.

I think the benefits are more subtle. I think as a whole many Americans don't eat as much fresh produce as we should, and we eat more processed junk than we should.

Many folks that eat organic and/or locally grown produce say it tastes better than the average fare at the average grocer. So...if you find it tastes better and as such you are eating more fresh vegetables and less processed junk....that's likely to have a positive impact on your health in many ways.

 

[girlbug2]

I do something called lasagna gardening (from a book of same name), it involves wet newspapers, garden and kitchen waste, and soil...you can build a bed virtually anywhere in a few hours, and plant the same day....even my clay has become very plantable in the areas I started a few years ago. Raise beds, baby...saves your back in sooooo many ways!

I do that too! LOVE IT!
tomatoes, peppers, basil, squash, beans and flowers growing from seed and on the way to July harvest...