Hi Everyone, I have been involved with organic certification for the last 4 or 5 years as I worked on an organic herb farm and did all their documentation. I currently do the documentation for the Tesuque Pueblo here in New Mexico. When the US government took over and re- wrote the guidelines for organic certification they listened to "industrial" farmers more than the small, local farmers. The NOP guidelines were mainly designed for large producers be it vegetables, cotton, wool or what ever. They allow many things to be done and called "organic" that the old guidelines would never have allowed - all in the name of the all mighty dollar. (There were a number of things the government wanted to allow such as the use of sludge. There was a huge backlash from folks and they took that out. Sadly a number of other things have remained such as allowing the use of non- organic feed in some cases.) A lot of us who endeavor to grow "organically" no longer wish to use that word (which, by the way, you have to be certified to use legally) because it has been so watered down by the government. I myself plan on becoming "certified naturally grown" which is a movement that started on the east cost in response to the NOP and has spread nation-wide.
Sadly, just because something is labeled "organic" doesn't necessarily mean that it's what we think it is. It is important that we all educate ourselves. Katy Blanchard Urban Eagle Herb Co. Urban Eagle Design www.urbaneagle.com Youngsville, New Mexico [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Sep 27, 2007, at 7:59 AM, Jennifer Horsman wrote: > Interesting! And thanks for bringing that to light. I discovered O- > Wool on someone else's blog several months ago. It looked very > inviting. I went to their web page and was drawn in by all of their > self-promotion and throwing out names like Patagonia, a company > that tries to be environmentally conscious yet makes high quality > clothing. I think I'll have to go back and read the VT Organic Wool > website again. I did not see the part about genetic engineering. > > Jennifer > > To stop mail temporarily mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > with the message: set nomail To restore send: set mail To stop mail temporarily mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: set nomail To restore send: set mail
