Labels…
After much consideration and a lot of back and forth, we’re doing it: I’m dropping our Organic Certification.
We are not changing anything about our growing practices. We will continue to focus on building sustainable, healthy soil and food. Here is what we know:
Healthy soil = healthy food = healthy humans
This truth guides our farming philosophy. It is also one of the main underpinnings of the Organic movement. Because of this we naturally decided to go for the USDA Certification—it makes sense to get credit for that which we were already planning to do and as such, we have maintained our Organic Certification for the last 4 years.
But here’s the thing, the certification process is a big pain in the a** and I’m tired of it. The paperwork and the restrictions are such that it just doesn’t seem worth it anymore. I want to be able to buy straw mulch from our neighbor who I trust without having the fill out a bunch of forms and convince said skeptical neighbor to sign something that comes from the “government”. I want to be able to raise blackberries from root stock that my father has raised without worrying that their presence in our field will mess up our certification. I want to share a tiller with our neighbor without filling out a “cleaning report” because his land isn’t certified. I want to try new things that haven’t made it through the Certification hoops yet, like biodegradable plastic mulch. And this is just the tip of the iceberg… there are a million small decisions that, while not impossible to square with Organic Certification process, are made much more difficult as a result of the paperwork and the additional costs. Frankly, it just doesn’t seem worth it.
You all are our community; you know us, and you’ve been eating with us for years. This is me telling you our food will be just as delicious, clean, and healthy as always. We’re just dropping the label.
If you have any questions or concerns, come talk to us this summer and we’ll tell you all about it! I have so many thoughts on the subject you’ll may end up wishing you’d never asked :).
In the meantime, enjoy the (un)certified organic deliciousness!