Local Organic Farmers Make Good

A couple months ago I had the pleasure of meeting Amy Johnston from the Art Showcase who came out to Brines Farm to check it out. A somewhat blustery day and having done a long weekend of hard work, I was pretty tired and wasn't sure I was making much sense, so I just thoroughly showed the farm, and tried to do the best to tell about the motivations, principles, and dreams of the farm. Afterward, I was pretty sure I had done a horrible disconnected job, but I chalked it up as "it's hard to be on your a-game all the time" as some might say. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful story Amy put together. Fortunately her photography and journalistic skills certainly allowed her to see the forest for the trees that day. Thanks Amy!

(On a technical note, out of respect for my friends at slightly larger organic farms that undertake certification, I will point out that while the other operations in this story are (as I understand) certified organic, Brines Farm is not certified organic. This is why I do not use the term organic (although I technically could for the first $5000 of sales each year, crazy I know). As always, and as the story attests to, I am more than completely happy to speak with you about the way I do farm (and essentially allow shareholders to certify in person should they want to).)

Organic Pesticides

Literally just a day or two on the heels of a conversation where I was trying to explain to people that certified organic does not preclude the use of some pesticides NPR does a story on this. Thanks NPR.



Organic Pesticides: Not An Oxymoron by Maureen Langlois

It may seem counterintuitive, but foods that are grown to organic standards can contain commercially manufactured pesticides... It turns out that a key factor in chemicals being cleared for use on organic crops is whether they occur naturally... The USDA maintains an official list of substances that can and can't be used for organic farming... Synthetic compounds can also make it onto the list as pesticides, if they are relatively nontoxic combinations that include minerals or natural elements, such as copper or sulfur. But some naturally occuring substances, such as nicotine and arsenic are off limits. Are naturally derived pesticides less toxic than synthetic ones? The answer depends a lot on the dosage...

You may be wondering so I will state as I have previously that so far in the history of Brines Farm we have only used a limited amount of a USDA-Organic-permitted "naturally occurring pesticide" on our Brassicas (Kale type stuff) in very limited situations as a control on a summer outbreak of cabbage loopers. That's it. Ever. The rest of the time we just do our best to maintain healthy crops and soil while encouraging beneficial insects to hang out at our farm. I feel safe saying this is probably much less than the additives added to those large scale plantations of USDA certified organic kale found elsewhere in the US and Mexico and beyond. As always, happy to chat more about this in person. Come find me at the Ann Arbor Evening Farmers Market.

You may find this related post about the application What's On My Food? interesting - you can see what's on your mainstream certified organic food.