Norganic
Food Not Lawns ''Tribal Gathering'
Most gardeners and growers don’t know that they aren’t allowed to use the word Organic to describe their growing practice. The market farmer who sells at the local farmers market can only call their tomatoes ‘Organic’ if they have been certified by a independent inspection service to be in compliance with the National Organic Program (NOP) standards. The US Government under the USDA has written rules and regulations to protect consumers and created ‘Standard Organic Labeling for Consumers’.
According to the USDA “The National Organic Program and the Organic Foods Production Act are intended to assure consumers that the organic foods they purchase are produced, processed, and certified to be consistent with national organic standards. ”
See: http://attra.ncat.org/guide/n_z/nop.html
Those who seek out organic food need to be assured they aren’t being cheated by unscrupulous hucksters. But that leaves the rest of us who honor the community of life in our gardens without a word to describe succinctly how we grow our food. At the May 16th Food Not Lawns Potluck the discussion lead to the fact that Linn can’t call our garden ‘Creek House Organic Community Garden’ because of the regulation. The beauty of these ‘tribal’ gatherings shown through when Toby suggested the word Norganic, naturally organic as a new descriptor. Consensus, connection group mind meld , the community energy becomes greater than the sum of the members energies, yea it works.
So now it’s Creek House Norganic Communitry Garden. Come on by during the Urban Farm Tour June 28th and feel the beauty.
