Why Organics?

Why Organics?

Balch Springs, Texas 75180

214-348-EDEN (3336)

on sale here!

An Opinion and Outlook of Mine

By Marie Tedei

I guess I got started in organics out of the logic similar to the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" saying. If something natural existed that worked to solve my problem, then why would we make something synthetic to do the same thing? I guess we all know the reason behind that, and making money is fine, after all, I am in business myself. But why try to recreate the wheel or use something to fix one area, at the expense of others? Which as I understand it, is often the case with synthetically created fertilizers, pesticides and other things created to mimic something in nature.

Long before synthetic fertilizers and pesticides came along, families farmed, gardened and raised livestock, not to mention, my shop's namesake, Eden, seemed to thrive producing miracles no doubt, but not likely in the fertilizer realm. I would venture to say that they did a pretty good job of it over the years, too. My grandma raised roses, watermelon and other wonderful things in her garden without pesticides and synthetic fertilizer. She was too frugal to buy any! And yes, I can remember going to the store and not finding certain fruits and vegetables during the winter, but that was because they weren't in season and it was before all this international importing became so common. You just learned that you didn't buy strawberries or blueberries in the winter, unless they were frozen! And I really didn't have a problem with that - I just learned to buy and freeze my own fresh produce in the summer, so I could have it during the winter months. Or, you get used to the idea that certain things just weren't available in January! Live with it and eat something else!

Back to the question; why organic?

Well, aside from the cost factor, I really believe that in almost all cases, if we take care of the soil - it will take care of us. Without going into a basic horticulture class, the basics of soil are pretty simple. Although soil is complex in that it is made up of a lot of different elements that keep it healthy, once it is healthy, unless the balance is upset, it pretty well takes care of itself. I think the forest floor and other unmanaged land shows us that man does a lot more to upset the balance than nature usually does to itself. Adding harsh fertilizers, removing nutrients and the humus, massive applications of pesticides that wipe out beneficials and pests alike, etc., can all contribute to breaking down of the natural cycle of the soil, which generally does a good job of recycling itself if left alone. Not to mention the problems associated with synthetic fertilizers such as pollution of our lakes, ponds and rivers.

In "the old days", farmers knew that crops grew best when they let an area of land rest or rotated crops around the land, added manure and turned the roots back into the soil during the winter. And, unless we had a strange plague of insects, the chickens, other fowl, kids and the workers themselves, did a good job keeping the insects down to a minimum. Yes, there were years when entire crops were wiped out due to grasshoppers. But they were lost to tornadoes, drought, floods and many other unpredictable things, too.

I think as we progressed, and I use that word loosely, we got to be a bit controlling and unlike our patient forefathers, we wanted more and we wanted it NOW! We got away from home gardens and small town living around farms, and more folks went to the market and worked somewhere besides their own land for a living. I've read many things regarding the extra chemicals from WWII that began the onslaught of chemicals used agriculturally, and I've heard many things disputing it, too. But regardless of exactly how it all started, I think that once man figured out a way he thought he was controlling the one thing never before harnessed - nature itself - he was hooked. He sped up the growth of plants, killed insects on contact and used up less space to grow more crops, and with machinery, harvested faster and tilled up the ground like never before done. Unfortunately, it can take many, many years, and often generations to see the consequences from some of our actions. And many farms have closed down for reasons other than depleted soils. But I still feel like if we just returned to the basics of nature - allowing the soil to take care of itself and replacing what we remove, we'll be in better shape. Especially on a small, home gardening scale. My goodness, what is the tragedy if grasshoppers do come in and eat all of our ornamentals one year? Most of them, if they are natives, will re-grow the same year once the pests have left the area. And in the cases where they eat our veggie gardens, well, thanks to dedicated, local organic farmers, you can go shopping and buy whatever you need to keep your family fed.

Some call this a rose colored glasses approach, and maybe it is. I've been accused of owning a pair of them many times. But wouldn't it be great to try it and see? And slowly, it seems more and more people are turning away from the synthetic approach for safer alternatives for many reasons. No one said you had to buy a cow and shovel its waste onto your flower beds. They sell composted, dry, non-smelly cattle manure in bags now. And there are many, many blended natural fertilizers besides straight manure to use that help to replace the trace nutrients stripped out of the soil over the years, produce big pretty blooms and keep plants healthy. Buying organic foods can help your health in many cases, help support a small family farm in many more cases, and send a message to the food industry that we want our food and environment to be safe.

More and more previously thought to be safe products and chemicals are being removed from the store shelves each year or so. Why are they not safe anymore? My guess is that they never were. Unfortunately, the lure of making money can be a bad thing, too. And, research improves each year and as it does, we learn more about the dangers of previously "safe" products and chemicals.

If it ain't broke - why fix it? I'm pretty sure that God knew what He was doing when he created the cycle of life, what makes us think we can do a better job anyway? Just look around you where man hasn't messed things up - seems to me it's working pretty good.

Why organic? I say, why not?

Wish I knew who to give credit to for taking this photo, or to give you more specifics on it, but it was one of those emails that gets passed around to make us stop and take a moment. Breathtaking, and I'll bet no one has to spray anything here....