Why organic gardening is awesome!

I have done both and trust me raising food organically vs. with chemicals is much simpler. Personally, I think growing food using chemicals is a sign of weakness, laziness and it means the soil is unhealthy. 

Organically grow baby romaine

heads. 

When your soil is healthy you invite beneficial insects and bacteria. Over time, they come and help your garden. I see this year after year in my garden. Honestly, the first year we started it was a real struggle. Nevertheless, it has gotten a lot better each year.

When you garden organically you are partnering with nature. Most conventional farms are trying to beat or destroy nature with pesticides, herbicides and insecticide.  Over time, these chemicals breakdown the structure of the soil leaving it depleted of minerals vital for growing nutrient dense food. What also happens is after a good rain, the run off from the conventional farmers fields that has been fertilized gets into our streams, rivers, then lakes. If you live here in middle Tennessee, then you may notice the huge algae blooms in our area lakes. These algae blooms are feeding off the fertilizer being dumped into the fields that find their way to our waterways.

Weeds and insects become immune to the chemicals sprayed over time, much like we become immune to different strands of the cold. Weeds and insects adapt. That forces the conventional farmer to rely on the chemical salesman to come up with some new chemical harsher than the last since the weeds and insects have become immune to the same chemicals being sprayed year after year. We grew food long before chemicals.  Not sure why we need chemicals to aid us now. I hear this comment all the time... "well, we need to feed the world."

Here is the reality of the US, feeding the world. Today, we only export 20 percent of the food we produce in the US. Of that 20 percent, 19 percent goes to countries like India, China and Korea, where they have an upcoming more affluent middle class. We are exporting beef, chicken and pork. So, its not like we are feeding the hungry. One percent of our exports goes to countries that are hungry and actually need food. That's not necessarily the US's fault, most of it is political from within that countries government.  Nevertheless, some countries choose not to eat the food produced in the US from our big industrial agriculture system. Do you blame them? 

Jason Smith
Farmer, Market Gardener
www.smithfamilyfarmtn.com