13 replies to this topic

[Cluttermagnet]

Well, that's over-hyped, actually- but as chief cook and bottle washer for me
and my partner, I've been buying some organic all along. Now Clutter has
gone and joined one of these 'farm share' things. We paid up front and get
to receive weekly distributions of some lovely stuff from the garden, even
some berries. The guy doing this farms organically, though he can't
actually call his stuff 'organic' because it is so time consuming and expensive
to get that (largely phony) certification now that big agribusiness hijacked
the term 'organic'. But it is organic. And I have been steaming and frying
up some really delicious stuff for our meals. It's a lot of work, but it's so
dang healthy... I really don't mind...

I got the flowers all planted out on the deck again this year. New Guinea
Impatiens and Caladiums mostly. It's all coming up pretty good. I'll post a
few photos of that in the next day or two.

Clutter

[raymac46]

Organic Certification is a waste of time. When I retired as a food scientist I could have had a second career getting folks certified but it's all bureaucratic BS.
You spend a lot of time establishing a paper trail back to the farmer or the coffee grower in Guatamala and absolutely no time on the technology. The guy I worked with getting our little coffee roaster certified was more interested in us putting a lot number on the coffee bag than the coffee itself.
The wise thing is to use the Clutter method - just go buy your own stuff locally from a guy who's honestly trying to do it the right way.

Edited by raymac46, 05 June 2017 - 07:51 AM.

[securitybreach]

^^^ Agreed

[abarbarian]

So when you inviting us all round for a feast then ?

Looking forward to the pics.

[ebrke]

A local food market owned by someone I came to think of as a friend used to call it "sustainable". Produce mgr said that unless the farmer had been doing organic  for 7 years, they couldn't call it that but as you say, it was grown/processed the same way. Sadly that market went away when one of the owners died.

[Cluttermagnet]

Too bad that market closed. At this point, good nutrition has taken center stage with me,
as I work to support my partner optimally. She has had a few problems in recent years,
but OTOH she is doing pretty good lately. She appreciates the extra good chow, and
so do I.

Interesting comments about today's 'organic' rating being mainly a fraud- mirrors
comments I've seen elsewhere...

Well, guys- one of the few shortcomings of having a group of internet friends is that
one cannot invite them all over for dinner- because I sure would!

David

[raymac46]

I would say more hype than fraud. By the time you do all the paperwork necessary and pay the costs, you can be pretty sure an Organic certification is genuine enough.
The problem is that the big companies have the resources to do it and hype it, whereas the little guy may work that way but cannot afford all the costs to prove it. When it comes to this sort of thing remember what E. F. Schumacher said: think globally, act locally.
At the end of the day my small coffee guy found that Organic gave him no competitive edge over Nestle so he established direct links with growers in Guatamala and Nicaragua and used that as a selling point.

[raymac46]

@Clutter you may find this interesting:

https://foodfirst.org/

I heard Joe Collins speak in the late 1970s in Montreal. Quite a guy.

[Cluttermagnet]

Thanks, I will read that link this evening. I sure like they buy local/support
your local farmer trend- so now we have joined that!

[Cluttermagnet]

raymac46, on 06 June 2017 - 07:46 AM, said:

@Clutter you may find this interesting:

https://foodfirst.org/

I heard Joe Collins speak in the late 1970s in Montreal. Quite a guy.

It was interesting. Spent an enjoyable hour+ poking around all the
links that opens up. Thanks!

Clutter

[Cluttermagnet]

Here are the latest deck photos. It's largely New Guinea Impatiens and
Caladiums this year. A couple of Vinca for some added color...



The two Hostas are putting up flower stalks this week. We have Ruby Throated Hummingbirds
usually. I assume they made the trip again this year. Haven't sighted any yet. We have a feeder
and they do go for those Hosta flowers. Usually see them early morning or late afternoon...





That's a Mugo pine in the planter. It's insulated. It winters over fine on that deck. We had such a
mild winter that our vining Vinca (not shown) regenerated and is growing like crazy. Usually the
frost gets 'em, but not last year...


Photos taken with a 'new' camera, a little Samsung 860 I bought off of Ebay for 7 dollars. It's pink.
I guess it is about as crappy as my little blue Fuji AX250. I also have a little better Fuji 2940, also
off of Ebay. I'll get out there later and try to take some better shots with it- my first 'serious'
'bridge camera'... it has way more settings than I will probably ever use...


Clutter

Edited by Cluttermagnet, 15 June 2017 - 05:41 PM.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Hmm... I could swear I've seen this post somewhere before.

[raymac46]

Fuji makes some fine bridge cameras. I had a S6000fd which I used for many years. My brother-in-law has it now. My son-in-law has the even nicer HS20 EXR.



This was taken with the S6000fd.

Edited by raymac46, 16 June 2017 - 11:48 AM.

[Cluttermagnet]

Ooh- I don't think any of my cameras will do photos that nice.
Maybe my 2940 (?) I have to learn all those settings, though...

Clutter