Organics , What doe's it mean to you .

[hecno]

Ok guys , I want to start this topic so we can all share why we do this , I don't want to hear about yield or flavour , ect , Why is the question ? For me it was a progression down a path . Took a while to fall into place .
Now I jump up and down when I find a big fat native worm , I near brought some online worms to add to my soil . Than I though , Hang on , they don't live here . So I bring in the native worms to my soil boxes , Well not quite , they found there on way there own . So what is the next step from the soil . Oh #$%@ The bloody planet . We and I count myself as we can only do what we can . Which is advice and only advice those that follow this path --- It is a state of mind and your place in your environment . I see a trend using the word .
Which is a shame . ----- We all of us have to sit and explain to our children the true meaning of organic and why . Till then do they still think a egg comes from a carton .

 

[olderthandirt]

P'raps not the "purest" reason to pursue organics but for me it is about cost.
I spent a considerable sum this past Winter on a variety of amendments. Kelp, alfalfa meals, crab and oyster and neem and so on.
Using local dairy manure and local EWC and sorta kinda local potting soil and my compost, the amounts purchased should be sufficient for 4 to 6 grows with 5 5gal pots each.
I don't have a total cost, sloppy record keeping, but it is waaaay less then what feeding with bottled nutes would be for the same number of grows.

As time passes and my compost piles multiply and mature and I get a worm bin or two going and I source more local goodies, purchased amendments will be used less, further reducing costs.

And worms? Hoo-whee baby! I turned a new compost pile yesterday and the number of worms in the thing was amazing!!!
When I do finally git 'round to starting up worm bins I will darn sure not need to buy any worms (-:

Organics is a more personal, more involved process. Guaranteed to blacken ones fingernails.
And ya'll gotta know that if'n yer growin' plants and yer fingernails are clean well.... yer doin' it wrong!

(-:

 

[AutoFox]

Organics for me means being totally involved in the growing cycle. From making compost to feeding the microbes and beneficial bacteria. I get some of my compost from a local mushroom farm and a local Vinyard and I mix it with my own home made compost. The amount of care I give my soil shows in my plants and they couldn't be happier with it. The taste is always better with organics and I feel warm and fussy knowing that my gardens are chemical free no pesticide or harsh man made chemical fertilizer. Just good old organics. We all share this world together and so we should all do our part to help preserve it. I am now teaching my children about organic growing and the more they learn the more I smile. And the people I have meet along the way to become a organic gardener have become life long friends and taught me a lot. Organics isn't just a way to grow plants for me it's a way of life.

 

[Jraven]

This made me think of something I saw as a teenager in the 60's. Someone took a slice of Wonder Bread (a popular US brand) and squashed it into a pea-sized ball. That's when I first started thinking about what food is. In the early 70s there was a lot of " back to the land" buzz among us young city kids and we moved out and ended up in an agricultural area. One day I asked a farmer about a bare patch in a field and he said thats " fertilizer skip"... if it didn't get the chemicals nothing grew. And this was a river bottom area with awesome soil. I haven't really seen anything to change my mind about being organic. I agree it's a way of life. Not to be sanctimonious about it either..I see our fellow growers growing great stuff in containers with carefully balanced chem nutes and sure appreciate their skills.

 

[olderthandirt]

... Not to be sanctimonious about it either..I see our fellow growers growing great stuff in containers with carefully balanced chem nutes and sure appreciate their skills.

Just another example o' why AFN is such a comfortable place to hang yer spurs and sit a spell (-:

 

[AutoFox]

This made me think of something I saw as a teenager in the 60's. Someone took a slice of Wonder Bread (a popular US brand) and squashed it into a pea-sized ball. That's when I first started thinking about what food is. In the early 70s there was a lot of " back to the land" buzz among us young city kids and we moved out and ended up in an agricultural area. One day I asked a farmer about a bare patch in a field and he said thats " fertilizer skip"... if it didn't get the chemicals nothing grew. And this was a river bottom area with awesome soil. I haven't really seen anything to change my mind about being organic. I agree it's a way of life. Not to be sanctimonious about it either..I see our fellow growers growing great stuff in containers with carefully balanced chem nutes and sure appreciate their skills.

Yes I agree with you not to put down any growers using the fine chemical fertilizer/nutrients they do quite well with it and it has come a long way. It's just not for me and it gets expensive as hell in a larg garden.

 

[Atulip]

I switched to organics for cost savings myself. I stayed for the delicious end product.

I ran down the numbers, from buying premixed kits.

Coots recipe mix from buildasoil.com
$55 shipped - mix for 9cu ft soil
$90 shipped - 3cu ft worm castings
$25 local - 3 cu ft perlite
$10 local - 3cu ft compressed peat moss(at least 4-5 fluffed)
$180 for 9cu ft of water only soil. $2.70/g for new soil. Reammending is far cheaper, but even with new soil everytime it's cheaper than bottled nutes.

Still getting the outdoor raised garden beds setup. Organics has got me wanting more from my food. I started trying some of the locally grown produce at the farmers markets, hands down better than the crap I've been feeding myself from Monsanto and whoever else.

Organics, coupled with regular cannabis use, has changed my entire outlook on life even. No more "work hard, get more money = happiness" for me. Now we just gotta wake the rest of the world up.

 

[Eyes on Fire]

man im doing 20 or 19 something like that and for a nute program DUDE.lol thats expensive. see i grow that way often any more.so id get the much larger bottles prolly to that ups the cost three fold or so from small wee bottles LOL! more of a better product(soil meaning lol) that stores and dont often get bugs if stored fair in my experience.gotta take precautions ofcourse.but thats awesome cuz it keeps for a good while.

and thats what Ive found myself.all of you have pretty well touched on why we ALL do this man. its fucking damned fine smoke..lol period. its not hard to get started for STUPID cheap too,maintain an easy garden that works in many conditions as it pertains to auto and photo growing in an un perfect climate indoors.and outside its great too.make it work for you and thats what we as a species have lost.stick most anyone in the woods and they give up cu theey're clueless.same principle here to a degree since its always been and always will be that connection to our earth that gets the job done.we should be working with the world over working the world..yeah?! lol

so why wouldnt people stay with the relm of ease and proper management. and MOST importantly imho is that its about the life change. its changed my life for the better.its tough work but ultimately its extremely well worth the rewards and benefits of a far better way of producing something.

and thats how i see organics and thats what they are to me.life changing and positive rewards and education.

 

[Sourdough]

I like how organics makes me closer to mother earth... Teaches me more truth about plants. And I feel like we as a people will need to develop an organic mind set

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[hecno]

We are on the same page @Eyes on Fire We have to stop using Mother Earth as one big free supermarket . I fear for my children's future unless there is a huge shift in man kinds thinking .