What does the USDA Organic label really mean? Top 5 questions we are asked.
There is a lot of bad information about the word "organic" and what the USDA Organic seal means on a label. At the Verdant Kitchen, we have managed three separate USDA Organic locations including our growing farm, our on-farm processing, and our production facility. We have learned a lot of the years about what it does and does not mean.
Share the experience of a sustainable farm with a child - a foundation life lesson.
Perhaps there is nothing more important than we can do, than teach our children about their environment, the soil and how their food is grown.
We recently hosted at our farm, the 1st Grade class from St Andrew's School in Savannah GA. The class and their teacher Ms Adams helped us plant turmeric in the rich coastal loams that we are blessed with on the farm.
Sure it is fun to get your hands in the soil, especially if you are 6 and your teacher Ms Adams lets you leave the classroom and go wander around with dogs, sticks and worms. Better still if you know that you will get to come back and see the young shoots come out of the soil, perhaps get to pull out a weed. That is part of the lesson, perhaps the main lesson, that there is pleasure in being outdoors, to have your hands in the soil. The mystery of planting a seed or in this case a rhizome and seeing it grow, being part of the creation and regeneration of something, is a special feeling.
There are many lesson that we need to teach our children. A love of growing things is a foundation class for life.
