{"id":2597,"date":"2017-11-03T06:02:52","date_gmt":"2017-11-03T06:02:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/?p=2597"},"modified":"2022-08-06T11:36:47","modified_gmt":"2022-08-06T18:36:47","slug":"what-is-organic-actually","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/","title":{"rendered":"What is organic, actually?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When people learn that I grow a vegetable garden and have fruit trees they sometimes ask, \u201cThat\u2019s great. Is it all organic too?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Awkward silence.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I don\u2019t know how to answer. I genuinely don\u2019t know what people mean by \u201corganic.\u201d It\u2019s not that I don\u2019t know the word, of course. It\u2019s that the word means different things to different people in different contexts.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But if I walk down the organic road with the person who asks me this question, then I usually come to understand that they mean by \u201corganic\u201d a general sense of healthy and natural. They don\u2019t have a specific definition in mind &#8212; just a positive connotation that often, too, includes the idea of food grown without pesticides.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Two things always come to mind at this point. First, when we buy food at the grocery store or farmer\u2019s market that is labelled organic, it means something very different than just generally healthy and natural. Organic is a guarded term that is owned by the federal government. There are reams of regulations that control which foods can be called organic, and farmers have to pay to be certified in order to label their products so. In this sense, the food I grow in my yard is not organic, and neither is yours.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Second, organic pesticides are a thing. By no means should we assume that organic fruits and vegetables in grocery stores haven\u2019t been sprayed with substances designed to kill insects and other farming pests. The government maintains lists for concoctions they allow non-organic food to be sprayed with and concoctions they allow organic food to be sprayed with. And you know how people doing business are: If they\u2019re allowed to do something, they often will. Organic farmers are no different. If they\u2019re allowed to spray certain pesticides, they often will. They\u2019re not bad people. They\u2019re just people, trying to make a living, and following the rules.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can listen to a few episodes of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.farmertofarmerpodcast.com\/\">Farmer to Farmer podcast<\/a> and hear organic farmers talk about what they spray.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecfr.gov\/current\/title-7\/part-205\/subpart-g\">\u201cThe National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances\u201d<\/a> (not actual products, but ingredients that organic farmers are allowed to use).<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And you can also read the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.omri.org\/omri-lists\/download\">\u201cOMRI Products Lists,\u201d<\/a> which are the actual products that organic farmers are allowed to use.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Surprising &#8220;organic&#8221; practices allowed<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I was surprised when I started learning about the use of the word organic by people on the production end of things: farmers, pest control advisors, nursery owners, weed scientists. I think my first surprise came when I was in a class about weed management, and someone asked the instructor about safe, organic options. The instructor, a University of California researcher, responded by first noting that organic does not mean safe or non-toxic. Don\u2019t be mistaken, she said. Pyrethrin, for example &#8212; although derived from plants &#8212; can be more toxic than some synthetic insecticides.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Xerces Society has a <a href=\"http:\/\/xerces.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/xerces-organic-approved-pesticides-factsheet.pdf\">list of organic-approved pesticides<\/a> that they say are highly toxic to bees. Pyrethrin is found on the list.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Discovering what is required for eggs to be labelled organic was another surprise. The hens that lay organic eggs aren\u2019t necessarily wandering around pecking for earthworms. The hens aren\u2019t even confined to a coop sometimes and out on a pasture at other times. They are allowed to live their entire lives in a stinky gigantic warehouse if the farmer wants to try to get away with that. Oh, but there\u2019s a tiny enclosed porch attached to the warehouse where they have \u201coutdoor access.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(There is supposed to be a change in these requirements for organic eggs where hens might actually, necessarily get outdoors, but it\u2019s not set to be fully implemented until 2022. The ruling can be read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/documents\/2017\/01\/19\/2017-00888\/national-organic-program-nop-organic-livestock-and-poultry-practices\">here<\/a>, with some more details <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ams.usda.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/media\/OLPPExternalQA.pdf\">here<\/a>.)<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Read more than you ever wanted to know about organic egg production in the U.S. in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cornucopia.org\/egg-report\/egg-report-exec-summ.pdf\">this report from the Cornucopia Institute<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Milk that is labelled organic can also be produced under surprising circumstances. Organic milk cartons may show green pastures and rolling hills while the actual cows from which the milk comes stand in a lot that is covered with their own manure. This is not the norm, but as long as the cows appear to have <em>access<\/em> to pastures, they can apparently push through the organic certification bureaucracy. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Read about examples of this&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cornucopia.org\/organic-factory-farm-investigation\/\">at the Cornucopia Instiute<\/a>&nbsp;and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/economy\/why-your-organic-milk-may-not-be-organic\/2017\/05\/01\/708ce5bc-ed76-11e6-9662-6eedf1627882_story.html?utm_term=.aa634bbe7ba3\">at the Washington Post<\/a>. The actual&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">federal regulations about organic livestock living conditions can be found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecfr.gov\/current\/title-7\/subtitle-B\/chapter-I\/subchapter-M\/part-205\/subpart-C\/section-205.239\">here<\/a>.)<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is a rift between how some organic farmers practice and the federal government\u2019s rules about organics. One such general rule: \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The producer of an organic livestock operation must establish and maintain year-round livestock living conditions which accommodate the health and natural behavior of animals.\u201d I don\u2019t know about your cows, but every cow I\u2019ve met prefers to be always on the move and always ripping up fresh tufts of grass with its tongue. That appears to be its \u201cnatural behavior,\u201d and it is a far cry from a feedlot. Back to the chickens:&nbsp;mine never choose to hang out in stinky buildings, never ever.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20171012_165631.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20171012_165631-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2618\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20171012_165631-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20171012_165631-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20171012_165631-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20171012_165631-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20171012_165631-510x382.jpg 510w, https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20171012_165631-1080x810.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Whenever we let them out of their pen to roam the yard, they squawk with happiness. (The chickens, not the boys.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The greater rift, however, is between the organic farmers who get through the certification process without even truly following the rules versus the &#8220;real&#8221; organic farmers. There are a lot of organic farmers who run small businesses and genuinely care for their animals and go way beyond the bare requirements for government certification. Their chickens and cows actually do live like chickens and cows want to.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I live not far from one such small operation. <a href=\"https:\/\/ebenhaezereggs.com\/\">Eben-Haezer<\/a> lets a portion of their hens roam the land for all to see right there off Dye Road in Ramona. When we don&#8217;t get enough eggs from our own hens, we buy from those at Eben-Haezer.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>One more surprising &#8220;organic&#8221; practice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is, right this minute, November 3, 2017, an internecine battle coming to a head within the organic farming world. It looks like it might spell the end of the uncomfortable marriage between large certified-organic operations and smaller &#8220;real&#8221; organic farmers. Ultimately, it&#8217;s a battle about the definition of organic. Specifically, it&#8217;s about whether to<\/span>&nbsp;stop allowing hydroponic vegetables to be certified and sold as organic. [See &#8220;<em>Update<\/em>&#8221; below.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read about the plea of the &#8220;real&#8221; organic farmers at the website <a href=\"https:\/\/www.keepthesoilinorganic.org\/the-final-meeting\">Keep the Soil in Organic<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wait, wait, wait, hydroponic vegetables? Haven\u2019t seen any in my grocery store. That\u2019s one of the complaints of these farmers: We consumers don\u2019t even know that we\u2019re buying hydroponic vegetables (and berries) because they are not labelled as such &#8212; they are only labelled \u201corganic.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the real beef of these &#8220;real&#8221; organic farmers with the hydroponic growers is that they have no soil. Not soul, soil. They grow vegetables and berries by feeding the plant roots a chemical and water solution, the plant roots being contained in pots, never touching earth &#8212; and in the pots there is no dirt either. Why does this matter? The organic movement began many decades ago as a reaction against chemical fertilization of plants (which was encouraged by the USDA) and instead with a focus on taking care of the microbial life in the soil. \u201cFeed the soil, not the plants,\u201d was the mantra. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecfr.gov\/cgi-bin\/retrieveECFR?gp=&amp;SID=fa139d88b2e6e7332f5f43377cd09d9b&amp;mc=true&amp;n=pt7.3.205&amp;r=PART&amp;ty=HTML\">the current USDA\u2019s definition of organic farming<\/a>: \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Production practices . . . must maintain or improve the natural resources of the operation, including soil and water quality.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then how can there be \u201corganic\u201d food production without any soil at all?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What is organic?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I&#8217;ll end with this observation: Joel Salatin was right. Salatin is a farmer that has always worked in an organic spirit, if I can say that, but never thought it wise for the early organic farmers to have let the government take over their word and world. In his book <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Sheer Ecstasty of Being a Lunatic Farmer<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> he writes, <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThat\u2019s the problem with organic certification as a marketing tool. Now that the government owns the term and defines the protocol, the same kind of collusion toward shortcuts that defined corporate\/government agendas now defines organics. For the life of me I can\u2019t figure out why people who fought the USDA for decades because it pooh-poohed everything nature-respecting suddenly decided to turn over to the USDA the reins of organics. That\u2019s called intellectual schizophrenia.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So what is organic, actually? Organic is a lot of different things to different people in different contexts.&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Words can be shortcuts, encapsulating complex concepts in a small package, but this word \u201corganic\u201d is not one of them. Regular people, farmers, other farmers, businessmen, and bureaucrats all have different ideas in mind when they use the word or see that sticker on the mango.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And is my garden organic? I have no idea.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Update:&nbsp;<\/em>The decision was made to continue allowing hydroponic operations to be certified organic by the USDA. Read about the decision <a href=\"https:\/\/www.freshfruitportal.com\/news\/2017\/11\/08\/u-s-nosb-votes-not-prohibit-hydroponics-organic-certification\/\">here<\/a> on Fresh Fruit Portal. Read about the perspective of those who wanted to keep the soil in organic <a href=\"https:\/\/www.keepthesoilinorganic.org\/the-final-meeting\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>All of my Yard Posts are listed <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/list-of-yard-posts\/\">HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When people learn that I grow a vegetable garden and have fruit trees they sometimes ask, \u201cThat\u2019s great. Is it all organic too?\u201d Awkward silence. I don\u2019t know how to answer. I genuinely don\u2019t know what people mean by \u201corganic.\u201d It\u2019s not that I don\u2019t know the word, of course. It\u2019s that the word means [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What is organic, actually? - Greg Alder&#039;s Yard Posts: Southern California food gardening<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Organic has different meanings to different people in different contexts, such that I want to give this answer when someone asks if my garden is organic:\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is organic, actually? - Greg Alder&#039;s Yard Posts: Southern California food gardening\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Organic has different meanings to different people in different contexts, such that I want to give this answer when someone asks if my garden is organic:\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Greg Alder&#039;s Yard Posts: Southern California food gardening\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-11-03T06:02:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-06T18:36:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20171014_103225-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Greg Alder\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Greg Alder\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Greg Alder\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/#\/schema\/person\/7c17362732023b01ed23dc69d6fa703a\"},\"headline\":\"What is organic, actually?\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-11-03T06:02:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-06T18:36:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/\"},\"wordCount\":1568,\"commentCount\":10,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/#\/schema\/person\/7c17362732023b01ed23dc69d6fa703a\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20171014_103225-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Misc\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/\",\"name\":\"What is organic, actually? - Greg Alder&#039;s Yard Posts: Southern California food gardening\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20171014_103225-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-11-03T06:02:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-06T18:36:47+00:00\",\"description\":\"Organic has different meanings to different people in different contexts, such that I want to give this answer when someone asks if my garden is organic:\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20171014_103225-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20171014_103225-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1920},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What is organic, actually?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/\",\"name\":\"Greg Alder&#039;s Yard Posts: Southern California food gardening\",\"description\":\"Southern California food gardening\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/#\/schema\/person\/7c17362732023b01ed23dc69d6fa703a\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/#\/schema\/person\/7c17362732023b01ed23dc69d6fa703a\",\"name\":\"Greg Alder\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ef6613d5043bdbb67157e2bfbbecb138148fad9c893cd424f6f14c5f7ff393e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ef6613d5043bdbb67157e2bfbbecb138148fad9c893cd424f6f14c5f7ff393e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ef6613d5043bdbb67157e2bfbbecb138148fad9c893cd424f6f14c5f7ff393e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Greg Alder\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ef6613d5043bdbb67157e2bfbbecb138148fad9c893cd424f6f14c5f7ff393e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/gregalder.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What is organic, actually? - Greg Alder&#039;s Yard Posts: Southern California food gardening","description":"Organic has different meanings to different people in different contexts, such that I want to give this answer when someone asks if my garden is organic:","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What is organic, actually? - Greg Alder&#039;s Yard Posts: Southern California food gardening","og_description":"Organic has different meanings to different people in different contexts, such that I want to give this answer when someone asks if my garden is organic:","og_url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/","og_site_name":"Greg Alder&#039;s Yard Posts: Southern California food gardening","article_published_time":"2017-11-03T06:02:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-08-06T18:36:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1920,"url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20171014_103225-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Greg Alder","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Greg Alder","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/"},"author":{"name":"Greg Alder","@id":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/#\/schema\/person\/7c17362732023b01ed23dc69d6fa703a"},"headline":"What is organic, actually?","datePublished":"2017-11-03T06:02:52+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-06T18:36:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/"},"wordCount":1568,"commentCount":10,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/#\/schema\/person\/7c17362732023b01ed23dc69d6fa703a"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20171014_103225-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Misc"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/","url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/","name":"What is organic, actually? - Greg Alder&#039;s Yard Posts: Southern California food gardening","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20171014_103225-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2017-11-03T06:02:52+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-06T18:36:47+00:00","description":"Organic has different meanings to different people in different contexts, such that I want to give this answer when someone asks if my garden is organic:","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20171014_103225-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20171014_103225-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1920},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/what-is-organic-actually\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What is organic, actually?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/","name":"Greg Alder&#039;s Yard Posts: Southern California food gardening","description":"Southern California food gardening","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/#\/schema\/person\/7c17362732023b01ed23dc69d6fa703a"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/#\/schema\/person\/7c17362732023b01ed23dc69d6fa703a","name":"Greg Alder","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ef6613d5043bdbb67157e2bfbbecb138148fad9c893cd424f6f14c5f7ff393e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ef6613d5043bdbb67157e2bfbbecb138148fad9c893cd424f6f14c5f7ff393e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ef6613d5043bdbb67157e2bfbbecb138148fad9c893cd424f6f14c5f7ff393e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Greg Alder"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ef6613d5043bdbb67157e2bfbbecb138148fad9c893cd424f6f14c5f7ff393e?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/gregalder.com"]}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20171014_103225-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2597"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15464,"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597\/revisions\/15464"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}