I probably shouldn't jump into this fray, so I'll soften my post by first
giving ACGA's conference a plug. It's great - try to go if you can. Meeting
people on this list in person is a hoot. I just saw the call for presenters on
this list - it's in Columbus, OH, in early August.
Now, about chemistry. I'm with President Obama on this: There is no earthly
reason to fear good science - including chemistry and "chemicals" - especially
science driven by curiosity and passionate interest in the natural world. Greed
sometimes distorts the findings of science and tries to turn everything -
"chemical" or "organic" or "sacred" for that matter - into a commodity for
sale. That's part of our culture. But the underlying scientific process remains
a valuable source of insight.
For me, chemistry and chemicals are endlessly fascinating, integral to life,
and I'll be damned if I'm going to give up my rights to the words.
As Galileo growled under his breath as he stumbled out of the Inquisition
Chamber, after being forced to recant his observation that the earth moves
around the sun, "Eppure si muove.""Still, it moves..." In the garden, we'll
still have chemicals joining in the dance of life, like a barn full of folks
twirling to Saint Anne's Reel, fiddles blazing and feet flying, long after
we've all turned to compost ourselves.
No matter what beloved slogans we've grown up on, chemicals are fundamental to
plant growth, and not just organic ones containing carbon. Plants don't take up
organic molecules (except small ones such as, you guessed it, urea), they take
up inorganic ions as nutrients. Tiny, tiny bits of absolutely pure stone, if
you like. And when all of us pee, out comes urea (so pee on your compost pile,
if you feel so inclined).
At the level where root cells meet the soil solution, an understanding of
chemistry and chemicals serves a gardener very well. That's not the only aspect
to consider - microbiology (the soil food web - fascinating stuff!), mycology,
botany, the list goes on, are all very valuable, too. But condemning
"chemicals" as "bad" is simply scapegoating, and it misses the essential point.
It's when we move up a level of organization or two, and begin to look at the
soil and our gardens as the ecosystems they are, that flooding those ecosystems
with large amounts of readily soluble nutrients causes havoc. A bag of 10-10-10
is a like a sack of white sugar - pure, quick acting, convenient, and a perfect
way to wreck a system evolved for nutrient frugality, such as our bodies or the
soil. Like sugar, to extend the analogy, some chemical fertilizers even have
arguably sensible uses - every so often, a pan of brownies won't kill you. Just
don't try to live on them.
As Ken rightly says, by composting you can restore health and balance to soil
(I'd add cover cropping, and possibly resting soil every few years by allowing
it to return to a natural state, as First Nations peoples used to do, and as
the Bible recommends - the point being that it appears to be a time honored
practice across cultures). However, I wouldn't say "more" organic matter is
always "better". That's our culture talking, isn't it? "More" equals "better".
Get too much organic matter, and you've got a peat bog, mostly good for growing
Venus Fly Traps (Dionaea muscipula), not lettuce and 'maters.
Anyway, I think gardeners are best served if we begin to think ecologically,
and that means scientifically. Organic, as initially formulated by Rodale long
before it became a USDA marketing niche with organic industrial farms, has done
much more good than harm over the years, and deserves respect. But it's a
starting point, not a religious path. This goes for Permaculture, Biodynamics,
and so many others of the gardening tribes whose colors we proudly wear (I need
a Darwin t-shirt, in this bicentennial year of the great naturalist's birth.)
But, like it or not, all of us have gardens full of chemicals - as Ashley says,
about the only place you don't find chemicals is in a vacuum.
Last thing. It's important and fun (at least it is to me) to hash these things
out, and to talk seriously about growing food and being good stewards of the
soil. But in a community garden, you'll find every perspective stated on this
list and then some. I might not like it one little bit that old Miss
MacGillicuddy in plot 8 sprinkles Sevin dust on everything, all season long
from March to October, and douses her plants with Miracle Gro, or that she
thinks earthworms are snakes. But, you know, I'm glad she's out there gardening
anyway, where we can bridge, we can talk, and we can seek common ground. I'd
like to hope I can teach her a bit about ecological and organic gardening, but
that will happen best if we can relate as human beings. I work with chemically
dependent people all the time at the Center, so a chemically dependent gardener
is no biggie (but did I just use "chemical" as a pejorative? No sweat, just ask
Emerson.)
Point is, there isn't one right way to garden for everyone, or for the earth.
There may be a few "wrong" ways (I really don't like that Sevin, because of its
impact on pollinators and beneficials), but different folks see those issues
differently. Community gardeners know all this better than anyone else.
Don Boekelheide
Charlotte NC
www.urbanministrycenter.org
>>snips<<
1. Re: chemical-free (Mike McGrath)
That is incorrect.
Since the term 'organic' was coined by J. I. Rodale in 1942, 'chemical'
has come to mean an artificially created substance (like urea), whereby
chemical-free refers to things that didn't need to be created, like seaweed,
manures, fish, etc.
Any modern dictionary will note this distinction.
---McG
----- Original Message -----
From: "Glen Hemerick" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 4:17 PM
Subject: [Community_garden] chemical-free
>
>
> " If you're interested in effective and sustainable (chemical-free)
> gardening methods, ".... first, i do not understand the
> statement"(chemical-free) "...
> http://www.gardenmandy.com/5-homemade-chemical-free-bug-repellents-that-work/
> "Comment from Ashley Time: June 7, 2008, 3:25 am
> ?Chemical Free? is not really a very useful term. Everything is a
> chemical. The only thing that is truly chemical free is a vacuum. Which
> would probably do a good job of repelling insects come to think of it?
>> end excerpt<<
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