Why be organic?

When I went to the Oregon Tilth winter conference in January, one of the speakers said, “What you do in the field is organic, what you do with your recordkeeping makes you certified.” The truth in that statement means that I, a certified organic farmer, must have lots of documentation at the ready to prove that I have been treating the fields and surrounding areas organically.

This data and information ensures that farmers follow all the rules of organic certification. Rules are in place to make sure that you, the consumer of the food we grow, feel safe and confident about what you are eating. Organic food must be grown on land that has been treated organically for 5 years, must contain no pesticides, have had no recent contact with animal manures, and must be grown from non-genetically modified seeds that are not treated with any chemicals. While it sounds pretty simple, the reality is that the annual certification inspection is a cumbersome and anxiety ridden process for me.

For example, we have to show receipts, labels and uses for every product that arrives for the farm. That means when I purchase a fertilizer, I have to show that the ingredients are organic according to the National Organic Program or approved by the Organic Materials Review Institute. I need to have the receipt available. I need to make a copy of the label or, thankfully, print one from the web. I need to show every time I applied it and where I put it. If the fertilizer or soil additive has any manure in it, I have to prove that I haven’t harvested for 120 days after adding the manure.

Keeping this paper trail organized is difficult, as well as making sure that any purchase of materials is in compliance. I have to take my list of fertilizers with me to the greenhouse and barn to make sure that all of them made my list and that I have a receipt to backup the purchase. Already, I’m digging around for the old Home Depot receipt from when I purchased some Alaska fish fertilizer in the pellet form and it didn’t make the list.

My experience shows that MOST of that garden additives at Home Depot do not comply with organic rules. Even if the label says “organic,” I have to prove that it is organic. In fact, I got into a bit of a pickle one year when I purchased “organic potting soil” by Scott’s, which has chicken manure in it. When I got home and read the label more carefully, I had to be sure to keep the soil away from my vegetable garden and I used it to plant a simple house plant, so I could avoid the 120 day count. Not to mention that there is a website that sells plants that has “organic” in its name and the nursery is not certified in any way. Saying you are organic without the certification is a slippery slope.

An organic farmer cannot apply typical pesticides to her plants. Most farmers apply pesticides, fertilizers, and soil additives at the beginning of the season, and perhaps spray at anticipated vulnerable moments during growth. The organic farmer has to watch her plants carefully so that she can spray with insecticidal soap at a sign of attack or find a predator bug to eat the pest bugs. Insecticidal soap only works at the moment it is sprayed and predators have to have the bugs present to eat them. In general, I can’t eliminate pests before they get here, like many typical farmers do. Of course, that doesn’t create wasted effort or waste pesticides in the water runoff stream either.

Prevention is, therefore, pretty key in dealing with pests or diseases. The main way to prevent pests is to perform crop rotation and maintain healthy soils. I must keep 5 years of historical records on crop rotation to ensure that I’m not re-planting vulnerable species in the same spot year after year. Crop rotation plans also ensure that “heavy feeders” such as cabbage and lettuce are not planted in the same spot in succession. Heavy feeders are plants that chew up a lot of nitrogen and other minerals from the soil as they grow. The idea behind crop rotation is to plant nitrogen fixing plants (that help the soil release nitrogen for the next plant) such as legumes after planting heavy feeders. Therefore, my lettuce patch will host broccoli (a light feeder and slightly nitrogen fixing) this winter, followed by peas next spring.

What is the point of all this effort on behalf of a few rules and regulations? In Oregon alone, our major rivers are heavily contaminated with pesticides from nursery and farm runoff. That means that we are sending nasty neurological affecting chemicals into fish, river plants and bugs that are beneficial, and when we swim in them, our own bodies. Organic farmers put a complete halt to pesticide invasion of our bodies.

In fact, a recent study of schoool children found pesticides in their blood when eating a “normal” diet of non-organic foods. When their blood was tested after only 1 week of solely organic foods, guess what? The pesticides were gone from their bloodstreams. Why would we even think about allowing our children to eat non-organic foods when pesticides are proven to be extremely harmful to them and us?

It’s for my own children and my own family’s health that I am certified as an organic farmer. As a citizen who does not pour pesticides into my portion of the water stream, I believe I’m helping the children downstream from this farm. And because I’m certified, you can rest assured that someone is paying careful attention to ensure that I continue to be a good farmer citizen on your behalf.

It was getting messy. Stress headaches, usually reserved for the end of the day, were creeping up at noon. My body was aching, especially in the hips.

There stands the amazing space just for meditation, yet, I wasn’t using it on a regular basis. Oh, the occasional yoga session, the occasional sitting down to try to quiet the mind and body, but I wasn’t putting out the consistent effort to get with the program.

Frighteningly enough, I’d even been “caught” by a visiting psychic who asked: “The spiritual place has been built, but you have taken a spiritual vacation during the building process, why is that? You need to get going with your spiritual work.” I think, somehow, the responsibility of owning a building meant especially for meditation was really daunting. I’d even come to convince myself that my meditation practice was simply to give love to my partner and family and focus on the present moment, rather than to sit and be still.

My work with John Conley, recording his audio book companion to “Letters to My Friends” provided a positive push in the right direction as I listened to him, over and over again, discussing the benefits of just being still. Stillness — a word that came up in his recording time and again — was elusive to me. I realized I couldn’t sit still. Ever.

For a farmer and musician, sitting still is rarely required. Working outside means constant movement. Sitting at the piano to write moves me around on the keys. At this, I am adept. However, it was almost embarrassing to have to sit down with attorneys or clients to discuss something serious because I couldn’t be still. Like a little child with ants in her pants, I constantly fidgeted. I’m sure folks were starting to wonder just how fraudulent I really was, this “yoga” cowgirl. Would she even be able to complete the work at hand?

But like an oracle, the headaches started fortelling of an imminent breakdown. With all the work that lies ahead in preparing to make a video, preparing musical compositions, keeping plants alive in July and August, I could see that my life was going to become very uncomfortable if this trend continued. So, imagining that meditation might help, off to the chamber I went.

I started last week sometime, not even keeping track of the date. But I wanted to share with you the impacts of that week of forcing myself to sit in meditation. I have a nice little seat that tilts my body forward a bit. I sit in a glass building in a room with a tatami floor, surrounded by nature with the woods to the east and south, a wonderful water feature to the north, and a cabinet to lean against in the west. It’s a wonderful setting, and when I sit in that room, I am invisible to everyone who is in the house.

I have my mala beads, a gift given to me by Bhagavan Das and Dharma on the occasion of their wedding last October 10. They are crystal glass beads, and he told me he meditated with them for over a year. If that isn’t some major infusion of spiritual vibe, what is?

So, fully equipped, I began. I breathed kriya breaths — using the ujjayi breath to move air. With every inhalation, I chanted “hong,” and exhale “sau” in the technique taught by Yogananda to his disciple Shri Shelliji.

It’s the sitting in stillness part that was pretty hard. In fact, it was really hard. Hard to sit still.

Something in those mala beads, winding like handcuffs around my wrist, kept me in place. With each breath I took, my fingers slid from bead to bead, their smoothness comforting, their coolness warming to my touch. My mind wandered mercilessly, moving from concern to concern. My body wiggled, shifting from cheek to cheek, legs stretching out, legs bending, constantly moving. Perhaps the power of Baba’s infusion of energy into those beads kept me sitting through the wiggling. I sat and breathed 108 kriya breaths. I was relatively amazed that I kept going for the whole succession of counting, that I got through 108 breaths without getting up. Afterward, I did 3 sun salutations to stretch out the achy hips.

That first effort was hardly impressive. It was no yogi sitting there in the room, it was the girl with ants in her pants. But I did it. Feeling the intensity of the headache the following day dragged me out there again. Again, I wiggled, again I breathed kriya, again I sat for 108 breaths. Again, 3 sun salutations.

Again, the headache returned. I started to infuse the bead counting with a different kind of kriya, one that connects to this chant: Om namo bhagavate vasu devaya. For this kriya, on the inhalation, you chant om na mo bha ga va; exhale te va su de va ya, tracing each chakra up and down the spine as you raise and lower the breath. It requires a different kind of breathing, called the Aah-Eee breath by my teacher. I would alternate between kriya and Aah-Eee breathing. Each day, I did more Aah-Ee breaths, which take me longer to complete. Each day, I did 108 breaths. Each day, the headache moved to a later time of day.

The reason I’m writing about this now, is the headaches are gone. I’ve been meditating for a week. I noticed this morning that I sat remarkably still for the duration of my meditation. I found it amazing that this much benefit came after only one week.

Perhaps it’s the meditation, perhaps other things, but I also have noticed some improvements in my ability to maintain composure. When the children took a temple door off the hinge, I calmly explained that they will have some limits around playing in that building. They didn’t cry or feel scolded, which was a relief and a different reaction for them.

My goal is to share with you the evolution of this meditative practice. I don’t have expectations, but I promise to be a faithful and honest observer.

Namaste.

December babies always seem to get gypped. “This present is for your birthday AND Christmas,” is something they have to listen to every year. Susan Hammer is a brilliant lawyer, consultant, communitarian, partner, and a December baby. This year, she decided to have her birthday party in the summer, Brilliant!

Susan and Lee Kelly, her life partner of many years, hosted the party at Lee’s studio in Oregon City. To call the property a studio is an understatement, however. Most of Lee Kelly’s work is monumental in size, including a sculpture at the new Civic condominiums, the 30 foot arch on US26 near Bethany, and various larger than life sculptures at the Sylvania PCC campus. So his studio must house all his artwork and sprawls over 20 acres along a creek. His home and workplace are nestled among giants made of steel.

Susan has been a Portland icon for many years, and most recently served as president of Portland’s City Club. Lee Kelly has been called Oregon’s treasure for his amazing art works, depicting his experiences while travelling to amazing and beautiful places throughout his life. So, you might imagine that they have many impressive friends.

Steve Novick, who ran a populist campaign for US senate was in attendance, along with new city councilman, Nick Fish. When I conspiratorially asked Novick whether the Democratic party’s support for Merkley was really their bid to ensure that Gordon Smith wins in November, he very gallantly said that he thought the party really just didn’t know that Novick would make such a popular bid for senate. They had to make sure Merkley won after they decided to support him, so they put a ton of money into his campaign to make his primary bid successful. When asked what he was doing next, he noted that he was involved in fighting the Sizemore campaign initiatives. We told him we hope to see him running for office again.

Also in attendance were Joan and John Shipley, grand duke and dame of the Portland Art scene were there with their sons, David and Tom, and 3 of their grandchildren. David is the author of Send:The essential guide to email, and he is updating his book as we speak. We had a very engaging conversation about social networking. David admitted that email will go the way of the handwritten letter, although he finds it really wonderful that his teenage daughter communicates regularly with her grandmother via email. He does note, however, that she is really engaged in IM.

I asked about Twitter, and pointed out Erica O’Grady’s comments about Twitter bringing world peace by enabling people to communicate around the world. I suggested that women in, say, Iran might finally get a voice, and noted that when I look at the Everyone tab on Twitter, I see a lot of arabic and chinese writing. David found that interesting and mentioned that Congress is considering whether to keep members from Twittering from the House floor. In my opinion, that would be a tremendous boost to Twitter via the Barbara Steisand effect.

Others in attendance included Tom Manley and Susanne Hashim of PNCA, along with PNCA Board president and Pearl developer, Al Solheim. ZGF partner, Nancy Fishman put together lovely flower arrangements to honor her long time friend, Susan. Richard Brown, who just got a commission to put together a new winery, was there.

Janice Scroggins and Reggie Houston provided amazing music in the intimate setting of Lee’s main outdoor workspace. It was great to see Janice again after her magical evening here at Westwind, and to talk with her about the cd she and Linda Hornbuckle hope to put together of gospel Christmas music here.

Before a fabulous buffet dinner, we were chased around by waiters from Art of Catering, who found us on the hidden trails of Lee’s property and handed us scrumptious appetizers that were easy to eat while holding a drink and hiking. They laid out tables with bright orange tablecloths, reminiscent of “The Gates” in NYC, and matching perfectly with Lee’s corten sculptures and iconic “big red wall.”

After dinner, Susan thanked everyone who was key to making the event happen, including her nephews, who helped with parking.

The gift we took out of the evening was a title for the piece Lee did for us. I told him that Jayne Cronlund and I had named it “Window to the woods” — he renamed it “Window to the Gone World.” Fitting and edgy, we liked it.