From the sublime to the ridiculous

It's always eye opening to speak to folks about organic food. But today I had a different kind of eye-opener when speaking to a farmer.

Yesterday as I wrote, we went to a small Farmers' Market right here in Three Oaks-- a market populated with 90% or more local farmers, nearly all of whom grow organically. We even met a chicken farmer (more on that in a moment).

Today, we went to another Farmers' Market held at a local restaurant. Nearly all the vendors there were from a bit further away, and none of them grew organically. I've really grown to like chatting with farmers, and I'm no longer shy about asking how they grow their food. Today, when I asked one farmer if his farm was organic, he replied, "No. No way. You wouldn't want to eat produce that was produced without chemicals. It's buggy and can't grow well, at least around here."

I was stunned by his response, but I suppose I shouldn't be. There's so much misinformation out there about growing organically. I guess I just didn't expect to hear it from a farmer.

Then we had the opposite experience-- the kind of experience that I hope will become more of the norm for me, and perhaps the world.

Yesterday we met a couple who grow produce and chickens organically on about 1/2 an acre behind their house. They didn't have any chicken with them yesterday, but they invited us to come out to the farm today, which we did. the husband showed us around, showing us the chicken-tractors they use to allow their chickens to graze the grass and grubs they love so much. It was a wonderful and interesting conversation-- one that made me look forward, for the first time in a long time, to eating chicken. We took two whole chickens home. I hadn't ever cut up a whole chicken, so I called my brother the chef, who talked me through dismantling it. I marinated and grilled the pieces, and served it along with skewers of the fresh veggies we'd bought yesterday from the same couple. It was a terrific, tasty, local, organic meal. Heaven, really. I'd like to chat with the man who grows my food every day. I'd like to eat like that every day.