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Ecospirituality: Organic gardening calls for relationship with nature

by Karen Flottmeier, FSPA

Discovering the benefits of organic gardening and organic foods has been an interesting and challenging process for me.

Little did I know what I was in for when I said yes to helping with the organic gardening project at Villa St. Joseph this past summer. I always liked getting my hands in the soil, feeling its texture, moisture, compactness and temperature. In previous gardening experiences I enjoyed the tilling, planting, watering, weeding and fertilizing, dusting for bugs and watching things grow.

The organic gardening process called for more. I really had to enter into a renewed relationship with the land, the weather elements, the bugs, insects, earthworms, weeds, mulch-with nature basically. I had to begin with the attitude: "I won't do anything to harm you so you won't do anything to harm me." I needed to enter into an agreement, a covenant so to speak, promising to nurture and respect the land and asking it nurture and respect me. Throughout the gardening process I needed to keep reminding myself to use the least invasive techniques in planting and weeding. I had to consistently use mulch or hay as a natural organic fertilizer. I also used it to keep weeds down and conserve the moisture coming solely from rain and dew.

On hot summer days I learned to resist the temptation to find a way to "water" the garden. Instead I listened to and took the advice of Pat Slattery, a more experienced organic gardener who worked with us on the Villa project. Along with assuring me the garden would grow with the moisture nature provided, he also explained what natural solutions he was using to keep bugs away from the tomatoes and cabbages. In the whole process my respect for the ways of nature deepened, my soul enlarged and I became grounded in a totally new way. What wonderful inner benefits!
I have learned to deeply respect those committed to organic gardening for all those inner benefits I mentioned above. On the other hand, I respect as well all those who happen to labor in non-organic commercial gardening because I know how hard they also labor though under more toxic conditions.

Stock photography

This brings me to the more obvious benefits of organic gardening. The first benefit is environmental. Organic gardening restores health to the soil or land that may well have been depleted of living, organic matter and poisoned with pesticides and chemical fertilizers.

The most obvious benefit, of course, is organic food. The vegetables and fruits raised by the methods of organic gardening are free of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Also the produce is not processed any more than I as a gardener, or you as one who receives produce from that garden choose to process the food. That means there are no artificial ingredients or preservatives nor is the produce irradiated.

I think these foods taste better even though no scientific tests have been able to conclusively prove it. Numerous scientific tests however, have proven that organic fruits and vegetables are higher in nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Various articles from the Journal of Applied Nutrition document these studies and can be found on the Internet.

The Internet is also a good place to find out how healthy our supermarket foods really are. We generally assume that all the food we eat is safe. Unfortunately, as Jonathon Allen points out in his article, Eating Organic: Is It Healthier?, this is not always true. He explains that the Environmental Working Group (EWG) based in Washington, D.C., released a study called Forbidden Fruit. It listed the 10 most contaminated non-organic foods (in order) as: strawberries, red/green bell peppers, spinach, cherries, peaches, cantaloupe, celery, apples, blackberries and green peas.

This January the EWG released an additional study in which they listed a full 43 fruits and vegetables which carry pesticide loads from 100-1 (100 meaning the highest load of pesticides, worst foods, to 1 meaning the lowest, best foods).

Here are the so-called the dirty dozen: peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, pears, grapes, spinach, lettuce and potatoes.

Here are the cleanest 12: onions, avocados, sweet corn, pineapples, mangos, asparagus, sweet peas, kiwi, bananas, cabbage, broccoli, papaya.

Is there any question that eating organic food is eating healthier food? I don't think so. I know that I am happy to be engaged in our FSPA organic gardening project. Strawberries are on the top of the first EWG list and sixth on their second list, having a pesticide load of 82 so I am delighted to have been down on my hands and knees at Villa St. Joseph weeding and mulching our own organic strawberry patch.

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