I’ve been a gardener for many years and a member of gardening forums for about as long. For most of those years, I did not use the words organic and gardening in the same sentence. I always tried to use the best chemicals which would kill the most bugs, provide the most nutrition, and remove the most weeds from my landscape and garden. Like many of my friends who believe any snake on the ground is a rattle snake and any snake in the water is a cotton mouth (therefore worthy of death), I believed all bugs were bad, and weeds should be eradicated by any method available.

To me, the word organic described the feeling I felt as a young boy when a young girl named Mildred (either intentionally or unintentionally) caused me to realize there really is a difference between boys and girls. Since that knowledge seemed to be very important in my young mind, I filed it away in one of those organized boxes men use as a brain. I labeled the box “Unknown But Important”. I could have labeled it “Organic”.
In my small town neighborhood growing up, one of the games my friends and I liked to play was hide and seek. The best games were played about every two weeks when the city mosquito sprayer would visit our streets and alleys emitting a thick fog of DDT. The fog provided a great place to hide until the fogger crossed the street into the next neighborhood. Who Knew?
As a young man with a young family, it was necessary to earn a living. One of my early jobs required me to spend a lot of time in a building where large blocks of asbestos were cut on band saws into smaller blocks which were then used as insulation. The normal environment in the building was again a thick fog, but now the fog consisted of asbestos particles instead of DDT. If you are thinking I spent a lot of my early years living in a fog, you are correct. On the same job, I was commonly exposed to PCB’s, benzene, hydrogen sulfide; and many other chemicals and products which were later determined to be harmful to life. Who knew?
As the years passed, people began to appear on the evening news and the morning talk shows; with concepts of life which could only be defined as organic. I began to understand that the wonders of science are not always good for me, my family, or the world. I also began to consider how stuff was manufactured (especially food) and what the ultimate cost was to our environment and our bodies. I decided that if products consumed and used remained as close to natural as possible, the environment, my family; and I would benefit by the change.
I’m still not a vegan, or even a vegetarian; who believes produce provided by nature should only be consumed after it has fallen from the host/parent plant. I do however attempt to grow and consume products produced with as little synthetic chemical interference as possible. My definition of “organic” today is a symbiotic relationship between mankind and nature which harms neither and benefits both. What is your definition?
Ted

Ted,

Thank you for sharing some of your life experiences and perspectives. Very heart felt. My family eats, grows and lives our lives by natural practices that have been successful for thousands of years. We are healthier, saving money, are a closer family and having fun. One great story of mine deals with my first home. I was living in a typical residential neighborhood in a large city. The time was 1983 and the landscape chemicals were king. Everyone had manicured lawns, ornate gardens and a swimming pool. I took a tiller to my backyard and had 4 rows of crops growing next to my pool. Bugs, spiders, no chemicals and natural scapes. Everyone thought I was crazy. But in time, the neighborhood enjoyed my tomatoes, herbs, lettuces, peppers, corn and other wonders. I made a lot of friends and converts through my living example. I was not trying to impress anyone. I was just doing what I wanted to do. And back then everything was a home brew. Today, we can get everything we need for a natural organic lifestyle packaged nicely on the store shelves.

I like what both of you said and I am glad the balance, or at least the awareness of the need for balance, regarding syntheticness and holistics is being realized.
I am glad the government has taken over the word "organic" and I hope more and more people realize that an "organic" product isn't always the right product. I think awareness is what is most important. Being aware of the impact of my actions and taking these impacts to heart is what will make a difference.
The word organic doesn't really mean much. I like the scientific term of the word because its either is or it isn't. If someone uses the word organic, I have to still look further in order to understand what their really talking about. However, I usually learn through this search and the meaning of the word organic changes.
Above all, I believe actions speak louder than a word.
Ryan