Flora's Organics is the first Certified Naturally Grown Nursery in Kern County, California and set to becoming the first certified organic nursery too, with a Kickstarter page here (video included), and now taking orders for your spring and summer 2015 growing season in the immediate area (further around the southern San Joaquin/central valley if you don't mind driving here to pick up your purchases — delivery is limited to Bakersfield at this time).
Of the 50 nurseries in these 8,161 square miles, none are certified organic, leaving local gardeners and homeowners few organic options. That's shortsighted and unconscionable in this world-class food-source region, because so many crops depend on pollination for optimal yield, and non-organic nursery stock is strongly associated with death and damage to bees, beehives, native pollinators, and migrating pollinator species.
Think Global, Act Local
In the U.S. alone, beekeepers have been losing about one-third of their hives each year. Globally, bee populations are collapsing at an unprecedented rate, after six decades of exponentially increasing destruction. Word of hive losses in the 70-90 percent range were reported last winter. With the loss of pollinator species, food crop production goes down, and food prices go up, low-income and poor families and small family farmers the hardest hit.
Kosak mtwocats started Flora's Organics with the fall 2014 garden planting season, donating to community-garden-related non-profits in Bakersfield a third of the plants she grew from seed to help them get a start, as well as selling to customers.
From a plantpot of self-renewing chives on the windowsill, to fertilizers for the flowerbed, to buying organic as you can afford at your local grocery store, even the smallest step is a step in a healthier direction. The Environmental Working Group's Guides include ratings for 48 items of produce (51 including 3 imported-vs-domestic versions) applicable to frozen and canned too. Other guides: "Farming and the Environment", "Farm Subsidy Database", "Agmag", "Enviroblog" (and many articles on endocrine-disruptors and how genetically engineered food as well as pesticides and other noxious substances impact not only consumers' personal health but also the health of agriculture workers worldwide, and the environments and air and water where food is grown and where people live ... including us!)
Other Kos Katalogue kosaks involved in organics are:
NinthElegy, an organic-gardening teacher and chef; and flowerfarmer sells her organic field grown cut flowers, herbs and strawberries at two New Hampshire farmers' markets June through September (find them variously in the Katalog's Food and Drink and Gardening and Supplies sections).
If there is no organic nursery supply business in your area, maybe the home improvement / hardware / garden stores carry an organic fertilizer or mulch option or something else that would ordinarily go in your garden or plantpots anyway — picking the organic versions when you have that choice is a great choice.
If the store where you purchase food doesn't have any organic produce, you might want to ask if the store can stock organic versions of items from EWG's "Dirty Dozen" that you or your family routinely eat so you can avoid the worst and benefit from the best without breaking the bank.
Let's everyone in California and the U.S. get just a little involved in organics at the local level, in whatever way is easiest for each of us to invest in the health of ourselves, our families, neighborhoods, cities, counties, states, nations and the globe, for the good of us all.
Want to let local kosaks in your area know where organic food and organic nursery/garden supplies are? Put those local resources in your comments, and repost this diary to your local DK groups — find those groups in WhereTheKogsAre and on the map in every Connect! Unite! Act! diary.
A few quotes and information links about why we need bees and other pollinators, and why they need us:
(post in comments your additional links on this topic)
Videos about bee issues at NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL dot org.
Natural Resources Conservation Service
One out of every 3 bites of food in the U.S. is dependent on pollinators such as honeybees.
USDA Program to Improve Pollinator Health
... Honey bee pollination supports an estimated $15 billion worth of agricultural production, including more than 130 fruits and vegetables that are the foundation of a nutritious diet. ...The future... of America's food supply depends on healthy honey bees...
White House Fact Sheet: The Economic Challenge Posed by Declining Pollinator Populations
...Insect pollination is integral to food security in the United States. Honey bees enable the production of at least 90 commercially grown crops in North America. Globally, 87 of the leading 115 food crops evaluated are dependent on animal pollinators, contributing 35% of global food production...
The number of managed honey bee colonies in the United States has declined steadily over the past 60 years, from 6 million colonies (beehives) in 1947 to 4 million in 1970, 3 million in 1990, and just 2.5 million today. Given the heavy dependence of certain crops on commercial pollination, reduced honey bee populations pose a real threat to domestic agriculture...
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Kos Katalogue: December 2014
The Holiday Season is almost here! Please consider buying your holiday or celebration gifts for friends and family from the Kos Katalogue.
Kos Katalogue is an online catalog of businesses owned by people who cherish and promote liberal values. Handmade or original gifts include pet supplies; fine art; quilts; jewelry; children's department; arts and crafts; stationery; books; clothing; craft supplies; electronics; food and drink; household sundries; yarn, knitting, crochet, and weaving; freelance services; software and webdesign; sporting goods; and music.
Below are four examples of these handmade or original gifts. Thanks for your support.
Community Quilt Project Willie Ru Designs
Wings: Hands on Silver Laughing Coyote Woodworks
Please remember to republish all diaries to your Daily Kos Groups. You can also follow all postings by clicking this link for the Kos Katalogue Group. Then, click 'Follow' and that will make all postings show up in 'My Stream' of your Daily Kos page.
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