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Growing Things Farm
Growing fresh organic veggies, eggs and meat since 1991.
What Does "Organic" Mean?
Organic means something different to a wide majority of people. The US government decided to take control of the term organic, and it is now against the law to make an organic claim without certification by a regulatory body. This means when you see the sign saying "USDA Organic" or "Certified Organic," a regulatory (third party) agency has come to the farm and inspected it, as well as viewed all the farm's financial records. An organic farm must adhere to a very strict set of requirements in order to be approved.
But this does not always mean that the food is completely organic! Big business lobbies hard to make it easier for them to use the claim organic, and sometimes they win. It is always best to know your farmer, and to read the labels carefully.
Here at Growing Things Farm, not all of our products are certified organic. We are a certified organic farm, so we have to adhere to the regulations, but since we are responsible for paying fees on our GROSS income and not our net, it was decided to take our animal products off our list of products to certify. There is a lot of financial input to most of our animals, as well as labor, and it just didn't make sense to pay a fee on Gross and lose money twice. Our large animals would have needed to travel quite a ways to be slaughtered in a USDA certified organic facility, putting undue stress on the animals. We use to do this and found it very unsatisfactory. Now we only sell the animal and it is slaughtered on the farm, enjoying a very content and peaceful life until it becomes food.
We hope you understand this philosophy and our reasoning. We are open to answering any questions as well as visits to ensure you are comfortable with the way this farm works.