Organic Vegies, now everyone can have them

Organic fruit and vegetable is ingrained into our lives and is now acceptable by a lot of society.  But it didn't always used to be this way.  In the past it was thought of as hippy food by consumers and heresy by "conventional" farmers.  But now even the most conservative farmer will consider things like minimal till, compost and softer chemical options.

As a viticulturist, a grape farmer, I am always aware of that what I do on the vineyard can, and does, affect the greater environment.  I am a custodian of the vineyard.  It should be in same condition, or better, as when I started.  Although we are far from organic, we do try to be "soft" and caring for the environment.

Why?  Why should I?  Does anyone care whether I spray Roundup once a season, or twice?  Each chemical that I use comes with a label that is a legal document, that state safe practices, limits and timings.  These are registered with the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA), the guys who make sure that everything is safe for us.  They are the Government, they never get anything wrong?

But there are options.  Out in the vineyard we try to be clever with our chemical use, try to use options that are softer, such as Sulphur.  It is used to combat Powdery Mildew, and it is very effective, and registered for organic production.  Great you say, get on it, and we do.  One problem, it can kill beneficial mites.  So what do you do?  This year we are alternating between sulphur and synthetics, it may work.

Now if you need convincing that organics can be cool, check out this trailer for a movie I saw a few years ago.  We were lucky enough to have Farmer John actually visit the State Theatre here in Hobart and present his film, "The Real Dirt on Farmer John".  This movie didn't inspire me to be organic tomorrow, but it did get me to question what I was doing.

The Real Dirt on Farmer John


Like it?  I just found the whole movie on Youtube here

And if you didn't think organics was going play a larger part of the food chain in the future, these guys think they know something.  Woolworths bought organic food store Macro Wholefoods in 2009.

Enough ranting, the reason for it is that I had Jonathon of Harvest Feast came into the show.

He and his partner run an organic fruit and veg stand at the Salamanca Markets every Saturday.  We had a great chat about how he got into running the stand, about how he procures the excellent food and about Jewish Punk Rock band Yidcore. Yeah we did, and they are mad.  On the serious side we also chatted about how there is about to be the mother of all potato gluts.  I should share his recipe to:

Jonathon of Harvest Feast: A recipe for the season

2 Handfuls of asparagus

1 Head of green garlic

Parmesan cheese

balsamic vinegar

Throw the asparagus under the grill, after 5 mins turn the asparagus and throw finely chopped green garlic over the top, drizzle with balsamic vinegar (or lemon juice, anything acidic really) and cover with shavings of Parmesan cheese.

Leave under grill for another 5 mins and until cheese is melting.

Server with some salad or anything off the BBQ

So I tried it tonight with some hibachi chicken, raw beetroot salad, and, doing my part for the potato glut, some spuds.

Here is the audio from the show

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