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Last week, I mentioned the importance of not taking an 'Organic Certified' label at face value—after all, even organic foods can be contaminated with salmonella, as happened with the pistachios. But what to do, besides following the news closely and buying as food as possible from local farms and farmers' markets?
There really wasn't much else one could do to find out if your food was being treated sanitarily—at least it seemed that way at the time of writing. It'd be a momentous task to take stock of where each of your food items came from, the farm it was grown on, and so forth. Right? Well, not really—if you buy much of your produce and foodstuffs from one (or a few) organic farm in particular, why would it be so difficult to head on out and see how they do things there for yourself?
In fact, I downright encourage it. I once had a chance to visit an organic farm in the Galapagos Islands and it was an eye-opening—and not to mention fascinating—experience. And after a quick looksie on the inter-tubes, I've found that many organic farms would love to have you come down and take a tour of their grounds, too. Many, in fact, plan group tours on a regular basis.
So just look for your favorite organic farm online, and see if they offer a tour—here's a schedule for organic farms in Connecticut, for example. Here's info on touring organic farms in North and South Carolina.
Touring Ono Organic Farm while on your next vacation in Hawaii could spice up all that sunbathing and surfing.
You could learn a lot—like the unique ways food is grown in pesticide and chemical fertilizer-free environments. So if you're simply interested in seeing what the fuss about organic is about, or it'd help give you peace of mind after yet another salmonella outbreak?schedule a tour on an organic farm.
More on Organic Farms:
Volunteer on an Organic Farm
White House Organic Farm VIDEO
Wegmans Starting Its Own Organic Farm
