Living Your Ideals

There is a place here in Phoenix called the Urban Farm. They have lots of classes, programs and information on organic fruit and vegetable farming. We went one year to their surplus sale where they gave their surplus organic vegetable and herb plants away to a good home, for a small donation. We planted them, and some actually have survived. They also sell organic citrus trees with assistance in caring for them. The farm is actually a series of beds and greenhouse behind a modest home in Central Phoenix, a truly remarkable farming situation. I admire Farmer Greg as he informs his email list of environmentally-related concerns and lives his ideals of organic farming.
Earlier this year, there was a fear of West Nile virus, so city leaders decided to spray different neighborhoods each night to prevent mosquitos. Few mosquitos were seen, but Farmer Greg tried to get people to write and go to hearings and get involved. It did not prevent spraying. One day, in my email, there was a message headed "The Urban Farm is no longer Organic." Seems Farmer Greg was sitting at his computer one night. The email went as follows:

"I have spent the last 15 years nurturing the space called the Urban Farm. Never once have I used toxic chemicals or nonorganic fertilizer in our space. Our intent here at the Urban Farm is to educate the community about natural methods of growing and nurturing vegetables and ruits. It is with great sadness that I send this announcement. It is Monday evening 10:41 pm and there is this funny sound outside. It happens to be the Maricopa County spraying truck fogging for mosquitoes. Which by the way I have not seen many of over the past two weeks. THE URBAN FARM AFTER 15 YEARS OF HARD WORK IS NO LONGER ORGANIC. The county took care of that and I am incredibly angry and sad. The county sprayed didn't bother telling me or any of my neighbors and some of them I know for a fact have evaporative coolers which bring the pesticide right into their homes. For the moment here is what we can do.... including calling the Public Health Information Officer and tell him you don't want spraying in your neighborhood."

I was moved to tears by his sadness and sincerity and wrote him an email that it was admirable that he was still working on his ideals to motivate people. His response was so touching:" Since they sprayed last night my mind has been racing as to what to do about it. I got your message and stopped to ponder...and too was in tears."
Since that fateful night, he has continued his quest for organic farming and quality of life. This last week, I got emails about the annual fruit tree sale and classes, and a cistern class for those wanting to capture and reuse rain water. The only place I ever knew that did that was the Masada in Israel, but that is another story.
The most thought provoking class is "Making your own Biodiesel Fuel’ - learn how to power your diesel engine on the leftover fry oil from your local restaurant. The oil is free and nothing needs to be done to your engine to use it. Learn how to make your own biodiesel fuel. This is a hands on workshop where we will actually make biodiesel."
I admire Farmer Greg for sticking to his ideals, making us all more aware of how we can try to control our environment, starting with the food that we put into our bodies. Farmer Greg is an example of someone who lives their ideals. That is the end of this story for now.