Daisy Janie

Growing Organically | the lowdown on dirt, part 2.

These posts on dirt (Part 1, Intermission) as part of the Growing Organically series are intended to highlight healthy soil vs. unhealthy soil as well as the devastation conventional agriculture has wrought on the world’s farmable land - and, in turn, our food security. How does this relate to cotton? If you remember from a previous post, more of the cotton plant is consumed as a food product than is used for creating cloth. Moreover, the overlay used to describe conventional farming for food is essentially the same as what we would use to describe conventional farming for cotton; likewise for organically grown food and organically grown cotton. And at the foundation of all of this is dirt. I'll be moving from here to a little bit more about organic methods of soil fertility then to seeds.

I will try to maintain these posts as long as possible, but they're already taking far too much time to compile and write. Exactly what I was afraid of. I need to keep my eye on the prize - and I don't have enough time to manage Daisy Janie as it is. sigh.

That is some mighty fine dirt! This picture above was taken in our garden a couple weeks ago. We composted diligently all winter and were rewarded with rich, dark, moist, delicious soil. In that single shovelful, there were 3 big, wriggly earthworms - an indicator that our dirt is teeming with life. As it should be!

Did you know?

• A single teaspoon of productive topsoil may contain 600-800 million individual bacteria from a possible 10,000 species; several miles of fungal hyphae; 10,000 individual protozoa; and 20-30 beneficial nematodes from a possible 100 species.
  • In contrast, a teaspoon of chemically treated soil can host as few as 100 bacteria.
• When our ancestors settled in the US, the topsoil layer was between 3-12 feet deep, depending on location.
  • Today, we have between 8-12 inches - not feet - INCHES!
• We are losing 6.4 billion tons of topsoil per year in the US. About 320 million dump trucks worth of dirt per year.
• In the past 150 years, we've lost 1/3 of the planet's topsoil.
• At today's rate of erosion and desertification, we are losing 1" of topsoil every 28 years.
  • It takes more than a century to create 1" of fertile topsoil.

The rate of degradation and loss of arable land is bad. Very bad. And it makes me more than a little crazy when I think about it too long. As a species, we are working hard to fail and dooming future generations in the process. I am not being dramatic; soil is THEE critical issue. Big Agra will steamroll us into oblivion either because we can't grow food to feed the planet or because we die from cancers their toxic chemical-laden soils have caused or because we lose our fertility altogether also as a result of the same bioaccumulative chemicals (it's already happening to amphibians). Pick one. Meanwhile, their pockets will be filled with money - our money - and for what, for who? It truly makes no sense whatsover. I digress...

By 2050, there will be 9 billion people on the planet. The world will have to produce more food to feed this population than it has in the previous 10,000 years combined. "Soil nutrient depletion, erosion, desertification, depletion of freshwater reserves, loss of tropical forest and biodiversity are clear indicators that much of the natural resource base already in use worldwide shows worrying signs of degradation. Unless immediate investments in maintenance and rehabilitation are stepped up and land use practices made more sustainable, the productive potential of land, water and genetic resources may continue to decline at alarming rates."

So what's happened to the soil?
In the simplest terms, the topsoil is eroding from water and wind due to modern, unsustainable, factory-farming methods: over-over-overtilling, lack of cover crops, lack of real organic matter & nutrients returned to soil, monocropping, and millions of tons of toxic chemical inputs. All of which has created dead-as-a-doornail, dusty dirt (desertification). In fact, the very act of tilling this loose dust with massive machines has effectively added another source of erosion. If a soil is moist, fertile, rich & robust, it can’t blow away; it can’t be washed away, and if a row is plowed, it stays where it’s turned over. This video showing the differences in tilled and no-tilled soil is pretty cool!

Remember the pot of dirt I shared a few weeks ago? Same principles at play that make that pot unable to sustain life. I could add some organic matter (grass clippings, dried leaves, worms, worm castings, etc), and my dead dirt would return to a quality, fertile soil that would stimulate micro-organisms for a longer period of time. This soil would find its own balance in terms of humus and mineral content. Or, I could skip a natural solution by adding bag of synthetic fertilizer to my dead dirt. My short-term results would be great, but the soil would not be enhanced or balanced, and it wouldn't foster the growth of micro-organisms for future healthy soil. I'd just have to keep adding more poison to the dirt to force it do something it should be able to do on its own. Again, this makes no sense to me, but it's exactly how millions of tons of food and cotton crops are grown. It's how corporations have duped us into believing this is the only way to get crop yields big enough to feed our growing population. An absolute untruth! Check Rodale Institute's 30-year Farming Systems Trial. Big Agra farming methods leach every possible good thing from the soil, and then they have to add artificial, toxic, petroleum-based chemical inputs to make things grow.

From Organic Manifesto by Maria Rodale:
"We are dealing with 10 global issues at the moment: food security, availability of water, climate change, waste disposal, extinction of biodiversity, soil degradation and desertification, poverty, political and ethnic instability, and rapid population increase.
The solution to all of these lies in soil management."
   - Rattan Lal, soil scientist, director of Ohio State University Carbon Management and Sequestration Center, 2009

I think it's hard for most people to wrap their brains around the idea that the amount of arable topsoil to which we have access on earth is finite, or that how we're treating it can dramatically affect so many other things (air, water, climate, fossil fuels). Or that we - meaning me and you - should have to change what we're doing to make a difference. On the whole, we are a very immediate gratification / loss averse society: we are more concerned with hanging onto what we have than getting something far more valuable later. But if each of us takes steps to change what we can right here, right now, it will be better for our kids and their kids. (What We Will Tell Them?) Let's be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

• Grow your own food. Don't use fertilizers, pesticides and such.
• Write to your state Senator or House Rep. Demand to know. Demand change.
• READ. Be informed. Don't assume your government or a big corporation has your best interests at heart. They don't.
• Buy local, buy organic when possible.
• Join a CSA.

"Organic agriculture sustains the fertility of soils, ecosystems and the health of the people. It also relies on locally adapted improved ecological processes and cycles, and natural biodiversity. It is therefore important that farmers are encouraged to practice organic farming." 

More info:
Differences in Tilled and No Till Soils / video
The lowdown on topsoil: It's disappearing
Issues: Soil / The Sustainable Table
The Complexity Imperative for a Sustainable Food System / Ted video
The Nation that Destroys Its Soils / Pasture to Profit

Growing Organically | the lowdown on dirt, intermission.

Intermission with a movie? Yep! Check out Dirt! The Movie for free on Hulu. 80 minutes and really, really enlightening! (Trailer below.)

From Dirt! The Movie website:

"Dirt feeds us and gives us shelter. Dirt holds and cleans our water. Dirt heals us and makes us beautiful. Dirt regulates the earth's climate. Dirt is the ultimate natural resource for all life on earth.

Yet most humans ignore, abuse, and destroy our most precious living natural resource. Consider the results of such behavior: mass starvation, drought, floods, and global warming, and wars. If we continue on our current path, Dirt might find another use for humans, as compost for future life forms.

It doesn't have to be that way. Another world, in which we treat dirt with the respect it deserves, is possible and we'll show you how.

The film offers a vision of a sustainable relationship between Humans and Dirt through profiles of the global visionaries who are determined to repair the damage we've done before it's too late. There are many ways we can preserve the living skin of the earth for future generations.

Dirt is very much alive. Though, in modern industrial pursuits and clamor for both profit and natural resources, our human connection to and respect for soil has been disrupted. Drought, climate change, even war are all directly related to the way we are treating dirt."

Dirt! The Movie - website

Growing Organically | the lowdown on dirt, part 1.

As a young, happy newlywed 18 years ago, I was thrilled to have a house and a yard to tend for the first time! In particular, I loved planting pots of flowers each season, to set upon the steps leading up to our Chicago-suburb bungalow - it always added a welcoming touch. Pansies in the Spring; impatiens or petunias in the Summer; and mums in the Fall. I also enjoyed saving money, and I was extremely resistent to the idea of buying dirt each season for the flower pots - I mean, c'mon, it was dirt! Who buys dirt when the pots are already filled with dirt? (Did I mention I was young? And naive?)

That kind of logic got me through the first year. The 2nd year, without any additional, fresh soil added to the pots, the flowers languished after about a week and flopped over and dried up! No amount of water or sun/shade changes revived them. I never attributed their failure to thrive to the old, dead dirt I was using! (My sister tipped me off the following year!)

Plants need good soil to grow - soil that's fertile, balanced with vital minerals and active with micro-organisms. After a few seasons, the dirt in my flower pots was depleted of its nutrients and could not support life. We need life in order to support life! Seems pretty obvious how critical this little factoid is in retrospect.

In home gardens and flower beds, it's relatively easy to cultivate rich soil using organic gardening methods, like composting and crop rotation. There are myriad other ways to enrich and create good garden soil - see links below.

But imagine... just imagine for a second... the thousands upon thousands upons thousands of land dedicated to conventional agriculture across the globe. And imagine how degraded and depleted the soil must be after decades of planting the same crops (mono-cropping) in the same fields, year after year after year. What do you think farmers, who typically eschew organic methods, do to force things to grow in their dirt? That's what we'll talk about next week...

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More reading:
Soil / Organic Gardening
The Dirt on Soil / About Garden Soil
Building Garden Soil / Vegetable Garden Guru
Make Your Own Potting Soil / Mother Earth News
Garden Soil Tips / TLC
Soil Health Indicators / Rodale Institute
How to Create Good Gardening Soil / Expert Village

Growing Organically | turn intention into action.

Above:
Clothing labels from organic clothing I have purchased in recent years - turning my intention into action. Putting my money where my mouth and my heart are.
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Assuming you want to make more eco-friendly choices in your clothing, food and general household purchases, do you find that, despite your good intentions, your buying habits haven't really changed? Does your little voice tell you that it's okay this one time because you'll make an effort next time - but there never is a next time?

Why is that? Have you isolated the reason(s) why you keep buying the same old stuff that's not really good for you, the planet or the other human beings who made it? Even though you feel kinda guilty about it?

You have those good intentions for a reason. They're born out of your compassionate instincts that tell you something is amiss and needs your help. The same compassionate instincts that tell you your child doesn't look well, that you should assist an elderly person in a store or that it's a good idea to donate your time, money or stuff to those in need.

Trust your instincts. Figure out what your personal hiccups are that keep you from buying better - and figure out how to override, overcome or outsmart them. I know it's not always easy.... but it's always, always worth it! Let your good intentions turn into action that makes a difference.

More reading:
Environmental Justice Foundation / main website
Pure Citizen / main website

Growing Organically | intro to the GOTS Certification.

In last week's Growing Organically post - "what's not on the pricetag" - I referred to the idea of transparency where a company's raw materials and manufacturing processes are concerned. Given the need to brand and advertise one's business in today's market, you can be assured that a company will not be shy about letting you know if they ARE producing eco-friendly, green, sustainable products. Their message will be tailored to inform! Often, a company will seek outside certification from another entity to show the level of their compliance or to be more transparent to their customers.

This fantastic & informative video is produced by the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), which is the standard I use for the production of my printed organic cotton fabric for Daisy Janie. It is the most comprehensive standard in the organic textile market, and the goal is to "provide transparency and product security so the seller knows what she is selling and the consumer knows what she is buying."

GOTS is recognized as the gold standard in certifications for organic textiles and products b/c of its breadth of coverage - they have left no stone unturned in considering the entire supply chain involved in production! Many other standards only look at the raw material or test for specific harmful chemicals in the final product, but none addresses and monitors the entire soup-to-nuts process like GOTS. *more detailed info in a future post

I have chosen the GOTS certification for Daisy Janie's organic fabrics because it is the only level of certification that matches my passion for doing as much as I can in the business realm I have chosen. Other standards leave too many loopholes for introducing toxic chemicals during processing, printing and finishing, or using abusive labor practices. Companies might still call their products organic, but it's not even close to being the same when you stop at the fiber. It's like saying you made organic pizza when the only organic ingredient in the pizza are the tomatoes in the sauce. ALL the ingredients and processes count - not just 1 or 2. I will not have the Daisy Janie name attached to something that isn't as all-inclusive and scrupulous as possible. I want to be able to hand over a beautiful piece of fabric to you, and say, "Here. This is the very best I could do to keep you, your loved ones, everyone else and Mother Nature free from harm." And I want to feel good about those words so you can feel good about your choice.

Transparency matters. Ask questions. Look for certifications.

More reading:
Global Organic Textile Standard / main website
GOTS, Organic Cotton & Other Links / Daisy Janie blog
Reasons to Love Daisy Janie's Organic Fabrics / Daisy Janie blog

field trip to the Rodale Institute - organic pioneers!

Daisy Janie is a business built on a foundation of organic agriculture. Without it, I would have not have any pretty fabrics to offer the quilting industry. Knowing that Daisy Janie stands with a slim handful of like-minded organic fabric pioneers, I think it's beyond cool that a real, honest-to-goodness, holy-smokes, been-doing-this-for-65-years organic pioneer in the broader realm of organic agriculture is just 20 miles down the road from me in Kutztown, PA! A stone's throw!

This noble place is the Rodale Institute. They conduct research on "the best practices of organic agriculture and share our findings with farmers and scientists throughout the world, advocating for policies that support farmers, and educating consumers about how going organic is the healthiest option for people and the planet."

We visited on Saturday for the first time, and I'm pretty sure I was vibrating as we drove into the parking lot. 333 acres dedicated to what I believe in - to what is at the core of my being - to the one message we strive to pass along to our son: good health & well-being starts with one's daily sustenance, and that nourishment should be as clean and as in harmony with nature as possible.

Rodale Institute
website | facebook | twitter | youtube

On Saturday, the Rodale Institute held their first annual organic tulip festival. They planted beds of thousands of tulips all over the farm, and you could meander around and pick your own (bulb and all) to take home and plant. Did, did and done!

Above:
They also had workshops on composting and straw bale gardening as well as a cold crop sale of started veggie plants, among other things. We bought a coupla straw bales to try it out! We also picked out a bunch of interesting lettuces, kales and chards. Yum!

We wandered around the farm, and they have examples of garden plots and other ideas one might consider in their gardening or farming.

Below:
Plant a garden for something specific using various veggies and herbs.

Above:
A living roof. And simple veggie markers.

Below:
Root cellar! They only had to dig down about 4 feet b/c the pile above ground allows for the headroom and space needed.

Growing Organically | what's not on the pricetag.

It occurred to me that this first batch of Growing Organically posts is sort of a primer ~ quick & generalized to whet your whistle for more detailed & specific concepts to come. It wasn't planned that way (ha), but, in retrospect, it seems better to use a big brush right now - just to get you thinking more broadly about the whole, big, macro picture! Thank you for your comments, tweets and emails about this series!!
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Video from GECKO Online Lesson © 2011 by Greennovate

Today's topic is about what's not on the pricetag.
When we buy mass-produced, conventionally grown cotton products, the pricetag rarely reflects the damaging, insurmountable, tangential costs of bringing that item to market. From extreme environmental pollution to sick & destitute (and sometimes dead) farmers to sweatshop labor, the bottom line extends far, far beyond what we pay directly out of our pockets to take our purchases merrily on our way.

Mass manufacturers are not eager for you to know these things so there certainly isn't a whole lot of transparency in the industry. If a company is doing something eco- or human-friendly, they'll shout it from the rooftops b/c they'll definitely want you to know. I know I do! If they're not saying anything about their manufacturing processes or raw materials anywhere - not even in their own company bio or literature, you can be pretty sure they would rather you didn't know. I often think the manufacturers themselves don't want to know - they just want to source their goods, get them in shops and get paid - no matter who or what gets hurt in the process.

Just this week, a new article came out in China Daily that accused "46 Chinese and multinational clothing brands and retailers of purchasing from suppliers who illegally discharge polluted water in China. Multinational companies Zara, Adidas, Nike, Calvin Klein, Armani, Walmart and Carrefour ... were among the companies named..." It's frightening (you'll hear me say that a lot) and completely, outrageously wrong.

The best value doesn't always come from the price you pay at the cash register. The best value may be from making sure other humans were treated fairly and that the environment was not defiled for your jeans or t-shirt or fabric. Simple compassion. Not just for us right here, right now - but for the planet and values that we are passing down to our grandchildren. Change doesn't happen by chance and by someone else; it happens by intent and by us.

Above:
Pearl River in Xintang from a screenshot I took on Google Earth ~ this is the one mentioned in the video above. Xintang is the "blue jean capital of the world," and the Pearl River runs blue-black from the water discharged during the indigo dyeing processes. What's most interesting to me is how this represents ONLY WHAT YOU CAN SEE b/c it is colored, kinda like a barium dye and x-ray test that one might get to see if you have a blockage in your digestive track or if your kidneys are functioning properly. Imagine what's being discharged in that water that you can't see.

Next week, I will share some information about the Global Organic Textile Standard that is used to certify Daisy Janie's organic fabrics. It addresses responsible practices for the raw materials, the farmers, the factories, the water, the workers and more in a very transparent manner.

More reading:
China's Famed Pearl River Under Denim Threat / CNN
Slow Down Fashion / Whole Threads
The High Price of Cheap Clothes / Ecopreneurist
Big Brands Buy From Polluting Textile Firms / China Daily
Jeans Ratings & Reviews / Good Guide
About Greenovate

Growing Organically | mmmm, tasty yummy cotton!

As I mentioned in my intro last week, I won't necessarily be presenting topics for the Growing Organically series in a particular order. I have many ideas to cover, and some of them will be hit upon several times from different perspectives and in varying degrees of detail. But, before we get too far, I am including a simple description of organic cotton below so that you'll have this basic info under your belt as we progress in the series.

Organic Cotton is defined by the Organic Trade Association as:

Organic cotton is grown using methods and materials that have a low impact on the environment. Organic production systems replenish and maintain soil fertility, reduce the use of toxic and persistent pesticides and fertilizers, and build biologically diverse agriculture. Third-party certification organizations verify that organic producers use only methods and materials allowed in organic production. In addition, federal regulations prohibit the use of genetically engineered seed for organic farming. All cotton sold as organic in the United States must meet strict federal regulations covering how the cotton is grown.

Today's topic is about cotton use not related to fabric.
"I'm not eating the fabric, so I really don't think organic cotton is important."

Well, maybe you're not eating the fabric, per se, like you're eating an apple, but you are consuming cotton in lots of other ways.  In fact, 2/3 of a cotton crop ends up in our food supply. In the process of ginning the cotton, the fluffy white boll is separated from the seed.

• The cottonseed that remains is used to make cottonseed oil, used heavily, heavily, heavily in processed foods as a vegetable oil. Salad dressings, mayonnaise, frying oils for snack foods -  you name it. It is America's original vegetable oil.
• The cottonseed meal that remains is fed to livestock, which is then fed to us.
• The cotton lint (aka "gin trash") is used to make tampons, cotton swabs and cotton balls. Tampons? Tampons that an average woman will use 9,000 times in her life? Made from the same gin trash that some countries deem hazardous waste due to the levels of chemical residues? Yes.

Fantastic, resourceful uses for cotton. The problem occurs when these derivative products come from conventional cotton ~ where genetically-modified seeds are used in planting; where toxic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides are used to grow the plants; where poisonous, chemical defoliants are used to harvest the cotton. These chemicals are forever a part of conventional cotton - they exist both topically and systemically. Systemically means they are absorbed into the plant via the seeds, soil and leaves, and then they circulate in the plant's tissues. And they kill bugs that feed on them. This is the science behind how these toxins are supposed to work. They don't just disappear into thin air once the plants are harvested. Any chemical used to get that cotton to a manufacturing stage will become part of the final product - it can't be processed out or washed out.

From What's the Truth About Cottonseed Oil:

Cottonseed oil is also absolutely loaded with pesticides and other harmful chemicals, as used by the cottonseed industry to ensure the mass production of crops to keep up with demand. Also, the cottonseed plant composition is high in Omega 6 content – one of the reasons people in the developed world have such high numbers in obesity, heart disease, and other degenerative diseases like cancer.

The use of cotton extends far, far beyond the textiles created from the fluffy boll. Indeed, we may not be eating our cotton fabric, but we are eating cotton directly and indirectly. Just like eating an apple or like the livestock that eats the apple (or cotton as the case may be).  And if the cotton is not grown organically, then we're eating all those chemicals, too. Food for thought, literally!

More reading:
What's the Truth About Cottonseed Oil? / Agriculture Society
Girl Scout Cookies: Epic Fail / Dr. Susan Rubin
Is Cottonseed Oil Okay? / Dr. Andrew Weil
The Awful Truth About Cottonseed Oil / Wizbang Blue
King Cotton: Pesticide Residue is Common in Cotton Byproducts / Sierra

Growing Organically | cotton subsidies.

[ video intro ]
Shooting from the hip, unedited, warts & all. Please click through if you can't see it.
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Welcome to the first post for the Growing Organically series ~ so glad you stopped in!

Today's topic is about U.S. cotton subsidies.
If you've purchased organic cotton fabric, you know that the price at the cash register is slightly higher than a non-organic (conventional) fabric. To put it simply, the pricepoint of organic fabric reflects real and fair costs of production and conventional cotton does not.

The United States pays subsidies to US cotton farmers*, which have averaged $3 billion/year for the past decade. These "little" side payments allow these farms (we're talking Big Agra here) to charge far less than they should per bale of cotton on the world market b/c they don't need to recoup the actual costs of their production from buyers. It's kinda like when your kiddo has to pay a fee for a trip or camp, and your out-of-pocket expense is the difference between how much the trip actually costs and how much your child raised selling candy or washing cars. And it kinda makes you feel like your kid is taking a trip for $200, when the real cost of the trip is $500.

The impact of these subsidies is felt on a global scale because the US exports 40-60% of its cotton production. As such, the artificial, discounted price that these farms charge for their cotton sets the price precedent for every other farmer in every other country. This means that the small family farmer in a developing country and even large farms in developed countries cannot charge a fair and "real" price for their cotton ~ these are farmers and farms that do not receive handsome bonuses on the side from their governments. Thus, the margins they earn on their crops are not fair and keep them in an endless cycle of poverty and worse. The World Trade Organization has ruled that these subsidies are illegal b/c it violates international trade agreements and allows for unfair competition... yet it still happens and conventional cotton is still erroneously cheap.

To ensure increasing cotton exports and maintain dominance in price-setting, Big Agra in the US has turned to more and more toxic, chemical-laden processes in recent decades that allow it to handily outcompete other cotton-producing countries. Whoa Nellie! A topic for another day.

*The European Union subsidizes cotton as well, but they don't export at the same volumes.

"Don't ask why organic is so expensive.
Ask why the others are so cheap."
I don't remember where I read this quote, but in the case of cotton, it is true. Organic cotton is not subsidized like conventional US cotton** is, and the pricepoint reflects real and fair inputs along all steps in the supply chain - most importantly, the farmer. The end price to you will naturally be more for organics than conventional.

**Yes, weather extremes can play a part as well in the price of cotton. However, cotton prices were kept so artificially low for so long that the price became inelastic and could not "weather" the weather extremes of recent years.

From Oxfam America article Paying the Price (linked below):

How do US cotton subsidies affect the world price of cotton?
The more bales of cotton an American producer grows, the more dollars that farmer can expect to receive from the US government. Farmers also receive subsidies to offset low cotton prices and to provide a guaranteed cash flow. Therefore, growers produce substantially more than they would otherwise to get more subsidies. Since the US is the world’s largest cotton exporter, these additional US cotton exports depress world prices. Past studies suggest that US subsidies lower world prices by between 3 to 30 percent, or an average of about 12 percent. This new study draws on more recent analysis and shows that the elimination of US cotton subsidies would increase the world price by between 6 and 14 percent."

More reading:
Paying the Price / Oxfam America
Spinning the Threads of Poverty / Rights Work 
Brazil's victory in cotton trade case exposes America's wasteful subsidies / Washington Post
U.S. Cotton Subsidies: Subsidizing Suffering / ForceChange
United States: Cotton Subsidies / NY Times
Why U.S. Taxpayers Are Paying Brazilian Cotton Growers / NPR
Fact Sheet on U.S. Cotton Subsidies and Cotton Production / Organic Consumer Assoc.



introducing a new blog series: Growing Organically.

One Fabric vs. Many Fabrics
By itself, this small square of fabric is cute, but it doesn't make much of an impact and is easily forgettable. However, within its diminutive size, it holds immense and infinite potential to become something else ~ something bigger and something that tells a story.

If I were to add another piece to it from the glorious stack below... and another and another and another... and so on... Eventually, this single scrap would take on meaning as it becomes an entire block of fabrics. If the block became many blocks stitched together, it would take on even more meaning as it becomes a quilt. To be used, enjoyed and loved. The whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

One Story vs. Many Stories
Applying that same idea to snippets of information about organic fabric or organic agriculture, one story or one video or one explanation might not make much of an impact and can be easily forgotten as you go about your daily doings.

However, if we bring together many stories, many videos and many explanations about organic fabrics and agriculture, our knowledge base about it becomes undeniably bigger and bigger and bigger. A more crystallized, powerful and robust message comes into view and becomes ours to grasp, use and *enjoy* in our own lives. The whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

Sapere Aude (sah-PEAR-ay OW-day)
Latin for "Dare to know or Dare to be wise." It would be nice if someone waved a magic wand over us and said, "There! Now you have all the brain nuggets you'll ever need to make informed choices about the world!" I would be first in line!

Nope, sadly, it's up to each one of us to constantly acquire information and knowledge that we can use to make decisions about our lives. But sometimes, we just don't know what we don't know so we can't even begin to seek it out to learn more. I get that! I don't recall the first time I stumbled onto information about organic agriculture - or the second or third time. I don't know how many articles I read before it began to make an impact on me, and I then made a very conscious choice to acquire more and more and more information. I dared myself to know. I'm so glad I did b/c my assumptions did not match the reality that came into focus.

And now, I dare you to know. I dare you to be wise. I'm skipping the double-dog dare and going right to the triple-dog dare. Join me - I'm still learning and reading everything I can, and I'd love to share some of it with you! Each Friday, I will post a video or narrative or something related to organic fabrics and/or organic agriculture. There will be interviews, links or maybe just a thought to think about. I may comment on ideas I present; I may not. Absorb the info ~ compare it to what you already know and let it prompt you to seek out and learn more. Build your own big, rich blocks of information about organic fabrics & organic farming, which will become something you can use and enjoy in your own life! 

Thanks, as always, for reading! Have a superlative weekend!
xo
Jan