Organic September

Back in the mid 1970s I was a young foundry technician and an aspiring writer. 

I became interested in the idea of organic vegetable gardening so I requested a patch of unused land in my parent's back garden and decided to grow vegetables using organic fertiliser.

Organic fertilisers were not commonly available then, at least not in the small market town we lived in, but eventually I found a local hardware shop (managed by a very large cat who sat on the counter and who demanded fusses by way of payment) which was selling liquid organic seaweed-based fertiliser and I began to use that to fertilise the vegetables that I had planted. Beans and peas were amongst the two main crops that I first planted.

My mother was very encouraging but my father teased me in good fun about me being a hippy for growing crops organically. but after seeing how well the crops were doing and how good they tasted after they were harvested, he was brought round to the viewpoint that organic was better.

Now, 45 years later, we are participating in Organic September.

Organic fertilisers are now pretty mainstream and although the cat and her pet humans retired long ago, organic fertilisers are readily available, now. In fact the Maxicrop Seaweed fertiliser I used all those years ago is still available. You can buy it on Amazon and at garden centres or visit them at https://www.solabiol.com/en/maxicrop-uk.

But if you don't have the space, time or the ability to grow your own crops using organic methods, buying organic foods to eat is now even easier than it ever has ever been.

From large supermarket chains to speciality farm shops to corner and convenience shops, everyone seems to have some organic food and drinks that are on their shelves.

Organic milks, cheeses, meats, vegan alternatives, coffee, tea, beers, wines, spirits, confectionary, breakfast cereals, vegetables, breads etc, etc, all are available.

And many restaurants, pubs and hotels are striving to offer organic food and drink to their customers.

Over the next month That's Food and Drink, with the assistance of our friends in the organic food PR profession, will be featuring organic produce as part of Organic September. 

That's Food and Drink would like to thank Alexa at Pixabay for the image used to illustrate this feature.

(Alexas_Fotos at Pixaby)