About the Directory
- Promote the organic movement
- Encourage people to consume a healthier food supply
- Encourage networking inside the community to create a food distribution network of locally produced organic agriculture
- Improve and encourage a healthier food supply to low income and highly populated areas through community and rooftop gardening
Years ago people began to realize the negative impact that synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, and genetically modified organisms were having on their health. How do we get back to the way mother nature intended it to be, before humans started to meddle in the natural process?
Anyone who has purchased organic produce at a grocery store knows the price is substantially higher than produce grown using synthetics. This limits the ability for most to consume such a costly product.
Organic produce does not cost more to grow. In fact, it’s much cheaper due to the fact you are replenishing the nutrient using discarded or naturally processed plant material. The increased cost comes from the licenses, transportation cost, and hoops that large organic commercial farms must jump through.
How can we offset these costs? One way we can do this is by growing your own or by buying locally from a source that uses the organic method. Most backyard and small scale farms do not need to meet these extensive requirements or to be licensed.
After reading a paper on how the cycle of organics work, I was hooked on how microorganisms consumed decomposed plant matter and excreted nutrients that the plant consumed, in order to grow to one day become the food for the next generation. It is a bit more complicated but that’s the gist of it. After reading this paper, I knew what I wanted to do.
The next grow season; I set out to grow my own organic produce. I quickly found out that I did not have enough space available, in high sun areas, to be self-sufficient throughout the grow season.
The following year, I decided to grow one type of vegetable that would produce throughout the entire grow season. While I was still able to consume a high-quality organic vegetable, I could only consume so much. I also had an excess and was not sure what to do with it. If I was able to find another person with fresh produce near me who had a different type of vegetable in excess, maybe they would be willing to trade. But how? There isn’t anyone I knew who had a garden. After asking around and searching classified ads online, I did not have any luck. I thought, “someone needs to start a website where people can post their excess produce from backyard gardens for barter or trade.” This is what sparked the idea for nationalcsadirectory.com. I knew just the guy for the job. If not me, who else?
The brainstorming started. Not only could this be helpful to backyard gardeners in the suburbs, but also to inner-city community gardens and rooftop gardeners. Networks could be formed where person A has growing conditions suitable for string beans, person B has conditions suitable for potatoes and person C carrots, and so on. Essentially creating a larger scale garden through satellites that sustain all parties involved throughout the grow season for the price of a bag of seed and a few minutes of labor every couple of days.
I know gardening is not for everyone. Maybe you prefer the ease of driving to the store and purchasing your produce and livestock. As I said previously, most small farms do not need to jump through the hoops of commercial farms. Therefore, farm stands and local farms tend to have organic produce grown in a garden you can see with your own eyes, while having a discussion with the farmer on his process. It also tends to be cheaper than your local supermarket. For this reason we also have farm stands and local farms posting their product.
I hope you find nationalcsadirectory.com useful. It will take dedication from those involved to build this community and further the movement to a healthier society.