Portage River Farm

Last spring in my gardening classes at the local extension office, I was singled out as one of the few people attempting true organic gardening. The instructor explained that for most people organic gardening was a matter of degree and that they follow some of the rules and ignore others according to personal taste and convenience. Among the packed room of classmates, I was clearly holding down the "purist" extreme of the spectrum.

Thus far I have stuck to my guns and intend to carry it through. This has meant that I have paid more for my seed stock and potting soil. It has also meant that I have been keeping careful records of everything that I have done including keeping the labels off of everything I have used for eventual inspection by an auditor. I have also called the certifying agency a number of times to get advice on what I can or cannot do.

This has meant that I have been extremely cautious about what is placed in the garden or used on the plants. It has also led to some minor problems such as when Janet came home with a few basil plants that she had picked up from the grocery. Because they had no paper trail to prove where the seeds came from or what might be in the potting soil, I would not allow them to be anywhere near our food production areas. In the end I stuck them in the ground along the edge of our shed to be treated as second-class citizens on our farm.

Up until recently the garden had been pretty exclusively my problem to deal with. It is true that Sean and Aidan lent a hand during some of the planting but the rest of the work had been done by me mostly late at night when I could finally find some time to get to it. During a recent trip by the children and I to visit family, I was surprised to hear from Janet that she had spent considerable time weeding the garden. In the past week her participation has led to a couple of evenings where the entire family could be found heads-down in the rows. My smile could not have been broader at the sight.

A few nights ago we were all together among the vegetables when Aidan observed, "The cabbages are getting eaten up by something." Up until this point our plants had been completely free of insect pests. My experiences with growing potatoes in Tennessee, for example, has left me amazed at the sight of our great big healthy potato plants without a single potato beetle! I walked over to the cabbage and saw that Aidan was absolutely correct. Every single cabbage plant had holes nibbled in its leaves.

It didn't take me long to find the culprits. A close inspection of the plants revealed that imported cabbage worms and cabbage loopers were both happily munching away at our plants. I am very familiar with these pests from previous seasons. They arrive in the garden daily as little white and grey moths to lay eggs on the undersides of the leaves. Unless something is done about them, the green caterpillars that emerge will quickly reduce the plant to a hole-riddled skeleton.

I have dealt with them many times before using a tried and true organic method. There is a wonderful line of products made from a soil bacteria called Bacillus thuringiensis or Bt. I have used it for years in powder form. A light dusting of the plants prevents any further problems with the worms. The nice thing about Bt is that it has been in use for nearly 100 years with no known issues for the environment or human health.

Bt is nice to use because it only affects a few species of insects, primarily moths and butterflies, and only those who decide to eat the plants on which I have applied it. A light dusting of the cabbage plants now and then is enough to keep them completely free of the pests. The problem is that I can't find Bt anywhere!

I have spent a number of days calling and visiting every garden supply store and greenhouse in the area. Each visit has found me standing in the store explaining what Bt is to employees who have never heard of it. With enough effort, I can generally get to the point that they will offer to special order it for me and have it available in a week or two. My problem is that my cabbages are getting eaten right now!

In one phone call, I did manage to find an employee at an Ann Arbor garden supply store who actually knew what it was without me having to explain it. Regrettably, they didn't carry it in the store either. In my frustration I asked the man, "Why can't I find this stuff anywhere? Isn't anybody else doing organic gardening? What are they using to combat cabbage moths?". He sheepishly admitted that it is very rare for anyone to really be concerned about using anything other than the standard toxic stuff from Ortho. One application of that stuff would be enough to cause an organic farm to lose its certification for three to five years!

In the end I ended up asking my local hardware store to special order a couple of containers for me. As a hold-over measure until they arrive, I have been hand picking the caterpillars off of the plants and feeding them to the chickens. This morning I consulted my new organic gardening guides to make sure that it wasn't just a case of me being out of date. They confirmed that Bt was the solution of choice. I'm just left wondering how much longer these companies will continue to manufacture products that so few people are buying.

Where the heck are all of the other organic gardeners?