Organic Smorganic Year 2

Its all over...

Our second organic inspection is complete and we have survived. Mostly Keith has survived his wifes  nagging about "write it down !" and "where is the date ?" and "I need a tag for that seed pulleeese !" and of course his favorite "You can't use that, its not approved."  The fact hat I was taking about his donuts from Daves makes it even more irritating I am sure. The facts are, obtaining and keeping organic certification is not easy, nor should it be. But on the other hand it does not have to be as painful as I make it out to be either.

As with any government program , paperwork is required. Lots of paperwork. Keith and I follow the National Organic Progarm Standards all year but sometimes get behind on the paperwork, the reciepts, the tags , the proof of certification from those who supply us with grain and hay and soon even straw. Yes, straw. Soon all straw used on certified organic farms will have to certified organic as well since animals do have a tendency to snack on their bedding. Not that I am above that. I've dropped a few really good cookie crumbs in the bed  that I did not want to see go to waste. I wasn't going to let some silly pillow case get between me and my Oreos. Stop frowning. I always drink the non-organic Oreos with organic milk. But I digress.

I will say this about organic surveyors...or at least the ones we've had from MOSA. They are reasonable. logical, practical, sensible, (Wait, that was the rock and roll surveyor from Supertramp...never mind). Back to MOSA. Our survey was evenly split between paperwork and outside work. Our surveyor spent time walking the farm and actually LOOKING at the animals. Proof is in the pudding.

So with another year of organic production behind us I am once more committed to keeping up with all the documention in order to avoid the last minute hoopla of ripping through files and piles on desks, barn walls, floors and more in order to find the organic molasses receipt from July 2009. It was stuck to the bottom of one of the grandkids Dora plates. Must've been that time we ran out of syrup for the pancakes and substituted a little sweetness from that huge molasses tote in the machine shed.