When people choose to go organic, it’s not always easy to maintain the lifestyle.
Tracy Keagle’s decision to become a vegan — eschewing all manners of animal-based food and products — was met with frustration.
With no more farmers’ markets until summer and tired of making regular trips to Lawrence to buy organic raised foods and products at one of a few stores with a decent selection, Keagle is now going right to the source — without leaving Iola. Through Keagle’s efforts, Oregon-based organic food supplier Azure Standard, starting in January, will deliver all-natural produce, meats and poultry to Iola once a month.
Keagle said for people concerned about the amount of chemicals and preservatives used in most the products found at typical grocery outlets and aren’t satisfied with the local selection, Azure Standard is the way to get organic goods.
“We are what we eat. I want to make sure that everything I put in my body is what it says it is, not a lot of chemicals or antibiotics,” she said, adding that daily-use products like organic shampoos and deodorants, also available, are healthier to use because the body absorbs nearly everything it touches. “I want to feel as good as I possibly can.”
Organic products are raised and produced naturally without any artificial enhancers. Crops are typically grown without synthetic pesticides, artificial fertilizers, irradiation or biotechnology. Organic farm animals are fed organically grown food, raised without antibiotics or synthetic growth hormones and aren’t confined 100 percent of the time.
Kathy McKewan, food and nutrition specialist at the Allen County K-State Extension office, said food raised using organic and natural practices are not always certified as such by the United States Department of Agriculture.
Because the certification process is so rigorous — organic food producers must apply yearly and meet strict, federally set regulations and guidelines — she said many farmers don’t bother getting certified.
“Like with our local farmers market, a lot of those farmers are probably practicing organic … but have not gone through the process of getting organically certified,” she said.
Though organically produced goods tend to put a bit more strain on the pocketbook, whatever difference in price there might be is made up for via taste, Keagle said, comparing store-bought fruit to its garden-grown counterpart.
“When you go out to your garden and eat a strawberry, what does it taste like? That’s an organic strawberry and it tastes like a strawberry is supposed to,” Keagle said, adding that many people have no idea how some of the foods they eat actually taste. “When you make an organic dish, everything in it tastes the best it can possibly taste.”
But added taste doesn’t always mean added nutrition.
McKewan said nutrient levels in organically raised food are on par with levels found in traditional, commercially produced food, calling any difference there might be “negligible.”
“They are not necessarily healthier.” she said. “You’re not going to get more vitamin A out of an organically grown carrot than you are a traditionally, commercially grown carrot.”
Still, Keagle said the growth enhancers typically used on farm crops and animal aren’t for her. And it’s not just natural food and consumable items Azure Standard has available, Keagle said.
