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What is organic gardening exactly? One definition could be gardening without the use of synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. Although some organic pesticides can be very toxic. (Avoiding the use of organophosphates is important to your health.) To garden organically is to pay attention to nature, to the soil, the plants, the lawn, the animals in your garden. It is the use of natural compost and using your garden's natural defenses against disease and insects that harm it. By following several simple steps, you can reduce or eliminate the use of chemicals in your garden. By doing so, you will not only improve the health and beauty of your garden, but also improve your own health. For starters, determine what garden products you currently use. Make a list of them (ones that you have in storage and ones that you normally would purchase). How many do you have? Are any of them synthetic or toxic? Do you follow the directions on the label or apply the chemicals your own way? If you apply them without following the directions, the chemical use is illegal and yes, you could be fined, although for homeowners to be caught is very unlikely. Pesticides and fertilizers available to the general public are general use and are not restricted. Restricted use pesticides are only for commercial or private use applicators. In other words, you must have a license to use them. For the majority of people, many effective (and seriously, toxic) chemicals are widely available at home improvement stores, hardware stores or farm supply. But true organic or natural gardeners stay away from the use of pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. For a list of terrific sources of safe alternatives and resources click here: Safer Alternative & Resources. Common elements of the Organic Gardener:
Resources to Check out:
A Case Study about the use of Toxic Chemicals when Organic Methods Worked Best An Essay on Priests and Programmers: Technologies of Power in the Engineered Landscape of Bali written by J. Stephen Lansing (1991, Princeton University Press, New Jersey) Lansing summarizes the entire concept of his book into one common idea: the perpetual and ecological usefulness of Balinese water temples. These temples are the backbone of agricultural, political, and social productiveness in Balinese culture. The management of these water temples ties common farmers and their families to religious and heirachal structures. Without this higher management and coordination of the rice terraces between farmers, the Balinese would not have been so successful at survival. The water temples, weirs, canals, subaks, and tunnels all contribute to a very complex and ingenious system of irrigation that colonial invaders and other outsiders did not and still do not appreciate nor realize the importance for cultural survival. The Green Revolution brought awareness to the difficulties that the Balinese were experiencing due to poor and ignorant administration procedures. They experienced loss of cropping patterns, a simplified process for control of the water temples and canals and a series of crises with loss of important rice crops. Lansing wrote his book with clarity, an understanding of the structure, beauty and complexity of the religious, political, and social aspects of Balinese water temples. There is a definite connection between natural cycles, environmental understanding of the importance of crops and the balance of power, both water and religious. The set of data that most supports Lansing main point is found in the chapter of The metaphysics of Taxation. With examples of letters of authorities from the kingdoms of Bali, they point out the importance of understanding the temples to the Dutch. Unfortunately, the Dutch never understood the importance of the water temples nor the rituals associated with them. The rituals and the entire situation of the temples and rivers are extremely complex; dealing with invisible and visible worlds that cannot function without the other. The Goddess of the Lake is not to be underestimated – without the proper attitude and rituals all the rice crops would be failures. It was not in the colonial government’s interests to associate the powers of the water irrigation system with religion – it distracted from their ruling. The Dutch administration effected little the running of the water temples, but clashed in one aspect; the water tax. The Balinese had a formula to determine what the Goddess "charged" to use her rice terraces. The Dutch however also tried to claim a tax. With the coming of the Green Revolution, following the Goddess of the Lakes explicit orders to pay the tax, follow the rituals accordingly and coordinate plantings with other farmers, these standard rules became very important. Without the historic and religious functioning of the water temples, ruin would come to rice terraces by way of pest, disease, drought and plagues. This section of Lansing’s text brings home his intention of making clear the importance and complexity and desirability of having the water temples and villages function smoothly in Bali. Without the ability for the correct tax and rituals, ruin would have come to the social and political format of their country. For the most part, Lansing is very explicit and exact about his arguments against the Green Revolution that was hoped to help Bali increase production of rice. With the use of toxic pesticides, many pests destroyed the rice because farmers continued to plant crops with the traditional cyclical cycle. Without the traditional patterns, the rice became vulnerable to pests that were previously avoided due to proper planting times. Lansing’s arguments are quite solid, giving historic background on the Dutch administration, the religious order of the water temples, the social-economic background of pre and postcolonial governments and the environments effects of the traditional and modern cropping patterns.
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