Upon reading a most profound article last night from the quarterly magazine, “Edible” which is created right here in the Hudson Valley area of New York, I learned how I had been gardening for years is now called Vegan Organic Gardening. Who Knew! Yeah – so what is it, this vegan organic gardening thing?

The article is written by Eric Steinman. “Food For Thought With Respect to Farming  – A Conversation with Ron Khosla” with wonderful photography by Matt Petricone. You can read the entire interview by Mr. Steinman which I highly recommend as it shares a lot of information on the trends of organic gardening.

So let’s step back but just a bit. I live in Dutchess County in the Hudson Valley area of New York which is chuck full of organic gardens and farms. Rather fortunate enough that I find it relatively easy to find stores who provide their buyers with locally made and locally grown foods. If you have been following my blog, I too am a ‘slow food’ foodie and really believe in not only using the freshest of ingredients available, but seriously believe in anything made from scratch has simply got to be better for you and your body than say some pre-packaged mass-produced processed product whose ingredients list is so long and contains words I cannot even learn how to type out let alone pronounce.

Yes, yes, Virginia – there are chemical compounds made from coal-tar derivatives to enhance color – and they call them artificial coloring – even your food for Fifi can have them. Did you also know that these artificial colors can be linked to allergic reactions, fatigue, asthma, skin rashes, hyperactivity and headaches. Learn more of the other bad and naughty things found in our processed foods over at sheerbalance.com http://www.sheerbalance.com/nutrition/worst-ingredients-of-processed-foods/.

So getting back to vegan gardening techniques – basically no poop – ok manure if you wish to call it what it really is, is used. I compost my plant debris and leaves which does a lovely organic cocktail perfect for my gardening needs. Now I don’t live on acres of land at all, in fact my gardens are located on a half acre, but that is surely more than enough to keep me busy.

What’s wrong with manure? Nothing normally – but the idea is this. If you don’t know where your manure comes from, and I am not talking about the horse, the cow or the chickens… but more specifically what they ate to create the said manure – therein lies the issue of good manure vs. bad manure. Now don’t you all farmers get into a stitch about what I just said. But my thinking is similar to Ron Kholsa’s who points out in his interview, “…high-nitrate chicken manure, which turns into nitrous oxide…is 300 times more potent of a global warming gas then carbon dioxide.”

In fact Rob Kholsa’s farm, Hugueonot Street Farm (flyingbeet.com) is wonderfully run emission-free. Yes, really!

So think about how you can alter your gardening methods to be a little less chemically derived. Who knew that by my not using manure for years and only using plants and simple homemade for anti-pest solutions is now called vegan organic gardening!