Your Own Organic Garden Without the Work?

Hi all!

I'll throw in another vote for the legitimacy of the company. I know the owners personally, have been to the farm, and have been part of the weekly meetings.

Thanks Justin!

Thank you for your quick response, Kali! And for the answers to my questions about raw grass-fed dairy, meat and fish.

Fortunately, I have been able to keep an open mind during the infancy of my raw food journey as I have researched much and discovered that there is room for the differences; none of us should judge others by what they do or do not eat. And we must be in-tune with our own body.

I will keep you posted on developments with OA and let you know my progress with raw grass-fed dairy (will be all new for me, but have found a farm w/in 2 hrs that I will go check out).

Take care!

My Organic Gardens smells fishy.

The site, www.myorganicacres.com is recruiting people to lease “parcels of land” that the site founders (they do not list their names) supposedly will plant with whatever crops you desire, guarantee full harvest, then either deliver to your door OR sell to other members for a profit. Interesting on the surface, but once you start listening to the videos on the site, you see that what they are selling is the “opportunity” for the lessees to get the lease costs paid for by signing up more clients or selling their wares to unidentified vendors.

They show no growing fields — in fact, they don’t even give the location of the fields. Their Twitter account lists the location as Orange County, California, ( http://twitter.com/myorganic ) but I emailed a current member ( Robyn <pushana@gmail.com>) and she said the fields were located 20 miles south of Portland.

The site lists this address: PO Box 26, Dayton, Oregon 97114. I called their telephone number - 1-877-518-5980 – and get “The Global PC Message Center,” which only takes messages to call you back later.

I cannot find out who the owners or operators even are.

Evidently, when a member signs on (leases a parcel), they are given a link that they can use to send to others that takes them to a personalized portal to the main myorganicacres.com site for recruitment. If you do a search on My Organic Acres, you will see a list of different personalized sites: Jim’s My Organic Acres, Sally’s.., Robyn’s... etc.

I have no affiliation to this whole mess. I just noticed an ad for it, was intrigued, then appalled when I investigated the site and decided to alert you.

I would like to think I’m wrong. The idea of gardening over the Internet sounds fun. But this sounds like a scam to me.

Hi Kali! I am new here - just found your blog yesterday and happened to see this post (I wish I could remember how I found you so I can give credit!). I love your blog!

My name is Beth, and I signed up for Organic Acres (no $$ required for the pre-registration period that ran through the launch in December). I actually did submit my 'registration' and paid for my full garden plot ($299 to lease for the year, which covers the cost of the supplies to plant the garden) before the end of December.

The guy who is in charge there is Jerry Howard. This is not a scam, in my opinion. Jerry Howard conducts 3 weekly meetings (one was on a Saturday and ran for 3 hours!) to keep us informed of their progress.

They do not have the general store open yet - they are working feverishly on getting all the bugs worked out and have a total of 7,000 products that they will have available to purchase once they open. They will plan on adding an additional 4,000 more items after they get the store opened (hopefully by the end of January). Because they have had a delay in getting the general store up and running, they have even extended the launch period.

They have also worked out the shipping details, and I am quite pleased with their results (they did not yet have an option for the mid-west or east, but now they do!). They have partnered with Fed Ex and will ship the orders via a refrigerated truck or train to the hub closest to you (mine, for instance, is Indianapolis, Indiana) for only $15. Then from the hub, Fed Ex will deliver via their home delivery system (depending on how far you are - if less than 200 miles from the hub, this would be next day) to you for only $15-$25 per shipment, depending on the weight. These amounts are set amounts. I figure the max amount for the heaviest shipment would be $40 per shipment.

They also have plans to work with local farmers across the country to set up 'franchises' in the future, though this is an idea that will not be fully developed until after they are able to get things going for this year, I imagine. Anyhow, this would offer area farmers another opportunity for income, which I believe is awesome. It also will cut down on the shipping (and therefore the stress on the environment, which was my initial concern when considering signing up). Eventually, I expect that my garden plot will actually reside somewhere here in Indiana rather than in Oregon. Please feel free to ask me any questions you may have, and I will try my best to answer for you.

I am fairly new to the raw world. I started my raw journey in late September 2009 and jumped right in without looking back (100% raw for the first month). I have encountered challenges, particularly being the only one out of a household of 7 who wants to be mostly raw. Interestingly, I have been paying attention to the changes in the raw world with some vegans now consuming raw grass-fed dairy and grass-fed meats, along with some wild-caught salmon. I am excited about this, because my husband was struggling without meat. We have been eating some high-quality sushi about once per week, but that has been the only meat, and I now plan on finding a good sustainable farm (have found a few - will decide between them) that is here in Indiana so I can support them and purchase healthy meat for the rest of my family.

I have a question, though: how much meat/dairy would you say you consume? I have been stressing to my family and others that too much protein is not good (gifted them all a copy of The China Study for Christmas) - what are your thoughts?

I am glad to have found you - I love cultured foods, but have not yet spent time trying to prepare them myself. I purchase an organic coconut milk kefir, but would love to try to make my own. I also am wanting to attempt a kimchi recipe very soon.

I have a very young website that is still under construction - just got it set up in August, but did not really get started working on it until early September. You can check out my 'About Me' page there to find out more about me.

Thank you for your time. Have a great day.

Hi Beth!
Thanks so much for your post. It's great to get this feedback and information - good or bad. I hate to be a skeptical, so I'm going to keep a positive mindset that Organic Acres will be a wonderful asset to many! I really like the idea of local farmers across the country setting up 'franchises.' And I hope the $15-20 shipping cost doesn't negate the potential savings because supermarket like Fairway already offer a great organic selection at decent prices. Time will tell as the OA project develops.
As far as consuming raw grass-fed dairy, grass-fed meats and fish, I would say I eat about 3 ounces 3xs/day. What a switch from my 100% raw days!! LOL. Actually, most of it is still raw as I eat raw dairy, sushi and even raw meat!! Gasp!! BUT with alot of greens cooked and raw. I'm really getting into the Paleo diet. It feels right to me and I'm not hungry or thinking about my next meal all the time. BUT I still think high raw is absolutely FAB especially for someone to recover from poor health conditions or a heavy SAD diet and I still love making raw dishes so it will always be a part of my lifestyle.

Let's stay in touch as OA develops!!
p.s. Your website looks great!!

Wow - you've really done your homework! Thank you so much for sharing this
information. I will proceed cautiously before going further. Thanks much,
Laura!