Organic is about relationships. Think, for example, about the universe beneath our feet. There are billions of micro-organisms in a teaspoon full of healthy, organic soil. Fungi, earth worms, bacteria, nematodes, and other organisms, arranging themselves in a constantly changing world of death and life, dormant and decaying – all doing their part to make plants grow.

Scientists believe that there is more biological life in a shoe-box full of healthy soil than on the entire surface of the North American continent. Only a fraction of the micro-organisms in the world we call dirt have been studied, much less their relationship to each other. But what we do know is that their relationships to each other and interdependencies with one another nourish and enrich life.

Now take a look at a simple carrot. A carrot seed is less than half a millimeter in diameter; a tiny speck of dirt, dust in the wind. And yet it contains millions of years of DNA, intelligence that, once put into soil with a bit of water, turns the seed into a big, orange, healthy, nutrient rich, delicious, bioflavonoid packed, eye disease preventing vegetable. And if this is not enough, halfway through the growing cycle, the seed knows to produce carrot tops – an exceptionally efficient solar power plant that supplies the carrot with energy converted straight from sunlight through photosynthesis.

During the growth from seed to carrot, the carrot collects and stores the climate data, including all environmental nuances of the region, such as soil quality, duration of sunshine, and amount of rainfall, so that the next generation of seeds will be better equipped and adapted than the generations of carrots that have been eaten before.

The carrot we eat is the result of billions of relationships underneath the surface, and hundreds of relationships above it. Every carrot has a story. When you eat a carrot the nutrients can be measured in your bloodstream within minutes.  The carrot literally becomes you.  And the story of how it was grown becomes you as well.

This is why Organic is vital. Organic practice reconnects us with each other, the earth, our food, and ultimately ourselves. Organic practice contributes to a healthier society – it is instrumental in preventative disease, stopping environmental degradation, reversing global warming, ending obesity in children, and helping struggling communities.

Organic is the story of harmony, where there is balance between all the interconnected organisms as well as respect for each organism and its contribution to the whole. Organic is the story of diversity demonstrating that differences are essential to sustain life.

Organic is the story of reverence, opportunity, beauty, and wonder.