The 50 Mile Diet

I’ve been seeing this phrase on all sorts of food. I admit that I first noticed it because I was so closely checking the state of origin of my food. But it even can be seen on organic dog food. So what is it?

Oregon Tilth is a nonprofit research membership organization founded in 1974 supporting and advocating organic food and farming. It provides certification for organic foods across the country.

Quoted from the web site:

Oregon Tilth’s purpose is to educate gardeners, farmers, legislators, and the general public about the need to develop and use sustainable growing practices that promote soil health, conserve natural resources, and prevent environmental degradation while producing a clean and healthful food supply for humanity.

The web site has documents on certification, including how to get certified organic, the process, definition of organic, resources for farmers, directory of certified growers and much more.

So what does tilth mean? Oregon Tilth defines it: “Tilth means the structure and quality of cultivated soil or the cultivation of wisdom.” The cultivation of wisdom? Curious about this alternative definition, I Googled the words tilth and wisdom. Sure enough, if one can believe what one reads on the internet… According to the Tilth Producers of Washington, the older meaning of the word tilth described the cultivation of wisdom and the spirit. Furthermore, a soil, or a person, in good tilth was said to be “in good heart.”

So eating organically is wise and healthy. I wonder what eating locally is then.