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hvparent.com n Hudson Valley Parent 19 for three days. [It's not] food that has lost about half its nutritional density in the first 48 hours after being picked. The tomato you buy from your local farmer has not been picked green, shipped a long dis- tance, and doused with ethylene to turn it red. "At the local organic farm, you'll get things you can't at the supermar- ket: salad loaded with borage, nas- turtium, blossoms of radish, arugula, and mustard that has all kinds of textural diversity. A salad can be de- licious and full and symphonic and not just something you put dressing on. A salad can be something that doesn't even need dressing. "Local, organic food doesn't have transport burdens and petroleum burdens that tax the atmosphere, the environment, and the wallet. It's just better for you. It's better for the planet. It's not downloading all this chemistry into our bodies, much of which is basically toxic and carcino- genic. It's a huge difference. By buy- ing something that's grown locally, you are participating in your com- munity in a different way. Organics isn't just about food - it's a way of being in the world." Joan Miller, M.A., is a freelance writer, ordained minister and hyp- notist as well as a certified yoga, Pi- lates and pole dance instructor who enjoys gardening with her family in Montgomery. This is the second of a two-part series on organic living. "Organic farming is nutrition. It's politics, it's an attitude about being on the earth." MATTHEW BENSON