Anyone familiar with Amish growing practices? *Updated*

I have done so many Google searches on this subject, but I decide to try again and find something interesting! I'm not familiar w/ this site, www.mercola.com, but here is what "Dr. Mercola" has to say. (And please pardon me if I look silly for not knowing who he is. )

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I wonder if this is true for all Amish. You'd think so, right? I guess my final issue will be whether they use hormones, but again, you wouldn't think so.....

I'm so excited b/c this looks really promising. Their meat is priced less than the full-price, every day price of non-organic meat at the grocery store, although more than the occasional, bargain-price sale. And it was absolutely delicious. I'm positively giddy, and I can't believe I didn't go there sooner.

Amish absolutely does not automatically equal organic, nor does it automatically equal pastured, despite Dr. Mercola's insistance. The Amish may not adopt modern conveniences for their private lives, but they are often very quick to adopt innovation when it comes to their business practices. For instance, many of the Amish businesses I frequent have computers so they can run websites and provide online reference materials to their customers. Amish have been using pesticides, well, as long as pesticides have been used. And, why wouldn't they grain feed? There's nothing "modern" about that. They definately do. The farm where I buy my raw milk and pastured meat only recently changed from grain supplementing their cows because a few of us pressured them to drop it.

However, the Amish *have* realized that there is a tremendous niche market for them in organics and pastured meats. So, while Amish doesn't *neccisarily* mean organic and pastured, if you ask the right questions, it is easier to find organics among Amish farmers. I've found that some don't know the word "organic", but if you ask if they ever spray their crops they will tell you no.

Jen, which Amish community do you live near? If you're in the Lancaster, PA area, I can direct you to a couple of great farms and stores

Well, I've been asking around, and it seems that the Amish growing practices vary from region to region and from family to family. I've found that some Amish have free-range chickens, whereas some keep their chickens off the ground in coops. Some keep their cattle entirely pastured, and some don't. (However, they don't seem to use many hormones or antibiotics.) I've also found out that my local Amish have no aversion to using synthetic fertilizers and pesticides; when I was at the house of a woman who sells baked goods, I saw Miracle-Grow and commercial fungicide on her back porch.

The good news, though, is that by asking around, I have been able to find some growers I feel comfortable buying from. There is a butcher shop that advertises it's hormone-free, antibiotic-free poultry, and I found a non-Amish farmer that sells cattle and hogs that are nearly organic, although uncertified. And the Amish health food store is chock full of certified organic items like flours, grains, beans, teas, etc. And most things seem to be at good prices, usually only moderately more expensive than the non-organic counterparts at the grocery store.