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Where were you on Earth Day #1?

The first "Earth Day" was actually dubbed the National Environmental Teach-In. But almost immediately the "Earth Day" name took over and has held for 40 years.

On April 22nd 1970, I was in Albany, NY enrolled in my Nurse Anesthetist schooling. In July of 1972, I found myself in the library at the military base, Fort Campbell, KY. I chanced across a small magazine the same size as a Reader's Digest titled "OGF" (Organic Gardening and Farming.) Robert Rodale was the editor and CEO of the then fledgling Rodale Press empire.

I was hooked on Organic gardening from that day to this day. That summer I planted my first garden; an organic garden. Meaning no pesticides and no petroleum based fertilizers. Just compost and hand weeding. Over the years I've stuck to the organic methods and to this day employ only one pesticide: Bacillus thuringiensis.

Compost and farm animal manure have given me some of the finest loam any farmer or gardener would envy (as attested to by my dairy farmer father-in-law. who always said when he'd look at my garden: "what I wouldn't give to have soil like that".)

We've enjoyed an organic garden for 38 of the past forty years and this weekend I'll probably (depending on the rain forecast) start the planting with onions and spinach.