SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2000

7 août 2000 Hi, The bulk of the herbs we purchase come from the wild from collectors. It is impossible to certify them as Organically grown as they are not grown on a farm. For instance it is not very practical to grow oak trees for White Oak Bark. No one does a better job than Mother Nature herself on land that is not used for commercial purposes and therefore not sprayed. The term used most frequently for this type of botanical is Wild Crafted.. Many of the herbs we purchase in the U.S. are classified as grown on "organic farms" or "organic". If you like we can request a certificate from each organic grower with each shipment. Of course the price is generally 10 to 30 per cent more. If you like, this can be done but we will have to pass the price along to you. Here is the situation. We like to work with growers that have been in this business for a long time and have built a reputation and wish to protect it. As there is much more competition these days in the herb suppliers field, a reputation is very important. When the idea came around some years ago, mainly as a marketing tool, that you could get your farm certified as an "organic farm" some of the growers took the steps to do so. It takes many years and considerable money for inspections and testing and so on. The herbs they produce are the same herbs as they produced before. However, they had to raise their prices for the certification. Regarding the herbs from other parts of the world, the label "organically grown" is not always possible as, the concept and the process is not available to growers even if they wish to invest the time and money. Once again reputation is the most important point regardless where you get the hers from. For instance, if you wish to grow vegetables without sprays or artificial fertilizers and call them organic, you can not do so legally unless you go through the procedure and the cost to do so. You see certification as organic would be especially important if you can't trust the person you buy the herbs from and don't know them. If they need that certification before you can trust them I don't know if I would. For advertising purposes, I believe you could safely say on a label that our herbs are either WILD CRAFTED, ORGANICALLY GROWN or ORGANICALLY CARED FOR. With the finest regards Dr. Watkins