I have decided that I am going to use this blog to not only let you all know about the great happenings in Long Beach, promote good food and our hard work to make it for you but I'm also going to share with you all the pitfalls. I'm not going to go all the way back with my story. Only start from now. You can ask how I got to this point and I'll tell you but why waste the space going into it now.
Last week was the perfect example of the trials of small scale farming in a city. Since we do not have an actual farm supply store here in Long Beach (or anywhere close) I have to order everything. I try and stay out of Home Depot as much as possible. They work if you are in a pinch but every time I purchase from them I feel like I'm getting ripped off and its not really what I wanted in the first place.
I tried to order a 25lb bag of Sluggo from Peaceful Valley and because of a new law that took place 3 weeks ago they cannot sell this product to me with out a Pest ID Certificate. ok, no biggie. How do I get one of those? Call the agriculture department of course. No problem, I have their number already in my phone. I call and they are not really sure what I'm talking about. They transferred me to someones voice mail who has yet to call me back. I let that go a day and then called again. This time they put me on hold so long it disconnected. I call back, not sure who can help me, let's transfer you again. This went on and on for a few hours. Not kidding. I finally got an inspector on the phone who declares that this product is not on the restricted use list therefore I do not need a certificate. Great, I mean its organic that's why we use it. I call Peaceful Valley back with the news but they need something faxed to them. I call the ag inspector back to ask him if he can fax the company and he tells me in a very long and roundabout way that "its not my job". Great, thanks. So I cancel my order with Peaceful Valley until I can get this straightened out. What a hassle.
No comments:
Post a Comment