Hi Sally!

Welcome to the Oklahoma forum! Visitors are always welcome here as we are a very friendly bunch.

Of course it is OK to post your question on this forum, and I hope someone from the north-eastern portion of the state will be able to answer your question. I'm way down south in Love County and a recent transplant from Fort Worth (six years), so I can't help with your question, but I have some info to pass on about organic gardening in Oklahoma.

Organic gardening is alive and well in Oklahoma. I have found, though, that organic products are harder to find here, but that may be just because I am in a very sparsely populated, very rural county far away from the state's major population centers and nurseries.

If you're just sitting around the house this coming weekend (and I realize that is unlikely!), then hop in your car or truck and come up to Oklahoma City for the Natural Living Expo 2005. It is going to be held at the Oklahoma City State Fairgrounds in the Made in Oklahoma Buildings #1 and #2. Tickets are $5.00 at the door.

This show will feature everything organic, from gardening products aimed at both weekend gardeners and full-blown organic farmers to displays/exhibits on chemical-free living , including home construction products, carpet cleaning, weight control, pain relief, healthy foods, etc. Lots of natural foods will be available tor sampling.

Speakers include RadioHost & Organic Farmer Dwayne Somerville; Pam Harmell who is a Nutritionist & founder of Healthy Too Products; Billy Klein, who is the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture Director of Poultry, Egg & Organic Section, and many more.

You can shop at Organic Alley--Oklahoma's largest all-organic indoor farmer's market.

Even if you can't make it up to the show, just the fact that there IS such an event shows that growing and living organically is a trend/lifestyle that is alive and well & growing and booming here in the Sooner State.

By the way, I have no financial interest in the show, but am excited to see such an event staged in Oklahoma. I think organic growing is catching on here in a big way.

As a serious hobby gardener in south-central Oklahoma, I have felt at times that I was the "lone voice in the wilderness" as a organic gardener. Yet, in just the last 3 or 4 years, I have found many people in my area are converting to organics, so I don't feel quite as alone any more.

I hope you get the info you need from someone here on the forum. Keep us posted on your relocation plans!

Dawn

Sally2, there are several wholesale nursery's in Tahlequah. I went there on a field trip once upon a time. I was there with a "Fruit and Nut growers" group, so we were not looking for, or at, flowers, but no reason not to expect them to be there. That whole Illinois River valley is a natural for the nursery business. I wouldn't bet on them being organic, though.

Many of the plants you buy in North Texas come from the large commercial nurseries near Tahlequah, Tri-B is one of the biggest. Greenleaf is another. Not organic at all, more like the "puppy mills" of nursery trade. As far as organics up here, I don't personally know of any.

Thanks for the responses, everyone. I am actually heading up to the Tahlequah area this weekend, so I won't be able to attend the convention. It sounds wonderful and exciting. I'm aware of Greenleaf, and through internet research have discovered Tri-B. I don't know if I could bring myself to get involved with them (especially with what Greenleaf has done to the hillsides it occupies, but that's another subject I won't get into at this time) but those nurseries may be a way to at least get started living up there. That darn little matter of having to make a living while living someplace beautiful. Thanks, again, everyone.

Sally