Article 1

We've discontinued our sign in and sign up feature. It turned out to be not as good a feature as the developers promised us it would be. Sometimes it just didn't work and lead to people having to call and write and ask why they couldn't get in. Also, the feature for posting tracking information was not automated and required us to go into each order and apply the information by hand which was a super nuisance since everyone already gets their notifications from UPS and the Post Office when we ship already and with limited staff and time we just couldn't keep up with the department of redundancy department. We had the same problem with posting back orders and other information. The feature actually lead to more work on our part and more frustration for our customers.
The feature will continue to appear her so anyone who has signed up and wants to keep using their account can still do so but we're not keeping it as front page material until the developers can fix it to work better for all of us. We understand that our web technology is behind the times and needs a massive upgrade. Unfortunately that next step is hugely expensive and in this economic climate we just don't have the funds to get it done. What we have does work as well as it ever did but it does require a measure of patience and understanding not usually required when you shop at gigantic corporate web sites like amazon or Target etc that have all the best and latest automated technology for communications. You can always call us at 802-385-1064 9 to 5 during the week with any questions you have. Pretty soon you might even get River on the phone!

Article 2

The EPA, FDA and other agencies are being lobbied by Monsanto, Beyer Science, Union Carbide and many other corporations who make toxic chemicals for your home and garden to crack down on the organic market for seeds, natural pest control items and even fertilizers and compost. No longer is the organic market place a small, isolated group of fringe people. Organic food and it's production has grown into a multibillion dollar industry with a lobby of it's own and the big boys know it's a threat to their bad products and policies. Instead of using their tremendous buying power, research and production capacity to finally start making safe, effective products of their own to sell and compete in the market place they have taken the anit-capitalist road and decided to make life miserable for producers and dealers of organic products. Dirt Works has received already, this year of 2012, nasty, threatening letters from various state agencies around the country for selling diatomaceous earth and neem oil for gardening purposes. Now, even the people sending these letters know that these products and others have been used effectively for hundreds and even thousands of year, for all sorts of purposes but because of the chemical lobby the producers of these products are having to spend a fortune getting their products registered with the EPA not just at the federal level but at the state level as well. This is a tactic used to drive us out of business because getting this done a is a huge expense small businesses can ill afford. Fortunately all of us in the organic market place are tenacious and don't give up easily.

The result of all of this is you can now find many of the same products you used to buy in different containers with different labels on them, some with all kinds of scary information on them, required by law and designed to make you think it's no better than the chemical snot put out by the corporations. While it is true there is probably no substance on earth if applied excessively or improperly won't hurt you, there's no need to be alarmed by the new labels. Neem oil is still neem oil and diatomaceous earth(Fossil Shell Flour) remains unchanged and when properly used and stored in it's original container they are still safe and effective.