Modern Organic Blog

United States of America (Press Release) August 9, 2008 -- Our addiction to oil has two major issues. First, with the ever increasing rise in gas prices people are having trouble having enough money for basic living expenses. Second, car emissions send tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, which is one of the leading causes of global warming. A new unlikely people are fighting back is by doing their shopping online.

Natures Organic Market has found that many of their customers are now shopping online due to the energy crunch. As people want to live more "Green," they are looking for all ways that they can cut back on the energy their require for daily activities. Shopping online makes it convenient to get the things you want. It is better on greenhouse gases for one delivery truck drive carrying 500 packages, then 500 separate people all get in their cars and go to the store.

The best part is that shopping online also saves money. Products are typically cheaper online as they don't have to pay for brick and motor stores. So, before we go any farther you will typically save money just shopping online. Second, if you have been watching your money at the pump melt away, then you understand the total savings in dollars and sense for getting your purchases delivered to you.

As more people are going to Green Living it only makes sense to get your organic products online. The carbon footprint of hosting a webpage pails in comparison to the energy required to keep a large store open for 12 hours a day.

Overall shopping online saves money, lowers greenhouse emissions, and lowers the total carbon footprint of purchasing items.

Organic produce just tastes better to Chris James. Simple as that.

“I can certainly taste the difference,” he says.

It’s just one man’s opinion, of course. But it’s one shared by a rising number of consumers during an explosion of interest in organically grown food.
Chris James started Fresh Earth Farms in 2003. James and wife Susan bought the farm in 2002, moving to Denmark Township from California where Chris was a software engineer and salesman. (Bulletin photo by Jon Avise)
Chris James started Fresh Earth Farms in 2003. James and wife Susan bought the farm in 2002, moving to Denmark Township from California where Chris was a software engineer and salesman. (Bulletin photo by Jon Avise)
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A recent study by the University of Minnesota, Minnesota Agriculture Department and the state’s university system that analyzed the finances of 45 larger organic farms in the state revealed their average profits doubled in 2007.

On a smaller scale, James has seen the surge in interest firsthand — between 2005 and 2007 the number of customers nearly doubled at his small, family-owned, organic Fresh Earth Farms in Denmark Township.

And, he says, the demand is there to double it again over the next two or three seasons if James and his one full-time and three part-time employees can manage to keep up with the new-found appetite for locally grown fruits and vegetables free of synthetic chemicals.

“Based on the demand I see this year we certainly could increase” the amount of produce Fresh Earth grows each season. “The question from my side is, ‘Do I have the labor to meet the demand?’”

Fresh Earth Farms operates under a food production model called community supported agriculture (CSA) where customers purchase a share of what the farm produces each season. In James’ case, one share is worth 1/300th of what his eight-acre farm grows from the rich Denmark Township soil spring through autumn.

Shareholders receive a box of produce each week — anything from fresh heirloom tomatoes to potatoes pulled from the ground that day, “even artichokes,” the farm’s Web site says — either picking it up from one of the various drop sites around the metro area or from the picturesque farm just off County Road 20.

James had to cap the number of shares available last year at 300 after demand exploded, and interest in his small business, operated on their 20-acres of land west of Afton State Park, hasn’t let up.

He thinks it’s part of a realization by consumers of the importance in knowing where the food on their table came from and what’s gone into it. At Fresh Earth Farms it’s not chemicals doing the work, it’s “complex, active, living soils.”

“Without food you don’t live,” said James, a former software engineer in California’s Silicon Valley and native of White Bear Lake. “It’s important to know where the things you’re putting in your body to survive are coming from. If you don’t know where it’s coming from, how do you know how good it is for you?”

Locally grown and organic produce has become all the rage, evidenced by the expanding organic selection at grocers like Wal-Mart, Target, Rainbow and Cub as well as a spate of new restaurants around the Twin Cities with menus featuring Minnesota and western Wisconsin-produced fare.

James is only too happy to help. He’s an unintentional farmer, a former software engineer and salesman who with his wife Susan moved back to Minnesota from the west coast in 2002. They purchased their 20-acre farm a few miles east of Cottage Grove not to work the land, but to have room for Susan’s horse in the back yard.

“We had no intention of farming,” he said last week, walking along the dirt road that winds past small weed-strewn fields of lettuce, squash, potatoes and strawberries between old whitewashed barns and the family’s farmhouse perched atop a small hill.

When James began selling his organic produce in 2003 — he’d had a small organic garden back in California — he did so at farmer’s markets, a set-up he didn’t enjoy for its unpredictability.

So in 2004 tiny Fresh Earth Farms made the switch to the CSA model, getting roughly 90 customers to buy shares the first year. That jumped to 160 one year later and 300 in 2007 and 2008.

He says selling direct to consumers is probably the only way his small-scale farm can survive so close to the Twin Cities — the higher cost of land and more labor intensive production process means he needs to maximize profit, something selling wholesale to a co-op or grocer wouldn’t allow.

Plus, James says, watching families handpick their weekly allotment of fruits, vegetables and herbs from the boxes of fresh produce on the farm offers him valuable feedback.

“I liked that idea,” he said of CSA. “I wanted to have that relationship with the customers.”

Growing organically gives him a different relationship with the land, too, than would conventional farming methods. It can be a backbreaking effort trying to keep up with weeds and pests, using only naturally occurring, synthetic chemical-free pesticides.

“If we’re not out there every week, hoes in hand, we’re running into problems with weeds,” he says. “You can also see why people use chemicals, because it’s so much easier to spray something rather than go through with a hoe and pick out weeds.”

That increased level of attention and labor is what makes organically grown food more expensive, James says.

Not everyone values it, he knows. But more and more, these days, people do.

Organic food is healthier and a responsible way to grow, he says. But really, for him at least, in Minnesota’s unforgiving climate the appeal is even simpler than that.

“There are about 20 weeks out of 52 weeks a year when you can eat locally grown food — maybe half-a-year or so buying from the farmer,” he said. “So I say take advantage of it when you can.”

Jon Avise can be reached at javise@swcbulletin.com.

For more information on Fresh Earth Farms go to its Web site: www.freshearthfarms.com.

Organic Alliance Inc. officials said Thursday that the company will make U.S. Department of Agriculture-certified grass-fed organic beef available to its customers this fall.

Officials with San Antonio-based Organic Alliance (Pink Sheets: ORGC) say grass-fed organic beef has up to three times the Amino 3 levels vs. corn-fed beef. The company says this makes it easier for consumers to digest the beef.

Organic Alliance claims that organic beef also contains more omega-3 fatty acids that help keep arteries clean, maintain modest body weight and build the immune system.

Organic Alliance has relationships with farmers, cooperatives and rancher to produce USDA-certified organic food products. The company is working to distribute crops and meats to many of the nation’s leading consumer packaging companies, food processors and national grocery chains.

Web site: organicallianceinc.com

There are several important things in the life of a woman. Among various things, breastfeeding is considered as the most important thing. Breastfeeding is really a very special experience for women. It is a phase of life which is equally important for both the mother as well as the child. For the women, proper diet at the time of breastfeeding is extremely important. For proper development and well being of the baby it is very important to follow some dos and don't about the breastfeeding diet.

Most of the people remain in dilemma as to take what sort of diet for breastfeeding. If you want to make some alterations in your diet then you are required to wait for a moment. To begin with, it is very important to first of all consult your health care professional so as to make sure whether the alterations made by you in the diet are going in the right direction or not. In case it is suiting your lifestyle then you can certainly go for it. However if it is not then it is advisable to leave that option and go for any other. It is so because you cannot take chances during this phase of your life.

Among various important things, the first and the most important thing is to focus on the proper intake of vitamins in the diet. If you want all the vitamins in right proportion then you cannot manage it with the help of any kind of nutritional supplement. It can be achieved only and only through a well balanced diet. Along with normal breastfeeding diets try to include some fruits as well as vegetables in it. If possible then try to go for five portions of vegetables and fruits in each day's meal. For proper amount of vitamin A and C you can include broccoli in your routine breastfeeding diet. If it is a season of winter then having a sun bath can be an outstanding idea. It is a fact that sun is a great source for vitamin D and it can fulfill your requirement in a natural way. In summer season, you can manage this requirement by going for dairy products, oily fish and margarine in your breastfeeding diet.

Some of the minerals like Zinc, Calcium and Selenium are considered very important for a breastfeeding mother. For including zinc in your breastfeeding diet you can go for red meat, sardines, baked potatoes, hard cheese, cashew nuts and fish like prawns and mackerel. The best sources for calcium include almonds, spinach, white bread, dried figs, tofu and calcium enriched Soya milk, and sardines.

This is all you require to include in your breastfeeding diet. But the description of breastfeeding diet is not confined to this only. There are some of the things which we require not to do while going for a breastfeeding diet. If you prefer the intake of alcohol then it is highly advisable not to have it now. The contents of alcohol indirectly reach to the milk which the young one sucks through the breasts. It can be extremely harmful for the physiological functions taking place inside the body of the young one.

Avoid caffeine as much as possible and go for calorie free sugar. Only go for home made food and avoid the processed food to a very extent. It is not advisable to go for foods which contain a large amount of additives in them. Thus one should not go for consuming peanuts as it is in the position to leave allergens in the breast milk thus it needs to be avoided.

If we talk generally then we can say that there is not at all any specific diet in terms of specific breastfeeding diet. The most important thing that one should take care is to focus on the well balanced diet. Still if you have any doubt or you want to know more about the breastfeeding diet, then either you surf the net or you must consult the doctor. There are several sites on the net that can provide you with all the useful information about the breastfeeding diet.

Breastfeeding is no doubt the most special gift for a woman. It is important to take care for all the aspects as then only it can prove useful for the mother as well as the baby.

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Organic farming is a broad concept with extreme application. It is well appreciated on a large scale by the people as now with the help of it they can easily grow their own food. If you have a little bit of free time with you then you need not to face any kind of problem. You can prepare and serve good quality delicious food by doing organic farming at your home.

It is not true that organic farming is practiced at a small scale only. By having a trip of farming sector you can easily understand how much vast this sector actually is. This is not the case some time before. Few years back it was not a highly thriving and demanding sector but now the case has totally changed. It is now not limited to a small scale industry as day by day more corporate sectors are taking interest in this field. Large corporate farming is taking keen interest in the concept of organic farming. Continuous research is going on to find out the way by which huge fields of a single crop can be grown. No one can deny the fact that in the process of organic farming, pests are believed to be the major threat. Due to harmful impact on the biodiversity unnatural pesticides are not much preferred to use.

If you are going for the natural pesticides for controlling the pests then it is certainly an eco friendly approach but believed to be much expensive in contrast to unnatural ones. Some time before, due to expensive nature they were not much preferred in the process of organic farming. After the entrance of large scale industries with huge budget this can be achieved now very easily. Natural pesticides can be a good option when it is about the large scale organic farming but if you are going for it at your home or at a small scale in a separate piece of land then it is advisable to look for any other good option. This is because like other kinds of farming organic farming also requires the process of sowing, cultivating and harvesting. If you do not have proper arrangement of water for the purpose of irrigation then you require depending largely on the rain water. If you are concluding the process of organic farming at your home then irrigation is not a big issue but even at a small scale proper arrangement of water is very essential. If you do not have a huge budget with you then it can be a difficult work for you. You require investing a good amount on purchase of seeds, irrigation, fertilizers, harvesting, etc.

There is much debate till now on the use of unnatural pesticides in the process of organic farming. Several environmentalists and consumer protection organization have claimed that the use of unnatural pesticides not only damage the environment but also have an adverse impact on the quality of food. For killing the insects and pests these pesticides are used but they are not considered helpful after sometime. It is so because these insects as well as the pests easily get adapted to the effects of the chemicals involved in them and so these pesticides looses their worth. Sooner or later it damages the health of the final consumer who without knowing consumes a large amount of lethal chemicals and synthesized materials along with the natural food. Thus it is injurious for the health of the human being as well.

Thus there are several ways by which you can have your favorite vegetables as well as fruits and that too with the help of inorganic as well as organic farming. As there are several pros as well as cons of both it is up to you to decide the one that is best for you. You can make use of organic farming to turn your dreams into reality and the best part is it is already benefiting millions of people so you are not at all required to worry for it as well.

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