In Sonoma county in 1999, nonprofit organization Food for Thought, horticulturalists from the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, and volunteers came together to create an organic and flourishing garden that supplies the local food bank.  What is even cooler is that many of the volunteers are H.I.V. and AIDS patients that get much benefit from the garden.  The rewards are both nutritional (because unappetizing foods can be very hard to digest for H.I.V. and AIDS patients) and personal, providing a haven of nourishment to the soul.  The garden is in a great location because Sonoma has one of the highest rates (proportionally) in US rural counties for H.I.V. and AIDS patients.  Read more about it in The New York Times.  And, learn more about this truly inspiring collaboration.

The more I learn, the easier it is to buy organic!

I started out like many people going organic, one step at a time. My whole life, I’ve tried to eat fresh food, keep the processed stuff at a minimum, and basically eat healthy. As I learned new things, I was willing to change. For example, I quit eating veal back in the 70’s after learning how the calves were treated in order to get that tender white meat! I quit diet soda fifteen years ago, when I discovered the effect the chemicals had on my joints. Then as I learned about the hormones and antibiotics given to dairy cows, I began my organic purchasing. Milk was first. Raisins and eggs were next. Couldn’t wash the raisins, and the eggs had a harder shell and tasted better. I was sold!

After a while I started to spend more money on organic vegetables, but I often gave in to temptation to buy the less expensive conventional broccoli when the price difference was a whole dollar! But what I have found, was the more I bought organic, the better I felt. I’m convinced its physical, but I know its mental, too. I feel like I’m buying wholesome, real food and that I am not damaging other people or the earth. And now, as I learn more and more about soil that is fumigated with methyl bromide or pesticide residue found in children’s urine, I won’t touch a conventional strawberry. I am happy to pay for great food, grown right. It tastes better. I feel better. I like how it feels to purchase organic, cook organic and eat organic, as nature intended.

Meet Fernando and Susan Cardoza, owners of The Green Bough in Irwin, PA, near Pittsburgh. Over twenty years ago, Fernando and Susan asked the question, “Who are we authentically?” Though the answer is still in the process of becoming, they are sure it has something to do with being organic. For Susan and Fernando, being organic includes more than a practice of eating or buying organic, it embraces a way of living, an attitude, a whole awareness. You can hear it in the clarity of their voices, their passionate commitment to organic living, and in the measured space between one partner speaking and the other.

“Why are we here?” They wondered. To connect to ourselves and each other and the earth. Susan explains, “When we disconnect we create problems and this becomes reflected in our bodies. Living organically, conversely, enables us to reach our full human potential, not just as individuals but globally.” They say eating organic helps them feel better, more energized, less stressed. If we are indeed what we eat, then eating organic foods reduces the toxicity in our bodies in a noticeable way. To the unconverted, Susan says, “Once you feel it in your body, you know. You don’t need explanations or justifications.”

Susan and Fernando have evolved as organic people throughout the last twenty years. Coming to organic choices from health concerns for their children, they sought a higher quality of life as a family. Over the years, they have seen the shift in the public awareness. What was once the cordoned off corner of hippie-dom now emerges as the normal thing to do. Susan and Fernando stumbled onto new things over the years, finding individuals and resources to help along the way. While simultaneously getting into organic foods, home care, and organic health care, the process of discovering what worked took many years and open, warm dialogue with their physician. Along their journey Susan and Fernando connected with a community of shared interest ad overpowering support.

Most people have some issues within our culture that drives them to look for safe spaces for de-stressing. Fernando says, “Many people seek an energy or frequency that resonates with being organic. People evolve through a gradual process of incorporating more and more aspects that make sense to them.”

Wanting to share the graceful reach of community around mind, body, and spirit, Susan and Fernando created The Green Bough—a replicable holistic community building enterprise. The Green Bough commits to environmental practices too. Just one more way to holistically approach the organic lifestyle. Additionally, they created Holistic Pittsburgh, a Full-Service Web Portal for the Holistic Community in the Southwestern PA Region.

Together, Fernando and Susan want to promote an affirming message about the organic lifestyle. Activism as a positive affirmation with authenticity and integrity. Susan explains, “When we are authentically ourselves, we are organic. We are fully integrated.”

***The Cardozas are this month’s featured I’m Organic Story. 5% of sales from Sept. 27th- Oct. 24th, 2006 will be donated to The Organic Consumers Association.

There are several reasons people choose organic, one major one being the avoidance of pesticide exposure.

I was reading about a study started in 1998, where children’s urine was tested for pesticide residue. It was found that the highest levels were in children in the metropolitan areas, not the farms, leading the researcher to believe the exposure came mostly from food or home use.
One child in the study had no signs of pesticide residue and they learned that this child’s family ate organic food almost exclusively, and so began the scientific evidence that an organic food diet reduces the pesticide exposure in children. When results were published in March 2003, it showed that children who ate mostly organic food had one-sixth the pesticide metabolites of those who ate non-organic food.

What I found most encouraging was after these results were found, they did further tests of substituting organic foods for a conventional diet in children for five days and could find no pesticide residue in their urine. When the conventional diet was reintroduced, they returned.

Science doesn’t know what effect pesticides have over a lifetime, but we know we can get them out of our system immediately, if we eat organic food. Many mothers just know this instinctively and don’t need a lifetime of scientific evidence to feed their children organic food. I am excited to know there is something we can do that has an immediate effect on our health and well-being.

When I’m really hungry, there’s nothing I like more than one of Chipotle’s delicious and fresh big veggie burritos. What I recently learned was that I was eating a lot more than beans and lettuce and guacamole. I was also eating a philosophy created by Chipotle’s founder and chief executive Steve Ells.

“Food with integrity,” Ells says, “is driving our growth and profitably.” Integrity, according to Ells, means “ingredients that are sustainably grown and naturally raised with respect for the animals, the land and the farmers who produce the food.”

In the recent article in Fortune magazine, I learned that even though revenues tripled since 2002 and are now approaching $800 million, “the 41-year-old Steve Ells is not a numbers guy. He’s an art history major and a classically trained chef, who after earning a degree from the elite Culinary Institute of America worked at a posh San Francisco eatery called Stars. He opened the first Chipotle’s in Denver in 1993, hoping to save enough money to open “my real restaurant,” he says. His ownership stake in the company is now worth about $48 million. “It turns out that Chipotle is pretty real,” he says.”

Real, indeed. In addition to creating fast, fresh, and delicious food, Chipotle makes a serious effort to buy organic ingredients when practical. “20 percent of the beans at Chipotle are organic. Today, all of Chipotle’s pork, about half of its chicken and about a third of its beef is “naturally raised,” according to Ells. By this, he means that livestock are raised without hormones or antibiotics and given all vegetarian feed.”

It’s a great step in the right direction for fast food. With more than 530 restaurants, I’m glad to have many opportunities to support Chipotle’s business.

I recently got back from a Natural Products Seminar and met some great people who make organic products of all kinds. From granola (of course!) to pickles, chocolates and foot rubs, it was great to share our stories with one another. I learned so much from both the participants and the presenters.

Here’s an interesting tidbit that a former major executive from a well-known natural food chain said about organics in Walmart. (He’ll remain nameless because I want to stay friends!) He told us that a Vice President of Walmart made the statement, “We see organics as a marketing program.”

It is thought in the industry that Walmart’s attempts at offering organics at affordable prices will be “a flash in the pan.” A temporary campaign to make themselves look good and wholesome. Kind of like McDonald’s offering gourmet salads- it makes the company look like they care about health to the public, but has the real effect of selling more hamburgers! This seminar leader advised organic products manufacturers to be wary of getting involved with Wal-mart because their true commitment to long-term organics was in doubt.

So, that’s the word buzzing in the executive towers of our favorite organic companies. Our disclaimer is that we don’t know the facts, only the rumors. Like everyone else, we’re eager to know: Wal-mart- are you serious about going green?

This past week, I got a great tip from idealbit.com. I learned about TerraPass- a company that funds clean energy and efficiency projects with the money you pay them to offset the carbon dioxide emissions from your car. I am now a proud member of TerraPass- can’t wait to put the bumper sticker on my car and spread the word- I have a zero emissions vehicle now! And, for only $49.99/year, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to rid myself of some eco-guilt. They also offer opportunities to balance emissions from your airline travel, home, and even your dorm room! With the holidays coming up, if you have a student on your list, think about giving them a zero emissions dorm room for only $29.95/year! How cool is that?

Janelle and Dean Slavick live in Concord, Ohio with their daughter Makella and son Jake. Makella just left for her freshman year of college. Before she left, Makella told Janelle, “Mom, I had a magical childhood!”

What brought about such an expression of joy and gratitude? The story begins years earlier. Janelle studied education at Bowling Green State University. During her studies, she discovered one single paragraph about Montessori education. That paragraph directed the course of her life. Janelle says, “It grabbed my heart!” She decided then that when she had kids of her own, she would take them to a Montessori school.

And indeed she has. Furthermore, while her kids were in school, Janelle also returned to education for a master’s degree so she could teach Montessori. Makella and Jake attended the Hershey Montessori School. The Montessori program emphasizes hands-on developmentally appropriate learning. It is based on the work of Maria Montessori, the first female physician in Italy. Maria Montessori studied how children learn and developed a comprehensive and child-centered approach to education. The Association Montessori International describes Erdkinder (German for Land-Children):

Dr. Montessori recommended that the adolescent should spend a period of time in the country away from the environment of the family. This would provide an opportunity to study civilisation through its origin in agriculture. She suggested they should live in a hostel which they would learn to manage and open a shop where sale of produce would bring in the fundamental mechanics of society, production and exchange on which economic life is based.

They do just that at the Huntsburg campus. Children 12-15 years old connect with the land and grow their own food organically. The school strives to be self-sufficient. They eat what they grow and sell at a local market as well–all part of the learning experience. They even collect maple syrup. The children run the household including managing preparation of three meals a day for about 50 people. Children learn math through measuring food in the meals they prepare and following instructions or geometry through managing the fields. They learn economics through sales. They even did an archeological dig to uncover an old homestead on the property. This is land-based curriculum. Teach through the experience of the land.

Organic food. Organic processes for education. It all makes sense to Janelle, “Our children are living messages we send to a time and a place we will never see. With their ‘children of the Earth’ foundation and their organic experiences and choices, my children can take this message of being care-takers of the Earth with them to that time and place.”

Janelle and Dean continue the holistic approach at home with their own small orchard growing apricots, apples, and plums. People in the neighborhood take strolls down their street or ride bicycles around. Everyone knows they are welcome to take some fruit. They aren’t sprayed with pesticides. You can eat them straight from the trees. Sounds magical to me too.

*As part of our I’m Organic Stories Project, 5% of your purchase from Sept. 6-30th will be donated to Hershey Montessori School.

Hi. I’m Judy, cofounder of I’m Organic™.
This summer, I’ve been sharing our recently launched products with people at local farmer’s markets. It’s been a lot of fun to get direct feedback and meet new people!

For example, I talked to a man who is a retired chemist that worked for a couple of large chemical companies. He questioned me on our organic fabric and wanted to know what it meant to be organic.  I began to tell him about the pesticides used on cotton, but I realized he had a lot to teach me.
He told me how 30 years ago he did testing on cows that traced the pesticides in their systems. He found that the pesticides changed composition as it traveled through different parts of the cow and actually became more harmful to us. His test results did not match what the FDA and the industry wanted to hear, so when he was told to do the test again and got the same results, he was asked to change the results! He refused. The hair on my arms stood up. It’s what you hear goes on and you wonder if it does, but when you actually hear it from someone directly, it’s chilling. He was threatened with a job transfer to a very undesirable location if he published or told of his results. He knows the results were altered or disposed of after they left his hands. Today, he works to inform other scientists of this and tests on other products that have been kept from the public.

I hope he is successful. And, I am grateful to be working on I’m Organic™ and doing what I can to affect a positive change in our environment and the health of our bodies. Every choice makes a difference!