Well, I certainly hadn’t. I discovered this amazing little superfood at Expo East, the Trade Show we just got back from. Turns out that Chia is a 3,000-year old seed that was a favorite of the Aztecs. They found that it improved endurance and therefore baked it into breads and added it to water to drink before long runs or battles.

Chia is a delicate little seed that packs a huge nutritional punch. Chia has an extremely high fiber content – more than 35%! Chia is also very rich in essential fatty acids – one scoop of Chia (15 grams) contains 3 grams of Omega 3 and 1 gram of Omega 6 in the ideal 3:1 ratio. This makes Chia the richest whole food source of Omega 3 fatty acid. Chia seeds are also packed with high-ORAC antioxidants and are an excellent source of iron, potassium, calcium, zinc, and magnesium. Plus, they’re delicious!

You can now buy Chia in canisters to mix into your favorite foods and recipes. Also, Greens+, a great company that makes delicious, organic superfood bars, has created an all-new Chia Energy Bar! I was able to sample it at the Trade Show and it was exquisitely tasty – the Chia seeds have a slight nutty crunch that is similar to poppy seeds.

Greens+ has a special Chia site that you can visit here. You can buy your Chia there, too!

And, you can visit the Greens+ homepage here.

Chia is a fascinating little food that I highly recommend trying. It’s relatively new in terms of being widely available and it’s fun to mix into foods you’re already eating to give them that extra nutritional kick! So get out there and try some Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia today!

The 2007 Co-op America People’s Choice Award is upon us and we ALL need to vote!  The top ten most popular green businesses (popularity being determined by how many nominations each company received) are contenders for this prestigious award – and the way-cool Pizza Fusion is one of them!

Why vote for Pizza Fusion for Green Business of the Year?  I’d be happy to explain.

Pizza Fusion was founded in 2006 by Michael Gordon and Vaughan Lazar out of a desire to create a green business that would really make a difference for the planet.  These guys have really taken it all the way in terms of being green … prepare to be impressed.

Pizza Fusion’s sauce is made of 100% Certified Organic ingredients.  Their pizza dough is made of the highest quality, all-natural flour combined with only 100% Certified Organic ingredients.  All of Pizza Fusion’s vegetables are 100% Certified Organic and if they need to use conventionally grown vegetables for any reason, it is always clearly marked and noted.  Their salads contain only 100% Certified Organic greens.  Pizza Fusion uses only all-natural deli meats, their beef is 100% Certified Organic, and their chicken is all-natural and free-range.

Impressed yet?  Well, here’s the most incredible part …

ALL of Pizza Fusion’s amazing, organic pizzas, sandwiches, and salads are delivered in company-owned HYBRID vehicles!!!  Yes, you read that right – if you order an organic pizza from Pizza Fusion, it will arrive at your home in a HYBRID.  Isn’t that the greenest situation you can imagine?  Organic pizza delivered in Hybrids?  Pizza Fusion is the GREATEST.

But wait – there’s more!  Pizza Fusion also offsets all of their energy – 100% of it – with renewable wind power!  They have ALL of their environmental bases covered.

It is NOT easy to start a green business, let alone a green business in the restaurant industry.  Restaurants have a hard enough time surviving – but Pizza Fusion has sacrificed NOTHING in their quest to be as green and responsible as possible.  They are truly to be commended!  And they should win the Green Business of the Year Award for their commitment to environmental excellence.

Support Pizza Fusion by taking 20-30 seconds of your time to VOTE for them TODAY!  But remember to hurry, hurry, hurry because voting ends on October 15.  VOTE for Pizza Fusion for Green Business of the Year HERE!  You can really make a difference by supporting this fantastic green company.

Vote HERE!  Vote HERE!  Vote HERE!

And be sure to check out Pizza Fusion’s website HERE.  It’s another great, fun website to explore.

Happy Voting, everyone!  And remember – vote NOW – voting ends October 15!

This weekend we spent the day at the park, not on a picnic eating wonderful organic food and enjoying nature.  Instead, 6 children and 3 adults were working hard on an organic pest control project.  We puzzled over building plans and heavily perspired as we attempted to screw, caulk, and score our creation.

Most people, when they think about organic pest control, think along the lines of some eco-friendly spray or perhaps a companion planting that will remove or deter some pest.  Sometimes the most effective thing we can do is to look to nature to find the original control for the unwanted irritant. 

In this case, the targeted pest was the mosquito.  Mosquitos can quickly take the fun out of a fishing trip or picnic.  Not only are their bites uncomfortable, they can sometimes transmit more serious diseases.  There are some environmentally safe methods that can be used, but  applying these to a large state park is a big and expensive job.  

The next best control is none other than your friendly neighborhood bat.  Bats have earned a bad reputation largely because of the folklore that surrounds them.  Bats do not attack people, fly purposely into hair, or transmit many cases of rabies.  You are more likely to get rabies from your family pet than from bats. 

Bats are useful wildlife.  The little Brown Bat is recorded to be able to eat 600 insects in one hour!  Try doing that with a fly swatter!  Not only do bats eat insects, a few are also pollinators.  Bats generally produce only one pup (baby bat) a year.  Therefore, their population can easily be effected by disturbances.  Bats are also sensitive to pollution, making them one of the indicator species for a healthy environment. 

Needless to say though, people don’t want bats in their homes even if they are wonderful at eliminating night insects.  So, how do you attract bats without having them live with you?  You build them their own bat house.  For more information on safely moving bats out of your house or attracting bats to your yard, check with your local game commission.

The bat houses we built Saturday will each hold 250 females and their pups.  They will use the house as a summer nursery.  Male bats usually prefer to roost in loose bark on trees.  Once fall arrives, they will migrate back to caves and mines to overwinter.

Achieving an environment free of harmful chemicals takes some work, but in the long run, it is so worth the effort.  Who can resist standing outside a bat nursery counting the bats as they come out?  We counted over 500 one night as we watched them exit a house for a nightly feed.  Oh, and we came home with zero mosquito bites.        

Everyone loves candy, right? Righty-o.

But candy is bad for you, right? Not anymore!

At the Trade Show I discovered the first true candy bar I’ve ever come across that is actually CLEAN and made with 70% – 92% organic ingredients. By “clean” I mean that the ingredients are pure and the candy bar contains no junk, artificial ingredients, or additives. What is this magical candy bar, you may ask? Why, it’s the Crispy Cat Candy Bar, of course!

The Crispy Cat Candy Bar is seriously delicious and really special in terms of what it contains … and what it doesn’t contain. Crispy Cat Candy Bars are gluten-free, dairy-free, non-GMO, all natural, have no preservatives, are vegan, Kosher, and are made with 70% – 92% organic ingredients. How impressive is that? It’s a healthy candy bar that you can actually justify eating! That’s right – you can feel GOOD about eating candy! This is exciting stuff, people. At least for me.

You know what else is cool? The Crispy Cat Team! I had the pleasure of meeting them at the Trade Show and Joel, Ann, and Ari are super fun, good-natured people. What’s so neat about Crispy Cat is that they unabashedly call their product “candy” – not “food bar” or “snack bar” but “candy bar.” That takes guts because people have been so conditioned to associate candy with incredibly poor health – and for good reason. Almost all candy is the junkiest of the junk. But Crispy Cat? The cleanest of the clean. Like I said – you can now justify eating candy thanks to Crispy Cat – something I’m sure we’ve all been waiting to do for quite a long time.

Crispy Cat Candy Bars are available in three spectacular flavors: Mint Coconut, Toasted Almond, and Roasted Peanut. Yum, yummy, and yummier.

Halloween is just around the corner and I therefore find this information to be especially pertinent. Why not pass out Crispy Cats to your favorite little monsters, ghouls, and ghosts? I’m sure their parents would take note upon seeing a Crispy Cat bar in their kid’s candy stash. As a big sister, I would certainly take note … and then I’d demand that my brother split it with me! Cool big sisters can do such things.

Why not pass out Crispy Cats to your favorite adults in the spirit of Halloween? All adults like – nay, love – candy, and they’ll be very receptive to these candy bars because they’re nice and clean. Every adult should receive a Crispy Cat Candy Bar this Halloween if only to restore their faith in candy. Don’t you think?

Check out Crispy Cat’s website here – it’s fun and funky! Guaranteed to entertain.

Happy Halloween to you all and Happy Candy, too!

… it was the best ever! Judy, Jill, and I attended Expo East, an enormous Natural Products Trade Show held this year in Baltimore, Maryland. It was my first-ever Trade Show and my oh my was it amazing! The word that I feel best captures the true essence of the show is “mecca.” Yes, a mecca it was … a true destination for those seeking a natural, edible world of wonderment and enlightenment. If you can’t already tell, I thoroughly enjoyed myself – it was practically a spiritual experience for me. The Convention Center was transformed into a maze of aisles and booths, each featuring countless different natural products, each more inspiring than the last. I cannot even begin to explain how overwhelming the show was in terms of size and variety of products. Everyone and everything from the world of natural and organic products was there. And we were there too, with the greatest booth in the history of space and time! Yes, the I’m Organic booth was large and in charge. We had superb traffic and tons of interest – and hey, can you blame people? We have the best products out there!

We did have some pretty fabulous neighbors, however.

Next door to us were Larry Bodkin and York Chiou of White Rock Beverages. I completely fell in love with their line of Organic drinks – every few minutes I found myself wandering over for a delicious sample. I simply could not get enough! White Rock’s line of Organics features delightfully refreshing, lightly carbonated beverages brewed with natural fruit extracts. They are SO good, SO refreshing, and SO reasonable in terms of calories! That’s a win, win, win in my opinion. Plus, York and Larry are the coolest – such nice guys and they do a great job. Check out White Rock’s website here!

Our other absolutely fabulous neighbor was Michele Halle of Dakota Organic Products. Dakota Organic Products is a specialty grain company that produces high-quality, organic grains for both human AND animal consumption – how cool is that? Cows and horses need organic love – and food! – too, after all. It’s great to know that there’s a company out there supplying organic feed for animals. Michele is a babe AND a hero to animals far and wide. She’s one of my heroes, too – a super lady with a fantastic sense of humor. Check out Dakota Organic’s website here!

I discovered quite a few new and incredible products at Expo East that I definitely want to share with my readers. I’ll blog them separately so as not to overwhelm. These are great products that you’ll definitely want to know about and I’ll tell you why … so keep your eyes on the Organiblog in the next week or so and be prepared to get informed!

Ta-ta for now …

Well, today is the big day.  I get to clean the goat house.  This is not a job I look forward to but it has to be done.  This is also part of the organic gardening experience for us because this goat by-product becomes our garden fertilizer in the spring.  I’ve always looked at our manure production as a good thing.

Yesterday over lunch, I had a conversation with a young man from my 4-H club .  We were, believe it or not, discussing manure, climate change, and water pollution.  Manure in large quantities produces some deadly gases.  And due to big agribusinesses, manure is a contributor to climate change.  The methane produced by manure traps 21 times the heat that CO2 traps and accounts for 8 percent of warming caused by US greenhouse gas emissions (according to the epa).  Manure pits and ponds are the worst offenders because while methane is produced by animals in the field, it has far less impact than the amount produced by manure pits.

My friend and I were discussing the proper way to store our “fertilizer”.  He mentioned he had his pile located near a small stream.  I explained to him that while he might not be producing significant amounts of CO2, he was still causing damage.  Runoff from manure contains nutrients that encourage algae growth.  Once there is an increase of algae, stream oxygen levels decrease making the stream unable to support fish like trout.  Sediment from manure runoff covers the stones used by macroinvertebrates (things like mayflies) so the food supply for fish is decreased. 

We came to the conclusion that allowing our animals lots of space to roam lets them spread their waste themselves, thus reducing methane production.  Also, my friend is planning to move his pile far from the stream, place it on a plastic tarp and cover it to reduce run off.  My pile goes into our composting system.

Sometimes organic gardening is less than glamorous, but the results are worth the effort.

We can reduce methane in other ways.  One way, eat less meat and dairy and more vegetarian meals.  

I was lost the other day as I tried to find the Pennsylvania Renewable Energy Festival.  I don’t really panic when I’m lost because I know that roads have to come out somewhere.  However, if I were really someplace unfamiliar, I think I would want to follow this guy, Will Steger.  I think he probably could find his way out of anyplace. 

Right now I am in an unfamiliar place.  I’m trying to figure out how to make the best changes we can as a family to reduce our carbon footprint.  We don’t have the money to buy a new car, install solar panels, or switch appliances.  But after hearing Will Steger speak, I think there are plenty of other things we can do that will make a difference.

I had the privilege of listening to and meeting Will Steger while in Tennessee this summer.  Will Steger is an artic explorer who has kept track of the changes in the climate as he traveled our poles.  He has always championed environmental causes but in the last years he has been particularly concerned with climate changes.  This is because he has witnessed first hand the very real difference in the arctic climate. 

Over the next three years, Will Steger and his teams will be making expeditions to the Baffin Island (2007), Ellesmere Island (2008), Antarctica (2008), and Greenland  (2009).  You can view the 2007 expedition and follow him on his 2008 expedition via podcasts.

On his website Global Warming 101, he has some very readable and easy to understand articles about what is happening in the arctic and why it is important to us.  He used some of these materials as he spoke to us both of his journey and the science behind understanding climate change. 

In the end, he left us with something very important, hope.  Very small changes can add up to big impacts.  So if you think you’re in unfamiliar territory with climate change, follow Will, I think he’s on the right trail. 

What trail are you on in your journey to reduce your carbon footprint?

I consider food bars one of the greatest edible inventions of all time because they pack a ton of nutrition and taste into one tiny, totally portable package. They are the most delicious and healthiest “fast food” on the planet – well, perhaps alongside the banana, which is perfectly wrapped up and made good to go by Mother Nature herself.

But wait! Hold it right there!

You have to make sure you’re getting the RIGHT food bars – and believe me, with such a popular product, there are so many WRONG choices out there it’s almost laughable. Almost.

So many food bars nowadays are made to look healthy and nutritious but actually contain many of the nasty, icky, and unhealthy ingredients found in most candy bars. And believe me, a food bar is not a candy bar – a food bar is actual food in compact, portable form and a candy bar is a … well, a candy bar is just empty calories and minimal nutrition, if any at all. In fact, most food bars are no better than most candy bars – and simply because something is pumped full of vitamins and minerals does not make it healthy. Sorry, PowerBar. Not really so powerful, are you?

Watch your ingredients when it comes to food bars. After a short while I’m sure you’ll notice how often high fructose corn syrup appears on the labels of the most popular brands. You’ll also see artificial sweeteners and more incredibly refined sugars, both a no-no.

So where’s a health-conscious person supposed to turn?

To my two favorite brands of food bars, Organic Food Bar and Larabar. Both companies take only the simplest, purest, and all-natural ingredients and whip them up into delightful flavor combinations that satisfy not only my taste buds but my strict standards of nutrition excellence. I LOVE these food bars – truly. I eat one nearly every day and I keep a stash of them in my purse for whenever I need a small meal. They are perfect for meal-replacements: I eat one for lunch instead of a regular meal and I feel totally satisfied. Plus, each bar is only 200-300 calories – the ideal amount for a small meal or snack. These bars can’t get any better!

Please note that Larabar’s line of Organic Food Bars is called Jocalat (“Chocolate”) and they are absolutely delicious – they taste like decadent fudge brownies – but they’re actually good for you!

Please check out their websites – www.organicfoodbar.com and www.larabar.com. You can see the myriad of flavors available and get a good sense of the companies themselves. You can even check out all of the ingredients involved. There are flavors like Belgium Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Orange, Chocolate Mint and Active Greens. There are more flavors than you can shake a food bar at.

You can find these wondrous food bars at any local health food store. Please try one as soon as you can – you won’t regret it and I’m sure you’ll feel opened up to a whole new world of edible possibilities.

Remember, you can take a food bar anywhere. They love to travel and they’ll save you time and money when you’re in a hunger pinch. So try one today!

… And then let me know what you think.

Happy Food Bar-ing!

Fall is drawing very near and with it come chilly breezes and dropping temperatures. Doesn’t it just make you want a nice bowl of soup? I know I crave soups during this time of year and my favorite soup to eat and make is miso (pronounced mee-so) soup. I’ve maintained for a long time that miso soup is good for the soul. It’s great for your body, too!

Miso is a dense paste made of fermented rice and soybeans. It is super salty and has a unique flavor. It dissolves easily in hot liquids and therefore makes a perfect soup broth. But what’s fascinating about miso is that it is a LIVING food! Miso is alive and well and contains natural digestive enzymes, healthy bacteria, and other microorganisms that aid in healthy digestion.

But most people make a huge mistake when making homemade miso soup!

Most people add their miso paste to their pot when the water is boiling – but since miso is a living food, it can be killed at certain temperatures – and the temperature of boiling water is plenty to kill a fine young batch of miso. And believe me, you want your miso to be alive when you eat it because the living qualities of the miso are also the healthful qualities and to get the maximum health benefits from miso, it needs to be alive when you consume it.

This is very simple to achieve. After you are done boiling your seaweed or mushrooms or tofu or other goodies you’re adding to your soup, remove the pot from the heat and allow the water to cool for a few minutes. Then stir in your miso paste. This way, the temperature of the water drops enough to not kill your miso, but the water remains hot enough to successfully dissolve the miso and satisfy that chill in the pit of your stomach. Everyone’s happy.

As a general rule when making miso soup, use about 2-3 teaspoons of miso per cup of water. You can add anything you like to a pot of miso soup, but the traditional ingredients are simply tofu and a seaweed of your choosing, like Wakame or Kombu.

So pick up a package of miso today and start experimenting in the kitchen! Like I said before, you can really add anything to a pot of miso soup, so the possibilities are endless. Just take good care of your miso and make sure it’s still alive when you eat it – believe me, it won’t mind!

Happy Fall to you all!

Ping.  Ping.  Not the average sound that most people would use to describe fall, but it is one of the sounds familiar in our household.  It is the sound of canning lids as they seal.  The canning lids make a joyful little “ping” noise to let you know the job is done.

Canning season has been in full swing for weeks.  It overlaps the last of summer vacation, the start of school, and the first cool tang of fall air.  Today, I canned my remaining tomato sauce that has been simmering for days (yes, days) and pulled the remaining tomatoes from the garden to be peeled and canned whole.  We won’t get an entire year’s worth of tomatoes like my grandmother did when she canned, but we will have enough to stretch our food budget.  The best perk is the fact that the tomatoes are grown completely without pesticides or non-organic fertilizer. 

I thought that I would just review the tomato canning process.  It’s not hard and could be done in one evening.  You will need some equipment.  If this is your first time canning, check with friends and see if you can borrow a canner.  If not, canners are available at most hardware stores and places like K-mart.  So, you need a canner, canning jars with lids and rings (they usually come as a set with the jars), a large pot, a large funnel, two bowls, a collander, slotted spoons, clean towels and wash cloths, and thin plastic or wooden spatula.

All the equipment (except the towels and cloths) should be washed in hot, soapy water and rinsed well.  The jars are then put in a pot of water and boiled to sterilize.  I fill the jars with hot water and set them in the pot standing up, then cover them with water to about 1 inch.  The lids are placed in a small pan, covered with water, and boiled for 1 minute.  Leave them in the water.

Since it would take a lot of space for me to describe the whole canning process, I’ve found an excellent link that shows the process.  Your local Cooperative Extension office also has materials to help you with this process.  The materials are free. 

My next canning project will be jellies from our crab apple tree and applesauce from local apples.  Let me know if you tried this and how it worked out.  If you need some help, just leave a comment and I’ll try to find the answer for you.

Happy canning, “ping”.