The Whole Wheat

Do you remember the fact of the day post: FOTD: Is that actually organic? The great news is that a lot of people paid attention to shocking revelation that Aurora Organic Farms was mistreating their cows and misrepresenting their organic products. Today the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) announced that “HORIZON ANNOUNCES FURTHER LOSSES AS OCA BOYCOTT CONTINUES.” The email I received from the OCA stated:

This week, Horizon, the largest organic dairy company in the U.S., announced, for the second time this year that its profits are decreasing. Horizon dairy is one of several brands being boycotted by the OCA and thousands of organic consumers due to the company’s practice of sourcing milk from giant dairy feedlots where the animals have little or no access to pasture. Gregg Engles, the CEO of Dean Foods (Horizon’s parent company) blamed recent profit losses on “considerable disruption” in the organic dairy marketplace. When OCA launched its boycott in 2006, Engles claimed factory farmed organics were necessary in order to produce enough organic milk to meet growing consumer demands. Ironically, this week Engles said part of the blame for the company’s profit losses is due to an oversupply of organic dairy in the marketplace.

I think this is fantastic news – to see consumers take a stand and demand that Organic be a meaningful title, not just a word to place on a label. I applaud everyone of you that helped in this effort!

But don’t start buying Aurora products just yet. Keep in mind that these are other labels that this fake organic milk shows up under:

1. Horizon
2. Costco’s “Kirkland Signature”
3. Safeway’s “O” organics brand
4. Publix’s “High Meadows”
5. Giant’s “Natures Promise”
6. Woodstock Farms
7. Wild Oats’ Organic milk

Please continue to stand up for your consumer rights by avoiding these brands! Additionally, you can send a message to the “Shameless Seven’s” CEOs by simply filling out this form.

Wednesday is one of my favorite days of the week now. Every Tuesday night I go to sleep in anticipation of what my weekly Organic Fruit & Vegetable box will hold. The best part of Wednesday is coming home and getting to check out all the fantastic produce of the week. As you can see – even Norway (my cat) gets excited!

I have mentioned the Organic CSA Box before, but I wanted to post a bit more detail about it and my thoughts now that we have been receiving it for several months. The bottom line is that *I LOVE IT!*

• I love that every week I receive vegetables I might not buy.
• I love that every week is an adventure as I discover new ways to prepare vegetables, new dishes to explore, and sample new flavors!
• I love that the quality of the produce we eat is so excellent that you simply want to eat more fruits and vegetables.
• I love that purchasing this box supports my local food network and family run farms.

I could keep going, but the bottom line is that by purchasing a CSA box you are supporting your own family’s health, and the community health. What could be better than that?

For more information on CSAs please refer to following links. They are truly available *everywhere*! My friend in Toronto has started receiving a box each week and even with the winter weather she gets amazing variety. I have researched and found farms that have weekly, monthly, or seasonal boxes for friends and family all over: Boston, San Antonio, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Toronto, Chicago, and more. Try it out – you will like it!

• Local Harvest: searchable site to find a CSA in your area
• Organic Consumers Assoc.: great site on all things Organic, this links to their CSA page, this site is full of amazing information!
• Biodynamics: tons of CSA information
• USDA information on CSAs

I bet you never thought I would post anything positive about a potato chip! You were wrong! My husband has long loved the taste of Kettle Chips – and I have to admit a secret admiration for them myself. However I only recently investigated their company and learned some wonderfully surprising items:

• “No trans fats, no MSG, no artificial whatchamacallits. Who needs it when our obsession for potato perfection results in award-winning chips, naturally. Chips you’ll still respect in the morning.” (from their site)
• They have been making trans fat free chips for OVER 20 years!
• They use local sources and buy only organic Russet potatoes.
• They use their cooking oil twice: once to cook delicious chips, then once to power cars!
• They have solar panels on top of their factory and also use wind power sources!

Go on admit it – you were anxious to find a potato chip you could admire!

Since this isn’t really a FACT of the day I’ve given it the title Information of The Day (IOTD). Enjoy!

For a little over a month Brad and I have been getting a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) box delivered each week. CSA’s are amazing organizations that support local farmers using organic and sustainable farming techniques. They organize shares or boxes that consumers can purchase to support these local farms. There are some fantastic websites that can you help you find some local options, here is one: Biodynamics.

We use Capay Organic’s Weekly Service which I absolutely love. If you live in the bay area I can highly recommend them. Here are just a few photos from yesterday’s box.

Cutest little sweet potato ever – I have 4 all just barely the size of my hand:

More of the veggies – including the leeks we did not use for dinner:

Not shown were other wonderful items including: kiwi fruits, cauliflower, baby bok choy, and spinach.

Many labels read “organic” these days, but some of them are no more than lies unfortunately.

Aurora Organic Farms [has been discovered] misrepresenting its organic products and mistreating cows. The Cornucopia Institute – dedicated to preserving organic, family-scale farming – found Aurora’s Platteville, CO farm was milking cows 3 times a day instead of the standard twice, and depriving them of grazing space…. Aurora supplies milk for several private labels, including Safeway’s “O,” Publix’s “High Meadows,” and Giant’s “Nature’s Promise. Source: Vegetarian Times Magazine, Feb 2007, Issue 347, page 60“

Sadly I found that was the tip of the iceberg as I did a bit of verification before posting the above fact. Over at the Organic Consumer’s Association (OCA) website, I found out that not only was Aurora Farms in violation, but so is Horizon Farms. Horizon Farms is one of the largest organic milk suppliers in the country – you see them at Whole Foods among other places. The OCA supports a ban of not only those two milk producers, but the companies they supply for. “The Shameless Seven”, i.e. the list of brands to avoid is:

• Horizon
• Aurora
• Costco’s “Kirkland Signature,” (Aurora)
• Safeway’s “O” organics brand (Aurora)
• Publix’s “High Meadows” (Aurora)
• Giant’s “Natures Promise” (Aurora)
• Wild Oats’ (Aurora)

And there is still more. Lest you think that if cow’s milk is trouble you will drown your sorrows in soy milk – be careful there too. Silk soymilk products and Dean Food’s White Wave tofu have both been discovered “sourc[ing] abroad, primarily from Brazil and China. Environmental standards and workers’ rights are routinely violated in these two countries.”

Yikes. And so continues the tedious tightrope of “what to eat.”