September is definitely one of the biggest harvest months, at least in our area. I love this time of year when I can harvest tons of fresh fruits and vegetables from my own garden (grown organically of course), and purchase fresh organically grown fruits and vegetables from local roadside stands, and farmer’s markets. So why not celebrate National Organic Harvest Month by supporting your local growers?

There is still quite a bit of low cost produce in September, and this time of year the price isn’t really much different whether you purchase conventionally grown produce, or organically grown, both are low …read more

I recently heard about Container Gardening for Health: The 12 Most Important Fruits and Vegetables for Your Organic Garden, a book that covers the most important crops to grow organically based on the “Dirty Dozen” list. This is a list created by The Environmental Working Group that tells consumers which fruits and veggies are best and least important to buy organic. The EPA just updated the list in spring of 2009, so this book which came out also in the spring contains the most current Dirty Dozen info.

I like the idea, because not only are the Dirty Dozen list items …read more

According to the National Gardening Association (NGA) organic gardening, or all natural gardening, is growing quickly in popularity with more folks then ever using all-natural gardening methods. Results from NGA’s 2004 and 2008 Environmental Lawn and Garden surveys show that “Households that use only all-natural fertilizer, insect, and weed controls increased from an estimated 5 million households in 2004 to 12 million in 2008.”

When the 2008 Environmental Lawn and Garden Survey asked U.S. households, “In your opinion, how important is it that residential, commercial, and municipal lawns and landscapes be maintained in an environmentally friendly way?” 89% of said households …read more

In a word… no. That’s according to CNN, who quotes a study by the British government as reported by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. To make this bold statement, researchers looked at “50,000 studies conducted over 50 years” and really studied things like how crops and livestock were raised and brought to market. What they found was that the biggest difference between “organic” versus everything else was in the kind of fertilizer used (nitrogen or phosphorus). But even then, researchers say the type of fertilizer had no effect on how healthy organic foods are.

Organic is …read more

There’s a very interesting piece up at the SF Gate, in which nutrition and public policy expert Marion Nestle dives into readers’ questions about organic foods. Some of the questions are easy going – i.e. what are organics exactly while others take a harder look at the more obscure organic topics, such as are organics elitist and why the flip organics are so costly.

I agreed with most of the Q&A style piece and found it really educational. I especially liked Nestle’s take on the cost of organics in which she noted, “don’t blame organic producers for the high prices. Until …read more

Eating locally is a super easy green step you can take. Why bother? Well…

Local food supports local economy and smaller markets who produce sustainable foods.
Local food can cost less. When you buy products close to home, you knock off obnoxious shipping costs that are factored into food prices. This is especially important when you purchase organic foods which are already more costly to begin with in most cases.
Local food uses less energy to ship. If you buy apples from Washington state and you live across the country that apple costs you some emissions due to all the shipping by plane, …read more

I was lucky to be offered the chance to try some new snack packs of organic dried fruit by Explorer’s Bounty recently.  I know what you’re thinking…banana chips are banana chips…but you’d be WRONG!  These are puffed, making them extra crunchy fun to eat, and the flavor of all the snacks I tried is just great.

I had plantains, bananas, and pineapples, as well as bananas with cinnamon, and I loved them all.  So did my DH, and he is particularly picky about his banana chips, being a fan from way back 
Anyway, the snack bags are called Gallop-A-Loozas, and …read more

It’s a common myth that coupons are only good for high calorie, convenience foods. While there certainly are a number of those out in the marketplace, you can also find a reasonable number of coupons for organic foods, dairy items, meat products, and produce. Here are a few sources:

Coupons.com – The offerings on this site change daily and while you’ll see a full compliment of sugary cereals and such, this week’s offers also included good discounts on salad mix bags and bags of sliced apples.
Smart Source – Similar to Coupons.com, their offerings change frequently, so check often.
Kashi – The …read more

Earthbound Farms is offering a free, reuseable tote bag to the first 10,000 people to take Earthbound Farm’s “Sustain Yourself, Sustain the Planet Pledge.” Some of the pledges include breaking the disposable bottled water habit, bringing your own bags when shopping, composting food scraps, choosing reusable or recycled instead of disposable products, and eating more plants and less meat. To take the pledge, visit Earthbound Farm’s Web site.
(photo credit: Earthbound Farms)

If you’re not familiar with the “Dirty Dozen” – it’s a list created by The Environmental Working Group that lets consumers know which fruits and veggies are best and least important to buy organic. The dirty dozen are fruits and veggies that have a larger amount of pesticides in them when grown conventionally.

The group just released their newest version of the list and it’s available for download (handy for shopping trips).
This year the five worst conventional produce buys are…

Peaches
Apples
Bell Peppers
Celery
Nectarines

And the five safest conventional produce buys are…

Onions
Avocados
Sweet Corn
Pineapples
Mangos

How to use the list …read more