I had blogged earlier about how we’ve been trying to go more organic with the consumables that we purchase. We found The Whole Foods Store, a great grocery store on Fairview and Grand Avenue in Saint Paul that is all organic and natural foods, making it easy to shop with good conscience.

I decided to buy some meat this weekend from the Whole Foods Store, including some New York Strip steak and some all natural pork brats and man…though, they were expensive, that has been the best meat that I’ve ever had. The brats were very flavorful, not fatty like most brats and were GINORMOUS. And the steak…man, those cuts were HUGE. You could easily have two meals per cut.

It does cost a bit more to go organic, but with some of the things that I’ve been reading and seeing about how regular food is grown and processed, I’m becoming more and more sold on going all organic.

This afternoon we saw a program on PBS called “California and the American Dream“, particularly the episode entitled “Ripe for Change.” There was the general presentation of both sides of the argument of organic verses regular farming with pesticides and such. A number of chemists from University of California, Berkley, have found some substantial findings of the effects of herbicides on animal life and its long-term affect on humans. They speak with certainty that some of the leading and most widely-used herbicides are perhaps one of the main contributers of cancer in humans.

But even beyond that they also presented a compelling argument that general food production can be done affordably while being both socialogically and environmentally sound.

One organic winemaker in California took a very creative approach to solve the problem of pests. Beyond the creation of a fence to keep wild animals out of the vineyard, the winemaker put up a variety of flowers to attract the GOOD insects to his vineyard and help deter the focus of the fruit as a food source for birds in the area. They also have chickens and roosters walk freely through the vineyard, eating insects and deficating (providing natural fertilizer).

They’ve also taken many steps internally to ensure that they are saving money, recycling and reusing when they can, reducing their own waste and providing a great environment for the Mexican immigrants to become assimilated and on their way to citizenship. The vineyard is doing better than ever and are seeing bumper crops as a result of their efforts. They are fulfilling what you see in the diagram.

Anyway, interesting stuff.

May 14, 2006, 6:08 pm

Filed under: Awareness, General

1 Comment »

1. Jamison said,

   May 14, 2006 @ 8:42 pm

   Yep. Organic is expensive. But here’s the thing. Sometimes you can find cheaper products at your local Cub store. That is IF the store has invested in even a small organic section. For example, we bought some strawberries for a strawberry rubarb pie at Fresh and Natural. They were around $7 a package. We ended up having to throw them away though because they had already started to develop that white fuzz.

   So I ran to Cub in a hurry to find anything. Well, lo and behold they had the EXACT same brand of organic strawberries in a little “Natural” section. here’s the kicker… $4 a package. That’s the same strawberries mind you.

   So I think as more and more stores start to stock organic foods that will help drive the price down all over the place.

   One other thing to do is try and shop for more natural products. Look at labels. For example we buy Bryer’s All Natural Ice Cream. If you read the label it’s all just milk, cream, sugar, etc.,. It may not be “organic” but it’s sure better than all those chemical in “flavoring” and “coloring” and “preservatives”.

   Oh, and in terms of meats, Whole Foods sells a ground beef that’s somewhere around $5-6/lb. It’s the best dang hamburger you will EVER taste.

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