In 2010, the Organic Consumers Association mobilized organic activists to fight back against Monsanto and the biotech industry. Thanks to your volunteer efforts and financial support, the OCA fought the "good fight" on GM trees, wheat, salmon, alfalfa, sugar beets and rice.

But now the time has come to go on the offensive. We can't wait for Congress, the USDA, EPA, or FDA to regulate GMOs, pesticides and Monsanto's growing seed monopoly. Over one-third of American farmland is now planted with GMOs. Eighty percent of all non-organic processed foods contain GM ingredients.

It's time to mobilize consumer power at the local level. It's time to hit Monsanto and Big Ag where it hurts: at the cash register.

We need to pressure city councils and state legislatures to label GM-tainted foods. If they won't do this, we need to organize ballot initiatives wherever possible. We need to pass local "Truth-in-Labeling" ordinances to inform 75% of the public - who are still in the dark about GMOs - what they're eating, and why it matters.

Grocery stores and restaurants must be forced to admit to their customers that their processed foods, factory farmed milk, eggs and meat, and other junk food ingredients are GM-tainted. Supermarkets and health food stores must come clean and admit that all the non-organic, so-called "natural" foods that contain corn, soy, cottonseed oil, or canola, are likely contaminated with GMOs.

As long as only a quarter of U.S. consumers understand that they're being force-fed GMOs, we'll never create the critical mass necessary to push organic over the tipping point. However, once a majority of consumers are educated about the risks and harms of GMOs, and once non-organic processed foods are truthfully labeled as "may contain GMOs," Monsanto's Biotech Bullying will come to an end.

Please donate to help OCA's Millions Against Monsanto: Truth-in-Labeling Campaign for 2011

The federal organic law's requirement that all animals have access to the outdoors and be able to exhibit their natural behaviors has kept the worst aspects of factory farms out of organic - you won't find battery cages in an organic hen house - but the USDA has turned a blind eye to less cruel forms of confinement.

The USDA has allowed large-scale "organic" producers to get away with keeping thousands of chickens squished into huge sheds where the only access to the outdoors is through tiny doors to small, bare patches of ground or caged "porches" with no dirt at all.

The USDA has never enforced or even described a "natural behaviors" standard for chickens. If they were to address that aspect of the law honestly, they would have to admit that chickens need to be able to scratch and peck for worms and insects and munch on leafy greens.

The organic law also requires farmers to minimize negative effects on the environment, but the USDA has never outlined or implemented rules that direct farmers to control their greenhouse gas emissions.

The chicken manure and urine soaked sawdust that piles up at the large-scale confined animal farming operations that dominate organic chicken and egg production are the source of potent nitrous oxide, methane and carbon emissions.

Please take action to press the USDA to require access to pasture for organic chickens and hens.

Take Action

Call Your Senators Today To Defend Family Farms and Local and Regional Food Systems

Debate and voting on The Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) is set to begin on the Senate floor on November 17th. The bill takes important steps to improve corporate food safety rules but it is not appropriate for small farms and food processors that sell to restaurants, food coops, groceries, schools, wholesalers and at farm stands and farmers markets.

These farms and entrepreneurs should have food safety plans appropriate to their size and processing practices. It is critical that food safety protections don’t inadvertently harm family farm value-added processing, and the growing investments in local and regional food systems by imposing expensive, one-size-fits- all rules.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on August 25, 2010, that it will potentially approve the long-shelved AquAdvantage transgenic salmon as the first genetically engineered (GE) animal intended for human consumption. The GE Atlantic salmon being considered was developed by AquaBounty Technologies, and genetically engineered to produce growth hormones year-round, creating a fish the company claims grows at twice the normal rate. This could allow factory fish farms to crowd the salmon into pens and still get high production rates. To make matters worse, FDA argues that these GE salmon don’t even need to be labeled! We have only a short window to tell FDA to reject these GE fish, and at the very least label them. Can you send a comment today?

The anonymous poem below was found in a trench in Tunisia during a heavy bombardment in the early days of WWII.

A Soldier---His Prayer

Stay with me, God. The night is dark,
The night is cold: my little spark
Of courage dies. The night is long;
Be with me, God, and make me strong.

I love a game; I love a fight.
I hate the dark; I love the light.
I love my child: I love my wife.
I am no coward. I love Life,

Life with its change of mood and and shade.
I want to live. I'm not afraid,
But me and mine are hard to part;
Oh, unknown God, lift up my heart.

You stilled the waters at Dunkirk
And saved Your Servants. All your work
Is wonderful, dear God. You strode
Before us down that dreadful road.

We were alone, and hope had fled;
We loved our country and our dead,
And could not shame them; so we stayed
The course, and were not much afraid.

Dear God that nightmare road! And them
That sea! We got there--we were men.
My eyes were blind, my feet were torn,
My soul sang like a bird at dawn!

I knew that death is but a door.
I knew what we were fighting for:
Peace for the kids, our brothers freed,
A kinder world, a cleaner breed.

I'm but a son my mother bore,
A simple man, and nothing more.
But--God of strength and gentleness,
Be pleased to make me nothing less.

Help me, O God, when Death is near,
To mock the haggard face of fear,
That when I fall--if fall I must--
My soul may triumph in the Dust

The joy of living, I say, was summed up for me in the remembered sensation of that first burning and aromatic swallow , that mixture of milk and coffee and bread by which men hold communion with tranquil pastures, exotic plantations, and golden harvests, communion with the earth. Amidst all these stars there was but one that could make itself significant for us by composing this aromatic bowl that was its daily gift at dawn. Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Wind,Sand and Stars

Can we invite intelligent thought and discourse back into our lives? We are all connected and should be looking out for each other and our Mother Earth. What can we bring to the table? Rage and rhetoric? No thanks! -kp

From the moment we sit down at the table and put a piece of bread in our mouths, we see that we are in the world and cannot be otherwise than in it, until the day we die. The question, then, is not to speculate about how we are to contact the world - as if we were somehow in outer space - but how to validate our relationship, give it a fully honest and human significance, and make it truly productive and worthwhile for our world. Thomas Merton

It's been 6 months since the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, and about 3 months since the well was capped. If you look at BP's website, you'll read about how well the clean up effort is going, and how BP is working on environmental restoration and the restoration of jobs and livelihoods, as well as "paying all legitimate claims". I invite you to read, instead, The Gulf Between Us by respected writer Terry Tempest Williams, in the current issue of Orion. The article begs the question, “Where is our outrage?” Why is no one talking about these issues? It's not over, it's not cleaned up, it should not be forgotten. -kp

We support the Green Meadow Waldorf School’s initiative to curtail the use of bottled water in our community. We’ll be at the Green Meadow Fall Fair tomorrow offering Klean Kanteen stainless steel reusable water bottles at a special discounted price. Watch this video for an overview of the bottled water issue.

Last week, on a tour of top East Coast universities, Carlo Petrini spoke to an assembly of students, farmers and foodies at Princeton. The discussion included issues of the depletion of soil fertility, loss of farmers, loss of biodiversity, and growing concern over water availability, but he also talked about restoring lost values. We've lost the value of food when what matters the most is price. The price of industrial food is actually more than that of organic; our society bears the costs of the negative externalities. Please try to understand what's behind the price of things. Despite the growing Slow Food Movement, the economic reality for farmers is dire. We must pay farmers a fair amount if we want to attract a new generation of farmers . “Without young people going back to the land, how will we regenerate our culture?” asks Petrini. Food is sacred; how can we manufacture the sacred in a factory?

We need to set a place at the table for conviviality, for love and friendship and enjoyment. We need to restore value to our work, and not allow consumerism to rob us of our precious time. Presently our value is as consumer—the more we consume, the better. But we cannot go on consuming this way. “We have everything we want”, says Petrini, but we are losing meaning and vision. Listening to him speak, I felt at times like I was being scolded, not inappropriately, by my grandfather (had he been Italian), but his practical wisdom is ageless. Support your local economy. Buy less, waste less. Restore seasonality. Eat leftovers. Respect Terre Madre. Join Slow Food. -kp

Michael Pollan says Americans have an unhealthy obsession with "eating healthy". In a talk at Rutgers last week, he talked about our National Eating Disorder. To highlight the problem, he brought forth an array of food-like products he picked up prior to the lecture, "impressive products of technology" like whole grain Wonder Bread (43 ingredients!) and Splenda with fiber (fake sugar, fake fiber--kind of like fake fruit). He posed the question, “How did we get so confused about food?” Nutritionism, the ideology of "science-based" eating, reduces food to a delivery system for nutrients; the whole point of eating is for health.

But food serves other functions that are mostly overlooked by nutrition experts. “Amazing things happen when people break bread together,” says Pollan. Eating together is the heart of community. People's food choices have long been guided by culture, before scientists and nutritionists (and now corporations) began telling us what to eat. But population-wide nutritional recommendations have failed; what was initially a critique of industry selling unhealthy food has become the vehicle for those sales. In his book, Food Rules, Pollan addresses the question of what to eat in simple unscientific terms. We need to change the norms and reacquaint ourselves with real food, with cooking, with diversity of diet and agriculture. Do not be content to be a passive consumer, but become a co-producer, and take back control of what you eat. -kp

The FDA is considering approval of genetically engineered salmon for human consumption. Last month they announced that they are considering approval of AquAdvantage transgenic salmon as the first genetically engineered animal intended for human consumption. The health effects of eating GE salmon are unknown.

Consumers have a short window of opportunity to voice their opinions, until September 19. We urge you to voice your opinion prior to the hearing. Information can be found on The Center For Food Safety's website. The approval process should be transparent, and if approved, the GE salmon should be clearly labelled. Consumers have a right to know what they are eating.

This award winning documentary film explores the growing global threat of genetically engineered trees to our environment and to human health. The film features renowned geneticist and host of PBS' The Nature of Things David Suzuki, who explores the unknown and possibly disastrous consequences of improperly tested GE methods.

Many of us today do not have to work at jobs that are back breaking and soul killing, toiling for wages that are “the minimum amount required to keep alive the flesh and bone machine while it is hired to an employer” (D. De Leon). But have no doubt, there are many who do still earn their wages doing work that is mind numbing, dream crushing, and simply difficult and hard on the body, for very little compensation. At best, they may earn a decent wage, but are not given much respect (except in country music sometimes). But today’s laborer is largely invisible to us. What comes to my mind is the woman scrubbing toilets at the service plaza on the highway, or the train station; I guess that’s what I consider the worst possible job. Maybe we don’t see her because, if we were her, we’d be embarrassed at having been seen. Why do we, as a society, look down on physical labor? Labor built this country, after all, not the government, nor the free market.

Ralph Nader recounts a story told to him by his sister. When she was a child, walking home with their father one day, they passed a street cleaner; she exclaimed that she was glad she would never have to do such dirty work. He in turn pointed out to her that anyone who does a job that you are unwilling to do, but very much want to have done, deserves your respect--and a good salary. He advised her not to look down on anyone for the work they do, nor to be in awe of them. -kp

Educate yourself, family, and friends, with this new pamphlet about organic food created by the University of Minnesota.

All the eggs we sell are salmonella free. Read this article from Saturday’s NY Times about the eggs that aren’t. At the Co-op we do everything we can to avoid doing business with industrial scale producers like Hillandale Farms and people like the DeCosters who, according to Times reporter Monica Davey, have a track record of being “habitual violators” of government regulations, ethical business and labor practices, and community values. And for a broader view of the issues involved, take a look at what The Cornucopia Institute has to say about the true cause of food contamination.

Remember “Freedom Fries”? They were a misguided backlash against France for not supporting the US in waging war on Iraq. Real Freedom Fries are the ones you make yourself, in your kitchen, from locally grown organic potatoes. Freedom from Big Ag deciding what you eat, freedom from fast-food chains that target your kids by offering toys with their unhealthy meals, freedom from artificial ingredients and pesticides, maybe even freedom from obesity. That’s right, eat what you want, just make it yourself. According to Michal Pollan, the time and work that are involved in cooking (from scratch) serve as an important check on our appetite. Commercial convenience foods are marketed to us as being liberating, but that false freedom comes at a very high price. -kp

Time is running out to speak up about the risks to family farmers, animals and eaters by industrial agriculture's unnecessary use of antibiotics in raising livestock. We've only got 24 more hours to get our voices heard by the FDA and White House.

For years, Farm Aid has been warning about the dangers of industrial or "factory farm" livestock operations and their impact on family farms, the environment and our health.

Now the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may weaken regulations and make it even easier for agribusiness to feed antibiotics to healthy livestock and poultry, putting our health at greater risk and propping up the industrial system of livestock production. PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW.

Friday night I stopped for dinner at a Cuban cafe in Somerville, NJ. It was well past nine, and my son and I were the only ones in the place. The woman who waited on us was warm, enthusiastic, and full of smiles, despite the late hour. Matt and I were just sharing a Cuban sandwich, rice and beans, and tostones. Maybe it's just because I was so hungry, but I felt such appreciation for how good it all was; even the lollipop colors of the Jarritos sodas were delightful. But mostly I was aware of how lucky I was to be sitting there eating in comfort and safety, and in good company--a simple act that is denied to so many people in our world. At the co-op, those are the very things we try to provide as well--good food, friendship and respect, and a sense of well-being. We can't fix all the problems of the world, but we can all give of ourselves to a cause we are passionate about. And we can begin by breaking bread together. In gratitude. -kp

Organic Consumers Association is a grassroots, on-line non-profit public interest organization campaigning for health, justice, and sustainability. They've been dealing with crucial issues of food safety, industrial agriculture, genetic engineering, and other key topics, since 1998. OCA works with a broad range of public interest organizations in challenging corporations, and inspiring consumers to buy local, organic, and fair made. They are facing a serious financial crisis for the first time in their 12 years, and urgently need to raise funds in the next few weeks. Please read the letter from OCA director Ronnie Cummins, and go to www.organicconsumers.org to make a donation. Thanks. -KP

An Urgent Message from Ronnie Cummins
Dear Friend,
I'm writing you today because this is the first time in 12 years that the Organic Consumers Association has faced such a serious financial crisis. The situation in the U.S. and the world today obviously requires us to step up our efforts to spread the organic revolution, to fight Monsanto, and to reverse global warming before it's too late, but unfortunately we don't have the financial means to do so. Strategic staff and campaign efforts are in jeopardy.
We're getting more new network members, petition signers, and online donors everyday. Our web traffic, newsletter subscribers, media exposure, Twitter activity, Facebook friends, and marketplace pressure are expanding, but the average donation from our network members has fallen from $40 to $20 over the past two years. This means we need twice as many donors as we've ever had before. The unfortunate bottom line is that many of the nation's most conscious and committed organic consumers, those who support the OCA, are struggling financially.
The good news is that our organic food and farming revolution is growing every day. OCA and our allies have managed to beat back most of corporate agribusiness's attempts to degrade organic standards. Over 100,000 people have joined our Millions Against Monsanto Campaign. Consciousness is rising, but meanwhile our public health, political, and climate crisis is metastasizing into a full-blown disaster. While the oil companies, Wall Street, corporate agribusiness, and the military industrial complex still call the shots in Washington, Monsanto and Food Inc. are increasing their stranglehold over the future of food and farming, apparently hell-bent on dragging us, along with the planet's life support systems, over the cliff with them.
We need to raise $50,000 or more in the next few weeks. Last week, in response to our emergency appeal for funds, Organic Bytes readers stood up in support of OCA's mission as never before, but we're not out of the woods yet. This week, a longtime supporter in Maryland has agreed to match or double up to $10,000 in donations. So please stand up for the OCA. Click here to make your donation.
Regards and Solidarity,
Ronnie Cummins Co-Founder and National Director Organic Consumers Association
P.S. Donating isn't the only way you can help.
If you've already given as much as you can, please try using Facebook's Causes application to invite your friends to join and donate to the Organic Consumers Association's Facebook Cause, Stop Monsanto.

The Old Cropsey Farm in New City has been vacant for many years, but five acres will soon turn into fertile farmland once again.

John McDowell, the founder of the Rockland Farm Alliance, had spent years trying to get state local and town officials, who owned the farmland, to use it for a community farm.

This year, officials agreed to lease five acres of the farm at no cost to the Rockland Farm Alliance to build an organic, educational and self-sustaining farm.

McDowell says the group needs to raise $75,000 in start-up costs and recruit thousands of people. The goal is to get the farm up and running by next spring. Click here to make a donation.

News Reports about the new Cropsey Farm: Channel 12 and New City Patch

It has long been the custom for the Co-op to be closed on Memorial Day. While there were certainly practical considerations involved in making this choice (holiday, three day weekend, etc.) there was also a wish to acknowledge the true purpose of the day. On Memorial Day we remember and honor those who have died in military service from the Civil War until the present. We remember and honor them without regard for politics, without glorifying warfare. We remember them as human beings who gave their lives or had their lives taken from them in nightmarish circumstances that were not of their own making. We honor them in the knowledge that they did the best they could to accomplish what was being asked of them, all the while caught in the tension between their dedication to serving their cause, their fellow soldiers, and their own ideals and the hope of surviving to return home. Although the verse below was written in 1810 by a Scottish poet about a mythical hero, the first line establishes a direct link to the young American killed by an IED on a roadside in Iraq. -PW

Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er,
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking;
Dream of battled fields no more,
Days of danger, nights of waking.
In our isle's enchanted hall,
Hands unseen thy couch are strewing,
Fairy strains of music fall,
Every sense in slumber dewing.
Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er,
Dream of fighting fields no more:
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking,
Morn of toil, nor night of waking.

-Sir Walter Scott, from The Lady of the Lake

"Industrial Agriculture has tended to look on the farmer as a 'worker'--a sort of obsolete but not yet disposable machine--acting on the advice of scientists and economists. We have neglected the truth that a good farmer is a craftsman of the highest order, a kind of artist." -Wendell Berry

In our present day economy, the consumer is "educated", "informed", and "smart". Farmers, on the other hand, have been taught that their knowledge is inferior to that of agricultural "experts". Brian Halweil of WorldWatch Institute made the observation that farmers have extensive knowledge of their local ecology and how their soils, weather, pollinators and plants all work together. He asks the question, "If we have a world where the land is no longer managed by such professionals, but is instead managed by corporate bureaucracies interested in extracting maximum outputs at minimum cost, what kind of food will we have, and at what price?" Remember the scene in The Real Dirt on Farmer John when John Peterson tastes his soil? Not so extreme, really. A good farmer knows his farm that intimately. His methods may not fit within the guidelines of conventional science, but he is flexible, observant, and in touch. I do believe that you are better off putting your faith in someone like Farmer John than in all the experts at Monsanto. Like Wendell Berry says, "It is the good work of good farmers--nothing else--that ensures a sufficiency of food over the long term." -kp

What comes to mind when you think of a family farm? How about when you think of a factory farm? The two conjure up very different images in our minds, but coming to a real definition of how and why they are different can be tricky. See how Farm Aid answered this question from a reader in this month's Ask Farm Aid column.

This past Sunday, I was one of a lucky group of foodies and farmers who attended a pig-to-pork class hosted by Joshua and Jessica Applestone of Fleisher's Grassfed and Organic Meats in Kingston. Standing in an unrelenting cold drizzle, we watched as a pig, just slaughtered, was broken down, and learned about seasonality and sustainability, which applies to animals we consume as well as plant foods. The groundswell of interest in local sustainable agriculture in this country is heartening. If you are a meat-eater, it is all the more important to know where your meat comes from, and how that animal was raised. The respect shown throughout the process Sunday morning was genuine. If you eat meat, consider eating less of it. And try snout-to-tail eating, which has a smaller footprint and is also generally more economical. Check out restaurants that use obscure cuts of meat, like Elephant in Kingston (where we were treated to a wonderful lunch midway through the class). Think outside the styrofoam box. There's a whole world of meat beyond steaks, chops and chicken breast. -kp

While driving to work today, I was thinking about this daily earth-friendly blog, and I thought perhaps it would be about Freecycling. And when I got to work, the coolest thing happened. Our produce manager was outside talking to his buddy, a customer of ours, who saw me parking my truck, and he said, "Hey I have something for you, if you want it." Did I! He gave me his old bedliner from his old truck, that he couldn't bear to throw in the garbage. He was thinking about putting it on Craigslist, and then I showed up. I needed a bedliner and couldn't afford one. Which all brings me back to Freecyclers. Their mission is to build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources and eases the burden on our landfills, while enabling their members to benefit from the strength of a larger community. Check out their website. And when you are getting rid of something, always ask around, or try to donate it, before you put it out on the curb. And if you are looking for something, most towns have certain days when residents can put out furniture and other bulky items--you might find what you're looking for out on the curb. And it's always good to have a friend with a pick-up truck. Thanks Ernie! -kp

NOFA (Northeast Oragnic Farming Association) is an association of seven self-sustaining chapters in the northeastern US. If you believe that organic and sustainable agriculture supports healthy communities as well as your personal health, you might consider joining your state chapter of NOFA: New York or New Jersey. It’s not just for farmers; gardeners and consumers will find the websites, newsletters, and events helpful. By joining you are supporting an organization that promotes land stewardship and local economies involved in the production and marketing of organic foods, through demonstration and education.

Perhaps the biggest business tool for stoking consumption is marketing. Global advertising expenditures hit $643 billion in 2008, and in countries like China and India they are growing at 10 per cent or more per year. In the United States, the average "consumer" sees or hears hundreds of advertisements every day and from an early age learns to associate products with positive imagery and messages. Clearly if advertising were not effective, businesses would not spend 1 per cent of the gross world product to sell their wares, as they do. -Erik Assadourian, World Watch Institute.

The 2010 State of the World Report put out by the World Watch Institute focuses is titled Transforming Cultures--From Consumerism to Sustainability. In recent years, there has been much debate about "personal responsibility" with regard to what and how much people eat, and the kind of debt they take on, among other issues. And while I would never be one to entirely dismiss personal responsibility, I've often thought that the large amount of money spent on advertising was being spent because it is effective. Advertisements appeal to us on deep, psychological levels. More insidious is advertising targeted at children. We even buy items with prominent logos, effectively paying for the privilege of advertising for these companies. It might be good to consider how often we, who are educated and aware, still succumb to the siren song of advertising. -kp

As cash crops increase, staple food production goes down, leading to rising prices of staples and declining consumption by the poor. The hungry starve as scarce land and water are diverted to provide luxuries for rich consumers in Northern countries. Flowers, fruits, shrimp and meat are among the export commodities being promoted in all Third World countries. ...Since the Third World is being told to stop growing food and instead buy food in international markets by exporting cash crops, the process of globalization leads to a situation in which agricultural societies of the South become increasingly dependent of food imports, but do not have the foreign exchange to pay for imported food. -Vandana Shiva from Stolen Harvest

These words were written a decade ago. Last year's food crisis around the world was brought on partly because of weather conditions, partly because of the growing of crops for bio-fuels instead of food, and partly because of World Bank and governmental policies. When we (and other wealthy nations) use the rest of the world as our food source, it usually comes at a cost to the citizens of those countries. And when companies like Monsanto impose upon the farmers in Third World countries to use their patented products, it further decimates their ability to feed themselves and remain self-reliant. A piece I read on Indian farmer suicides (labeled "GM Genocide” by some) was countered by someone who claimed that GM cotton farmers had doubled production and were doing pretty well financially. The claim is made that GM foods feed the world; in actuality, most of the GM crops grown in the Third World are grown for export. Aside from buying organic and avoiding GM products, consider also buying seasonal, regionally grown, sustainably produced, and fairly traded products as the bulk of your shopping. It may be a lot to think about, but small choices add up. -kp

A committed shopper I may not be, but I am a consumer because I cannot not be one. Does this mean I should give up and retreat to the malls-or at least to the wood-paneled shops to buy sandals made of recycled tires and organic blue corn chips? The answer is yes only if I accept the exclusive role the corporation and, increasingly, the government have cast me in: consumer. If I am consumer first and last, all I can do to better the world is consume more responsibly--"buy green", invest in socially responsible business, and buy less.-Judith Levine Not Buying It

She goes on to counter this by reclaiming her other identity, that of citizen. During their year long experiment (not buying anything unnecessarily), Judith and her husband found they had more time for, and more need of, public institutions; they also discovered that the "public good" had become little more than a dream. This book was in part my impetus for doing this month-long blog of earth-friendly ideas for citizens. Citizenship, Judith says, "means demanding policies and working for an economy and a culture that reject environmental destruction, the exploitation of working people, the privatization of the commons, and the commodification of every desire and satisfaction." -kp

Mere intellectualism is not enough; it does not take us deep enough. Nature's life and flow are so fine and subtle that in the end they slip right through the coarse mesh of our rational concepts. That's the mistake science has made in recent times--it tries to use coarse conceptual nets to catch things that are actually much too fine for them... -Rudolf Steiner, 1924

As part of the Pfeiffer Center's biodynamic agriculture course this past week-end, Craig Holdrege of the Nature Institute spoke in a similar vein. He discussed how technology imposes idea structures on Nature that don't fit, and how we create conditions for animals and plants to do what we want them to do. We could, instead, strive to know the animal or plant, to understand what it is and work with it on its' level, the way it "is" in the world. Steiner talks about the farmer having a way of acquiring spiritual knowledge, by walking the fields, by being receptive to what Nature has to teach, by having an intimate relationship with his farm. One has to attend to the process, and not merely the product. -kp

If you don't already know them, please check out www.natureinstitute.org & www.pfeiffercenter.org to learn about the important work they are doing.

In last Sunday's NY Times, there was a short piece by Hannah Fairfield titled "Factory Food" that began: "No country has embraced the movement toward commercialized, pre-packaged food as much as the United States." Ms Fairfield said that we Americans eat 31 percent more packaged food than fresh, but one would think that number is higher, if they were to look in the shopping carts many people are pushing around at the grocery store. Snack foods, frozen dinners, canned soups, deli meats - these processed foods contain a lot of fat, salt and sugar, way more than you would use if you were preparing the same food yourself. These food-products are very profitable for the food industry, but costly for us in terms of our nutrition and health. -kp

The first time I heard the advice to 'just eat food' it was in a speech by Joan Gussow, and it completely baffled me. Of course you should eat food--what else is there to eat?...'In the thirty-four years I've been in the field of nutrition,' she said in the same speech, 'I have watched real food disappear from large areas of the supermarket and from much of the rest of the eating world.' Taking food's place on the shelves has been an unending stream of foodlike substances, some seventeen thousand new ones every year...Ordinary food is still out there, however, still being grown and even occasionally sold at the supermarket, and this ordinary food is what we should eat. -Michael Pollan from In Defense of Food

Most of us, admittedly, eat on the fly at times. And sometimes, it's true, our food choices are limited. But isn't it infinitely more satisfying to prepare even a simple meal based on vegetables, meat, grains or dairy, than to down something from a bag or box, or something handed to you in a greasy bag at a drive-up window? (Full Disclosure: I really enjoy greasy roadside food, but it's an infrequent summertime treat, and I'm kind of picky about where I eat.) Who wouldn't choose a real cappuccino over a package of powder to which one adds hot water? What's in that potato salad from the supermarket, anyway? Want to know what's in those chicken nuggets? (It's not just chicken.) When you buy packaged foods, read the ingredients, do some research, ask questions. And eat as little of it as possible. -kp

At the 2010 Bike Summit last month, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood stood on a table and told cycling advocates that the days of federal transportation planners placing automobiles above cyclists and pedestrians are over. "...people do want alternatives", he said, "they want out of their cars, they want out of congestion, they want to live in livable neighborhoods and livable communities..." He ended his speech to the cheering crowd by saying "You've got a partner in Ray LaHood." Whether it is the sea change that Mr. LaHood says it is, or just political pandering, remains to be seen. But the fact remains that people are seeking alternatives, and pedestrians and cyclists deserve more respect. According to the Alliance for Biking and Walking, 10% of trips in the US are on foot or by bike, but 13% of traffic fatalities are pedestrians or cyclists. Less than 2% of federal transportation dollars go for walking or cycling. Here at the co-op, we do see a lot of foot traffic, and that's great, but on the other hand, the roads are not very safe for cyclists. Safer alternative transportation requires citizen participation on all levels, from local on up to federal. I'd like to give a shout out to BicycleTimes magazine for the great work they do getting information out, for and from everyday cyclists. Check them out online at bicycletimesmag.com. -KP

"...we've gotten used to paying so little for food. It may be expensive in terms of how much oil it requires, and how much greenhouse gas it pours into the atmosphere, and how much tax subsidy it receives, and how much damage it does to local communities, and how many migrant workers it maims, and how much sewage it piles up, and how many miles of highway it requires--but boy when you pull your cart up to the register, it's pretty cheap. In the 1930s a family might have spent a third of its income on food; middle-class Americans spend more like a tenth....Our food is cheap, fast, and easy. The problem is that cheap, fast, easy food doesn't deliver."

-Bill McKibben from "Deep Economy"

"We should eat in a way that expresses our appreciation of our food and all the efforts that went into making it. We should savor the tastes and textures of our food. In order to do this, it's good to eat slowly....we should take our time."

from Instructions to the Cook by Bernard Glassman with Rick Fields. When we bring consciousness to our eating, we tend to eat the right amount. Not too much, nor too little. So it is with other daily choices we make. Please check out the website of Greyston Foundation, established by Bernard Glassman, or pick up the book. I highly recommend both. -kp

The Co-op is closed today. Here is a Buddhist blessing on Easter Sunday.

Innumerable labors have brought us this food
We should know how it comes to us.
As we receive this offering we should consider
     whether our practice and virtue deserve it.

During April, you will commonly find earth-friendly tips for consumers, like bringing reusable bags when you shop and replacing your lightbulbs with CFL bulbs.  I would like to offer, instead, earth friendly thoughts for citizens.  Wendell Berry is a favorite of ours, and if you aren't familiar with his essay "The Pleasures of Eating", I invite you to find it and read it.-KP

"Eaters...must understand that eating takes place inescapably in the world, that it is inescapably an agricultural act, and that how we eat determines, to a considerable extent, the way the world is used.  This is a simple way of describing a relationship that is inexpressibly complex.  To eat responsibly is to understand and enact, so far as one can, this complex relationship." -WENDELL BERRY