It’s the beginning of fall here in the Northern Hemisphere. My garden is in its final throes of budding with stubborn late-season beans, squash and cucumbers. The pollinators are still hungrily at work, careening about with great pantaloons of golden pollen. The earth has tilted as it has for a millennium, yet all is not… Continue reading How Retailers Can Make a Difference in the Fight to Save Pollinators and Our Food

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If you are one of the many people suffering from and feeling the effects of our changing climate, like me, it’s time to get engaged. The West Coast is still burning, with over 7 million acres charred so far. My eyes water from the smoke and the displaced people—the lost wildlife and ecosystems. Zombie fires… Continue reading How to Engage in Mitigating Climate Change Before It’s Too Late

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Most of us spend a prodigious amount of time in our bed. If you sleep for 8 hours a day, that means you sleep for 229,961 hours in my lifetime or basically one-third of your entire life. Modern mattresses contain nefarious materials like flame retardants, formaldehyde, and benzene.
Should we be considering what we are sleeping on?

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Ecological homes have been growing in popularity in the past few years. And there’s a good reason for it. We see our world in disarray—we are weathering a global pandemic and witnessing drastic changes in our climate. We all want to be part of the solution, and home is a good place to start. Whether you are building a new home, adding square footage, or you just want to create a more earth-friendly environment, I have a few tips to help you create your Eco-Friendly home base:

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The extreme weather events of flooding, drought, extreme heat and wildfires, and hurricanes are in the news every day. Human-caused climate change has made the world warmer than it used to be, and the consequences have started to show. Organic agriculture presents a growing opportunity to mitigate climate change while creating economic, environmental, and health benefits for all food system participants.

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Are you working from home now?Here are five habits to adopt to keep you healthy and productive!

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I will never forget the first time I bit into a dry-farmed, early-girl tomato. It was 1984, and I was working at Community Foods, a natural foods collective. A coveralled man offered me a box of these red orbs to sell in our store. I found them to be a bit small. Since they were… Continue reading Molino Creek Farm Ablaze with Fire and Hope – Give Them the Lift They Need to Alight Again

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I can’t help but think it’s getting mighty precarious for our big-brained species from where I sit with ash raining down and smoke choking the air. The earth behaves like a petulant child, and we understand why we are the recipients of her fury. We can choose to retreat for fear of fire and flood,… Continue reading Let’s Tip Towards Reason and Heal This Chaos

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I began eating organic food back in the 1980s before Federal Regulations defined the category. Pesticides originated as chemicals used in warfare, and I intuitively felt that ingesting food grown with them just couldn’t be right. It’s true that sometimes I fudge a bit. If my local store doesn’t have organic onions (which is rare… Continue reading Six Days and Seven Nights – Eating Organic Makes a Big Difference

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My grandmother used the old adage “waste not want not” for good reason. She was a woman who lived during the Great Depression, she grew our family’s food most of her life. Planting, nurturing, harvesting and preserving food was her life—and she didn’t intend to waste any of it! In the US, we throw away… Continue reading Waste Not Want Not: Granny’s Tips on Reducing Food Waste

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I was recently on the phone with one of the original leaders of Organic Valley. He pointed out that we are both steeped well—like a couple of fine teas—in organic culture and history. We have both based our life on organic agriculture and food as a starting place of health and healing. We eat organic… Continue reading How My Life Became an Organic Lifestyle

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My grandfather was a man who cherished every morsel; he ate slowly and with purpose. As a child, I remember he was always the last to finish—and we did not leave the table until he was done. The midday meal was the most substantial and reverently honored. We sat and let him have the last… Continue reading How I Learned to Eat to Live

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I have been attempting to reconcile my place in the world. As it applies to my heritage, racial equality or lack thereof, and social justice. Of course, also realizing how food fits into the equation. This was a personal post for me to write and may not be for the faint-hearted. Growing up in Iowa,… Continue reading The History and Hope of My Iowa Tribe

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Storm clouds may seem to be gathering on multiple fronts these days, but there is hope in many areas. I believe at the root of every human being is a nugget of good—a place where we really want to do the right thing. The world is becoming a more environmentally conscious place. People recognize that… Continue reading Earth Friendly Living is Easier Than You Think. It Begins Right at Home.

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If you believe organic agriculture and organic food is good for you, people and the planet, it may be time to see food as a political act and get involved.

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Over the past several months, the world has been stuck in lockdown. Many of us have been self-isolating, hunkering down at home, so we don’t contract or spread the virus. Life isn’t the same as it was. We cannot do the things we once did, nor can we be with some of the people we… Continue reading Cultivating Mental Health is Key to Conquering the Pandemic

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  Since 1937, the Lundbergs have grown healthy, great-tasting rice while stewarding the soil, air, water, and wildlife as carefully as their crops. Lundberg Family Farms, led by the family’s third generation, uses sustainable farming practices and 100% renewable energy to craft wholesome rice, rice cakes, rice chips, risottos, quinoa, and more. All while protecting… Continue reading Grant Lundberg On Caring for Family, Customers and the Community During the Pandemic

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The modern concept of agroforestry emerged early in the 20th century but planting trees and shrubs amongst fields and furrows is very ancient indeed. The Romans were the first to write about it. But integrating trees with crops and animals is an ancient practice, likely dating back over 10,000 years ago when our ancestors first… Continue reading Is Agroforestry a Path to Help Feed Us and Care for our Planet?

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Want to maintain health and flexibility while sheltering in place? Read on and get your groove on.

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I want to wish everyone who reads this a happy and healthy 4th of July. We are celebrating our democracy and freedom in the midst of uncertain and unprecedented times. Some of us may be unemployed or underemployed. Some of us may be wary of going into the stores to purchase food. Many of us… Continue reading Organic Gardening Can Pave a Path to Self Sufficiency

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During these times of social distancing, the space we have outside has become more important than ever. The Fourth of July is almost upon us, and with it comes the urge to frolic outside with friends and family. To eat and drink, perhaps to dance and sing. While we must be mindful of this very… Continue reading Just in Time For the Fourth of July: Make Your Outdoor Space an Organic Haven

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The relationships we have are not static; they are always flowing and evolving. Just like a good sourdough starter, a friendship will not grow and rise to the occasion if you don’t tend to it. If we forget about that loaf and don’t feed, knead and touch it, it will flatten and die. It will… Continue reading How Can Food Help us Reconnect with Someone Important?

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While many of us have been hunkering in place with our beloved, it may be just a little too much closeness. Some of the things we loved about that person when we first met are now exacerbated—even irritating. Maintaining a healthy relationship during these times—whether you’ve been together for two months or twenty years—takes love,… Continue reading 4 Tricks to Improve your Relationship During Times of Stress

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Does your life feel overwhelming these days? Social unrest, political upheaval, texts, newsbytes—it never stops. This Niagara of information that gushes over us can make it seem like we’re living on a constant precipice of stress. One more thing just might push us over the edge. There are a few lifeboats we can throw ourselves… Continue reading On the Edge? Here are 5 Simple Ways You Can Learn to Relax

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The term mindfulness was first coined by a Buddhist scholar at the beginning of the 20th Century. He was searching for a word to help us pay attention, slow down and be fully present with the things we are doing. It’s really hard to slow down and notice things in this busy world. Practicing mindfulness… Continue reading 3 Reasons Why Everybody Should Practice Mindful Eating

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Just when it was okay to begin ending of our social distancing and meet up, social and racial unrest erupted. Curfews and military violence take the headlines. For good reason, we’re all a bit more rattled, not only our bodies but now also our souls. As we sift our way towards some semblance of normal,… Continue reading There are no Bones about it! New Research Shows Organic Meat is Better for you and the Environment

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All over the country and the world, the COVID-19 lockdown is carefully drawing to a close. It’s not because people are no longer dying from the disease—they still are. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the coronavirus pandemic is a long way from being over and continues to rise globally. In many cases, it’s… Continue reading Faltering on The Home Stretch? Why Life Under Lockdown Is Stressing Us Out

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  Hunkering in place has done curious things to me. I have begun to push seeds into the soil. I planted cranberry beans once rescued from the UCSC Farm and Garden and grown again by a beauty named Faith. She once lived next door and sprouted many seeds. My friends, Mary and Dan, gave me… Continue reading Is Your Garden Flourishing? It’s Never Too Hot to Prep for the Winter Months

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As we look at a world that is becoming increasingly frayed around the edges, it’s not surprising that more of us are looking at the possibilities offered by a plant-based diet. There’s no getting around the environmental impact of eating meat, along with the downright cruel nature of factory-farmed animals. Being a carnivore raises both… Continue reading Putting the Myths About Veganism on the Chopping Block

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Right now, we may very well feel that keeping sane is one of the most difficult tasks to achieve. Whether we are still in lockdown or trying to make a better life for ourselves, we must remember that when we go without, we often struggle. We have to remember that when we are struggling for… Continue reading You Are Important! 3 Reasons Why You Need to Treat Yourself Well

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Throwing away nutritious fresh food is having an impact on our global food security. We must begin to reimagine all the ways we can utilize more of the food we grow.more companies and supermarkets are promoting the sale of “ugly” produce to reduce food waste.

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For years the US meat industry has consolidated into a few corporate meat giants. Their race to produce cheap everyday meat means they must squeeze costs out of production to pour more profit into their coffers. The pandemic has shown us is the fragility of our food system.

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