Tag: organic

I eased my shopping cart along the meat counter in a national chain grocery store to buy a whole chicken. Roast poultry for dinner seemed like a simple enough proposition. But like so many of us making food-purchasing decisions these days, I was stopped in my tracks by the range of choices.

Should I buy free-range or pasture-raised? Is organic better? Or is the best choice a brand like Foster Farms' Simply Raised (whatever that means, exactly)?

Confused by all of the labels and marketing claims, I gave up. My family ate a meatless stir-fry for dinner that night.

Controversy arose earlier this year when Stanford University published a study that suggested organic fruits and vegetables may not be as healthful as touted by the pro-organic community. Unfortunately this received quite a bit of superficial publicity from mainstream press.

However, this is an extremely important topic and is worth taking a deeper look into the reasons we need to go organic: for our families, our communities and our global environment. Here are six big reasons to go organic:

To produce truly great wine you need to appreciate the soil from which the grapes grow. You must also respect the culture of region and embrace the heritage that has enabled the fruit to ripen. These five wineries have done just that and are worth your time.

Benziger Family Winery

For more than 30 years Benziger Family Winery has farmed its 85-acre ranch on Sonoma Mountain. Only 35 of these acres are planted with vines. The rest of the estate is used for biodiversity to create a polyculture. Besides insectaries, gardens, sheep and cattle pastures, and more than 800 olive trees, there are two wetland areas used for water purification.

Long before grapevines were planted on the hilltop at Buttonwood Farm Winery & Vineyard, it was home to horses, goats, and chickens; trees bearing fruit, nuts, and olives; and gardens filled with vegetables, herbs, and flowers. And long before the words "sustainable" and "organic" were part of the common vernacular, they were ardently practiced here.

The farm has been operating since the 1800s. Buttonwood Farm—named after the buttonwood, a sycamore tree native to the area—was purchased by Betty Williams in 1968.

Uniquely situated on 487 acres of park-like greenery with Art Deco architecture and modern capabilities, Fairplex, the home of the L.A. County Fair, has evolved since its 1922 beginnings in a beet and barley field into a bustling corridor of entertainment, business, and special events.

Located in Pomona, it’s easily reached from all parts of Southern California. The campus includes an 85,000-square-foot conference center; exhibition halls; two restaurants; The Learning Centers, which offer community-driven education; a museum; historic trains; a racetrack; an organic farm; an RV park; and the Sheraton Fairplex Hotel & Conference Center.

Through eight generations in the grape growing industry, Mettler Family Vineyards has cultivated an unrivaled kinship with the earth. Beginning in Germany in the 1770s and continuing with their arrival in California's Central Valley region of Lodi in the late 1800s, the Mettler family has a tradition of producing premium winegrapes, both for their own label, as well as for other winemakers and respected wines.

As stewards of the soil, the Mettlers have chosen to run their farm as both sustainable and certified organic.

When longtime friends Christopher Medlock James and Ames Morison decided to take on the challenge of growing and making wine, they searched for—and found—a very special 320 acres of land on Bell Mountain in Alexander Valley. The year was 1998, and today’s sustainable and organic farming movement was in its infancy. But Chris and Ames shared a conviction about the kind of wines they were going to produce and they founded Medlock Ames in Healdsburg, California upon some strong principles: practicing environmental sustainability and growing premier quality winegrapes.