Great Shape! Inc. In the News

Here we go! Great Shape! Inc. and the SuperKids Literacy Project is making waves in the news.
And I am on my way to participate in this humanitarian mission to empower the Jamaican children and communities with access to education and health care.

http://www.kptv.com/video/21426315/index.html

Reports from the field soon come!
One Love!

NEWSFLASH: credit_may_flow

While I normally steer clear of straightforward politics here, I think this is especially worthy of note:

From Irish Times Friday 30th October:

QUOTE BEGINS

MINISTER FOR Finance Brian Lenihan is to amend the legislation covering the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) to give him powers to direct the banks to provide a flow of credit.

QUOTE ENDS

This is, basically, what the entire country has been shouting about for the last eon. Finally. Why wasn't it like this in the first place?

programme for government 2009: the organic bits

The commitments in the new programme for government to organic farming will be warmly welcomed by the organic sector.

With such a difficult budgetary situation, and the image organic food has, rightly or wrongly, as being somewhat elitist, the re-emphasis of the commitment to 5% Utilisable Land Area as organic was a significant achievement.

The context naturally worked well for the Greens who obviously felt they deserved some compensation after the local elections.

The shrinking overall majority, coupled with fear of an election also surely contributed.

Here's what the programme for government says in full on organic:

�Ensure the achievement of the target of 5% of land in organic agriculture and meet the growing demand for domestically produced organic produce by providing adequate resources and supports for the achievement of the target, with a focus on import substitution in areas where Ireland is under producing at present e.g. horticulture. Beginning in 2010, and rising in subsequent years, stepping up supports for the Organic Farming Scheme for conversion to organic production, Capital Grants for the Organic Sector and Non-Capital costs.�

There are a number of interesting elements in this. First is the fact that there are actually details: previously there was just a statement of intent.

The emphasis on import substitution is especially noteworthy. Focusing in on horticulture may, to a cynic, reflect the minister's own north county Dublin constituency, but it also represents a real area of growth potential.

There are many hundreds of people trained in organic horticulture in Ireland, while few have moved over into full time production.

The commitment to supports �rising in subsequent years� is eye catching to say the least. Indeed, the fact that all organic supports are back, having been suspended until now, is very significant.

These include the capital grant aid, which was suspended before the organic farming scheme itself earlier in the year.

In completely uncertain times, this element of the progrmame for government should help farmers who are thinking about organics:

"This firm commitment should encourage farmers who might be considering the organic option for the first time to take it a step further and prepare to apply for support in 2010", Minister Sargent said in a statement accompanying the document.

It would be inconceivable if these commitments were reneged upon in the upcoming budget.

There are other interesting elements in the programme from an organic farming perspective. The commitment to GM free is far stronger than the previous quite vague, aspirational commitment.

Not only does the new programme commit to �Declare the Republic of Ireland a GM-Free Zone, free from the cultivation of all GM plants�, �a voluntary GM-Free logo for use in all relevant product labelling and advertising, similar to a scheme recently introduced in Germany� is being introduced.

This element of the programme has received much negative press, mainly in relation to the price and availability of feed.

However, there are counter arguments. It is claimed by GM free Ireland that there is ample affordable GM-free feed availability. They cite availability from Brazil, where they claim 45% of soya produced is now GM free.

Indeed, they claim that � France imports around 500,000 to 600,000 tonnes of Non-GM soya annually, equivalent to Ireland's total soy feed imports for 2007�.

They go on to claim that while GM free soya is charged at a premium, the premium is recouped with a mark up for GM-free labelled produce.

It is also the case that farming in Ireland is less feed dependent that farming elsewhere: Ireland has a very long grass growing season. The potential to aim for the higher end, grass fed, GM free and occasionally even organic markets across the EU and further afield is certainly there.

This will involve a leap of faith into a brave new world of finding better paying markets, but that is a task surely worth taking on.

It's gettin hot in here, so take off over to Celsius

I've often mentioned sites I've linked to over there on the left, but haven't mentioned Celsius before. We'll, I've dropped over a few times recently, and it is great. V web 2.0 in an environmentally aware way.

There, I learned about the Yes Men's latest prank, about Michael Moore's new film and about They Might Be Giants' simply beautiful eco science for kids videos. That's all in the last week.

Of these three, I've linked to the vid, as its just so damn cute: all Air meets care.......and, unusually for an eco themed song and vid, it's pitched just right: have a look below!

So, I would also highly recommend Celsius as a place to go for inspiration.

celebrity organic farmers

Many celebrities like to wax lyrical about organic food. However, some don't just talk about it, they produce it too.

Michelle Obama's organic garden at the Whitehouse was perhaps the most high profile recent development in the organic celeb world.

Not since Roosevelt's victory garden of the 1940s has there been a proper garden at Pennsylvania Avenue's most famous address.

The plot has a full 55 vegetable and fruit varieties, and was part planted by local school children. Michelle Obama has apparently even enlisted her husband to do a bit of the weeding.

Planted in consultation with the Whitehouse's chefs the organic vegetable garden will provide food for the first families' meals.

However, according to the first Lady, the main function of the garden will be educational: informing children of the benefits of healthy, local fruits and veg. This is contextualised by the US's especially severe obesity and diabetes concerns.

Evergreen rock star Sting is also a high flying organic celeb. His 300-hectare estate in Tuscany currently produces extra virgin olive oil, chestnut and acacia honey, jams, fruit and vegetables. He is also about to release 30,000 bottles of his own Chianti and Toscana red wines onto the market.

Liz Hurley's organic credentials are especially well known. Her more modest but still impressive 160 hectare holding is in Gloucester.

This is a mixed holding managed by her brother, which carries traditional breeds of cattle, sheep and pigs: Gloucestershire cattle, Gloucester Old Spot pigs, Shetland and Lleyn sheep.

As well as also growing cereals and wholesaling meat direct, Hurley is launching what she is labelling �a guilt free meat snack� in Harrods next month.

This is essentially a US style Beef Jerky. Its guilt free because of the organic and traditional breeds dimensions, and because, according to farmer Liz herself �It is made from air dried strips of organic silverside and is high in protein and low in fat, making it the perfect snack for anyone following the Atkins or any other lo-carb diet� It is also free from MSG and Nitrates, and is "only 74 calories a bag."

Hurley has teamed up with perhaps the highest profile organic farmer of them all, Prince Charles, to start to develop new products.

Charles Windsor (his real name) has been farming organically since 1986, which puts him in the category of organic pioneer.

The Home Farm at Highgate is an organic demonstration farm, which carries rare breed animals such as Tamworth pigs; Irish Moiled, Gloucester, Shetland and British White cattle, as well as Hebridean and Cotswold sheep. 140 local families receive a box scheme vegetable delivery from the Royal holding.

Like Hurley, the Prince also has an own brand, Duchy Originals.

A little known fact about organics in Ireland was that former Taoiseach Charles Haughey was one of Ireland's organic pioneers. He farmed in Kinsealy organically, launched IOFGA's organic symbol, and indeed introduced the current regime of funding and state approved certification, in 1992.

What does it mean for the less famous farmer? One one level, the attention and profile can do the organic sector some good: people ape celebrities, and meida attention directed at organic products can help.

Haughey certainly aided the professionalisation of organic farming in Ireland. Also the various projects and initiatives are often very worthwhile.

However celeb endorsement can make organic seem a million miles away from reality.

It is also extremely easy for the likes of Sting and Liz Hurley to sell their products; they are products already, and their food is just another part of the global brand. Achieving publicity is hardly a problem for them.

It is also the case that the realities of the market mean nothing to multi millionaires: they are hobby farmers who distort the market, whatever about good intentions.

Those with a policy or politics dimension - Charles Windsor, Michelle Obama and the late Charles Haughey � just seem less annoying when they talk or talked about organics.

Indeed, in the main their behaviour has annoyed the conventional farming and food sectors.

All told, celebrity endorsement of organic is a peculiar sort of double edged sword -easy to spot but hard to avoid in equal measure.

KPBS Special

The Botany of Desire

Wednesday, Oct. 28, 8 p.m.

KPBS

A documentary film by Michael Schwarz

- based on the book by Michael Pollen

The apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato are the stars of the film adaptation of journalist Michael Pollan's best-selling book, The Botany of Desire. The two-hour documentary, which takes the same name, also features Pollan himself. It begins in the author's own home garden before the film journeys to the apple orchards of Kazakhstan, the tulip markets of Amsterdam, a medical marijuana hot house and the potato fields of South America. These four famous plants share histories with corresponding human desires-for sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control over food production. The developmental relationship between human beings and the plants is what Pollan calls "the botany of desire." In this coevolution, Pollan argues, human beings are as controlled as in control. "It makes just as much sense to think of agriculture as something the grasses did to people as a way to conquer the trees," he writes.

A professor at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, Michael Pollan is a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine and the author of many books. Producer and director of The Botany of Desire, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, and The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, which was named one of the 10 best books of 2006 by The New York Times and The Washington Post. It won the California Book Award, the Northern California Book Award, and the James Beard Award for Best Food Writing and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Pollan is also the author of A Place of My OwnSecond Nature. and

Michael Schwarz has produced numerous documentary films and won several Emmy awards for his work.

Visit the PBS Botany of Desire website for complete details, video downloads, and more.

Best of the Best!

People�s Co-op has been nominated by San Diego CityBeat as one of the Top Five Health Food Stores in town!

Tell San Diego that Your Co-op is Number One!

Vote by clicking here Voting will end on October 25 with results being announced in the November 11 BEST of San Diego issue of San Diego CityBeat.

Kick Gas Festival

Kick Gas Festival
Saturday, October 24, 11a.m. to 7 p.m.
Qualcomm Stadium
Tickets: $10 advance, $15 at gate

Click here to go to the Kick Gas Festival for More information

Support San Diego Roots Sustainable Foods Project with your ticket purchase!

Enter Presale Code "ROOTS" when purchasing your ticket online. 10% of each ticket sale will be donated to S.D. Roots projects, including Victory Gardens and Seeds at City Urban Farm.

The 2nd Annual Kick Gas Festival brings eco-friendly fun to San Diego with an electrifying, solar powered, �green� event. Infused with music and entertainment, the festival sets out to educate and create awareness about alternative and renewable energy. The Kick Gas Festival is an annual with a mission to educate people and create awareness about alternative fuel technology and sustainable energy.

The festival will include the 2009 Electric Vehicle Racing Championships in the K-1 Speed Auto Zone featuring different types of alternative vehicles on the Auto Cross Track from electric cars, conversions, to hybrids. The Earth-List.com Eco Zone has over 30 major environmental non-profits organizations and will include an Eco Fashion Show, hosted by Capone of 91X, showcasing some of the up and coming names in eco fashion.

Happy Heart Oil: the next generation of organic

As the organic movement matures, the next organic generation emerges to take up the reigns.

Kitty Colchester is Ben and Charlotte's daughter. The Colchesters have a c.200 acre organic holding near Urlingford in Kilkenny called Drumeen farm. They have had this as an organic farm since the mid 1970s.

(photo LtoR Eileen Bentley Bord bia; Kitty Colchester and Minister for Food Trevor Sargent)

A central part of the organic movement since then, their mixed farm has cattle (mostly Angus) sheep, poultry, turkey, honey and forestry. They also grow their own feed, which is where the idea for the Happy Heart Oil came along.

So now, this JFC award winner and Teagasc organic demonstration farm has another feather in its bow.

Daughter Kitty's Happy Heart organic rapeseed oil is divine, really sustainable and perfectly affordable, retailing as it does from between E5.50 and E6 for 500ml. Winner in the sustainability category at the Bord Bia National Organic Awards this year, its easy to see why.

The taste is exceptionally fresh, due to the fact that it is pressed each week on the farm. In fact, all the work is done on the farm.

Ben Colchester had been growing rapeseed and pressing it for the protein feed by product it yields to feed the chickens and turkeys. This created an opportunity for Kitty:

Over to Kitty:

�I'd been in in sales, but after doing aid work in Africa for a year, I didn't want to go back to that � I was more interested in doing something on the farm. The oil was an obvious choice�.

Having done some research into the nutritional benefits of rapeseed oil, Kitty started pressing, labelling and bottling earlier this year. The oil has been a huge hit so far.

�Most oil available in Ireland comes in from southern Europe. Its usually about 3 to 4 months old by the time the customers get it, whereas I press weekly�.

Both the nutrition and the taste of the oil improves because of this.

Three times a year, 300 or so customers come to the farm to collect their large organic food orders: They sell freezer portions, including half and whole beef and lamb animals, butchered to customers' requirements.

For the birds �we do three batches - chicken in June and in September, and then a Christmas Turkey run. We kill about 1500 animals here on our on farm abattoir each time. In June, the oil was also available to the customers, they tried it and they all bought some�.

Since then, the distribution base has expanded. The oil is available from Duncan Healy's Organic Delights stalls at Farmers' Markets on the east coast, at other mostly regional farmers' markets including Clonmel, in some regional box schemes, and in various retail outlets in Dublin, Tipperary, Cork, Wicklow and Offaly.

�The rapeseed is rotated every 3 to 4 yrs; we grew 11 acres, but went up to about 20 acres this year. We get 10-15 tonnes, and a tonne give about 600 bottles. Next year's plan was to double, but that's been delayed by a year.�

Delayed. That's a euphemism.

�We won the award for best sustainable product, sales and feedback were going really well, and then we had a fire. I lost the whole crop.�

Disaster. Despite being encouraged to buy oil in for the year, Kitty decided not to. �No, I want to do something different, something 100% Irish and traceable. Buying in and then changing back to my own oil next year would be too confusing for the customer�.

Luckily, her overheads have been low � she does the pressing, bottling and labelling herself, so the crop loss hasn't been as costly as it might have been. Also, she has enough stock left to keep for the farm sales and to �dribble out over the year�.

In the intermittent period, she will work on branding, labelling and other marketing-related areas.

But watch out for the limited supplies of this year's 2009 vintage: it will be much sought after. And here's to a happy and healthy growing, pressing, and bottling experience for Happy Heart oil from now on.

Standstill supermarkets

Tired of gettin into your tractor and heading to your local IFA protest?

Then have a look at this very innovative way to let supermarket know you are annoyed with them:

a flash mob with what we'll call an agro-food purpose in Germany.....

to read about it, see here

foras organach: bodies don't (always) lie

b4 u even start on this and the government, have a look at what will now happen because the greens are in government. And then think of what would have happened were they not in government.

Its an a-z of what should be done. Like 500 _new_ teachers....

Sure if u don't trust the times, there's always the horses' mouth itself

article begins:

Its amazing how much dislike there is out there for the government, and how this manifests itself.

This occasionally naked anger appears in a myriad of different ways � even in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food's (DAFF's) promotion of organic farming.

On line and in print, the establishment of Foras Organach has actually managed to annoy a number of people, both from and outside the farming community.

Foras Organach is the new body, which takes over from the National Steering Group for the Organic Sector, with a remit to drive the development of organics.

That Foras Organach is taking over from a previous body seems has passed most of the critics by.

This shows a lack of due diligence on their parts - under-researching their opinion and criticising something without having the facts established.

However it also reveals just how little faith people have in the government: in the case of Foras Organach, they immediately presumed it was another gravy train.

One of these sources of criticism was the on line forum politics.ie . This is an extremely busy and active website, which carries news and discussions on politics.

On politics.ie the announcement of Foras Organach was greeted with shouting rage. Many presumed it would be costly, that the members of the body would be on a wage, that offices would be filled with the members and their staff.

In fact, Foras Organach is 1/3 the size of the previous group and far more targeted, as conventional sector experts and organic representatives work together in a very focused way.

The members are all either volunteering private businesspeople, or state employees doing their dairy work.

The meetings are in Department of Finance buildings in Tullamore. This latter fact also reduces the costs associated with it, as Tullamore is in the midlands so people traveling from the four corners, as it were, will have a shorter distance to travel. And as farming is rural, the logic of this location is clear.

Members do receive civil service rates for traveling to Tullamore the once a month meetings, but why shouldn't they? Especially if they are private businesspeople taking a day out of actually earning money, and volunteering to help develop the organic sector?

Critics also saw Foras Organach as a waste of money in a country with none. Apart from the fact that it will actually cost very little money, investing in organic farming is investing in a growth area that, compared to conventional farming, has a younger demographic, has a better gender balance, has more profitability and is more sustainable. What's not to support in this, considering the Department's conventional farming budget tops E2.6 billion?

While you can expect a level of ignorance about farming on websites, you might expect a bit more from a farming publication.

The Irish Farmers' Monthly actually carries an editorial on Foras Organach in its current October edition. The presumptions and basic errors made in Margaret Donnelly's editorial are noteworthy.

Claiming that Foras Organach is an �entirely new body� is a very basic error. As is the claim that recent research has found that organic has �zero health benefits�: no food has zero health benefits.

While, expecting that people will have less money to spend, and thus might purchase less organic food, is understandable, this jars with the fact that organic sales in Ireland are increasing as the recession deepens.

In July of this year, organic sales reached E124 million. This is a 19% increase on the July 2008 figure. (This has been misreported almost everywhere, as people have conflated the volume increase of 13% with the value increase of 19%)

It also ignores the fact that Ireland has an export orientated agricultural sector, and that there are significant shortages of organic produce in many parts of Europe � where, as it happens, the recession is not as severe anyway.

Foras Organach will continue to grow the organic sector, in a very cost effective manner, whatever about people's dislike of the government.

Fall Means Pumpkins

Pumpkins are at their prime from September to late November, so now�s the time to transform these attractive seasonal squashes into delectable dishes � and we�re not just talking pie! A pumpkin�s mild, succulent flesh marries beautifully with many other flavors, and it can be prepared in almost any way that�s suitable for other winter squashes: baked, roasted, grilled, boiled, braised, or even hollowed out and used as a serving container. Over in the Earthbound Farms kitchens, they�re whipping up all kinds of wonderful pumpkin recipes including, Pumpkin Gratin, Savory Pumpkin Tart, Pumpkin and Coconut Soup (this one sounds extra delicious), Steamed Ginger, Date, and Pumpkin Pudding (which is actually much more like a cake than a pudding), Pumpkin Cheesecake and more!

Click here for recipes. And remember, every meal is better when you share it with a friend.

October is Harvest Moon

I'm still here, and it's been really busy between work and putting up my harvest. I have about 100 jars of food put up now. The harvest kitchen is almost ready to close for the season. Expect to see me back here soon catching up with photos and commentary for this amazing year of growing food organically. Thanks, and get out there and experience some harvest time! Such a wonderful time to give thanks, this harvest moon. We truly reap what we sow. Experience picking some organic apples and pears, persimmons, grapes, fall raspberries, check it out before they're gone or in cold storage. There's something about picking your own food, it just makes you feel so thankful and lucky to be alive. Plus it's really fun to do with kids, nice memories of going to the orchard with all the sounds and smells of autumn leaves and crispy air and colors, check it out. Rain soon come!

Co2 and the oxygen of publicity

More Co2 is good for the planet...(!?!)

It may be getting the oxygen of publicity by being featured, but this is so worth seeing...if only to learn more about the oil industry and duped,

confused american consumer-citizens

Fire walking through it all: organic farming's cool wet grass

Sometimes it must seem as if organic farming is blessed. It is almost as if organic farming is fire walking, thinking all the time of cool wet grass while bounding across the burning agri-food embers.

All around, casualties nurse their smoldering, singed, smoky feet. And yet, in its own small but significant way, organic continues to thrive.

Economists, commentators and other apparent experts have euligised the new fashion for frugality in food: the consumer now only wants cheap cheap cheap, and the consumer is getting it.

In this new world, organic supposedly doesn't stand a chance. How and why would anyone spend, wait for it, more than they have to, on something so basic as food? Its like taxing yourself on top of all the imposed cuts and taxes.

The same commentators then morn for farmers' falling income, as though cheap food and falling farmer incomes are not connected.

All the while, organic farming calmly and collectively presents itself as a viable and sustainable alternative.

Despite its image as expensive, organic continues to defy expectations. Despite all the presumptions, predictions and hype, organic sales figures are still growing in Ireland.

The most recent TNS figures for organic food sales put the figure at E124 million. Organic broke the 100 million mark in July 2008, and has been on the rise ever since. 73% have purchased an organic product in the last month.

Indeed the growth rate is actually hastening. Perhaps the consumer is sharpening her focus on value: the balance between price and quality.

It seems as if a new breed of quality organic products are emerging. There once was a place for uber convenience, for what now seems to be gimmicky value added products, or for ever smaller portions designed for ever more convenience again.

The new breed is an altogether leaner, cleaner, greener, machine. Consider the winners at this year's Bord Bia national organic awards.

Happy Heart organic rapeseed oil from Drumeen farm is grown, pressed and bottled on the Colchesters' farm in Kilkenny. It tastes great and is good value too, clocking in at under E6 for a half litre.

St Tola's organic goats cheese 1 kg log, which wins awards across many competitions at home and abroad, is now an export product.

The non-homogenised Moon Shine 2 litre organic milk, overall winner from the Kelly's in Westmeath, is another great taste great value product.

All three were category winners, decent sized portions, and all are produced on a farm.

Looking at the winners and highly commended's from these awards, its clear that simple, good quality foods are emerging as the foodie's choice.

This years organic award winners were meats, bread, milk, oil, cheese, porridge and yogurt: Simple honest foods.

The Good Herdsman's organic steakhouse beef, a highly commended product in the awards, proves that organic is able to compete with any retail product. The Good Herdsman recently achieved a E500,000 contract on the continent with their Organic Steakhouse, which is produced, processed and packaged in Ireland.

That the driving forces of the company, John Purcell and Josef Finkle can speak fluently in French and German no doubt helped with achieving contracts at this year's Biofach organic trade show in Germany.

Fellow judge Darren Grant from the Organic Supermarket in Blackrock, Dublin was very impressed by the fact that this new organic product has an extra 10 days shelflife.

St Tola's, Drumeen and Moonshine products, all farm produced, surely suggest to farmers that there are realistic options out there, both in organic and in on farm processing.

And for those very farmers, the dates and locations for the new Teagasc Organic Farming Courses have been announced.

These FETAC accredited courses start the week of the 20th October, and run for 25 hours in total one day per week for five weeks. The cost is �200 per participant.

Accredited courses are now compulsory to qualify for the new organic farming scheme, which reopens on the 1st January 2010.

And while the grass is greener on the organic side, in flaming world of farming, it's cooler and wetter too.

(photo by chaosinjune )

October is Co-op Month!