May + june 2011 FREE
bay area Life Vibrant Health Eco-Living
eucalyptusmagazine.com
Bees and Honey “Thank the bees for every third bite of food we consume.”
The Food Issue Farmers’ Markets Nell Newman Surfside Chickens The GMO Debate Healthy Cooking
May + June 2011
On the Cover 18 Thank the Bees /Food fans swarm to protect the pollinator By Erica Goss
Features
16 Engineered Food /GMO is now a household word By Stephanie Liou Cover: Photo by Janis Litavnieks/iStockPhoto. This page: “Eucalyptus polyanthemos” by Stéphane Bausson.
20 Nell Newman /A conversation with an organic food pioneer By Ann Marie Brown
Departments 7 Grown Local /Surfside Chickens 11 Healthful Eating /Cooking at Home 12 Healing Foods /Hemp Seed
In Every Issue 3 Publisher’s Note 26 Farmers’ Market Guide 28 Tidbits /Green Tips 28 Advertisers’ Index
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KIDS CLOTHING Michaela Marek Publisher and Founder publisher@eucalyptusmagazine.com
EUCALYPTUS EDITORIAL Editor Ann Marie Brown Contributing Writers Erica Goss, Ashley Johnson, Stephanie Liou, Jennifer Moscatello, Erin Yasuda Soto Copyeditor Erin Yasudo Soto DESIGN AND PRODUCTION Designer Greg Silva Photo Editor and Photographer Lane Johnson Contributing Photographer Rachael Olmstead Production Manager Diana Russell
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contact 15559 Union Avenue, Suite 215 Los Gatos, CA 95032 Phone 408.335.4778, Fax 408.877.7303 info@eucalyptusmagazine.com www.eucalyptusmagazine.com Subscription rate $24.00 per year Advertising rates on request Volume 2, Issue 5 Š2011 by Eucalyptus Magazine, ISSN 2160-4541 (print), ISSN 2160-4576 (online). Eucalyptus is a registered trademark in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. All rights reserved. Some parts of this magazine may be reproduced with written permission only. We welcome your ideas, articles, and feedback. Although every precaution is taken to ensure accuracy of published materials, Eucalyptus Magazine cannot be held responsible for opinions expressed or facts supplied by its authors. We do not necessarily endorse products and services advertised. Always consult a professional provider for clarification.
Eucalyptus is the winner of the 2010 Apex Awards for Publication Excellence for green publications, and the 2010 Gold MarCom Award for green publications.
2 | May + June 2011
publisher’s note lane johnson
Cooking has always been very satisfying to me because it provides an opportunity to get something beneficial accomplished. Cooking a meal is a project with a beginning, middle, and end, and most importantly, it’s usually completed in less than an hour. I love staring into my fridge, opening the cupboards, and figuring out what I am going to make. I cherish the moment when I combine several random ingredients in my head, invent a recipe, and say to myself—aha, that’s it—so easy and fast! I also feel good while cooking, serving meals, and eating at home because I know that I am providing high-quality food for my family and me. My joy reaches its peak when my three-year-old son finishes his plate and asks for seconds, or when he chooses a celery stick instead of a brownie. And so, with a fresh carrot in my hand, I would like to invite you to read our Food Issue, in which we introduce you to local farmers, beekeepers, and organic food pioneer Nell Newman of Newman’s Own Organics. If you don’t know your way around the kitchen or are striving to eat healthier, consider joining us for our inaugural Eucalyptus Dinner Event on June 15 at Stillheart Institute. Dr.
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Michaela Marek Publisher and Founder publisher@eucalyptusmagazine.com
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grown local
Sarah and Aurelio Lopez of Surfside Chickens share the love with their free-ranging friends.
surfside chickens rachael olmstead
Fowl on the range in Watsonville
In 2008, Sarah Lopez and two friends decided they wanted to see what it was like to raise chickens. To start, they placed a brooder on their back patio in downtown Capitola. Before long, their chickens began to wander, preferring to forage on the neighboring lands of Freewheelin’ Farm in Santa Cruz. Lopez’s friends believed the poultry-raising experiment provided valuable lessons, but Lopez saw a business opportunity. She and her husband Aurelio rented an acre of pastureland in Watsonville and moved into a converted room above the barn. One year later,
// by ashley johnson
they were raising and selling “pastured” chickens and eggs under the business name Surfside Chickens. “It feels so real to be producing food,” Lopez says. “It’s rewarding to realize that we are able to give people the one thing that can’t be bought in a grocery store, which is a real connection to their food.” Managing a chicken farm is not without its challenges. In addition to contending with predators like bobcats and neighboring dogs, Lopez has learned the hard way that farming is also a business. » EUCALYPTUSMAGAZINE.COM | 7
Surfside Chickens “We’ve had a real crash course in creating and running a small business. One huge lesson has been just how different a small, pastured chicken farm is from even the organic, free-range supermarket products. We can’t even cover our costs at the prices you see in the grocery store… [We face] the real costs of raising food in a non-industrial way,” she says. To help make ends meet, Lopez holds on to her day job managing a water quality monitoring program, while Aurelio takes care of the farm. “We have had to call upon every skill we have ever learned, and every resource—mental, physical, and emotional. This is by far the hardest thing I have ever done, but also the most satisfying work I have ever done,” Lopez says. Today, Surfside’s chickens roam free on eight acres. Lopez says this benefits the chickens and also those who consume their eggs. When chickens forage on grass, bugs, spiders, and even frogs and mice, their eggs’ yolks turn “a deep yellow or orange. They are firmer and have a richer flavor,” Lopez says. “When you see someone advertising an all-vegetarian diet on an egg carton in the store, that’s actually a very unnatural condition for a chicken.” Surfside Chickens’ eggs and chickens can be purchased at the Sunnyvale Farmers’ Market, the Santa Cruz Farmers’ Market, and the Palo Alto Farmers’ Market. Membership shares are also available in Surfside Chickens’ CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Members receive whole, fresh chickens and/or eggs weekly from April through November. For more information, visit www.surfsidechickens.com or call 831.331.9051.
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healthful eating
eating in
Top: istockphoto; bottom: rachael Olmstead
It’s the new eating out
All the cool people are cooking at home these days. Gwyneth Paltrow whips up gourmet meals for her friends while updating her healthy-eating website, goop.com. Eva Longoria Parker uses a wooden rolling pin to make tortillas from scratch. Singers Naomi Judd, Trisha Yearwood, and Patti LaBelle have published cookbooks that feature their favorite home recipes. Whether it’s the result of a sluggish economy or a desire to eat more healthfully, an increasing number of people are discovering the joys of cooking and eating at home, and Bay Area chef-entrepreneurs are riding the wave. Silicon Valley chef and nutrition educator Joni Sare makes house calls as a personal cooking trainer, helping clients to discover the best meals they can cook given their schedules, lifestyles, abilities, and health. At Cucino Bambini in San Jose, parents and kids learn to cook together in hands-on workshops, and kids alone attend five-day “culinary summer camps” or one-time classes in rolling sushi or making pasta. Dr. Ed Bauman, Executive Director of Bauman College Holistic Nutrition and Culinary Arts, says anyone can learn to create healthy and delicious meals at home. Bauman College offers cooking
// by Jennifer Moscatello
classes in which home chefs gain hands-on skills to aid them in preparing nutritious meals at home. “By reclaiming the role of healthy home chef, personal, family, and community culture is enhanced and sustained,” he says. Bauman’s food philosophy, which he calls “Eating for Health,” focuses on getting back to basics. He encourages home chefs to cook from scratch and utilize ingredients categorized by the acronym SOUL: seasonal, organic, unprocessed, and local. Bauman believes that time management and organization are key to being a healthy home chef. He suggests investing an extra 30 minutes each evening in planning out the next day’s meals, stocking the kitchen with whole foods, and creating a repertoire of recipes to draw upon. And Bauman recommends that the entire family be involved in meal preparation; even the youngest or least practiced cook can contribute in some way. What about weaning your family off their take-out pizza addiction? Bauman says there’s no need to outlaw foods. He espouses the 50 percent rule: “Say you eat a lot of chocolate. Eat half as much and you’ll feel better.”
Dr. Ed Bauman
• Dr. Bauman’s food and philosophy will be featured at Eucalyptus Magazine’s Dinner Event at Stillheart Institute in Woodside on June 15. While guests dine on a meal prepared according to his SOUL philosophy, Dr. Bauman will lead a discussion on healthy cooking and eating. For more details, see ad on page 2. EUCALYPTUSMAGAZINE.COM | 11
healing foods
Packed with protein and omega power
In the United States, hemp may well be the most misunderstood of all agricultural crops. While most people know hemp to be a biological cousin of the marijuana plant, fewer recognize its worth as a fuel, paper, and textile crop, and the value of its seed as a nutritional staple. Technically a nut but commonly referred to as a seed, hemp seed is about 25 percent pure protein, the quality of which is comparable to that found in meat, fish, and eggs. Hemp seed protein contains all the essential amino acids, and it is more digestible than soy protein. Hemp seed also contains high concentrations of several B vitamins—especially B1, B2, and B6—and vitamins C and E, plus an abundance of fiber. Hemp seed is available in various forms at the grocery store: in cereals, 12 | May + June 2011
protein shakes, nut or seed butters, snack bars, and hemp milk. Hemp seed oil is one of the best oils for cooking or eating raw in salad dressings. Of all the edible oils, it has the highest total concentration of essential polyunsaturated fatty acids (more than 80 percent). Flaxseed oil is higher in linolenic acid, but hemp seed oil is highest in total omega-6 (linoleic) and omega-3 (alpha-linolenic) essential fatty acids, and they occur in the ideal three-to-one ratio for optimal health. These fatty acids have been shown to aid in combating cancer, AIDS, inflammation, and many other diseases. Hemp seed oil is also used in shampoo, hair and skin conditioners, soap, cosmetics, and moisturizers. The American hemp industry produces more than $350 million in annual sales of clothing, food, paper, carpet, and other
// by ann marie brown
items, but it’s all from hemp grown in other countries. Hemp cultivation was banned in the United States in 1937 because it competed with the oil, timber, and chemical industries. For a few years during World War II, the U.S. Department of Agriculture briefly allowed and even encouraged farmers to produce hemp for rope, fabrics, and other wartime needs. Today, hemp cultivation is legal in Canada and most European and Asian nations. The hemp plant is a member of the cannabis family and similar in appearance to the marijuana plant, but marijuana contains between 5 and 20 percent of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, a psychoactive chemical that makes it valuable as a drug. Hemp contains only minute traces (0.3 percent or less) of THC, which renders it worthless for drug use.
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˝ Many of us
who shop at Whole Foods or seek out the organic label when buying food were surprised by the accusations of betrayal that arose in January 2011, after Whole Foods and several other organic retailers publicly agreed to federal deregulation of genetically modified alfalfa produced by the Monsanto Corporation. Although Whole Foods issued a statement on its blog reinforcing its support for non-genetically modified foods, its backing of Monsanto left many organic food advocates seething. Genetically modified (GM) foods are also known as “bioengineered” foods. Add an “O” to “GM” and we have the acronym GMO, which refers to any organism that has had its DNA altered by human engineering. All GM foods are produced from GMOs. Initially, this scientific process was designed to improve the quality of crops. Using genetic engineering, selected individual genes could be transferred from one vegetable to another to enhance color, or from one species to another to provide resistance to viruses or insect damage. The “organism” in GMO can be a plant or an animal. Today, in addition to GM crops like corn, soy, canola, and cottonseed oil, we also have genetically modified animals that can produce more milk, reproduce more rapidly, and/or have
superior disease resistance. In the case of the Monsanto Corporation, the company’s alfalfa seeds were genetically modified to increase their tolerance to herbicides, or weed killers. Monsanto is the world’s leading producer of the herbicide known as Roundup and also the world’s leading producer of genetically modified seeds. Food safety issues Opponents typically cite health risks as one major reason to avoid GM foods. In one famous case, genes from the Brazil nut were inserted into soy plants, which aggravated reactions in those who were allergic to nuts when they ingested the soy. Although these altered soybeans never made it to the neighborhood grocery store, a health alarm was raised. Despite the fear surrounding GM foods, Dr. James Collman, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at Stanford University, says, “Scientific research has really found no harm. Fear of GM foods is often due to the belief that ‘the way we used to do it must be better,’ and is really just an emotional response.” Of course, science is an ever-changing and often contentious field. What is “proven safe” one year has often been determined carcinogenic or dangerous the next. In Europe, despite official reports assuring the safety of GM foods, most
consumers are still highly wary. Since October 1998, the European Union (EU) has not allowed GM foods to be marketed in any EU nation. Sunny Meuler, owner of San Jose’s popular Vegetarian House restaurant, describes GM foods as “unnatural” and provides his customers with anti-GM shopping guides and flyers. “In 2009, after learning of the dangers of genetically modified foods, we removed them from the menu,” Meuler says. “Genetically modified foods pose serious health, ecological, and environmental dangers.” The restaurant now serves exclusively organic vegan products. Environmental issues Meuler believes that GM foods may impact much more than the health of individual consumers. He cites various studies indicating that GM crops may actually have worse yields than traditional or organic crops and are potentially harmful to animals. He also worries about the environmental impact of genetic “outcrossing,” which is the movement of genes from GM plants into conventional or organic crops or related species in the wild. According to the World Health Organization, the risk of outcrossing is real, as was illustrated when traces of a type of maize, which was approved for use only in animal feed, appeared in maize products for human consumption in the United States.
engineered
Food
GMO is now a household word 16 | May + June 2011
by stephanie liou
Juan Carlos de la Calle Velez/istockphoto
Dr. David Magnus, Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Ethics at the Stanford School of Medicine, is also concerned about the implications of outcrossing. He says that with cross-pollinating crops such as corn, genetic transfer among species could occur in the fields, leading not only to potential “contamination” of organic crops, but to changes in the balance of the ecosystem. Economic issues Anti-GMO advocates often argue that companies like Monsanto will monopolize the world’s seed inventory and distribution, giving corporations and scientists too much control over our food supply and environment. “People worry about companies playing God,” Magnus says. “It is important to balance our obligation to make the world a better place with our obligation to pay proper respect to the world that has been given to us as a gift.” Dr. Walter Falcon, Professor Emeritus of International Agricultural Policy at Stanford University, provides a more positive perspective on the economic impact of GM foods. He believes GM foods may have the potential to relieve hunger problems in developing nations, thanks to the increased profitability of crops and bio-fortification of nutrients in foods.
}
It is important to balance our obligation to make the world a better place with our obligation to pay proper respect to the world that has been given to us as a gift.
“Personally, I’m a great believer in farmers’ markets. I’m delighted by the freshness and quality, but I am also in a privileged situation,” Falcon says. “Buying organic simply isn’t an option for many lower-income people, both in our country and in developing nations.” Restaurant owner Meuler also acknowledged such disparities in price, admitting that being a stickler for non-GMO ingredients “has meant significant increases in our costs.” Labeling issues Due to a lack of labeling laws in the United States, consumers have no way to determine whether their food is genetically modified or not. Meuler says that “unless you buy only 100 percent organic, it’s impossible to know which foods are GMO-free.” To combat the lack of GMO labeling, the Non-GMO Project was founded in Berkeley
in 2003. Retailers and producers joined together to form the non-profit, which now oversees a regulatory system to assess food products for GM ingredients. The organization provides a seal of approval to foods that are determined to have fewer than 0.9 percent GMO content. A printable shopping guide, iPhone app, and list of participating retailers make it easier for consumers to make informed decisions about buying GM foods. Nonetheless, since an estimated 80 percent of all commercially available foods contain GM ingredients, entirely avoiding GM foods is extremely difficult. Thoughtful consumers who care about their health, the environment, and the world economy see GM foods as a complicated conundrum. Ultimately, the pros and cons of GM foods are a small piece of a bigger puzzle: As consumers, how can our choices help to improve our individual health and the health of the planet? EUCALYPTUSMAGAZINE.COM | 17
Beekeeper Alan Henninger of San Jose’s Delta Bee Club tends to his hives.
thank the bees
w
Food fans swarm to protect the pollinator by erica Goss photographs by Lane Johnson
1 8 | May + June 2011
hen a colony of honybees built a hive in the wall of Jay Keller’s house in Sunnyvale, he didn’t call the exterminator. He started beekeeping. “We could smell the honey,” Keller says. He hired a professional beekeeper to move the bees out of the wall and into two hives in his backyard. “There was a spot on the wall where the worker bees kept the queen warm in winter,” he says. “We estimate there were about 60,000 bees living in the wall. They made 75 pounds of honey.” The honeybee is a small insect with a big responsibility. In addition to producing honey, bees pollinate more than 100 agricultural crops in the United States. Billions of dollars worth of food, including dairy products, fruits, and vegetables, are dependent on the honeybee’s efforts. The California almond industry, for example, is almost entirely dependent on bees. Eighty percent of the world’s
almonds come from California’s 600,000 acres of almond orchards. serve alongside cups of tea at afternoon tea service. Starting in February and lasting only 22 days, about 1 million South of Monterey at Carmel Valley Ranch, Chef Tim Wood makes beehives—containing 40 billion bees—are driven by truck all over the honey-marinated chicken wings with honey produced by the ranch’s United States, from one orchard to the next, to pollinate the bees. Guests at the golf resort can watch the beekeeper tend to his flowering almond trees. hives, which are a feature of the ranch’s two-acre organic garden. “You can thank the bees for every third bite of food we conChef Laura Stec of Portola Valley, a “green cuisine” advocate and sume,” says beekeeper Steve Demkowski, who manages hives in author of Cool Cuisine: Taking the Bite Out of Global Warming, uses San Jose’s History Park and Happy Hollow Zoo and teaches children her kitchen expertise to raise awareness of the importance of bees and adults how to keep bees. Although Demkowski sells to our food supply. She teaches classes A bottle of unheated Henninger Hill his honey under the label Willow Glen Honey, he says to culinary students ranging from kids honey from Alan Henninger’s bees that “making honey is not nearly as important as the in inner-city Oakland to novice chefs at bees’ role in pollinating our food.” the Culinary Institute of America. The honeybee is just one of several pollinators, As part of a class that illustrates her including bumblebees, butterflies, beetles, and bats, but book’s planet-friendly cooking in the last decade, there have been a lot fewer honeyconcepts, Stec has her students taste bees buzzing among the flowering crops. an artisan cheese and vegetable “There have been huge declines in honeybee platter highlighting bee pollinator populations in the last few years—up to 90 percent in crops. “I include honeycomb, because some areas,” Demkowski says. This is attributed to a most people have never seen or tried mysterious condition known as Colony Collapse Disorder it,” she says. or CCD, in which most or all of a hive suddenly dies or The flavor of honey varies from disappears. CCD appears to have peaked in 2008. Like region to region, Stec says. “Later in many beekeepers, Demkowski believes that “no one the season, honey is darker due to the factor is responsible for CCD. Mites, diseases, stress wider variety of flowers in bloom. It from moving hives, and pesticides all combine to kill tastes different, too.” continued on page 24 large numbers of bees.” Meanwhile, upscale hotels, top chefs, and backyard beekeepers have swarmed to bolster the honeybee Beekeeper Steve Demkowski population. The roof of San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel shows a beehive’s removable supports a 3,000-square-foot herb and vegetable frame to a group of student beekeepers at Happy Hollow Zoo. garden and a set of beehives. The hives yield about 60 pounds of honey each year, which the hotel chefs use in ice creams, desserts, marinades, and vinaigrettes, and Chef Laura Stec prepares honey syrup at home.
nell a conversation with newman by ann marie brown photographs by lane johnson
Nell Newman, founder of Newman’s Own Organics, grew up tomboy-style in the Connecticut woods, fishing and hiking and exploring the natural world. Soon after graduating from college, where she earned a degree in human ecology, she worked to re-establish the bald eagle in Central California. Now in her late 40s, Newman is an avid Santa Cruz surfer and angler who occasionally reels in her own salmon for dinner. As photogenic as her famous parents, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, and as business-savvy as most Harvard MBAs, Nell Newman has been a major force in the organic food business. She welcomed us into her Aptos office to talk about her career.
Q+A
EUCALYPTUS: How did you end up running your business here in Santa Cruz? NELL: I’ve been in Santa Cruz since 1989. I ended up here by accident. I happened to find a job in Santa Cruz long before I started Newman’s Own Organics. I was going to work at the Environmental Defense Fund in Oakland. I was supposed to be working on California water rights issues. I read Cadillac Desert on the way out to California, so I thought I understood the issues, but it was all too overwhelming for me. I gave a friend of mine a call and wound up getting a job at UC Santa Cruz running a little nonprofit called the Ventana Wilderness Sanctuary. A couple years later, I left and worked as a fundraiser for the Santa Cruz Bird Research Group. 20 | May + June 2011
So how did Newman’s Own Organics come about? Back when I was running the nonprofit, I was always trying to raise money for it, and that was very hard. I saw what my dad was doing with his food company, Newman’s Own, and the foundation that it supported. He was able to use Newman’s Own to raise money for good causes. I thought, why don’t I see if I can talk Dad into letting us do a division that makes organic food products? It’s the triplebottom-line concept. Why does Newman’s Own Organics produce snack foods like cookies, chips, and chocolate instead of more substantial, staple foods? We like snack foods. We were thinking more of fun foods rather than serious foods. Snack foods are more fun than the nut loaf with yeast gravy that my mother used to serve our family in the 1970s. We make what we like because we like what we make. When we started this company 18 years ago, there weren’t any good organic white-flour pretzels on the market. We wanted to make sure there were some, because there was no way I was ever going to convince my father to eat a seven-grain pretzel. How did you decide what snack foods to produce? When we started the company, there were limitations in terms of the ingredients that were available. The second product we ever made was chocolate, because somebody showed up with organic cocoa
}
I feel good about what I do.
I didn’t start this company to become a millionaire; I started this company to support organic agriculture and also support Dad’s dream of the foundation. I’m in this for a different reason.”
beans, sugar, and vanilla. That’s why we made chocolate. We chose what we made based on the ingredients we could find. We’ve heard that the McDonald’s chain is serving your organic coffee in their New England outlets. We’re quite proud of it. They sought us out. They were already selling Newman’s Own salad dressings and then they started selling our coffee. A lot of people reacted with “Oh my God, you’re selling your coffee at McDonald’s,” but you know what? We exposed a whole new consumer to organic food products. Who cares where it is? The important point is that there’s a whole new group of customers who had never thought of buying our coffee. They are now drinking organic coffee and saying it tastes pretty good. I understand you traveled to Guatemala to see how the organic, fair-trade coffee you sell is grown. That was a profound experience—to actually go and see that the beans are being picked by hand and brought down the hill on the back of a donkey. We could really see the impact of coffee production on human lives. Until we go and see it, we don’t know what these people’s lives are like, what kind of poverty they live in, or what they go through to raise coffee. Getting a coffee crop certified as organic is a labor-intensive process. It’s really hard. But the number of acres that are farmed organically has grown exponentially. Pesticide isn’t being sprayed on those acres. What do you think of the USDA Organic standards? I think we got what we asked for. Organic food producers asked to be regulated; we wanted every state to have the same standards. Back when we first started, some states didn’t have any laws regulating organics at all and there was no national standard. Some states didn’t have reciprocity with others. Now we have the same standard across the country. Every company that produces an organic food product in the United States has to be independently third-party certified. An overseeing organization has to certify how your ingredients were grown, how they were shipped, and how they were processed and made into a product. It used to be that just your ingredients had to be certified; now your manufacturing plant also has to be certified. Your organic flour can’t sit in a room with conventional flour unless it’s bagged and labeled and separated off to one side. It’s very specific. Do you think we need stricter regulations for all the food we consume, not just organics? The human body has background levels of more than 100 different contaminants—pesticides, herbicides, plastics, etc. How come conventional [non-organic] foods don’t have to list on their labels what has been sprayed on them? How come genetically engineered foods don’t have to list the fact that they are genetically engineered? 22 | May + June 2011
}
We like snack foods. We were thinking more of fun foods rather than serious foods. Snack foods are more fun than the nut loaf with yeast gravy that my mother used to serve our family in the 1970s.
What’s your take on the genetically modified food controversy? We’re as committed to using non-GMO ingredients as any other organic food company. You have to trust the certification process and try not to use corn, soy, or any ingredients that would likely contain GMOs. But recently we had three genetically engineered crops that were deregulated. I don’t think the Obama Administration really understands what the issues are. There can’t be coexistence with GMO and non-GMO crops. Pollen spreads, and crops will be contaminated. I’m amazed at how shortsighted the agriculture industry is. Why are we one of the few countries that allows this? Is it practical or reasonable for consumers to buy only organic foods? We’re very lucky out here in the Bay Area and in the middle of the “Salad Bowl” to have access to such a wide variety of incredible produce. We are a little spoiled here. We have innumerable farmers’ markets. I shop at farmers’ markets as much as possible—I have my favorite farmers who I buy from and I like knowing who grew my food. It is a luxury, but the growth of farmers’ markets and the organics industry in general points to the fact that consumers do want to know where their food comes from and how it’s grown. Do you personally eat only organic foods? I’m a “flexitarian.” I eat what’s put in front of me. When you’re traveling and you are eating in people’s houses, you can’t say, “Is that organic?” How does it feel to know that a chunk of your company’s profits goes to a foundation that supports various nonprofit organizations? I feel good about what I do. I didn’t start this company to become a millionaire; I started this company to support organic agriculture and also support Dad’s dream of the foundation. I’m in this for a different reason.
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continued from page 19
Backyard beekeeper Jonathan Grant-Richards agrees about the variety of honey flavor. His beehive sits on his property high in the Santa Cruz Mountains. “We have a lot of rosemary growing in the yard. You can taste it in the honey,” he says. Grant-Richards has had a few adventures with his bees, from taming an aggressive hive to capturing wandering swarms from 40-foot-tall trees. He’s been stung occasionally, although he says that keeping covered with a beekeeper’s suit, headgear, and gloves keeps stings to a minimum. “The suit is really to keep me calm. If I know I’m protected, I stay calm and the bees pick up on that. They react to your mood.” “The queen determines the personality of the hive,” Grant-Richards says. “If she’s gentle, she passes on that trait to the rest of the bees.” The honeybee is not native to the United States; it was brought here by European settlers in the early 17th century. Today, the gentle and productive Italian honeybee is the most popular species for beekeeping. The Langstroth beehive, used by professional and amateur beekeepers all over the world, is a wooden box with removable frames or drawers. It was developed in 1852 by Ohio beekeeper Lorenzo Langstroth. After keeping bees for 40 years, Alan Henninger of the Delta Bee Club in San Jose says, “Beekeeping used to be easier. We didn’t have to feed the bees. Now we need to give them sugar syrup and protein supplement to help them get through the winter. There [used to be] just one major bee disease—American foulbrood—but now there are at least five.” Bees carry chemicals, such as pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides, back to their hives. Feeding bees from a single source, such as the pollen from one type of tree, is akin to feeding them junk food. “Bees, like people, do best with a variety of foods,” Henninger says. Moving bees from place to place is also a major stressor. The large commercial bee operations, which move bees all year from one crop site to another, have seen the largest losses from Colony Collapse Disorder. “The small beekeepers don’t have such severe problems,” Henninger says. Short of setting up our own backyard beehive, what can we do to help the honeybee population? Beekeeper Demkowski says, “Reduce the size of your lawn. A lawn is toxic to most life. It’s a desert—all one species, and not allowed to flower.” Demkowski suggests letting a corner of your yard revert to a meadow, with a wide variety of flowering plants. “Add more bee-friendly plants to your property. Salvias, lavender, rosemary, clover, and most native plants are good choices,” he says. If you have a vegetable garden, “let some plants go to flower, such as lettuce and broccoli. Don’t keep things too tidy.” Jay Keller and other beekeepers advise against using pesticides. Bees are very sensitive to pesticides, especially the systemic poisons people commonly use on roses and other ornamentals. As research continues on the causes of Colony Collapse Disorder, beekeepers learn more about how to protect and care for these amazing pollinators. Despite all the foreboding news about bees, beekeeper Alan Henninger says there is a silver lining. “Bees have been around for millions of years,” he says. “They’re resilient.” For a creative honey recipe from Chef Laura Stec, go to eucalyptusmagazine.com/honeybees.
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farmers’ market guide Savor the fruits of the Bay Area harvest
gh k j san mateo
at the Peninsula and South Bay’s
san francisco bay
31 Certified California-Grown farmers’ markets. For more information, visit www.cafarmersmarkets.com.
101
wredwood e city
5
menlo park
78 9 q palo alto campbell
280
1 Downtown, Campbell Ave. &
3 los altos
Third St., Sun., 9–1, year round
t
6 mountain
berryessa
view
101
r
x
sunnyvale
cupertino
l;
Wolfe Rd. & Perimeter Rd., Fri., 9–1, year round san jose
r Alum Rock Village, N. White
Way & Broadway Extension, Sun., 8–noon, year round menlo park
t Berryessa, 1376 Piedmont Rd., Sat., 9–1, year round
y Blossom Hill, Princeton Plaza Mall, Kooser & Meridian, Sun., 10–2, year round
5 Downtown, Chestnut St., bet. Santa Cruz & Menlo Aves. Sun., 9–1, year round
u Cambrian Park, Camden & Union Aves., Wed., 4–8, May–Sept.
mountain view
6 Caltrain Station, 600 W.
8
City Hall, 250 Hamilton Ave., Wed., 3:30–6:30, Apr.–Oct.
9 Downtown, Hamilton Ave. & Gilman St., Sat., 8–noon, May–Dec.
q VA Palo Alto, 3801 Miranda Ave., Wed., 10–2, Apr.–Nov. redwood city
w
Downtown, 850 Winslow St., Sat., 8–noon, Apr.–Nov.
e Kaiser Permanente, Veterans & Maple, Wed., 10–2, May–Sept. 26 | May + June 2011
f
willow glen
campbell
z saratoga los gatos
1 17
4
san jose
u
cambrian park
o
evergreen
101
85
y
blossom hill
as santa teresa
Santa Clara & St. John Sts., Fri., 10–2, May–Nov.
o Evergreen Village Square, Ruby & Classico Aves., Wed. & Sun., 9–1, year round
7 California Ave. & El Camino Real, Sun., 9–1, year round
2
p i downtown
i Downtown, San Pedro St. bet.
Evelyn Ave., Sun., 9–1, year round palo alto
d
cupertino
Rd. & Alum Rock Ave., Sun., 9–1, year round
los gatos
4 Town Park Plaza, Montebello
880
santana row
los altos
Second St., Thurs., 4–8, May–Sept.
japantown
santa clara
2 Vallco Shopping Mall, N.
3 Downtown, State St. &
alum rock
p
Japantown, Jackson St. bet. Sixth & Seventh Sts., Sun., 8:30–noon, year round
a Santa Teresa, Kaiser Permanente, 270 International Circle, Fri., 10–2, year round
s Santa Teresa, Kaiser Permanente, Santa Teresa & Camino Verde, Sat., 10–2, Apr.–Nov.
d Santana Row, Piazza De Valencia. Tatum Ln. & Olin Ave., Sun., 11–4
f Willow Glen, 1165 Lincoln Ave., Sat., 9:30–1:30, May–Nov. san mateo
g 25th Ave., 194 W. 25th Ave. & Hacienda, Tues., 4–8, May–Oct.
h College of San Mateo, 1700 W. Hillsdale Blvd., Sat., 9–1, year round
j Downtown, 5th Ave. & San Mateo Dr., Sun., 10–2, May–Nov.
k Event Center, 2495 S. Delaware St., Wed., 10–2, Mar.–Nov.
santa clara
l Franklin Mall, Jackson St. & Homestead Rd., Sat., 9–1, year round
; Kaiser Permanente, 710 Lawrence Expressway, Thurs., 10–2, year round saratoga
z West Valley College, 14000 Fruitvale, Sat., 9–1, year round sunnyvale
x Caltrain Station, 121 W. Evelyn Ave., Sat., 9–1, year round
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˙
In the Kitchen
In terms of environmental sustainability, food matters. What we do in the kitchen and what we put in our mouths make a big difference in terms of the future of our planet. Here are a few tips for a greener kitchen. BY Erin yasuda soto
Load ´em up creative juices Completely fill your dishwasher before running it. A partially full dishwasher wastes energy and water. Also, use the energy-saving setting to air-dry your dishes. You’ll reduce your dishwasher’s electricity use by 20 percent by not using heat during the drying cycle.
“How and what we eat determines to a great extent the use we make of the world, and what is to become of it.”
If you love juice, but cringe at the plastic cups and bottles they come in, then buy a juicer and make your own using organic fruits and vegetables. You’ll be cutting down on sugar and avoiding additives, too.
—Michael Pollan, from The Omnivore’s Dilemma
choose local
The average American meal travels 1,500 miles from the farm to the supermarket. Food accounts for more than 18 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Buying food that has been grown within 100 miles of where you live will substantially reduce your carbon footprint.
meaty matters
shun paper
Use cloth in the kitchen rather than paper napkins or paper towels. Cloth napkins can be used repeatedly, are easy to throw in the wash with your other laundry, and can have a second life as dust rags.
Across the nation, “Meatless Monday” is the new diet buzzword. Devote one day of the week to a meatless dish; your wallet and your stomach will thank you. Want to go further? Try being a “weekday vegetarian,” eating meat only on weekends.
the heat is on
When using an electric oven or range, turn off the heat 5 to 10 minutes before the dish is completely cooked in order to save energy. Residual heat will remain in the oven or burners to finish cooking your food. Also, if you are cooking food in an oven for more than an hour, there is no need to preheat.
www.bestgreenhometips.com, www.consumerenergycenter.org,. www.energyquest.ca.gov, www.greenacy.org, www.thegreenattraction.com
tidbits
Green Tips
under pressure
Nothing says “home cooking” like a steaming pot of stew or soup. Make yours out of last night’s leftovers using a pressure cooker, which can reduce your energy use by 70 percent.
Listen to Eucalyptus Magazine’s daily green tips on the radio at MIX 106.5 and 94.5 KBAY. Advertisers’ Index
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