Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Thank you for your support

This time of year brings reflection. A time to look at what we have and haven't accomplished in the year and a time to look at ahead towards the new year.

It is a little more than a year ago that we opened Organic Connection in Brewster. And with any comprehensive retail food market, the costs of fitting out, setting up and establishing a new store are financially significant. It generally takes some time before such a business becomes profitable. We shall look forward to the new year for that time.

But, success also comes in other forms. To create a place that is so different to all others - and for it to be so wonderfully, gratefully appreciated by you, our customers, our friends. For this success, we are so grateful to you.

Another Jazzy Sunday Afternoon with the Diamond Jubilators

This Sunday (December 29th) between 2:30 & 5pm, the Diamond Jubilators are back at Organic Connection to fill the store with their fun, entertaining & uplifting jazzy music.

Dinner Nights

The next dinner nights at Organic Connection will be on Saturday, January 5th and Saturday, January 19th.

As usual the mouth-watering menu will be sensationally delicious as well as using organic ingredients.

Menu will consist of many meat & vegetarian dishes, soups, salads, appetisers, desserts & beverages.

Please note that our new fixed price menu will be $40 per person (not including tax & gratuity).

Seating from 7pm. Reservations recommended. (845) 279-2290.

Cooking Classes

Commencing in January

Gerry Herrfurth, Executive Chef at Organic Connection will be teaching organic cooking classes.

The classes will focus on the "hands on" preparation, cooking and presentation of meals using organic ingredients.

The first evening class will be on Thursday, January 10th. Further details to follow in upcoming newsletters.

Positions Available

Chefs Assistant

We have a part-time opening in our kitchen - ideal for a chef trainee assisting with all aspects of food preparation. Daytimes and weekend work involved.

Retail Store Assistant - Full Time

We have a full-time position available for a store assistant with strong natural & organic food interest. Some weekend work involved.

Retail Store Assistant - Part Time

Weekend and some after school work available for a young person with enthusiasm for natural & organic foods.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Holiday Roast Ideas

It's not too late to order an organic roast for the holiday season. We still have available:

  • Herondale Farm Beef - rib roasts, filet mignon, sirloin roasts, briskets, chuck roasts, spare ribs & other cuts.
  • Herondale Farm Pork - loin roasts, rib roasts, ham roasts, spare ribs & picnic roasts
  • Herondale Farm Pastured Chicken
  • Eberly's Organic Duck
  • Eberly's Organic Turkey - Whole & Breasts
  • Organic Smoked Hams
  • Australian Legs of Lamb - not organic
  • Locally-smoked Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon

Please feel welcome to call and discuss your specific needs.

Organic Farm Bill

By Matthew Wilde, WCF Courier, December 16

It appears the federal government will finally deliver something to producers: Help. Congress has proposed hundreds of millions of dollars for organic farmers and consumers in the farm bill currently being debated.

To boost organic production, the House and the Senate have each proposed the industry receive a bigger piece of the farm budget.

The House passed a $286 billion, five-year bill in July. It includes $365 million for grants and research into such things as pest and disease management --- crucial for an industry that doesn't allow man-made chemicals --- and marketing and education. The House wants to spend $22 million in new funding to help farmers transition to organic agriculture and $3 million for organic marketing data collection and publication.

Senators, though, are still debating their version of the bill. The Senate wants to spend the same amount of money on grants and research and to help farmers get certified. Plus, $30 million for farmers market promotion and $24 million in new money for technical assistance to address export barriers for specialty crops. The Conservation Security Program would be funded and made nationwide instead of helping certain watersheds under the Senate version.

"It will reward organic farmers, who will prosper from payments for conservation practices such as long-term crop rotation ... including (planting) perennial prospect forages. Those are two key issues we're looking at," said Kathleen Delate, organic agriculture expert at Iowa State University.

read more (WCFCourier.com)

FDA Approval of Food from Cloned Animals Gets Stalled in Senate

A broad coalition of consumer, farmer, and animal welfare organizations last week applauded passage of a provision in the Senate's Farm Bill that would delay the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) endorsement of the use of food from cloned animals. This amendment calls for a rigorous and careful review of the human health and economic impacts of bringing cloned food into America's food supply.

"The passage of this bill with the amendment is like a gift for the holidays," said Joseph Mendelson, Legal Director of the Center for Food Safety. "The FDA's flawed and cavalier approach to cloned food and its potential impacts called for a truly rigorous scientific assessment. At a time when the FDA has repeatedly failed the public, this amendment will ensure that the American consumer is considered before any special interest."

The amendment requires that two rigorous studies be performed before the FDA is able to issue a final decision on food from clones. The amendment directs the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to convene a blue-ribbon panel of leading scientists to review the FDA's initial decision that food from cloned animals is safe. The amendment further requires the NAS to study the potential health impacts of cloned foods entering the nation's food supply, including the possible effects of lessened milk consumption (due to consumer avoidance of cloned food) leading to development of chronic diseases as a result. The bill also directs the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to examine consumer acceptance of cloned foods and the likely impacts they could have on domestic and international markets.

read more (Center for Food Safety)

The Story of Stuff

A new short film was released last week that takes viewers on a provocative tour of our consumer-driven culture -- from resource extraction to computer incineration -- exposing the real costs of this use-it and lose-it approach to stuff.

Throughout the 20-minute film, activist Annie Leonard, the film's narrator and an expert on the materials economy, examines the social, environmental and global costs of extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal.

From the limited life cycle of personal computers to changes in footwear fashion, Leonard demonstrates that products are either designed to be regularly replaced or to convince consumers that their stuff needs to be upgraded. This notion of planned and perceived obsolescence drives the machine of American consumerism year round.

The Story of Stuff Video

Federal Court Rebukes Auto Industry Challenge to Clean Car Program as "the Very Definition of Folly"

Federal district court Judge Anthony Ishii issued a strong rebuke to the automobile industry's attempt to derail the California Clean Car program that would reduce global warming pollution from motor vehicles. The car companies claimed that the nation's fuel economy law preempted the regulation of global warming pollution by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the federal Clean Air Act.

"This is a huge win for clean air and a cooler planet. Judge Ishii's opinion leaves no doubt that the EPA must act now to pave the way for the innovative clean car programs being advanced by California and 16 other states across the nation," said Vickie Patton, senior attorney with Environmental Defense, a defendant-intervener in the case.

read more

Organic Connection to focus on In-Store experience:

No Longer Offering Home Delivery

Organic Connection began offering home delivery of organic foods more than five years ago. The business very quickly outgrew a home garage and expanded into warehouse space in South Salem.

Based around customers ordering online from our website, the process was simple and efficient. So efficient that often there was no need for direct communication between our customers and us. Place your order online; it's delivered to your home; done.

However, from the standpoint of our business philosophy, home delivery was somewhat unsatisfactory. Even with our weekly newsletter, we had limited communication with our customers, and limited opportunity to present a wider perspective that, we believe, embraces a Philosophy of food, environment and life-style choices that enhance our overall well-being, and that of our planet.

Hence the opening of our retail store in Brewster. We always planned to have our store be very, very different to other health & natural food stores:

  • We are 98% organic with our food offerings (no other store comes close that percentage)
  • We sell and use almost exclusively whole grains and flours (no white flour, no white rice) because they are higher in nutritional value
  • We avoid offering any foods containing cane sugar (not even organic). All sugar processing uses Calcium Hydroxide to clarify - it also changes the pH of the cane juice. Not really a healthy choice
  • We offer a hot & cold prepared food (Deli) department using 98% organic ingredients. Of course! Should it be any other way?
  • We want your shopping experience to be pleasant, social and, even, fun. We try to avoid overstimulating your senses - we're very careful with background music and sales information and impulse buy candy racks.

There is so much more that we plan to offer and provide in our store (healthy cooking classes, documentary viewings & health presentations are just some of the things we have in mind). We would like to focus on Organic Connection becoming a social network hub for people interested in health, well-being and our environment.

We found that we couldn't provide that same focus through home delivery and on that basis are discontinuing that service. The resources that have gone towards order packing, delivery and website e-commerce maintenance will now be able to go towards improving and expanding our retail store environment.

We thank our home delivery customers for their support and encourage them to consider experiencing our retail store in person, and all it has to offer!

Ian Diamond & David Richard
Owners, Organic Connection

Position Available

Chefs Assistant

We have a part-time opening in our kitchen - ideal for a chef trainee assisting with all aspects of food preparation. Daytimes and weekend work involved.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Organic Connection to focus on In-Store experience:

No Longer Offering Home Delivery

Organic Connection began offering home delivery of organic foods more than five years ago. The business very quickly outgrew a home garage and expanded into warehouse space in South Salem.

Based around customers ordering online from our website, the process was simple and efficient. So efficient that often there was no need for direct communication between our customers and us. Place your order online; it's delivered to your home; done.

However, from the standpoint of our business philosophy, home delivery was somewhat unsatisfactory. Even with our weekly newsletter, we had limited communication with our customers, and limited opportunity to present a wider perspective that, we believe, embraces a Philosophy of food, environment and life-style choices that enhance our overall well-being, and that of our planet.

Hence the opening of our retail store in Brewster.

  • We always planned to have our store be very, very different to other health & natural food stores:
  • We are 98% organic with our food offerings (no other store comes close that percentage)
  • We sell and use almost exclusively whole grains and flours (no white flour, no white rice) because they are higher in nutritional value
  • We avoid offering any foods containing cane sugar (not even organic). All sugar processing uses Calcium Hydroxide to clarify - it also changes the pH of the cane juice. Not really a healthy choice
  • We offer a hot & cold prepared food (Deli) department using 98% organic ingredients. Of course! Should it be any other way?
  • We want your shopping experience to be pleasant, social and, even, fun. We try to avoid overstimulating your senses - we're very careful with background music and sales information and impulse buy candy racks.

There is so much more that we plan to offer and provide in our store (healthy cooking classes, documentary viewings & health presentations are just some of the things we have in mind). We would like to focus on Organic Connection becoming a social network hub for people interested in health, well-being and our environment.

We found that we couldn't provide that same focus through home delivery and on that basis are discontinuing that service. The resources that have gone towards order packing, delivery and website e-commerce maintenance will now be able to go towards improving and expanding our retail store environment.

We thank our home delivery customers for their support and encourage them to consider experiencing our retail store in person, and all it has to offer!

Ian Diamond & David Richard
Owners, Organic Connection

Holiday Food Ideas

Our Dinner with The Farmer was a wonderful social and culinary experience for our dining clientele on Saturday night.

As seems to be a common happening at our dinner nights, groups of our customers greeted each other and then chose to sit together when they'd never met before. It's quite remarkable and wonderful.

The Dinner Menu featured beef, pork and chicken dishes with the meat produced on Herondale Farm in Columbia County. Jerry & Iva Peele of Herondale Farm were guests for the evening and shared information about their farm with other guests.

With the festive season of this month we can now offer some wonderful organic meat choices to highlight your holiday dinners:

  • Herondale Farm Beef - plenty of roasts from which to choose
  • Herondale Farm Pork - plenty of roasts from which to choose
  • Herondale Farm Pastured Chicken
  • Eberly's Organic Duck
  • Eberly's Organic Turkey - Whole & Breasts
  • Organic Smoked Hams
  • Australian Legs of Lamb - not organic

Please feel welcome to call and discuss your specific needs.

Toxic Toys

By Mark Schapiro, The Nation, Nov 5

Into the playrooms of children has come the unsettling news: those little red trains and other neat miniatures of the adult world may be coated in paint containing illegally high levels of lead, posing myriad risks to a child's neurological development. After that discovery prompted a mass recall this past summer, parents will never look at Thomas the Tank Engine the same way again. But the uproar over banned substances and rogue Chinese toy manufacturers has overshadowed an even more troubling issue: the toxins in toys that are perfectly legal. The United States remains one of the few developed countries to permit the import of plastic toys made with polyvinyl chloride additives called phthalates (pronounced tha-lates), which help make toys soft and pliable enough to be twisted or sucked yet durable enough to survive a 1-year-old's grip. A mounting body of scientific evidence suggests that phthalates impede the production of testosterone and disrupt the sexual development of infant boys.

In the average home, phthalates are everywhere--in shower curtains, shampoo bottles, raincoats and perfumes (to aid adherence to the skin). In hospitals, they're in medical tubing. A component of that distinct "new car smell" comes from phthalates in the plastic dashboard. The dash becomes more brittle as the car ages because phthalates are slowly migrating into the car's interior. As they sweat out of the plastic, residue enters the air or, through direct contact, the skin.

read more (TheNation.com)

1973: Sorry, Out of Gas

It's a companion website to the 1973: Sorry, Out of Gas show at the CCA in Montreal; it shows the approaches architects and designers used to deal with sun, earth and wind to live without fossil fuels back in the 1970's. It is a true time warp for anyone who went to architecture school in the seventies.

view more

Of Mice and Mint

Mice are repelled by the scent of natural peppermint essential oil (also called "oil of peppermint"). To rid your house of rodents, simply put a few drops of peppermint essential oil on cotton balls and place them around the house, sprinkle the oil directly on some items, or make a scented spray with two teaspoons of peppermint essential oil per cup of water.

The peppermint applications will remain an effective repellent for as long as the scent remains. This varies according to conditions, of course, but you should get good results in most cases if you replenish the oil every two or three weeks.

Try to strongly scent areas where you think the mice might be entering or hiding out--like basements and stairs--as well as the areas you see them most.

The scent of peppermint oil drives mice away without the danger of poisoning pets and, as a bonus, creates a very pleasant atmosphere for human inhabitants.

more about peppermint (Auracacia.com)

Position Available

Chefs Assistant

We have a part-time opening in our kitchen - ideal for a chef trainee assisting with all aspects of food preparation. Daytimes and weekend work involved.