Dinner Nights at Organic Connection

Our creative culinary staff, headed by Gerry Herrfurth, are planning a series of dinner nights at Organic Connection for your healthy, eating pleasure.

The first dinner night will be on Saturday, July 21st.

Special Mediterranean Menu with appetizers, soups, salads, hot buffet & cook to order pasta bar, desserts & non-alcoholic drinks.

There will be an extensive selection of choices including vegetarian & vegan dishes, rice (gluten-free) pasta, seafood & meat dishes.

All inclusive dinner price is $40 (includes taxes, tips & drinks). BYO Alcohol. No children's menu.

We will have comfortable seating for approximately 40 people commencing at 6:30pm. Reservations will be taken.

The second dinner night will be on Saturday, July 28th.

Organic Farming Saves Resources and The Climate

Promoting organic farming means mitigating climate change!

Organic agriculture achieves high plant yields by making efficient use of organic residues: To fertilize soils, it uses composted harvest residues and animal manure. This saves 50 to 150 kg, depending upon the crop, in synthetic nitrogen fertilizer per hectare which would otherwise need to be produced using non-renewable fuels.

Studies have shown that conventional arable farming operations in England consume some 17,000 litres of fossil fuels embodied in fertilizers per 100 hectare of land each year. Worldwide, 90 million tonnes of mineral oil or natural gas are processed to nitrogen fertilizer every year. This generates 250 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.

With their low-impact methods, organic farmers boost soil fertility and the humus content of soils. The result is that the greenhouse gas CO2 is returned to the biomass of the soil. Long-term field trials conducted over many years in Switzerland have shown that compared to other methods of farming (conventional, integrated production) organic farming enriches 12 to 15 percent more carbon dioxide in the soil, as FiBL soil researcher Andreas Fliessbach explains. This means that organic farms return 575 to 700 kg CO2 to the soil per hectare and year more than other farmers. Organic farming thus reduces CO2 emissions by eliminating synthetic fertilizers, and at the same time reduces atmospheric concentrations of this gas by storing it in the soil - a true win-win strategy.

read more (FIBL.org)

Something You Won't See at Organic Connection: White Rice

One of the questions we considered when opening Organic Connection, was whether we would have to offer refined grain products (e.g. white flour & white rice) to keep potential customers happy. A common business aegis is you got to give the customers what they want. Well, this didn't really sit well with us. We thought it better to offer people want they NEED.

So, we choose to offer only brown rice in our store. We have short-grain, we have long-grain, we have jasmine, basmati, sweet & wehani - all of them in their whole grain forms; no white rice. Why not?

Nutritionally, whole rice is overwhelmingly superior to white rice:

• Dietary Fiber - > 300% more
• Vitamin E - 200% more
• Potassium - 100% more
• Magnesium - 200% more
• Protein - 20% more
• Selenium - 20% more
• B Vitamins - all more than 30% higher
• Zinc - 20% more
• Calories - equal
• Carbohydrates - equal

Nutritionally, the choice is a no-brainer. What about flavor? Well, whole rice has more flavor characteristics than white rice. It simply makes sense.

Mandatory Almond Pasteurization is WRONG!!!

Starting in August or September of 2007, raw almonds available in the USA, Canada and Mexico, will no longer be "truly raw" due to a mandate passed by the USDA, FDA and the California Almond Board, announcing that all almonds including organic must be pasteurized.

The problem is the law has been passed with little public input (if any) or notification whatsoever. In addition all pasteurized almonds available in the marketplace will still be labeled as raw almonds. Can this be considered fraudulence or an out right lie? Are you willing to give up your food freedom choices?

The primary reasons for passing this law are two isolated outbreaks of salmonella, in conjunction with conventional almond farms a few years ago. To the best of our knowledge no salmonella outbreaks have EVER been associated with organic almonds.

read more and sign the petition...

WiFi Blues

By Jeffrey Fawcett, Townsend Letter, July 2007.

Wireless broadband Internet access is all the rage. The noise is drowning out concerns for this technology's risks.

Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love is going to have it; many in San Francisco want it: wireless broadband Internet access (WiFi)1 seems too good to be true. At relatively low cost, anyone can get on the Internet anywhere in a city. All the city needs to do is install a network of WiFi antennas. An often-repeated argument in favor of citywide WiFi is that it will help close the digital divide, since the poorer you are, the more limited your access to the Internet and its wealth of information resources. Cities like Philadelphia and San Francisco are actively trying to close the digital gap. One option is WiFi.

Yet, in weighing the options, virtually nothing is heard about the potential health risks. Saturating an entire city with WiFi adds to the existing burden of radio frequency radiation (RFR). That burden, called electrosmog2 by some, consists of long-term, low-level exposure to non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation in the radio frequency and microwave range from familiar sources like radio and TV broadcast signals, radar, and the ubiquitous cell phone.

Read More (TownsendLetter.Com)

Mercury contamination of fish warrants worldwide public warning

The health risks posed by mercury contaminated fish is sufficient to warrant issuing a worldwide general warning to the public - especially children and women of childbearing age-to be careful about how much and which fish they eat. That is one of the key findings comprising "The Madison Declaration on Mercury Pollution" published in March in a special issue of the international science journal Ambio.

Developed at the Eighth International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant last August in Madison, Wis., the declaration is a synopsis of the latest scientific knowledge about the danger posed by mercury pollution. It presents 33 principal findings from five synthesis papers prepared by the world's leading mercury scientists and published in the same issue of Ambio. The declaration and supporting papers summarize what is currently known about the sources and movement of mercury in the atmosphere, the socioeconomic and health effects of mercury pollution on human populations, and its effects on the world's fisheries and wildlife.
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