How much has the GMO conversation effected Spring Hill, Barn & Butter? Good or Bad?
Hi No GMO Man,
Good to hear from you. Sales are up since it is holiday and comfort food season!!
Customers are in their kitchens baking and entertaining this time of year so we do see a bump in sales.
The conscious customer does ask about GMO's but honestly there is still a lack of awareness and understanding in the public and most people still don't really know what it is and why it can be harmful.
Meetup.com has seemed to completely slip off the radar of social media websites. And yet to my surprise, there are quite a large number of folks that still use the site even though there hasn't been any drastic improvements in comparison to the utter annoyance of Facebook. But then on second glance, nearly %25 of my 996 FB friends have a Meetup account and many with very little to No Meetup Group attendance.
Why is that?
My theory is any Meetup nowadays has to be both really fun and really on topic or you will see messages from the organizer saying, "What do we want out of this group?" with no meetups planned for months.
For me, starting this was easy! I was reminded how much fun talking about kids and food can be after seeing these photos from this past Mother's Day. I was reminded that I had no plans nor reservations at fancy restaurants and yet our good friend called me up and said, "Let's meetup at the Park (near Morley Field) and hang out with the kids!" And when we got there, the food was amazing... quinoa salad, organic fruit, healthy snacks, and beer! Everyone there were health nuts, or back yard farmer's with chickens, and at one point were all part of a small gourmet food club.
To us, the ingredients really did matter. Our kids ate what we ate without thinking twice. We talked for hours because the weather was perfect, and kicked the balls around, and chased the kids until they passed out. All the elements were just right!
So, how do I recreate that magic?
Simple! Meetup allowed me to select the following interest tags to bring like minded folks to the page: Cooking And Recipes, Parenting, Organic Foods, Playgroups with Moms and Dads, Parents of Food Allergic Kids,Healthy nutrition, Health, Fitness and Wellness,Natural Organic Living, Healthy Lifestyle,Organic Gardening,Organic Farming, Sustainable Farming, Fresh Organic Local Food, Take Action Against GMO's,Label GMOs
Next we're going to meet for lunch and swap Non GMO recipes. Visit community gardens and volunteer, and perhaps throw a huge summer picnic to show others you can eat Non GMO foods in this town on a budget!
Are you not on the same page yet? Want to get your kids started on the right track? Click here. And stay tuned! My next few posts will be about Growing food with your kids, Party planning with all Non GMO ingredients, Great Craft Beer choices, and Shopping for the right CSA box!
Let's face it, buying great gifts for teenagers this holiday season will be challenging to say the least. And unfortunately there's nothing substantive from the No GMO movement offered on Black Friday, Small Saturday, nor this Cyber Monday, which is a total surprise to me and missed opportunity. Especially in California where 4.2 million registered voters (many with kids) voted in favor of Prop 37's labeling requirements for genetically modified processed foods! So what do you do? Well, let me ask you this... do your teens play sports?
Do you buy your teen athlete supplements (vitamins, fish oils, fiber products, etc)? Are they GMO free?
Did you know that teenagers are just as worried about GMOs as adults are? The problem is they may not show it or talk about much as they feel helpless to do anything about it. They don't control the money and what and where their parents buy food. In fact most teens are beginning to ask their parents to purchase healthy organic foods, since the battle to label GMOs became heated in local politics across the Country, even if it means spending a little more cash and altering family favorite recipes.
Here's one teens wake up moment that her favorite cereal was made with high-fructose corn syrup(GMOs) and now's she taking a Non-GMO challenge:
Teenagers are now seriously getting involved in the debt to label GMOs in droves and 2012 will be looked back on as the tipping point for the youth becoming educated about this issue! Here's another 15 year old teen getting focused and crying out for attention to get parents to listen:
So, what's a solution? Support these bright teenagers and consider purchasing them GMO free supplements made by the world renowned Science based nutritional leader, USANA, which is made in the USA and uses no genetically modified materials in its product line. The product can be personalized and I can recommend a few great USANA products that 600+ world-class athletes including the US Ski and Snowboarding Association and the Women's Tennis Association already rely on without breaking the budget.
Click the picture to buy yours today and share this gift idea with your friends!
I don't think I have enough words to describe my appreciation this Thanksgiving for the people on the ground who organized, strategized, and campaigned against Monsanto (and all the other Big Food Corps) against all odds to label genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in California. I want to give thanks to all the hard working folks at Food Democracy, the Non GMO Project, and to Jeffrey Smith and the film makers for Food Inc., Fresh, and Genetic Roulette for elevating the conversation to the highest point ever.
So, what we lost on Prop 37. I'm thankful for the anyway. So what's next?
Well, the Label It Yourself (#LIY) movement is full swing in which controversy is yet to seen in the mainstream media, but I also want to give thanks to the local farmers. My local farmers like Don, Phil and his son Justin at Sage Mountain, to Suzie's, Homegrown, Seeds @ City, Taj, Living Earth Ranch, SoCal Shrooms, and my Farmer's Market organizer friends like Catt and Dale. I'm also especially grateful for Rachel at Springhill Cheese for making a killer FireHouse Jack, Forager Mike for making his killer hot sauce Dang!!!, and to Greg Koch for keeping it real at his bistros and for brewing #EnjoyBy!
Now, I'm off to finish shopping at the San Diego Public Market! Happy Thanksgiving!
While I'm happy to see Dr. Oz talk about GMOs, I wish he would have done more for Prop 37 and more talk about things other than foods like supplements. I also think I'm going to try to reach out to Jeffrey Smith and read/ report on his book, Seeds of Deception, for a future post.
There's just no doubt that Beef prices are about to get whacky in early 2013. And with GMO, hormone injected cuts projected to be the most economical choice, well then maybe it's a good time to quit.
Now I'm not going to tell someone to stop eating red meat. I still eat it from time to time and it's un-American to tell people what to do. However, meat eaters must beware of the new normal created by the devastating realities of Climate Change. The Great Drought of 2012 by in large will change how and where you buy your next prime and if you choose to shop at the big box stores, you better believe your "Choice" won't be GMO free.
So, let talks about What you should buy and how you do it. A buddy of mine once joked that Whole Foods really means Whole Paycheck. While that may be funny now, no one will be laughing over the rise of food cost by 3% - 4%, and Beef to rise by 4% - 5% (not to mention the pending bacon apocalypse)! But I'm determined and joyous after searching around San Diego for solutions.
First, I can join a beef CSA. My new buddy, Justin Noble, works for his Father Phil Noble at Sage Mountain Farm and they both tout that their steers only eat grass and vegetables and have never even seen corn or dry grains. These are good people selling local certified organic food and their prices are reasonable. I believe that buying into a CSA now will lock in the price for 2013 but you'll have to check with my boys. http://www.sagemountainfarm.com/
The other way to do this is to find a good ole fashion butcher who sells Grass Fed Beef where the cows graze on native, organic grasses (aka a GMO free diet) like our new friends at Homegrown Meats up on Palomar Mountain.
I recently tried a Chuck Roast (top picture) for a beef stew and it was amazing! Their selection was great, their hours are convenient, and their prices are decent considering we might have another Dust Bowl on our hands.
By the way, did anyone see Ken Burn's The Dust Bowl on PBS? It was awesome!
It's time to get serious about GMOs this Movember. And I want to start with my Bros and I leading the charge to be the change we want to be. After spending 10 or so days scrubbing the bitter taste of defeat from my mouth over Prop 37 not passing (California elections) I've found myself more engaged than ever and commenting on every Facebook post I could, trying to keep the conversation alive. I've become a voracious advocate and I want to move the battle to label them square into the domain of men's heath.
Why men's health?
Men want to be 'cool' and do cool shit. But do you know what's really cool? Becoming a 'foodie', drinking craft beer, and eating local organic food. Yeah, that's me and I'm all about that! But not all of my Bros are up on that and if they somewhat are... its not like we're talking about GMOs like we should be. Not to mention, if you're lucky enough to have kids like I do, they learn from you. They watch what you eat and they'll do what you do and not what you say. That's why I believe my daughter's favorite veggie is Kale (because we grow it together in our community garden)! So to get serious, I chose to sign up on Movember.com today and for the rest of the month I'm going to blog my talks with my Mo Bros and about what I'm doing starting with my supplements.
I think all men have to start with questioning their supplements like I just did recently. And make it black or white... Are they GMO Free? I can't begin to tell you how many friends I have that are avid runners, cyclists, ball players, etc and not once can I recall a conversation on the topic of supplements where the concern of GMOs even came up!! We talk about surfing and riding our bikes, but not this? Well, I just changed that and ordered USANA's HealthPak with active calcium, mega antioxidants, chelated mineral. And of course, I did it because USANA made a corporate commitment to not use genetically modified organisms in their product lines. Don't believe me? I swear to Google.
