November/December 2002
Feature Articles
Holistic Health Q & A
by Dr. Carol Anne Bates
The role of the liver in Oriental Medicine.
The connection between the liver and depression. How acupuncture can help.
What is... the Organic Movement?
by Robert Roman
Final part of a three-part article
detailing the author's personal experiences and the growth of the organic
movement.
UnCommon Sense!
by David Findlay
Iraq?
Articles on the theme "Miracles"
A State of Consciousness
by Rev. Susan R. Griffin
The real "reality" in which
miracles are part of everyday experience.
A Personal Course in Miracles
by Lisa Raphael
Miracles and the Big Picture. Co-creating
with the Creation.
Are Miracles Miraculous?
by Charles Larsen
A psychotherapist's attempt to define
the word "miracle."
An Everyday Experience
by Rev. LeRoy Zemke
The realm of miracles and how to get
there.
A Miracle?
by Dave Hunt
The "miraculous" effect of
changes in perception.
What Happened?
by Dr. Audrey Craft Davis
A first-hand account of two miraculous
events.
The Miracle of Life
by AnneMarie Dyer
Letting go of a personal perspective
and opening one's eyes to the miraculous possibilities of life.
Sharing the Miracle
by Rev. Pat Cross
Some personal miracles and some reflections
on the nature of miracles.
What is... the Organic Movement
by Robert Roman
The final part of a three-part article detailing the author's personal experiences and the growth of the organic movement. Parts One and Two were published in the July/August and September/October issues of New Times Naturally! Go to Previous Issues.
Both Jim and Margie grew up on farms in southern MO. They had conventional backgrounds in hogs and dairy, but both had made a switch to organics, and were interested in biodynamic. They wanted more people to join them, so I took my family down to Mountain View, MO. This was Morningland Dairy. The plan was to build a cheese house, and make organic, un-dyed, raw-milk cheese, on the farm. And we did. When I arrived, the frame of the cheese house was up, and we were installing pipes, electric, concrete flooring, refrigeration, office space, etc. Soon, we made our first cheese. It was quite a risk, making half our milk into cheese that had to age for 60 days before we could sell it. That cut our bi-weekly milk check from the dairy co-op that bought our milk. But we did have 30 sows producing a lot of baby pigs for additional income, so we knew we could survive.
The 60th day was a nervous, exciting, and ultimately thrilling day. I still remember standing in the cheese house, getting ready to sample our first cheese. Our hope was that it was not bad, and that we could sell it to people as the healthy cheese it was organic, raw-milk cheese. We were so happy when we bit into that first piece. It wasn't "not bad." It was excellent! The flavor was unique, yet recognizable as mild cheddar. It had tastes that cooked cheeses just could not have. It was not your blah cheese with a bite. It was good cheese. We sold our first block to the West Plains food buying club nearby, and we were on our way.
We started making all of our milk into cheese now. We produced about 73,000 pounds of cheese each year at that point. We drove all over the Midwest to introduce our cheese. We were the second organic cheese made on the farm in the US! Where I had apprenticed, Hawthorne Valley, had been the first. We sold cheese in St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago, Memphis, Little Rock, Fayetteville, Springfield, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Dallas, Austin, Lawrence, Wichita, Iowa City, Des Moines, Madison, and to many smaller towns across the region. We even had some stores on the east coast at that time, and eventually sent cheese all over the country. We carry the Morningland Dairy Cheese at Nature's Food Patch. Jim and Margie are still at it, now making over 90,000 pounds per year. Cheddar, Jack, Colby, Goat, herbed, garlic, yum!
At our peak, we had eighteen adults working on that farm, with lots of children around. But in the end, most of us left and moved on to other things. I took a few years away from farming, food, stores, etc., to see what else I wanted to do. I took a course in Organizational Development, got a Masters in Education with a Waldorf Certificate, taught at a Waldorf School for three years, took a job with Pizza Hut for some extra money.
Now that was interesting. I kept wondering what my work at Pizza Hut was about, with my background in organic/biodynamic farming and study. Well, the largest pizza company in the world gives great business training. I learned business from one of the best. And I use that training everyday at the store. I am thankful for those three years.
But something was still longing in me for work in the organic, biodynamic world. I had sent my rèsumé out for a new post being created in the Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening Association organization (www.biodynamic.com). The job needed someone with both practical farming and business experience. The organization decided not to fill that post at all, but my rèsumé was now in the hands of an old friend and mentor, Christoph, from Hawthorne Valley Farm. In the many years that had passed since I apprenticed there, Hawthorne Valley Farm had built a natural food store on the farm. Christoph invited me to interview for the job as general manager of the store.
Now sometimes you find out you may be on the right path. It felt like old home week when I arrived up there. I was no longer an inexperienced apprentice, but could be a valuable part of the community.
I had been in some personal growth seminars in North Carolina, where the Waldorf School and Pizza Hut had been. Out of those, I stated my commitment to "the prosperity of organic and biodynamic farmers and farms." Could it be that the rest of my life relates to that in some way?
The Hawthorne Valley Farm store had lost money for several of the previous years, and was losing money again the year I arrived. We made money the rest of that year, and for the four years I was there. Making money is not the end goal, but it is an indication of the service level provided to our customers, and their response to that. And money is such an interesting topic itself. We don't really pay a farmer for the crop we take away from him. That crop is already a finished entity. We really give the farmer money so he can do it again next year. Money is about the future, not the past. Prosperity means that the farmer has a future, and in today's agriculture, insuring a future for good organic/biodynamic farmers is one of the best things we can do with money.
I worked with the store at Hawthorne Valley Farm, and also the dairy, bakery, farm, and farmer's market. This operation shows the strength of a farm when it can diversify and produce added-value products on the farm. Truly a farm for the future. We also had a large vegetable production, and a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group to support that.
Those four years got me back in touch with the organic, natural food industry as a worker in it. I had continued buying from those stores, but that is not nearly the same. Now, I was back "inside."
And being back inside, I caught up with the National Organic Program. A law was passed titled "The Organic Foods Production Act of 1990." This federal law mandated that the USA would have a set of national standards that took all the kitchen rules, the state rules, and any others and put them together into a single standard. This had become more and more necessary as the industry grew, and product began crossing state lines all the time. We had had a small problem taking our MO cheese into Illinois, but we resolved it. Not everyone was able to, and the need for a federal standard had become clear.
Now we are set for the rules, which were finalized in late 2001, to be fully implemented in October 2002. There will be a USDA Organic Seal which only third party certified products can display. (See "What is... Organic" May/June 2001. Go to Previous Issues.)
One of the shoppers at Hawthorne Valley Farm store was the President of Rapunzel, USA, the organic chocolate company. We sold their chocolate in the store, so it was fun to have him around. One day Martin asked me if I would be interested in working with Rapunzel.
I didn't know much about them, except that the chocolate was excellent. I learned that Rapunzel was the largest manufacturer of organic products in Europe, and obviously well known over there. They had over 900 products certified organic! We had six kinds of chocolate over here. What they wanted was someone with a retail background to become their national sales manager, and put a face and a handshake out to other retailers, telling the story of the company. I liked the story of a group of friends who found a commitment to organics, but could not find enough product. Their solution was to help farmers around the world transition to organic farming. They educated, consulted, lent money, started a program called "Hand-to-Hand" which was a Fair Trade program. (See "What is... Fair Trade?" May/June, 2002. Go to Previous Issues) They made the commitment and have hundreds of farmers around the world working with them. What a natural next step for me!
For two years I traveled the US and Canada, visiting close to 2000 natural food stores from Maine to San Diego, Vancouver to Miami, and many cities in between. I worked with buyers in independent stores, large chain stores, distributors, brokers, trade show personnel, trade magazine advertising departments, and individual customers. I stood at trade shows for hours, giving away chocolate. I met hundreds... thousands of people in this industry dedicated to building what was once a fledgling industry into the fastest growing segment of the American food economy. And I helped bring many more of Rapunzel's products to market here in the US. Watch them grow in the future. They already have the excellent products, and will bring them into the US over the next few years. Their commitment is the stuff this industry is based on, and they will prosper because of it.
In my travels, I came to Florida. I kept finding myself wanting to live here, an idea I had had for nearly 15 years. I was fortunate to come across a job opening on the internet, General Manager, Nature's Food Patch. After my first three-hour conversation with Laurie, I was pretty sure I wanted to be here, and she had a pretty good idea she wanted me here. A week later I was hired, and three years later, this is where I am, still.
We have a very strong commitment to organic products at Nature's Food Patch. ("the Patch") More than 98% of our produce is organic. Every category of food is presented with an organic variety, from meats, dairy, whole grains, bulk foods, the salad bar, herbs, wine and beer, frozen foods, juices, soy, oat, rice and almond milks, desserts, pastas, catsup, just to name a few. And we educate. We sponsor cooking classes, lectures, demonstrations, food tastings, fairs, put up signage in the store, have a website (www.naturesfoodpatch.com), and continue to develop alliances with local organic growers and with health practitioners around the area.
Our latest alliance is with the Morton Plant Meese Hospital system, through their Wellness Program and their new Passport Program. When helping people get healthy, Morton Plant works a lot with healthy food. And since that is what we do, and are known in the area for that, it has been a natural alliance waiting to happen. As they have begun to understand the importance of organic foods in a top nutrition program, they have turned to us for an alliance. We were thrilled to join with them.
They called us idealistic, crazy, impractical, impossible. And yet today, organics is the fastest growing segment of the entire food industry. A recent article in our local St. Petersburg Times newspaper, June 8, 2002 titled "Big Names see Profit in Organics" tells the story. "Lacking growth, corporate foodmakers try to imitate the success of natural foods." How's that for idealistic, crazy and impractical?! General Mills, Kellogg Co., Kroger Co., Safeway Inc., Publix, PepsiCo, Quaker Oats, Miller Brewing Co., Adolph Coors Co., Coca-Cola Co., Kraft Foods Inc., H.J.Heinz Co. Idealistic, crazy and impractical? "Catering to the organic market suddenly is the rage of the nation's growth-starved food conglomerates." Join the idealists or were we just normal visionaries, ahead of the times? Welcome aboard, the journey continues.
Robert Roman is general manager of Nature's Food Patch
in Clearwater FL. (727) 443-6703 ext. 223. rroman@naturesfoodpatch.com
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