In this issue:
Shopper's advisory
Earth Day is coming
Must read - Insecticidal residues in children
Recipe of the week
Contact us
There's lots to talk about this week:
Continued heavy rains
and cold weather on the west coast are impacting
availability and quality of certain fruits and veggies.
Get an update.
Earth Day is just
around the corner. Check out this informative
online resource on organics and Earth Day.
Insecticide
metabolites in children - see this important health
note.
Need some ideas for
your upcoming Easter menu? Try this recipe featuring
organic green beans.
Shopper's advisory
Each year, we experience
a transitional period from winter veggies from Mexico to
spring veggies from California and Florida.
This year, due to
unusually bad weather in California, the transition is a
little rougher than usual. It's been raining in the
central valleys and coastal regions of California for ten
straight days, the temperature is way below normal, many
fields are flooded and more rain is expected. This
weather is taking it's toll on certain crops, either in
terms of availability or in terms of quality.
On the other hand, we
have a great supply, with very good quality, of organic
veggies flowing in form other areas, mostly from Florida.
So, in light of this, we
thought we'd alert you to what veggies are readily available
and what's tight right now.
Good availability:
Zucchini
Green peppers
Green beans
Eggplant
Tomatoes
Bunch radishes
Green onions
All carrots
Items affected by
weather:
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Celery
Leafy greens
Spinach
Some citrus
Raspberries
Strawberries
Beets
Chard
Arugula
Iceburg lettuce
Mache
During this transition,
our buyers here at Goodness Greeness are working diligently
(read "overtime") to find and supply you with the highest
quality organic produce available.
We'll give you updates
each week until this seasonal transition is completed.
Earth
Day is coming
 Earth
Day 2006 is just two weeks away - it's celebrated on
Saturday, April 22. We plan to dedicate the issue of
the newsletter that week to Earth Day topics and events in
Chicago.
In the meantime, to get
into Earth Day spirit, check out the new site of
Go-Organic! for
Earth Day.
This site is both
educational and entertaining. You'll learn about a
variety of organic products, find healthy recipes and
interactively locate organic stores near you. Also,
new material is being added to the site daily.
Must read -
Insecticidal residues in children
At the annual Ecological
Farming Conference in Pacific Grove, California in January,
there was a workshop on the state of scientific research on
organics.
In this workshop, Dr.
Chuck Benbrook of the Organic Center in Oregon discussed an
important study done by a team of researchers at the
University of Washington in Seattle.
 In
this study, children were tested for insecticidal
metabolites in their urine before, during and after eating a
predominantly organic diet.
The study found that all
of the children (who were eating a "conventional" diet)
initially had insecticide metabolites. After eating a
mostly organic diet for just five days, all levels of
insecticide residue dropped below the limits of detection.
When the children returned to eating a conventional diet,
the insecticide residues immediately rose again.
The conclusion of the
study was that:
"Eating organically grown food can virtually eliminate
exposure to a dangerous class of insecticides known to
disrupt neurological development in infants and
children."
For more on details on
this significant study, visit the "hot science" section at
www.organic-center.org.
Recipe
of the week
Roasted green beans with
buttermilk dressing
Have you started planning
your Easter dinner menu yet? No ... well try this
delightful spring recipe - it's simple and effective, tasty
and healthy (go easy on the buttermilk!):
Ingredients:
1 - 2 lbs organic
green beans
1 t olive oil
1/2 t salt
1/2 t black pepper
spring lettuce,
tomatoes, green onions (add more veggies if you like)
Preheat oven to 400
degrees F. Rinse beans under running water, dry on
paper towels. Mix olive oil, salt and pepper in a
bowl.
Coat mix on beans and
place all on a cookie sheet. Roast for about 10
minutes or until the mix starts to brown and the beans are
tender. Place on a large plate, then chill.
Just before meal time,
dress lettuce, tomatoes and sliced green onions (plus
anything else that you'd like) with your favorite buttermilk
dressing. Place on plate, then top with the roasted
green beans. Add a touch of dressing to the beans,
serve and enjoy.
Contact
us
You can find
organic green beans - along
with a broad selection of fresh organic
fruits and vegetables - from Goodness Greeness at your local market.
Email us
at
newsletter@goodnessgreeness.com if you can't find them and we'll help you
locate them.
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