Organic Pick of the Week: Your Local Farmer

Here at OrganicNation.tv, we're always testing new organic products to review for our Organic Pick of the Week series. So it's become easy to choose organic food, beauty and clothing brands that have fancy labeling and a marketing budget to send out samples.

But I'd like to take this opportunity to feature what I consider to be the best organic product on the market: the one grown by your local farmer. In every region of the United States farmers are working hard to cultivate healthy and delicious crops with the simple goal of feeding you. Organic farmers have taken an extra step towards sustainability and invested a large chunk of money and time to grow food without harmful pesticides. That kind of dedication deserves our support.

So this week I urge you to visit your local farmer's market, join a CSA or ask for local and organic produce at your neighborhood grocery store. If you're not sure where to get organic food in your region, check out localharvest.org to search by your state or zipcode.

In the growing sustainable food movement, consumers have the power, so let's use it!

-Dorothée

New Video: Mission Pie, San Francisco

Mission Pie is an organic bakery and neighborhood café in the Mission District of San Francisco. They make savory and sweet pies all year round using fresh, seasonal ingredients. By forming strategic partnerships with local farms like Pie Ranch, they can source large quantities of produce and even organic wheat!

Co-owners Karen Heisler and Krystin Rubin believe that "businesses should operate from a values position" and have made it their mission to bring sustainable food to a broader population. As Krystin mentions in the video,

"There is something humble about pie and very accessible. A lot of what we're talking about when we're talking about engaging in local agriculture and the food system and all of that are some rarefied concepts to a lot of people, but pie isn't. It's a very gentle way to open up those conversations."

Mission Pie also collaborates with local youth advocacy organizations to provide a positive work environment to disadvantaged teenagers in the San Francisco area. As a thriving, progressive, for-profit business, they are a great example of a company that reinvests productively and creatively not just in the quality of their ingredients and equipment, but in the lives of the people and communities around them.

Organic vs. Local in Portland, Maine

While in Portland, I got a chance to talk with Maine native Alex Steed (who is also a member of our Board of Advisers) about the food culture in the area. Alex explained that "local" actually trumps "organic" in the region, because people want to support their neighbors and the producers in their area, and because so much great food is produced in Maine.

Portland is known for its excellent seafood (particularly lobster), maple syrup, cheese, apples, blueberries and flatbread, among others. For more about our adventures with Alex Steed in Maine, check out our posts about Portland's Rosemont Market & Bakery and the Common Ground Country Fair.

-Dorothee