Recipe of The Month

It's Organic Week in Ireland this week and Feelgood Organic Hampers is launching it's "Organic Recipe Of The Month" to celebrate it.

If you would like me to send an easy to make recipe, which will help you make the best of seasonal ingredients, once a month to your inbox drop me an email at recipe@feelgoodhampers.com. 

If you have a recipe to contribute I'm giving away goodies to anyone who sends me one that I use.

For more details of what is going on for organic week check out Ollies Blog.

Dublin Food Co-op Official Launch

As part of the celebrations for organic week the Dublin Food Co-0p will be officially launching at it's new premises.

For those of you not familiar with the co-op, it is the original organic food market. It has long been one of the best places in Dublin to shop for organic produce both fresh and dried. I was a member there for many years but have let it lapse since I have moved away from the city. Not only was it a great place to shop, I also enjoyed spending my Friday mornings volunteering with them.

A lot of the work in the co-op is carried out by members who receive a discount on their dried goods for the effort. The full or part time staff that run the coop are some of the nicest people you could met and it was always great to talk to them about recent developments in the organic and green movement. So it is with great pleasure that I see they have finally attained their goal of moving to a bigger and better location.

For those of you able to attend, the new co-op is being officially opened by John Gormley, this Saturday (20th October 2007) at 11am. It is based at 12 Newmarket, Cork Street, Dublin 8. They have a map on their website  for those of you not familiar with the area.

Sadly I won't be able to make it myself, as always I will be manning my stall at the Naas Farmers Market.

European Parliament Vote On Pesticides

I received an email from the Soil Association this week asking for my help on this issue. I am including the full text of the email. I'll be blogging more later this week, I just thought this was an issue well worth drawing your attention to. 

Just a thought but if the EU votes in favour of these restrictions are they admitting that pesticides are bad for our health?

Dear friend

I am writing to ask you urgently to email or write to your MEP about some European legislation on pesticides that the European Parliament will vote on in a plenary session on around 23 October. As with many environmental and food safety issues, crucial decisions affecting all of us are now taken at European level, and pesticide safety is no exception. The European Commission are introducing new, Europe-wide laws on pesticides, and there is a chance that these will actually strengthen protection of the public from dangerous sprays.

The European Parliament's Environment Committee has agreed several key amendments to the proposed law, but these now have to be agreed by the European Parliament, and all MEPs have a vote. The chemical industry and the UK's National Farmers' Union are lobbying hard to have all these changes rejected by the Parliament, while Georgina Downs of UK Pesticides Campaign, who initiated many of these proposals, has been working to have them accepted. I have listed below five of the key amendments that the MEPs will have to agree or reject. If you feel any of these are important, and should be agreed by the European Parliament, please let your MEP know. You can find your MEP's name and contact details at:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/public.do?language=en

Many thanks to all of you who asked Gordon Brown 'to Wake Up!' to the benefits of organic food and farming, by feeding him an organic breakfast. It is still not to late to join in if you haven't already done so - we'll be reporting the number of hits to the Prime Minister - open this link to play and email it on to your friends and colleagues:
http://www.soilassociation.org/wakeupgordon

Best wishes,

Emma

Emma Hockridge
Campaigner
The Soil Association
0117 914 2433 / ehockridge@soilassociation.org

Prohibiting pesticide use in and around public areas like people's homes, hospitals, public parks, playgrounds and schools
The Environment Committee voted in favour of an amendment to prohibit pesticide use in and around public areas, including residential areas, parks, public gardens, sports and recreation grounds, school grounds, playgrounds, and in the vicinity of public healthcare facilities (clinics, hospitals, rehabilitation centres, health resorts, hospices), particularly, although not exclusively, to protect sensitive groups, such as, babies, children, pregnant women, embryos and foetuses, the elderly, those with pre-existing medical conditions and who may be taking medication, along with all other vulnerable groups. The amendment also specified that the no-spray zones should be substantial and that in all these areas non-chemical alternatives should be used.

Vulnerable groups to include residents subject to high pesticide exposure over the long term
The Environment Committee voted in favour of an amendment that described vulnerable groups as: “Persons needing specific consideration when assessing the acute and chronic health effects of plant protection products. These include pregnant and nursing women, embryos, and fetuses, infants and children, the elderly, people who are ill and those taking medication, workers and residents subject to high pesticide exposure over the long term.”

Residents to have the right to know what is being sprayed next to where they live
Environment Committee voted in favour of an obligation to inform residents and neighbours about pesticide spraying in their locality, as well as the requirement for farmers and other pesticide users to provide information on the pesticides used directly to residents and neighbours who request access to it.

Call a pesticide a pesticide (not a 'plant protection product'!)
The Environment Committee voted in favour of an amendment to change the entire terminology used throughout the adopted text, including the title, from 'Plant Protection Products' to 'pesticides'. The term 'plant protection products' attempts to put a positive spin on chemicals that are deliberately designed to be toxic. The use of this wording throughout the Commission’s proposal, including the title, was inappropriate as many members of the public will not be familiar with this terminology, and its use could lead to confusion amongst members of the public.

Give priority to ways of growing healthy crops without using pesticides
The Environment Committee also voted in favour of a number of amendments for the prioritization of non-chemical methods of plant protection and pest and crop management. The only real solution to eliminate the adverse impacts of pesticides is to take a preventative approach with the widespread adoption of truly sustainable non-chemical and natural methods of plant protection and pest and crop management (including rotation, physical and mechanical control and natural predator management), as happens in organic systems. This protects not only public health, but animals, wildlife, air, water, soil, food and the wider environment. Reliance on complex chemicals designed to kill plants, insects or other forms of life, cannot be classified as sustainable.

To find your local MEP go to:- http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/public.do?language=en

If you would like more detailed information on the European proposals you can contact Georgina Downs of UK Pesticides Campaign who has prepared a briefing for MEPs http://www.pesticidescampaign.co.uk/

How do you know it's organic?

One of the most questions that I am most commonly asked is 'how do I know it's really organic?' It's a good question. It is very important to understand what makes a product organic and how we can be assured that the food we are buying, often at a premium price, is really chemical free.

The most important thing to look out for is that a product is certified organic. You should find a certification mark on any product labeled organic. Sometimes they will be obvious, most people are familiar with the Soil Association logo or the Irish Organic Trust logo. I know that bread company Blazing Salads bake a rice paper organic certification symbol onto their bread. Some companies simply list their licence number on the packaging, for example UK-5. As a rule of thumb, if you can't find the certification on the label, assume it is not organic.

For fresh organic items such as loose fruit, veg or meat products which are unlikely to be marked, look to see if the retailer is displaying their certification. If you don't see it ask to see it, a legitimate retailer won't mind.

But what does certification mean? It isn't easy to get certification. There are all sorts of rules that have to be complied with and records that need to be kept. IOFGA's guidelines fill a large lever arch folder and cover everything from growing to storage and distribution. A company looking for organic certification will also have to pass an inspection. It doesn't stop there. Certification bodies will spot check producers and retailers to make sure they continue to comply with regulations. Last year the farmers market where I had my stall was inspected twice by the department of agriculture.

Just last week, Trevor Seargent released details of tighter controls and steeper penalties for those who try and pass off non organic foods as organic. See the full story here. Hopefully this will continue bolster consumer confidence in organic foods.

There are three organic certification bodies in Ireland, check out their websites: IOFGA The Organic Trust and Demeter

New Hampers - (a bit of an ad...)

Feelgood Organic Hampers is proud to present it’s 2007/2008 collection: www.feelgoodhampers.com.

This year we are able to offer you an even larger range of organic goodies. As more of our luxury foods are now produced locally in Ireland, the ‘Bosca Mór Glas’ and ‘An Bosca Beag Glas’ are our first hampers to be stocked entirely with Irish products. Budding masterchefs will also appreciate the handy recipe cards included in many of this year's hampers, providing quick and easy guides to making the best of your organic treats.

As always, we are happy to tailor a gift hamper to your specific needs. Just give us a call or drop us an email and we will create a hamper just for you.

If you would like us to send you a brochure email us at amanda@feelgoodhampers.com. Or give us a call on: 059 863 8999.

Product Review: Yummy Earth Lollipops

A little parcel arrived for me in the post this week. Inside, amongst other things were these lovely lollipops. I got a lemon and a pomegranate flavoured one but there are 7 different flavours in the range.

It took a lot of restraint for me to wait until the photograph had been taken before I lashed into the lemon one. I always think organic sweets are a bit boring. There are plenty out there that just seem to take the fun out of having a treat. These lollipops do not fall into this category. They really deliver on all fronts, they taste great, look great and price wise they don't cost anymore that a conventional lolly. That is they don't cost a lot of lolly!

The one complaint would be that they come off the stick a little quickly and you are left chewing them as if they were boiled sweets.

Of course, these sweets are not 'good for you' but they are a lot less 'bad for you' than other sweets. For example, a quick look at their website will tell you that they are free from: gluten, wheat, egg, casein, dairy and soy, they are made in a nut free factory and they contain; 100% natural colours, no chemical dyes, real fruit extracts & 100% Natural Flavors. A closer look at the ingredients shows that they really mean it when they say they only use 100% Natural flavours and colours:

"Natural Flavors (May contain Watermelon, Pomegranate, Orange Oils, Lemon Oils, Raspberry, Mango), Natural Colors, (may contain Red Cabbage, Purple Carrots)"

I wonder what a purple carrot is? It's great to know there is a product out there that not only caters for children with allergies, is organic but doesn't take the fun out of eating sweets.

These really are a great treat for the child in all of us, as soon as I had chomped my way through the first one I had to order a bucket of them. They should be arriving in a couple of weeks so if you want to try for yourself, come and visit my stall at the Naas Farmers Market any Saturday. Mention the blog and I might even give you one for free!