Little Zoe and Ben are jumping up and down; they are just about to have a melt down guessing where we are going this year. The funny thing is my husband and I never had a thought other than a major resort in the previous years. Honestly, thinking hmm what my greener options for travel are never entered my mind. Something changed when a notice from a law firm got dropped off on our doorstep. It stated “x corporation has been legally forced to clean-up the chemicals which they dumped into our communities water source. It continued with high levels of chemical “x” may pose serious health risks if ingested.” Huh? Of course we are ingesting our water. Here is the punch line; they had till 2014 to clean this mess up. So I looked at my husband, jaw dropped, and said so we have been drinking tainted water for the last 6 years and this company is legally allowed to “remedy the situation” over a 5 year period. So legally they are allowed to poison my family for 11 years and the only thing they were legally required to do is to send me this paper telling me they are poisoning my community. It was horrifying and a travesty of justice. Were we offered a settlement? Were we offered free bottled water until they fix the problem? Were we offered an apology? – no! So this year, was the year we began to not only buy organic foods but to live a greener life. To take our kids on a green vacation, and let them understand that we can change the earth one step at a time- one vacation at a time. To teach them that although the water may be out of our control, we daily can become contributors to a greener planet. So how was I going to do this, how would I be that role model? What did that mean, where would we have to travel to find that vacation? How much would it cost? Can we do a staycation, with greener options? Well now, we started to ask the question; what are my greener options when traveling? So here is my story and what I will be sharing weekly is my desire for families to plan greener vacations.

Hint: Want to know more about your water, go checkout LEEP standards.

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Whole Foods would prefer to buy more local and regional organic and conventional produce from Southeastern growers.

The manager in charge of buying fresh fruits and vegetables for the south region for Whole Foods and the president of a distributor on the Atlanta produce wholesale market gave attendees insights on what retailers and wholesalers want in organics during a Jan. 8 session at the 2010 Southeast Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference.

Brent Demarest, the Braselton, Ga.-based produce purchasing team leader for the Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market Inc., said Whole Foods would prefer to source products such as asparagus closer to home than from New Jersey or California.

He said he used to be able to get asparagus from South Carolina.

“We want to connect our customers to the local farmers, to the taste of the season, and get them back to the way things were where you had seasonality of products,” Demarest said. “Things available year-round don’t really connect consumers with what’s great and great-tasting.”

Demarest said more opportunities are opening in organics with all types of companies such as Gerber, Heinz and Kellogg’s.

“Everyone is getting bigger and bigger in the organics game,” he said. “Demand really outweighs supply at this point.”

Demarest works with growers and sources products for stores in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama.

During the organic production conference section of the convention, Dee Dee Digby, president of Destiny Organics, Forest Park, described how her operation sources organics for regional growers.

She said working closely with buyers on harvest schedules can help guarantee sales. Destiny distributes product to large and small chains in six Southeastern states.

Digby said Destiny has customers that want products sourced locally, but there are many different definitions of local.

The company prefers products produced in the Southeast rather than bringing them in on a truck from California or anywhere else.

Brussels sprouts and broccoli are huge, she said.

“We received broccoli the other day from a Georgia grower,” Digby said. “It just causes excitement. Not just the people at Destiny, but with our customers. Once we let our customers know we have broccoli from a Georgia farmer, it’s just huge.

“What we like to know from you is what you will have. I will buy whatever you grow. We pretty much know what we will sell into retail,” she said. “With foodservice and universities, our buyers let the chefs know what we have now, four weeks out, so with your harvest schedules, the chefs and retailers know what’s coming.”

Article Courtesy of The Packer Newspaper

SocalMom2007

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