Tomatoes!

The tomatoes are king this week! We have a few less different items because the tomatoes are in high season right now and we are concentrating on them. The blueberries are still good here in Jersey and the melons are ripe! A great salad that is totally in season right now is the Horitaki Salad or Greek salad...

Horitaki Greek Salad

Ingredients

• 3 tomatoes sliced in segments
• 1 large red onion sliced

cucumber quartered lengthwise and sliced in 1/3’’ segments 

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup feta cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

How to make it

Combine all ingredients except olive oil and toss gently. Spread olive oil over all and sprinkle with salt, pepper and oregano.

Enjoy! Marnie

Beautiful Local Produce!

Things are working out really well with Jeff’s Produce, our local organic supplier! Some of you may know Karley from various local farmer’s markets. She is my contact. This week we have hugh beefsteak tomatoes, grown right here in New Jersey. The zucchini, cucumbers, beets, and chard are also New Jersey grown. She didn’t have enough melons, but next week she should! 

I hope you all are enjoying your summer! I just climbed 2 mountains in 2 days in the catskills this weekend. (I’m really proud of that!) So my summer is turning out fine.

The Organic Solution to the Climate Crisis

"The future of life on this planet may depend on what we eat. Factory farmed junk food is the #1 cause of climate change, but we can save the planet by going organic.

"The greenhouse gas emissions from factory farms, deforestation, industrial crop production, food processing, and long-distance distribution make the food sector the biggest cause of climate change, responsible for at least a third of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. Factory farmed meat, dairy and eggs alone may contribute as much as 51%!

"But we can change food system pollution into food system solutions. A worldwide shift to local, organic food production would drastically reduce food system emissions and turn the world's farmland into a carbon sink to capture and store 40% of global greenhouse gas pollution."

- Excerpt from Organic Consumers Association's "Food Agenda 2020: The Organic Alternative"

More and sign petition: http://organicconsumers.org/food-agenda/

Enjoy! Marnie

New Jersey Farm!

We have solidified a deal with a new supplier of local, New Jersey veggies this week – Jeff’s Organic Produce. About half the veggies are from them and I look forward to a full season working with them!

Please don’t forget – We will not be having baskets the next 2 weeks – July 13th and July 20th. We will still have milk, eggs and cheese in the fridge so please feel free to come by and shop! Have a wonderful couple weeks!

Nitrates in Water and Food may Increase Thyroid Cancer Risks for Women

By Ward, MH, BA Kilfoy, PJ Weyer, KE Anderson, AR Folsom and JR Cerhand – Environmental Health News, June 29, 2010

Nitrates in drinking water and food increase risk of thyroid cancer and thyroid hormone disease.

Long-term exposure to nitrates through food and water may increase a woman's risk of thyroid disease, finds a study of older women in Iowa. Public water supplies contaminated with nitrates increased the risk of thyroid cancer in the women. Eating nitrates from certain vegetables was linked to increases in thyroid cancer and hypothyroidism, one type of thyroid disease.

This is the first study to show a link between nitrates and thyroid cancer in people, although nitrates have been shown to cause thyroid tumors in animal studies.

More: www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_21136.cfm

Enjoy! Marnie

Which Federal Politicians Oppose GMO Labeling?

We will not be having baskets July 13th and July 20th. 

Monsanto's Minions in Congress

Each year Monsanto contributes hundreds of thousands of dollars to elected officials, while their powerful allies, Food Inc. and the Farm Bureau, contribute millions more. We characterize these indentured Congress members as "Monsanto's Minions," to call attention to the fact that they would rather deny consumers the right to know whether their foods are genetically engineered or not (90% of their constituents want labels on GMOs), rather than standing up to Monsanto and the other Gene Giants: Syngenta, Dow, BASF, Dupont, and Bayer.

Is your US Representative one of Monsanto's Minions?

Find out here: http://capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/directory/congdir.tt?action=myreps_form

Representatives for Mountain Lakes, NJ...

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)

5th term Democrat from New Jersey.

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ)

2nd term Democrat from New Jersey. Appt. 1/2006.

Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ 11th District)

8th term Republican from New Jersey 11th District.

All three Oppose Labeling Genetically Modified Foods

These Congresspersons opposes consumers' right to know whether our foods contain genetically engineered ingredients.

They have never co-sponsored the bills that Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Senator Barbara Boxer have introduced to create needed regulations for the products of genetic engineering that are used in agriculture and food. These include crops, food ingredients, growth hormones and vaccines.

Enjoy! Marnie

Don’t Forget Your Melon!

All Big, Basic and Fruit Bags are entitled to a watermelon from the bin just outside the door. They’re very yummy!!!

I love this kind of summer produce. I look forward to the summer fruits all year long. I made another contact at the farmer’s market last Sunday and we have another Jersey organic supplier in the works. We’re just working out delivery details.

We will not be having baskets July 13th and July 20th. If we need to take other weeks off, I will inform you by both email and this newsletter. A new doorway will be put in during those weeks connecting the garage to my back room. This is for easy access when we need to sort inside in very hot or very cold weather.

Monsanto's RoundUp "May Have Dire Consequences for Agriculture"

"Ignoring potential non-target detrimental side effects of any chemical, especially used as heavily as glyphosate (Monsanto's RoundUp herbicide), may have dire consequences for agriculture such as rendering soils infertile, crops non-productive, and plants less nutritious. To do so might well compromise not only agricultural sustainability, but also the health and well-being of animals and humans."

- Johal, G.S. and D.M. Huber. Glyphosate effects on diseases of plants. 2009. European Journal of Agronomy 31:144-152

Read More: 

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_21039.cfm

Enjoy! Marnie

Co-op Vacation Dates

I finally have some vacation dates for you! We will not be having baskets July 13th and July 20th. If we need to take other weeks off, I will inform you by both email and this newsletter.

Exams end in a couple days and my son is SO ready for summer! I, of course am scrambling to put together my own vacations! I hope your’s are better planned out. I’ll enjoy getting away, but will miss everything here! I don’t know if I can leave my garden for 2 weeks!

California Proposes Use of Methyl Iodide, Known to Cause Cancer, Late-Term Miscarriages and Irreversible Brain Damage

In February 2010, a Scientific Review Committee commissioned by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) concluded that the use of methyl iodide in agriculture would endanger public health:

Susan Kegley, a consulting scientist for Pesticide Action Network, summed it up for the San Francisco Chronicle: "This stuff just kills everything," said Kegley, a chemist, who pointed out that even low doses have caused neurological damage and fetal death in laboratory animals. "It is a known carcinogen."

"We are likely to see a greater incidence of thyroid disease with use of this chemical," said Kegley, who wears double gloves and uses syringes, a fume hood and ventilation devices whenever she handles the chemical in the lab.

Despite scientist concerns, on April 30, 2010, California proposed using methyl iodide in agriculture.

Take Action by June 29: Call Governor Schwarzennegger & demand that methyl iodide not be approved: (916) 445-2841.

Take Action:

http://capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/issues/alert/?alertid=14141916

Enjoy! Marnie

WooHoo! Summer!

The local vegetables have begun to arrive! New Jersey and Pennisylvania in June produce greens, peas and berries. So the rest is still from further away, but not as far away! Georgia and North Carolina are producing now too, instead of just California and Florida. We have a few New Jersey farmers lined up who provide delicious produce this season as soon as it's ready.

With exams next week and my son’s trip to the tropics around the corner, I need to know how to get a 16 year old boy to get a hair cut! I’m loving this weather!

Please read!

I Need Your Vacation Dates! 

Please send me your vacation dates by email or write it on your invoice! I have to charge you for missed baskets unless you notify me. I will be taking a week or 2 here or there this summer, and will update you when the co-op will take these weeks off. I spent a good part of this last week working out my vacations, and almost have it in order.

Genetically Modified Foods Cause Sterility

"We failed to get cubs from these pairs, which were fed with GM foodstuffs. It was proved that these pairs lost their ability to give birth to their cubs." Dr. Alexei Surov, a Russian biologist describing the results of a study of hamsters fed genetically modified soy for two years over three generations. By the third generation, most the hamsters lost the ability to have babies. The pups who were born suffered slower growth and a high mortality rate. Inexplicably, some grew fur inside their mouths.

More: www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_20908.cfm

Enjoy! 

Marnie