| | Issue #19.08 :: 09/19/2007 - 09/25/2007 | Act natural
With the growing interest in healthy eating, it’s only natural that a purely organic market should be thriving — even if it’s only open one day a week
| BY ERIKA BOLIN
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Aiken Natural's Naomi Frost-Hewitt and Lynne Harrison are as fresh as their food. Photo by Erika Bolin |
AUGUSTA, GA. - To many, eating vegetables is a scary idea. It’s not because of fears of embarrassing gas production caused by broccoli florets, nor of childhood spankings for not finishing the spinach, nor of the “Island of Dr. Moreau” genetically modified tomatoes.
Most consumers’ concerns arise from the overload of chemical pesticides most modern farmers use these days.
“The vegetables and fruits you get in the supermarket are toxic. Now, they’ve actually created a tomato that can be dropped from a foot and a half without breaking,” Aiken Naturals’ Naomi Frost-Hewitt says matter-of-factly as she nibbles a cherry-size heirloom tomato she’s supposed to be selling from her own organic garden.
“It’s all about shipping and shelf life. And even if you can’t always buy all organic, get what you can find. The effort is worth it because the reality is veggies and fruits that are grown organic just taste so much better,” the market’s co-creator Lynne Harrison pipes in.
Organic fruits and veggies can be less-than-runway-perfect specimens. Their real beauty is hidden, literally, beneath the skin.
“You may have to take the time to really wash them. And they are not always as pretty, but these are vegetables and fruits that you used to get. They are grown in soil that leads them being full of nutrition,” she added.
Magnolia Natural Market in Aiken hosts the Aiken Naturals Tuesday Market. There are long tables brimming with these richly colored fruits and vegetables she had been talking about.
Their festive baskets are overflowing with an abundance of farm-fresh organic choices. They are brought in from local farmers and the Florida-based Global Organics.
“This week [Global Organics] offered elephant-ear garlic to us. But it was $9 a pound. That’s crazy. And it is also sad. The high cost is because the American organic garlic farmers have literally been driven out of business by Chinese farmers that say they are organic.” Raising a brow she added, “But what do you think with all we are learning about trade with China?”
The assortment they’ve included on today’s long folding tables is remarkable. The cast includes plump Granny Smith apples, various tomatoes, pineapples, biodynamic raisins, string beans, almonds, red cabbage and dainty little crimson fruits called pluots.
“A pluot is a hybrid of a plum and an apricot. The biodynamic raisins are holistic. There are special requirements to their being called biodynamic. For example, there needs to be running water through the field they are grown in and they do a lot of extra testing on the soil to make sure it’s truly healthy and alive, loaded with earthworms and so forth. They also are sure to plant with the rhythms of the moon,” Frost-Hewitt said.
The gals’ petite one-day market began as a co-op with a stall at the local farmer’s market. Today it is a business. There are still co-op ideas in place, but with a modern flair.
Harrison spoke of the set up, “We have yearly memberships at $24, which is pro-rated. For that fee, they have the right to get shares. The shares are the old-fashioned vegetable co-ops where you get the box of vegetables twice a month.
“We also have two prices on the produce you see here. The lower price is for members on the per-pound cost. That way on the days we don’t have the shares, you can still come in and get the member prices. Members also get 10 percent off on Tuesdays on everything but the prepared foods at Magnolia Market.”
You do not have to be a member to shop for the produce, and anyone can be involved in the share for the bag fee.
Of the selections available, Harrison said, “We have no idea what fruits or vegetables are going to be offered until the Thursday before. Then we order and advise. We don’t do exchanges. If you’re not into one of the offerings that week, we say, ‘Just give it to a neighbor.’”
They will make notes on allergies or dietary restrictions, though.
The prices are surprisingly low, so there’s no need to hock your 24-carat bracelet for their organic carrots.
“That’s the mistake most people make about the ‘high cost’ of organics. Every time you trade in a poison-treated vegetable with an organic, you’re giving your children a healthier thing to eat. I feel for the moms, though. It is hard. But we’ve found you can end up buying less actually, because the organics are so much more satisfying.”
Frost-Hewitt has another point of view to add. “The ground has been so contaminated by the chemicals — which are petroleum based — the resulting produce is offering nothing but the minimum in nutrition. Some people believe that lack of nutrient is part of the cause for the obesity we see. It’s our bodies having to eat more in search of those now missing vitamins.”
“We’ve been eating all these mass-produced products for so long that all of a sudden when you eat some organic spinach, or a real potato, somewhere in the back of your mind — especially those of us of a certain age — remember that this is what food used to taste like,” said Harrison, whose only age identifier until then was a slipped statement involving her being a grandmother.
She added of their latest hard-to-find organic product, “Now we are adding cheeses. Today we had Vermont brie. It’s already sold out.”
The brie was made by free-range cows that are not pumped with bulk-producing hormones or meds. Even though the law requires the cheese maker to say the bovines’ carefree lifestyle does not affect the cheese they produce, it would seem this cheese has an added “good vibe” energy spun in, they said.
The cheese is a lot like Aiken Naturals in that respect. With both you get a little positive karma thrown in with your healthy purchases.
Aiken Naturals
In Magnolia Natural Market
210 York Street SE, Aiken, S.C.
Tuesday 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
803-649-3339
aikennaturals.org | |
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