Join the Organic Consumers Association’s national boycott of “organic cheater” brands Posted on November 12th, 2009
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
(NaturalNews) Many popular brands of personal care products use words like “organic” on their product labels or company names, but the products they’re selling don’t meet organic standards. So the Organic Consumers Association (www.organicconsumers.org) has been waging a public campaign to expose “organic cheaters” and encourage consumers to boycott those brands.
Late last week, a significant victory was achieved for organic consumers: the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) voted 12 to 1 to require personal care products touting the word “organic” to actually meet organic standards. (Previously, this was not required.)
This is big news because it means the USDA will now start cracking down on non-compliant brands that inappropriately use the word “organic” on their product labels.
“Brands that are using the word organic improperly should be on notice that USDA enforcement is imminent. Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan has said that she is going to get ‘tough on crime’ in the organic industry,” said Ronnie Cummins, Executive Director of the OCA. “I expect them to make organic cosmetics fraud a top priority. In the meantime, retailers should start cleaning up their body careisles. Whole Foods Market, for one, was a big supporter of the NOSB recommendation.”
Boycott these “organic cheater” brands
NaturalNews encourages readers to join the Organic Consumers Association in its boycott of these brands of personal care products:
• Desert Essence Organics Body Care
• Organics by Noah’s Naturals
• Giovanni Organic Cosmetics
• Nature’s Gate Organics
• Amazon Organics
• JASON Pure Natural and Organic
• Avalon Organic
Until these companies clean up their labels and achieve full compliance with new USDA organic standards, this boycott will remain in effect. It’s all part of the OCA’s “Coming Clean” campaign that seeks to end labeling fraud in the personal care products marketplace.
Read more about the “Coming Clean” campaign at: http://www.organicconsumers.org/bod…
NaturalNews encourages readers to keep personal care product manufacturers honest by avoiding the purchase of any product labeled in a false or misleading way. Stay up to date by following the news on organic products a twww.OrganicConsumers.org
The New Fruit Decoder iPhone App Posted on November 3rd, 2009
Our friend Shelly Roche at Bytestyle.tv has created a new application for use on the Apple iPhone. Based on her research and the article I posted back in July on reading food labels to find out if your food is GMO, Shelly has build a new iPhone app to do this for you, on the go.
So if you’re in the store looking at some peaches and aren’t sure if what you’re seeing is organic, GMO, or synthetically sprayed, this can help. Just put the short little PLU number into your phone and viola! It tells you everything you can know about that fruit from that number: GMO or not, organic or not, etc.
It’s a cool little app and it’s available now from iTunes. To find out more, visit the Fruit Decoder website at this link.
Grow Organic Food Online?! Posted on October 24th, 2009
from Shelly Roche, bytestyle.tv
Hey guys!
If you follow ByteStyle.tv at all, you probably know I’m all about technology and food issues. I thought this idea was cool enough to sign myself up, and I wanted to pass it along for those of you who are interested in growing/eating real foods, farming and opting out of the mainstream industrial food system.
It’s called “My Organic Acres” and it gives you the ability to grow your own organic food (or have it grown for you & delivered). And the best part is that if you share this with other people, you can get some or all of your food for free! I know money’s tight for me right now, so the way I see it, this is a win-win for anyone who wants to eat fresh organic produce and not have to pay what you’d pay at the grocery store.
Here’s a quick overview:
The Goal:
Organic Acres’ single goal is to provide you and your family with the healthiest, tastiest and most nutritional selection of foods for the best prices and deliver them straight to your door.
The Perks:
* Lease and have access to your own organic garden
* Grow anything you like
* Guaranteed crops
* Access crops from other farmers
* Have your organic foods delivered direct to your door
* Sell your organic foods through their Farmer’s Market
Sound interesting? This is a good time to check it out – It’s totally free right now to sign up and see what it’s all about.
I’m not in any way affiliated with the site, I just think it’s a great idea, and I hope it takes off.
If you like the idea, it’d be great to have you on board! If it’s not for you, that’s fine too! I appreciated Matt Sistrunk letting me know, so I thought some of you might like to check it out too.
Learn more & sign up at My Organic Acres
Let me know what you think!!
The Online Farmer’s Market Posted on October 10th, 2009
Two ladies in Virginia, Deborah Williamson and Deanna Child, have formed Farmer Girls, LLC. Their new enterprise created FarmersOnlineMarket.net where people in the area can go to see what is available from the two growers. Both Deborah and Deanna have farms in Virginia and the two of them realized that there is a disconnect between people who buy produce and goods and the farmers who’re producing it.
The project started in June of this year and is growing rapidly. Other local farmers have been signing on, selling their wares through the Farmers Online Market and the idea is really gaining steam.
The process of direct selling from farms to consumers means higher profits for the farmers, better prices (and groceries) for the consumers, and less transportation and other markups in the mix.
Deanna, for instance, raises pastured pork, poultry, etc. at her Orlean, Virginia Flatrock Farm. While these meats are worth more to the consumer (and are much healthier as well as make for happier animals), stores like Whole Foods and other outlets don’t usually pay as much of a premium for them as the farmer might hope.
Deborah is co-owner of Seven Oaks Lavender Farm in Cartlett, Virginia which grows lavender (who’d have guessed?) and produces several products based around that popular plant.
The idea is a great one and I’d love to see this go national. Where I live, there are thousands upon thousands of acres of farms, most of which grow corn, soybeans, and wheat. Most of the corn ends up in animal feeds and ethanol (sadly) and most of the soy for the same. Most of those are also genetically modified (GMO) varieties as well.
The organic and traditional farms are hard to find, but there are several out there. It would be great if those growers could come together like that in this area–and in every area nationally, for that matter. The easier it is for the consumers and farmers to come together, the easier it is for both to profit from the healthier food produced.
DIY – Making Your Own Insecticide From Soap Posted on August 18th, 2009
Most kitchen herb and flower gardeners are aware of insecticidal soaps and how to use them. It’s virtually a staple in those hobbies. For those new to these activities, or even the small backyard gardeners unaware of their options, it usually becomes a godsend when they learn of it.
To be technical about it, insecticidal soaps aren’t exactly “organic,” since they aren’t an organic-sourced method of killing insects. At some times of the year, however–like now in the northern hemisphere–the pests can get pretty intense and a quick fix, non-toxic solution is needed.
Cheap is nice too, of course.
Home made insecticidal soap fits all of these criteria. It works great, is non-toxic, and it’s cheap to make. So let’s learn something about how these soaps work and then I’ll show you how to make your own. You can buy pre-mixed soap in the store, of course. If you do, buy the concentrated kind and dilute it yourself. The container is smaller (less waste) and it’s generally cheaper than buying the ready-to-go stuff.
How Insecticidal Soap Works
All soaps are an alkali of some kind that’s usually mixed with something that’s a fatty acid chain. Usually they are potassium-based or sodium-based. Potassium soaps are soft while sodium soaps are hard. Most often, natural soaps (non-synthetic mix) will be mixed with a fatty acid derived from a plant or animal.
The insecticidal soap you purchase in the store is most likely to be potassium mixed with coconut oil. This is a good, general-use soap for hand washing, shampooing, and so forth. And for controlling insects, of course.
Insecticidal soap works well against most soft-bodied insects like aphids and mites as well as most types of flies. It’s a contact-killer, so it only works when sprayed directly on them. It doesn’t leave a residue for long, so it’s a short-term affair. Most gardeners use it directly on the insects they see invading their gardens. Most of the time, once you get them knocked down, they’ll be mostly gone within a day or two anyway.
Most applied soap sprays for use as insecticide are in concentrations of less than 1% in the spray, which has about an 80% kill rate. This makes it pretty good and comparable to most commercial chemical sprays for short-term application. Most will last anywhere from 24-48 hours with 72 hours being the longest if conditions are right (shade, stable humidity, low air flow).
Nobody is entirely sure how soaps work to kill the bugs they do, but the likely phenomenon is a combination of asphyxiation and dehydration in the insect. The fatty acids are likely breaking down cell membrane integrity and causing cells to collapse, leading to respiration problems and loss of moisture. In some insects it may be acting to block cell metabolism, causing failure in metamorphosis.
However it works, it’s an effective kill that is non-toxic to most animals (pets, wildlife) and humans.
Making Your Own Insecticide From Soap
For this, you’ll need a spray bottle capable of spraying watery liquid, a bar of natural laundry or dish (non-detergent) soap, water, and a stove.
For the soap, I prefer natural Fels-Naptha laundry soap in the big bars (1/2 pound blocks), which you can get at most health food stores. They’re also available in smaller, standard-bar size (5-1/2 oz). The natural bar of Ivory (no scent) works well too. You can use other common dish washing and laundry soaps, but most of them have detergents in them that can cause phytotoxicity on your plants by dissolving the wax off the leaves.
To make the soap, put a pot on the stove with about a quart (four cups) of water in it. Begin that boiling while you cut up the soap bar. You’ll need about five or six tablespoons worth. From a 1/2-lb block of Fels-Naptha, that’s about an inch off the block. From an Ivory bar (standard size), that’s about half of it.
You can use a large knife and a butcher block to cut it, but that’s kind of pointless since you’re just going to grate it anyway. Get a cheese grater or use your hand-crank grater for salads/slaw and grate off what you need into a bowl or onto a block/plate.
When the water begins to boil, dump the soap grates in there and stir. Keep stirring it until the soap dissolves, then turn off the heat and stir until mostly cooled. I usually set the pan into a bowl or sink full of cold water to speed up the cooling process.
Pour the liquid soap into a jar, jug, or whatever’s handy. Label this container your “Soapicide Concentrate O Doom.”
Now take your spray bottle and mix it at about two tablespoons per quart. I usually take the water from my cooling bath (above), fill my sprayer with it (it’s about 1/2 a quart) and put a tablespoon of concentrate in there.
Then screw on the lid, shake a little, and spray in a mist directly onto plant leaves and infesting insects. I’ve seen this used in larger containers like atomizers and sprayed onto fruit trees, small garden plots, etc. as well as herb gardens and flowers.
Try to do it during the insects’ most active part of the day (usually early evening). Use progressively liberally and do it nightly or every other night until the insects seem to be gone.
This mix also works really well inside for concentrated house flies and, as a bonus, spot-cleaning. We use it in our house for quick wipe-down cleanings of bathrooms and tile and so forth. Make sure to label the spray bottle so you don’t mix it up with others.
Our “cat discipline” bottles, for instance (plain water) are small 8oz ones so we don’t mix them up and spray the wrong stuff on the cats.
This is useful stuff, so try it out and enjoy!
