I had the sweet pleasure of spending last week with my family in Winston-Salem, North Carolina celebrating my mama’s 60th birthday and picking blueberries straight from the vine. Her berries are organic: grown with love and without pesticides or herbicides.

You may have noticed a lot more organic produce in your grocery store as of late. The industry has exploded over the last decade. Organic farming methods are used in over 100 countries. Close to 60 million acres of land (24 million hectares) are managed and harvested organically. North America has overtaken Europe to become the largest consumer of organic foods and drinks, and in the United States the industry is projected to gross $30.7 billion by 2007 (with a five-year compound annual growth rate of 21.4 percent between 2002 and 2007, compared to a 21.2 percent rate between 1997 and 2002).

Why is this important?
Well, for starters, we are what we eat. If our produce is grown with toxins designed to kill rodents and weeds, if our meat is raised with antibiotics and steroids, if our food is made with genetically-modified ingredients (GMOs) we get a taste of that too. There's evidence that pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics and steroids are harmful when ingested, but we don’t yet know the long-term effects of GMOs. For a very funny take on the rise of agri-business and GMOs, check the Star Wars spoof “Store Wars.” (Ham Solo and Obi-Wan Cannoli are funnier than you’d expect.)

Dr. Sandra Steingraber, an ecologist and mother wrote a book that’s had a profound effect on me as someone who, among other things, works with women in childbirth as a labor support doula. In her book Having Faith: An Ecologists Journey to Motherhood , she discusses the kinds of substances that have worked their way into mother’s milk. Here’s an excerpt from an interview she did about the book:
“Breast milk is literally alive: it swims with white blood cells that confer protection against disease. It contains special sugars and fats that help knit together neurons in the brain. It protects against diabetes, obesity, juvenile arthritis, and certain cancers. Human milk is unsubstitutable. And yet, it has also become the most chemically contaminated human food on the planet. . . Pesticides, flame retardants, toilet deodorizers, termite poisons, dry-cleaning fluids, PCBs, dioxins. These are all common contaminants of mother’s milk in the United States and other industrialized countries. . .The very substance that is supposed to boost immunity now contains immunosuppressive chemicals. The very substance that is designed to protect a child against cancer now contains carcinogens."

Consumers aren’t the only ones impacted by the chemical cocktail—toxins runoff into ground water, pesticides get sprayed on farmers who work the land, and grazing animals are also impacted when they ingest the produce. You can find a report on how pesticides have impacted the health of farmers in California here

And as far as I’m concerned, the smell and taste of a berry treated with a pesticide cocktail can’t compare to an organic one. They, quite simply, make my mouth water.
But don’t take my word for it.
Try out the Sethi family recipe for Sultry Blueberry Ginger Jam (or if that’s too much work, check this not-quite-as-tasty-but-still-useful list.

Mama Hema's Sultry Blueberry Ginger Jam
4 1/2 cups organic blueberries
6 1/2 cups organic sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1/3 cup organic lemon juice
2 pouches of liquid pectin (we used Ball Fruit Jell)

Prep and sterilize the canning jars and lids.
Mix blueberries, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice in large saucepot and bring to a rolling boil over high heat, stirring frequently.
Stir in pectin and bring to hard boil for 1 minute.
Remove from heat, skim any foam.
Ladle jam into jars. Make up fun names for your delicious jam, leaving 1/4 inch space at the top of each jar. Adjust caps.
Process through boiling water canner to seal.
Yields about seven 8 ounce jars.

Sweetly yours,
Simran

PS, Yummy love to the North Carolina State Senate for adopting a bill requiring a study of how genetically-modified plants are regulated—spurred by three California counties that have banned GMOs—and including an organic farmer and consumer representative on the NC Board of Agriculture: the body granted sole authority to regulate all plants (including GMO ones) in the state.

Yummy love to the “Got to be NC” cross-sector campaign to promote locally-grown and raised produce and livestock. Local farmers, restaurants, grocery chains, the NC Department of Agriculture, local schools, food banks, and the like are all joining together to promote and purchase state foods.

Delicious respect to fellow blogger Vandana Shiva whose NGO Navdanya has inspired food, water, and seed sovereignty all over the world.

Sustenance:
The (sadly) defunct group Luscious Jackson’s CD Electric Honey
& sweet sticky spoons of jam right out of the jar.

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