Good Food from Healthy Farms
What? What? Terra T-Shirt Contest!
May 17th
Greetings Organic Eaters! It’s time to show your Organic pride by participating in the Terra T-Shirt Contest. We’ve made announcements about this before, but there’s still opportunity to participate. We’re giving away TWO WEEKS OF ORGANIC PRODUCE. How do you participate? It’s quite simple.
1. Go to our Terra Zazzle Gear page and pick out your favorite T-shirt design.
2. When your shirt arrives, put it on and snap a photo celebrating organics.
3. Post your photo on our facebook page or email it to etrotter(at)terra-organics(dot)com.
The first one to complete all of the steps wins!
As mentioned, this contest has already been going on for a couple weeks and considering we haven’t received any photos yet, you have a fantastic chance to win! Think about it, for the price of displaying your organic pride, you’ll be awarded with two boxes of produce. Help us spread the word of organics and get zazzling.
Bonus Points: Suggest in comments or send in a new design idea and if we use your idea you’ll win an exciting bonus prize.
Ask Dan: Trouble in the News
May 13th
Call it a perfect storm. Since the advent of organics in the marketplace in the mid-to-late 90′s, there has not been a confluence of events and media reports that has done more to challenge the industrial food paradigm than what we have seen in recent weeks. I was asked to speak on a panel of entrepreneurs this past week at a breakfast held in Seattle by my alma mater, University of Puget Sound, and these were a few of the stories I highlighted: More >
Ask Dan: Local, Healthy Meat?
May 7th
Image by http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotoosvanrobin/
We are frequently asked to reveal our source for local, healthy meat. We love Cheryl the Pig Lady, Thundering Hooves and Heritage Meats. In fact, we will soon be offering products from both Heritage Meats and Thundering Hooves. In the mean time, there are a couple of other options out there for you, the discerning and conscientious eater.
I can’t speak from personal experience (yet!) about our first referral, but Inger Owen, and her husband, Dave, operate Fraction Farm in Eatonville, WA. There, the couple raises antibiotic and hormone-free pastured poultry and is WSDA certified for on-site slaughtering. The requirement for on-farm slaughtering is that all meat is sold from the premises within a 48 hour window and is never frozen. That means that you can buy your bird the same day that it was harvested and bring it straight home to the rotisserie. Their next farm day is Sunday, May 16th, from 10am – 2pm; whole chickens are available for $4.00 per pound. Email Inger at inger@fractionfarm.com for more information.
The second referral is Bruce Dunlop, from Lopez Island Farm. In addition to restaurant sales, an on-farm retail stand, processed jams, syrups and chutneys, Bruce sells pre-ordered meat out of the back of his pickup truck in the Proctor District of Tacoma. Once a month (if we’re lucky) he makes the drive down from Lopez with his delicious pork, beef and lamb. His next trip is planned for early June, so email him at bruce@lopezislandfarm.com if you’d like to be put on the mailing list to receive an order form every month or so.
Terra Meets Cartoonists League (CLAW)
May 3rd
As part of our community outreach, Terra Organics sponsored an event last Wednesday, organized by none other than the Tacoma-based CLAW (Cartoonists League of Absurd Washingtonians). This talented collective of cartoonists meets twice a month to draw together, celebrate the art of cartooning and, of course, fight off zombies. More >
Celebrate Organics with Terra Gear!
May 1st
It’s here. The Official Terra Organic merchandise store! Now is your chance to show off your Organic-Pride with a Terra Organics or Tahoma Farms shirt, cooking apron, hat, coffee mug, and more. Even better is that our store offers some Organic cotton options.
Fan Photo Contest
We’re so excited about our new store that for the first person to send in/or post on our facebook page a photo of themselves decked out in Terra Gear will receive their next TWO DELIVERIES FOR FREE.
Take a look at some of our designs below and head over to http://www.zazzle.com/terraorganics for your favorite and a chance to win!
How to Win
Step 1: Purchase your favorite item from our gear store: http://www.zazzle.com/terraorganics
Step 2: Sport the item and show off your Organic Pride for a photo
Step 3: Send that photo in to etrotter (at) terra-organics (dot) com or or post on our facebook page
Step 4: The first person who completes Steps 1-3 wins their next two deliveries for FREE.
Ask Dan: Organics & Local Produce
Apr 30th
We always appreciate the feedback – both positive and negative – about your Terra Organics experience. And if there’s ever a question in your mind about our products or service, we’re happy to take the time to answer it. Earlier this week we received the following query from Hollis V. of Maple Valley: More >
Featured Grower: Nash’s Organic Produce
Apr 27th
Terra Organics works with an abundance of great local farms, run by some wonderful people. As important as it is for us to bring you local, quality, organic produce, it’s also valuable to share information about the great growers that make our snacks and meals that much better.This month, we’re focusing on one of our favorite growers: Nash’s Organic Produce. They’ve generously contributed a delightful history of their farm, organics as well as interesting details about organic consumption and their produce.
Nash’s Carrots are the best in the world!
Now Delivering to Olympia
Apr 16th
Ahoy to our friends down South in our State’s great Capitol. We know how much people down in Olympia value great organic and local produce which is why we’re pleased to announce that Terra Organics is now delivering to you!
For all of our Olympian customers, we’re offering a $5 OFF discount on your first box with Coupon Code: OLYMPIA10. You must be an Olympia resident for this code to work.
So please, tell your friends down in Olympia who love Organics and that you think might like our service that we’re now delivering their way. And, by referring someone who lives in Olympia, you will receive $5 OFF your next order too!
Science! Brix Sugar Test
Apr 12th
The strawberries in question
The other day at Terra headquarters, our chief scientist, Dan led us in a riveting science experiment to test the sugar content of two organic strawberry brands. The rule of thumb is the higher the sugar content, the better the produce. But how does one determine sugar content?
Enter the Refractometer
No, the Refractometer is not some made up tool out of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon (did I just date myself?), it’s a highly scientific, and delicately calibrated machine composed of hundreds of tiny computer processors. Okay, I lied about that last bit. The Refractometer is an instrument which measures an index of refraction or reflection of light. It can be used to determine the fraction of sugar (sucrose) content or Degrees Brix (which is sugar per 100 parts).
A standard Refractometer
Once the refraction of the fruit in question is determined, it requires a base scale to compare it to. which determines the quality of a fruit.
How does this experiment work?
Step 1: Select your strawberries. We picked a strawberry from each batch which was comparable in size and color.
Step 2: Squeeze liquid from one of the strawberries onto the Refractometer screen (or slice it, if you’re in no mood to squeeze strawberries).
Step 3: Close the Refractometer lid and hold the instrument up to some light. At this point you can glance through the viewing lens and take note of the readout.
Step 4: Clean lens and repeat with other test subject. (Note: this test works with a plethora of fruits, but we don’t recommend trying this with anything alive even if it’s a mosquito.)
Refractometer view
The Refractometer was passed around, we had our chuckles and we took our bets. Some of us were quite surprised to see which brand won the crown of Sweetest April Strawberry. John was especially surprised because he bet his car on the wrong horse. I’ll enjoy driving his Mustang to and from my car for the summer. Just kidding, I don’t know how to drive.
Besides getting to play with a funky scientific instrument, we also learned that the redder strawberries were not necessarily the sweetest, nor were the larger ones. That just goes to show that you should never judge a fruit by it’s cover…or color…or size. Just don’t judge fruit. It doesn’t do anyone any good.
Until next week, kids!
