CONGRATULATION TO OUR WINNER YESSENIA FROM CLERMONT, FL. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR GREAT COMMENTS!

Wow! What an overwhelming response! We were moved (moved to tears in some cases) by your heartfelt stories. Congratulations to Yessenia T. from Florida who was randomly selected to win a $50 gift card. There certainly is so much to be thankful for and we hope that everyone had a memorable Thanksgiving.

Several years ago, I set myself the November challenge of posting on my Facebook page one thing I was thankful for every single day of the month. It surprised me how simply focusing on gratitude shifted my perspective and lightened my mood. And sharing that gratitude was uplifting to my friends and family, too!

In honor of thankfulness, we’re holding a contest. For a chance to win a $50 Whole Foods Market gift card, all you have to do is respond in the comments section below by November 24 (which just so happens to be Thanksgiving!) with a few sentences describing “The Thanksgiving I’m Most Thankful For.” The winner will be chosen at random so you don’t have to be an English major, just willing to share your story of gratitude with the rest of us.

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Expecting a houseful this holiday season? Along with planning festive menus, you’ll no doubt want to freshen up throughout the house including the guest room, the guest bath, the extra dishware and more. Get a head start on your seasonal cleaning chores so you won’t greet your guests at the door with feather duster still in hand.

While we can’t supply the elbow grease or send holiday elves to help, we can offer up our own brand of effective cleaning products with the added bonus of earth-conscious ingredients. These cleaners contain no sodium laurel sulfate, phosphates, phthalates or chlorine. What’s more, their containers are made from at least 50% post-consumer recycled (PCR) materials and are recyclable. We’ve tried to think through both our ingredient list and the packaging. In other words, these cleaners are healthier for you and your family as well as the planet, and we’re addressing responsible resource use, too. Plus, most of them just plain smell good!

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The “Goals Gals” were coming to my house. The three of us have been meeting for more than six years, supporting one another with new career, volunteer and hobby goals. A few years ago, one of our trio developed chemical sensitivities after a bad experience with a bug bomb when trying to rid her house of fleas. My friend Ella (not her real name) now reacts negatively to air fresheners, incense, artificial scents, most conventional cleaning products, plastic, paint and carpet that off-gasses — a condition sometimes called Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS). When Ella comes in contact with these materials she says it’s like her “brain just starts sizzling, like it is frying and I simply cannot concentrate on anything.”

While our group typically meets outdoors, this time it was my house and I didn’t want to let Ella down. Nor, frankly, was I interested in spraying questionable chemicals in my living quarters. Thanks to Ella’s influence, I stopped using air fresheners (and even conventional perfumes) years ago. I have bamboo floors and the last time any walls were painted was 11 years ago, so I felt like those elements were under control. But I’d let a few things slip over our long, hot summer and I now had 24 hours to tidy my house in a mindful way, removing dust and grime, while using products that wouldn’t cause Ella distress.

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In my opinion, there are a few absolutely perfect (cheese) pairings: bright cheddar and dark Russian rye bread; creamy mascarpone and crispy gingersnaps; a crumbly blue and crisp apple; and exotic Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog and an airline ticket to northern California.

To help celebrate American Cheese Month this October, you can come up with your own unique cheese pairing and enter the Smile for the Camembert Photo Contest on our new Whole Foods Market Cheese page on Facebook. Choose any one of the ten 2011 American Cheese Society’s (ACS) award-winning cheeses listed below and photograph it with your favorite pairing: loaf of bread, jug of wine, fruit, chocolate — anything that strikes you as a good match — edible, drinkable, or otherwise.

Submit your photo via our Facebook Cheese page between October 3 and 14. Tell your network of friends and family because the public can vote on their favorite photo until October 17. Then Cathy Strange, the Global Cheese Buyer at Whole Foods Market and our very own Cheese Rock Star, will pick the winners based on quality and creativity of cheese pairing, creativity of photo and the representation of one of the 10 cheeses listed below (with bonus points for including the name or logo of the cheese in the photo). Contest details are on the Whole Foods Market Cheese page.

The grand prize winner gets a $200 Whole Foods Market gift card and 5 runners up get a $50 gift card. All six winners also receive a gift basket with all 10 cheeses!

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That’s right! This Friday only, June 17^th you can get a pint of organic blueberry goodness for only $1.99.

Once you’ve stocked up on blueberries, how will you get your fill? You can, of course, eat blueberries straight from the basket (after rinsing) and throw a handful in a morning smoothie. But there are other meals of the day—plus many beverage-serving opportunities—for which berries of all kinds are a perfect addition. Here are the recipes that caught my eye for this year’s berry season, starting with blueberry, of course. Below you’ll find savory options for lunch and supper meals, along with sweet ones for drinks, breakfast dishes and dessert. And if you are a strawberry purist, click here for some great recipes featuring strawberries.

$x.xx = amount of savings will vary

Blueberries:

Mixed Berries:

Blackberries:

Raspberries:

Don’t forget to pick up your organic blueberries this Friday! What will you be making with them?

Memorial Day for most of us now marks the official start of the warm weather season. People still refer to it as Decoration Day in some parts of the U.S., the original name when the holiday was formalized just after the Civil War as a patriotic day to honor those fallen in battle. In the early 20^th century, the holiday evolved into a day when family grave sites were tidied up—and decorated with fresh flowers—followed by a big outdoor picnic in the church yard.

While most of us no longer spend the morning at the cemetery, the kids are out of school (or soon to be), the pools are open, flags wave from porches and grills are scrubbed and ready for a starring role in the back yard. Perhaps you’re hosting a family Memorial Day party or have been invited to a neighborhood celebration. We’ve got some especially memorable recipe ideas for your weekend regardless of whether you’re the grill master, making a veggie side dish or sweetly bringing the evening to a close with a lovely, light dessert.

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Strawberries might just be more versatile than you ever dreamed. Almost everyone loves them in desserts and we have a few more sweet variations on that theme to offer below. But let’s think outside the pint basket for a moment. Imagine the possibilities with a chilled summer dessert soup or a slightly spicy salsa to garnish a chilled meat dish. Then there are fresh strawberries in cooling summer drinks, such as Strawberry Lassi, and as a star player in an eye-opening weekend breakfast. As part of our Organic Strawberry Jamboree, we invite you to experiment with our favorite early summer fruit.

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What’s the one drink that goes great after: mowing the lawn, a day at the beach, an afternoon at the dog park or grilling burgers and franks for 20 of your closest relatives? Lemonade! And cherry-flavored lemonade may be my favorite yet. Good news: debuting on our shelves this month, a luscious new flavor combination from Santa Cruz Organic that you’ll only find in our stores: Cherry Lemonade!

Made with real juice, this full-bodied summertime cooler is also a refreshing idea for the planet. Santa Cruz Organic offsets its power needs with on-site solar power and renewable energy credits and they have an enviable 96% recycling rate, too.

Known for creating some of the best lemonade available, our long-time partner Santa Cruz Organic planted their deep roots in the 1970s by revitalizing abandoned orchards in California’s Santa Cruz Mountains, an area known for producing high-quality fruit bursting with flavor.

We recommend keeping a few bottles in the pantry or fridge for when you need a chilled pick-me-up after weeding the garden or when company drops in. I recommend garnishing this blushing lemonade with fresh cherries or perhaps a refreshing sprig of mint. Give it a try and let us know how you would garnish it!

I don’t know about you, but my fantasy of a perfect summer day would include strawberries for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Dipped in chocolate for a snack. With one or two in a late evening glass of Prosecco, to toast the magic of fireflies dancing on the lawn under June starlight while Strawberry Fields Forever plays in an endless loop in the background. Ahhh.

Back to reality. In practical terms, this fantasy would require a lot of strawberries, especially if I wanted to share them with anyone else.

What about you? What would you do if there were no limits to the strawberries in your kitchen?

Tell us in the comment section below by May 18th and you just might win a $75 gift card—that’s enough to buy lots of organic strawberries for your own downhome Organic Strawberry Jamboree. We’ll pick one comment at random.

Full disclosure—If you choose to use the gift card for strawberries only, that’s truly a lot of fruit to bring into your household at one time! If you’re the lucky winner, this might be a good time to invest in a strawberry huller! Need ideas for what to do with lots of strawberries? Try these recipes and also look in our stores for Strawberry Jamboree recipe cards.

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Celebrate Mother’s Day with a scrumptious brunch starring easy-to-make treats that feature the bountiful fruits of the season. Several of the following can be made ahead so that you’ll have more time to sip an exotic coffee or a festive mimosa with Mom while you visit on her special day.

Sweet things:

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