Whole Foods Market offers a quick introduction to the basics of organic farming. Learn some of the principles of organic agriculture, as well as hear from several farmers who choose to farm organically.

Calling all organic kiwifruit fans — this is an opportunity you don’t want to miss! Our friends at ZESPRI (the world’s largest marketer of kiwifruit) have a sweepstakes going on to win a trip to New Zealand! The Great Kiwi Adventure could be your chance to win a trip for four to New Zealand, with a seven night stay in the Bay of Plenty, where the majority of New Zealand’s kiwifruit is grown. No purchase necessary! Just go to their site to enter by October 31st.

Want to learn more about these tasty fruits, watch videos about the New Zealand kiwifruit growers, or find a fun new recipe (like kiwifruit salsa!)? Be sure to check out the ZESPRI website.

The New Zealand season will be winding down by the end of October (maybe sooner on the West Coast!) but lucky for us, the California kiwifruit season will just be getting started. Keep those kiwis coming! Got a favorite way to enjoy kiwis? Let us hear about it.

Are you celebrating fall with organic produce? We are! Our favorite pick for this week is gala apples.

Grown domestically in California and Washington state (and, if you are lucky, locally), the domestic harvest season can start as early as August and finishes, depending on weather, in early November. Galas are a sweet, versatile apple with great flavor — perfect for cooking or eaten out of hand. Here are a few recipes that we think are perfect for gala apples:

• Cabbage Salad with Apples and Walnuts
• Apple and Cheddar Quesadillas
• Curried Apple Chutney

While we have a long list of organic growers that we love; here is one of the many that we want to thank as we celebrate this fall favorite. Thank you, Broetje Orchards for the tasty organic galas!

Broetje Orchards is one of the largest privately owned orchards in the world with more than 5,000 acres. The main orchard is the largest contiguous orchard in the United States, stretching for nearly 10 miles along the Snake River. Dedicated year-round crews care for the trees in this ideal location, producing consistently high quality fruit.

Each year, Broetje Orchards donates approximately 75% of their profits to local, domestic, and international projects, believing that their ethical foundation is the primary reason for the company’s business success. Broetje Orchard’s fruit is pack under the First Fruits label.

How do you like to eat your galas?

We love organic produce. And this fall, we are celebrating some of our favorite organic fall picks. Here’s the first: red grapes!

Our organic grapes are grown in the Coachella and San Joaquin valleys in Southern California, a perfect growing region with its combination of deep, fertile soils and plentiful sunshine. Late summer/early fall is the ideal time to enjoy grapes since the long, warm days of growing bring out their full flavor.

When you buy organic produce, you directly help create a demand for food and farming practices that have your health, and the health our natural resources at heart. We demonstrate our passion for organics through our support of farmers who are committed to good health, quality foods and sustainable agriculture practices. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the best things about late summer is all of the wonderful fruits available: peaches, grapes, melons, berries, the list goes on and on. But as we head into the fall and the back to school season, you may be on the hunt for a tasty apple to add to those lunch boxes. It’s a tricky time of year for apples as the selection of domestic fruit is limited and the new season has not quite started (unless you are fortunate enough to have a local supply that is already underway!). Fruit from the Southern Hemisphere helps to fill the gap in our domestic apples and the Jazz apple from New Zealand may be a good fit for that lunch box. A cross between a Gala and Braeburn apple, Jazz apples are super crunchy and have a great tangy, flavor. Jazz apples are only available in some of our stores, so be sure to give them a try if you see them. And if you’d like to learn about one of the New Zealand Jazz apple growers, check out this great video!

Congratulations to Kati, Chantal, Rachel, Miriam & Rebecca! Thank you everyone who participated in this; your answers were alternately amusing, heartwarming and scrumptious!

That’s right…a whole case of cherries! We’re giving away a case of cherries to five randomly selected winners and we want to know what you would do with a whole case of cherries.

Now, you may ask, how much is a case? It’s a LOT.  Say, about 10 pounds. Enough to fill a kitchen sink. Make five cherry pies. Hold a cherry pit-spitting contest for the whole gang. Whatever you have in mind, it’s probably enough to make it happen…and more.

So, get busy thinking about what you would do with a case of cherries and enter your comment below by July 14^th.

Stumped by the bounty? We shared our Best Cherry Recipes and some of our food blogger friends sent over their favorite cherry dishes as well. These are sure to get your creative juices flowing.

Now, let us know what you would do with a case of cherries in the comments by July 14th and, who knows, you just might be lucky enough to win!

Note: These are red Washington cherries and will be shipped directly to you from our farmer partners. Depending on availability and quality, they may be organic or conventional.

Summer is here and one of our favorite things about summer is fresh cherries. Well, if you too are a fan of cherries, today may just be the best day ever to enjoy them! We are celebrating the season with a nationwide one-day cherry sale of $1.99 per pound. That’s right, June 18th only, fresh cherries are $1.99 per pound in all stores, all day long! Our team (from field inspectors to buyers to the team members in the stores) is working hard to bring you the tastiest fruit possible. Don’t miss this great opportunity to stock up!

At our office, we talk about flowers all year long, but this time of year it’s hard to miss all of the excitement reminding us that there is a holiday right around the corner. Mother’s Day and flowers absolutely go hand in hand!

As we were gearing up for Mother’s Day this year, I was part of a Whole Foods Market team who traveled to Colombia to visit one of the flower farms we partner with. The farm grows many of our Whole Trade Guarantee flowers including two of our favorites, gerbera daisies and mixed bouquets. These flowers have attributes far beyond their beauty. The Whole Trade Guarantee is our commitment to ethical trade, the environment and the highest quality, with each purchase supporting positive impact in the community that produces the flowers. Wouldn’t that make any mom’s day?

I took my camera along so I could share a few highlights from the trip. Enjoy!

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Once in a while we have a new program in produce that is super exciting, and Whole Trade pineapple is one of those programs. First off, the fruit is delicious! But in addition to taste, there are plenty of reasons that we can’t stop talking about this fruit. Whole Trade pineapple is grown on farms that meet high social and environmental standards. Our purchases of this fruit contribute back to the communities that produced it (check out Matt’s blog to get the full story). Additionally, one percent of the retail sale goes to the Whole Planet Foundation, aiding in the fight against poverty in developing countries. That’s a lot of good things packed into a piece of fruit!

As we got ready to launch this program, our team visited the farms and brought back reports about pineapple growing, harvesting and selection. As they shared the scoop, it came to light just how many myths there are out there about selecting pineapple. Here are just a few that we came across!

As you do your shopping this holiday season, you’ve probably noticed the beautiful bouquets of holiday flowers in your local Whole Foods Market store. But a quick look doesn’t give you the whole story. This season, we’ve worked with our growers to bring you three Whole Trade™ Guarantee holiday floral bouquets.*

In addition to their outstanding beauty, these Whole Trade bouquets do more than dress up your home or table. Meet Ana, one of the workers on a flower farm that supplies us with these beautiful flowers. Ana has been working for the farm for seven years. She works in production at the farm, cutting and preparing the flowers for their trip to our stores in bouquets or bunches. Ana and her family live in Facatativa, Colombia. They have benefited from the farm’s foundation, which is providing her son with an education. Read the rest of this entry »