Kristen and her team created a delicious product that follows a simple but profound motto: “Every Ingredient Matters.” This means that each ingredient included in their USDA certified organic bars serves a nutritional purpose. There are no fillers. It’s a protein bar, a fiber bar, a snack bar, an energy bar, a nutrition bar. It’s food!

Their customers loved the results, so Kristen approached Whole Foods Market in La Jolla and we now carry the bars in all of our stores in Southern California. We believe in this product so much that we also provided them a Local Producer Loan to help them start producing the bars in a more efficient, solar powered facility.

The Good On Ya Bar comes in three flavors and when you find out what’s in these bars, you’ll want one too!

The Breakfast Bar: this high fiber bar is packed with flax seeds, maple syrup, raisins, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, brazil nuts, chocolate, vanilla, olive oil and sea salt. Believe it or not, this amazing bar provides you with 28% of your recommended daily allowance of fiber and it tastes amazing.

Peanut Butter and Dark Chocolate: Another high fiber bar, this one adds peanut butter made from Valencia peanuts, 70% dark chocolate and raw honey to flax, sesame seeds, hemp seeds, vanilla and salt. If you have a yearning for that classic peanut butter and chocolate combination, this is your bar.

Peanut Butter and Honey: This bar is for all you peanut butter lovers (and perfect for those who aren’t into chocolate). It combines Valencia peanut butter, raw honey, flax, sesame seeds, hemp seeds, vanilla and salt. A bit less fiber in this one (14% RDA) but still a good amount and oh so delicious.

If you are lucky enough to live in Southern California where these bars are available in our stores, have you tried them yet? Let us know what you think!

Up here in the Pacific Northwest, our growing season can feel pretty brief. With the rain, wind and short, dark days, we’re used to saying goodbye fresh veggies in the late fall and early spring.

But we’re working to make that growing season a bit longer for one of our latest Local Producer Loan recipients, Willie Greens Organic Farm. Based in Monroe, Washington, Willie Greens has been growing a wide variety of organically certified vegetables since 1987. The owner, Jeff Miller, is a former chef committed to providing customers with only the freshest, organic and seasonally grown produce available.

With his loan, Jeff was able to construct greenhouses on his farm to extend the growing season later into the winter and allow him to get started earlier in the spring. Each greenhouse is 30 feet by 240 feet, or 7200 square feet. Construction began in October of 2011 and will culminate with five new greenhouses for a variety of produce.

I met Jeff through my work as the Local Forager for the Pacific Northwest region. In this role, I travel through Oregon, Washington and British Columbia to meet the amazing farmers, ranchers and producers who supply our tables with fresh, locally grown food and see how I can bring their products to customers in our stores. You can read more about producers like Jeff and Willie Greens on my blog, The Local Forager.

And if you live in Washington or Oregon you can buy Willie Greens’ produce at Whole Foods Market stores in your state – even when the weather outside isn’t great for growing.

Recently, several of the dairies were in need of more cows so they could increase their production, and that’s where the Local Producer Loan Program stepped in! We loaned MOOMilk enough money to procure 20-24 dairy cows, which allows them to expand their business and make more product. That, in turn, provides Whole Foods Market® customers with more delicious organic milk. It truly is a winning situation for everyone involved, especially all you organic milk lovers in Maine and New England!

Visit their website to learn more about MOOMilk’s unique business model, as well as find out more about a few of the dairies that make up MOOMilk, including Tide Mill Organic Farm that’s been in the same family for eight generations!

Is there a local food system that supports farmers in your area? We’d love to hear about it.

Is your steak feeling a little lonely? Give it a dab of Black Truffle Butter. Does your scone need a pick me up? Some Orange Honey Butter should do the trick. And if your baguette seems a bit boring, Epicurean’s award-winning Roasted Garlic Herb Butter will surely give it some sass. Their products combine grade AA butter with all natural flavors, producing a high quality, unique product that makes cooking a joy for the novice and advanced chef alike.

Owner and creator John Hubschman is a professional chef who, along with his wife Janie, run their business with a passion for quality food and cooking. You can find out more about their company in this video on thier website. They’re using their Local Producer Loan from Whole Foods Market to buy equipment that will increase their blending capacity so they can supply butter to more regions. That’s a good thing because when you see their selection of delectable flavors, I’m sure you’ll want a taste:  

SAVORY: Bearnaise • Lemon Pepper • Scampi • Porcini Sage • Tuscan Herb • Tomato Chipotle • Chili Lime • Roasted Garlic Herb 

SWEET: Sweet Cinnamon • Orange Honey • Honey Pecan

PREMIUM: Black Truffle Butter • White Truffle • Mediterranean Sea Salt • Lime Sea Salt

Epicurean Butter is currently available in Whole Foods Markets in Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. If you are lucky enough to live in one of these states, give these butters a try and let us know what you think.

You can get your crunch on with 14 different varieties of Brad’s Raw Chips, including classic kale chips, sun dried tomato crackers, and sweet potato chips. All the chips and crackers are dehydrated below 115 degrees so they still get a fantastic crunch while preserving the foods’ nutrients and enzymes. Brad’s Raw Chips are available in most Whole Foods Market stores along the Eastern Seaboard.

To celebrate the $5 million mark, we’re giving away a basket filled with culinary treasures from several of our loan recipients! This is your chance to experience some of the fabulous products made by passionate small producers that aren’t available in your neck of the woods. Just post a comment below by October 21 telling us what your favorite local product is and why, and you’ll have a chance to win! We’ll choose one lucky commenter at random to receive the basket.

The basket full of goodies will include an assortment of samples from some great local producers. Here’s who is contributing to the basket and what they make:

• Hail Merry (Dallas, TX) – macaroons, grawnola and nuts
• Progress Coffee (Austin, TX) – toddy blend roast
• Michele’s Granola (Baltimore, MD) – Ginger Hemp granola
• Sticky Toffee Pudding Company (Austin, TX) – three flavors of delicious cakes
• Whale Tails Tortilla Chips (San Diego, CA)
• White Girl Salsa (Denver, CO) 
• NuttZo (San Diego, CA) – creamy multi-nut butter
• Blumetti’s Gourmet Foods (Rockwall, TX) – Vino Parmigiano pasta sauce
• Biggs and Featherbelle (Baltimore, MD) – a mixture of lip balms, lotions and more
• Brad’s Raw Chips (Pipersville, PA) – kale chips
• Bron’s Bee Company (Lafox, Illinois) – raw honey
• Oogavé Sodas (Denver, CO) – Agave Watermelon Cream Soda

When Whole Foods Market first opened its doors as a small natural and organic retailer in 1980, local producers were the lifeblood of our business. 30 years and more than 300 stores later, that fact still rings true. We know what it feels like to be a small business with a big vision and understand that local businesses (even with the highest quality products and a strong business plan) sometimes need a hand to turn their dreams into reality.

In 2007, we launched the Local Producer Loan Program with a commitment to fund up to $10 million dollars in low-interest loans to provide local producers with access to the tools and resources they need to expand their businesses. Whether it’s helping our local partners purchase more animals, invest in new equipment or convert to organic production, we want to help them ALL shine. Best of all, supporting local business means keeping money in the pockets of growers in the communities we serve.

So what’s your favorite local product and why? Post your comment by October 21 and take advantage of your chance to try these local favorites while you can!

The popcorn (or maize) from Tiny But Mighty is native to North America and can claim the “heirloom” title because the genetic make-up of their product is virtually identical to the corn that covered this part of the world for thousands of years. In the 1850s, Native Americans shared this unique corn with a pioneer family who enjoyed it for generations. However, by the 1970s it was all but forgotten until a family member discovered the last remaining popcorn in a fruit jar. He planted a handful of kernels and popped the rest!

And it’s not just history that makes this product stand out — it tastes absolutely fantastic. Compared to typical popcorn varieties, Tiny But Mighty’s popped kernels are smaller and denser, which results in a concentrated burst of flavor that reduces the need for added flavorings like butter or salt. Plus, when the heirloom kernel is popped, the hull disintegrates, making the product much more enjoyable to eat — you won’t have to worry about sharp hulls stuck between your teeth.

Tiny But Mighty is a family-owned and -operated business, run by Gene and Lynn Mealhow along with their sons. They are passionate farmers who bring their love for this heirloom product to work with them every day. They’re using the proceeds from their Local Producer loan to purchase grain bins so they can increase their capacity and bring more product to market. That’ll be good for all of us because right now, you can only get Tiny But Mighty in the majority of our stores in the Midwest.

I just might have to move back to Chicago! If you are lucky enough to live in the area, pop up some Tiny But Mighty and let us know what you think.

Our most recent Local Producer Loan recipient, family owned and operated Soy-Sen-Zay, is the world’s first company to create and sell all-natural Edamame dips. All the dips are made by hand in small batches every week. The dips have a creamy texture, deliver a wonderful flavor and pack a nutritional punch. Not to mention they are vegan and contain no artificial preservatives!

Soy-Sen-Zay Edamame Dip comes in six flavors: Original, Cucumber, Garlic, Spicy Asian Pepper, Ginger Wasabi and Spicy Garlic. At this time, Soy-Sen-Zay’s product are available in our Colorado and Kansas City stores. However, with the proceeds from their Local Producer Loan from Whole Foods Market, they are purchasing equipment that will allow them to produce more product and grow into other areas of the country. We can’t wait!

RawONE is another unique Local Producer Loan recipient. Located in Hollywood, Florida, RawONE’s chef-owners create delicious organic, 100% raw handmade snacks and granolas using only the best ingredients available. Their mission is to provide minimally processed, nutrient-dense snacks that are a pleasure to enjoy.

When this husband and wife team began eating a raw diet, they realized there was a need for delicious, portable raw snacks. They went straight to the kitchen to create treats such as raw biscotti, flax crackers and grawnola for themselves and their friends. They were soon selling at their local farmer’s market, which is where they were first introduced to Whole Foods Market. We were immediately wowed by their passion for raw foods which comes through in each item they create!

RawONE products are currently available in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee. They are using the proceeds of their loan to expand their new line of truffles which, as you can imagine, are in high demand!

Our newest Local Producer Loan recipient, Thistle Farms, is the non-profit business run by the women of Magdalene, a residential recovery program for women who have survived violence, prostitution and addiction. Here’s how they describe what they do:

Magdalene, founded in 1997 by the Rev. Becca Stevens, invites women with a criminal history of prostitution and addiction to stay two years in one of our six homes rent free, in a community with other residents and no live-in staff. During their stay, we provide a plan that is individualized for each woman that includes medical care, therapy, education and employment. We offer this to women as a gift, never charging them a penny. Magdalene and Thistle Farms receive no government funding but instead rely on gifts we receive from individuals, private grants and the sale of Thistle Farms products. Thistle Farms began in 2001 as the social enterprise of Magdalene. Through Thistle Farms, the women of Magdalene gain much-needed job skills and learn responsibility and cooperation. Our dream is that people will come to see Thistle Farms as a humble but powerful business synonymous with women’s freedom.

Thistle Farms employs 32 Magdalene residents or graduates who make natural bath and body care products by hand. And the products they make are absolutely magnificent. Thistle Farms uses all natural ingredients and earth-friendly practices wherever possible. The products are made with ingredients like cotton wicks, soybean-based ecowax, olive and coconut oils, sunflower seeds, and essential oils. You can choose from a variety of bath and body care items such as hand-poured fragrant candles, body balm, hand lotion, salt scrubs, and all-natural hand soap. Thistle Farm products are available in our stores in Tennessee and Georgia.

Thistle Farms plan to use the proceeds from their loan to purchase equipment and materials that will allow them to expand their operations and produce more products. Thistle Farms believes that love is the most powerful force for change in the world.  We couldn’t agree more.

During our last semester at UC Berkeley we heard an interesting fact in a class: gourmet mushrooms could potentially be grown on 100% recycled coffee grounds. Excited about the waste-to-food model, we started experimenting in a fraternity kitchen, eventually planting ten test buckets of coffee grounds mixed with mushroom spawn (seed). Out of the ten, only one grew — but we saw a huge potential in that one bucket!

Not knowing what a good mushroom tasted like vs. a bad one, we walked that paint bucket of mushrooms down to the best restaurant in town — Chez Panisse — whose founder, Alice Waters, happened to be there. Cal, one of the head chefs, tried some of the mushrooms on the spot. We still remember him sautéing the mushrooms and shouting, “Whoa, these are delicious!” That same day, even more excited, we walked that bucket over to our local Whole Foods Market store in Berkeley and talked to the first guy we saw in the produce department, someone packing the vegetables. Before we knew it, we were being passed around the whole store telling a lot of the team members about the sustainable mushrooms we were trying to grow! A few weeks later, we received an email from Randy Ducummon, the regional produce coordinator for Whole Foods Market’s Northern California Region, and he was really supportive about the possibility of a local, sustainable, urban mushroom farm. “If you figure this out, we’ll launch them in stores.”  We’ll never forget those words!

A few weeks before graduation, we won a small $5,000 grant from our Chancellor for a social innovation business plan competition. Tasty mushrooms, the support of Whole Foods Market, and $5k in our pockets…that’s all we needed to forego our offers in investment banking and consulting and instead become full-time urban mushroom farmers!

Though we started off with fresh mushrooms, we had a lot of our customers and supporters asking us: “Can we take this one step more local and grow these at home?” With that in mind, we launched the Grow-Your-Own Mushroom Garden, which lets anyone grow up to 1½ lbs of gourmet mushrooms in as little as 10 days…right from the little brown box! The soil inside is 100% recycled coffee grounds, and our goal this year is to collect and divert one million lbs of coffee grounds from landfills. Once you’re done with the soil inside, the leftover mushroom roots and coffee ground blend actually turns into a great soil amendment for any other plants at home…closing the loop on your Mushroom Garden.

As we’ve launched the kits, first in the Berkeley store and now in Whole Foods Markets nationally, we’ve seen an awesome response from a wide range of people, but especially kids! We quickly learned that the 90 days or so it takes to grow tomatoes is a lifetime for kids, whereas the 10 days with the mushroom kit was something they could really get excited about because it literally grows in front of their eyes. We’ve since partnered with dozens of schools using the mushroom kit as an awesome educational project that ties together science, food and sustainability. We’ve had a lot of people tell us, “Kids don’t like mushrooms,” but what we’ve seen is that kids love watching things grow (especially in just 10 days!) and are then so proud to share that with their family and friends.

Our vision with Back to the Roots is to create a movement around everyone growing their own food, and we’re excited to share a really fun campaign we just launched. For every picture someone posts on our Facebook Page of their fully grown mushroom kit, we’ll donate a kit and sustainability curriculum to an elementary classroom of their choice. Share your experience and support kids to get involved in learning where their food comes from.

With nearly one in five kids in the US dealing with obesity, we believe educating and empowering kids to eat healthy and learn about the food they put in their body is crucial. We’re proud to partner with Whole Foods Market, who just launched the Whole Kids Foundation, to build that energy around healthy and sustainable living. So “like” our Facebook page, share your photo and join the movement!