The Koch Family has been raising turkeys on 60 acres of land in the Lewiston Valley of Pennsylvania for three generations. Duane Koch runs Koch’s Turkey Farm with the help of his three sisters, and together they raise free-range turkeys using an all-vegetarian diet of locally grown corn and roasted soybean.  With the feed mill, turkey houses and processing facility all located on the family property near Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, the turkeys are able to live their entire lives on the same land.

Note: Our Farm to Market slide shows currently feature farmers and producers from our South and MidAtlantic Regions. We hope to expand to others in the future.

One of our vendors was featured on Oprah today for their innovative calf raising practices. Inspired by their concern for animal welfare, the Strauss family spent years researching alternative veal raising systems. Ultimately, they say the most humane and compassionate system is the one Mother Nature provides.

For anyone who wants to eat veal, this is the way to go —pasture-raised with exceptional quality and flavor, while raised in a healthy, humane and sustainable way. They promise their calves are:

• Free to Roam – never tethered, raised in confinement
• Raised on natural open pastures alongside mother & herd
• Never raised in feedlots
• Unlimited access to mother’s milk
• Strictly vegetarian fed – never receiving animal by-products
• Never ever administered growth hormones
• Never ever administered antibiotics
• Never experience the stress of industrialized farming
• Traceable to place of birth
• Agriculturally sustainable & environmentally friendly

If you want to know more, check out this video on their website. Strauss Free Raised™ Veal is available in our stores in the Southwest, Southeast, Florida and Rocky Mountain regions. It’s coming soon to stores in other parts of the country.

In their own words…

White Oak Pastures works in cooperation with nature to produce premium quality beef that is healthy, nutritious, and good to eat. Care is given to ensure that all of our production practices are economically practical, ecologically sustainable, and that the animals are always humanely treated.

Will Harris is a fourth generation cattleman taking his family farm in a whole new direction. His 1,000-acre farm in South Georgia is home to about 650 grass-fed beef cattle that roam freely and graze on 100% Georgia native sweet grasses.

White Oak Pastures is a recipient of Whole Foods Market’s Local Producer Loan Program. Through the Local Producer Loan Program, Whole Foods Market makes $10 million available annually for low-interest loans to small, local producers.

Note: Our Farm to Market slide shows currently feature farmers and producers from our South and MidAtlantic Regions. We hope to expand to others in the future.

The best part of my job as administrator of our Local Producer Loan Program isn’t giving out loans to our small producers – it’s watching loan recipients use those loans to grow their businesses. In the year and a half since we launched the program, Whole Foods Market has provided loans to 29 small producers of products ranging from grassfed beef and honey to wine sorbet and body care products. They are some of the hardest-working, most passionate people I’ve had the pleasure to meet, and it’s always so inspiring to see their plans come to fruition.

One of our most exciting success stories is Laughing Giraffe Organics, a (very!) small company from Phoenix, Arizona that makes raw, vegan, organic, gluten-free granola and macaroons… that taste amazing! Justin Baumgartner started selling his product at a farmers market in 2006, where a local Whole Foods Market team member noticed him and asked about getting the product in our stores. That was the start of a great relationship. Due to its popularity and Justin’s entrepreneurial drive (would YOU call each store individually to make sure your product is in stock?), Laughing Giraffe soon expanded to more stores and then region-wide. After receiving not one, but TWO small loans, the products are now available in our Southern Pacific, Rocky Mountain, and Southwest regions. The products also recently were accepted by United Natural Foods, one of our primary distributors, a move which will allow access to Whole Foods Market stores throughout the western half of the United States. Did I mention that he managed this while he and his wife were caring for a newborn?

Anyone who knows Justin knows what a hard worker he is, and we are so thrilled at his success. He was recently featured on the front page of the business section in the Arizona Republic, a wonderful recognition of his passion and dedication to great food made for people, by people.

As Justin would say, be well.

About the only things sprouting up on lawns this summer in central Texas are “Alarm Stage Drought” signs. The grass is crispy, some trees feature the yellow hues of autumn, and county officials and parents will be closely monitoring the few fireworks used by neighborhood kids this year. Our typical blast-furnace-August weather started in mid-May this year, and we’ve not had more than a flirty little spatter of rain since. Our June was the hottest recorded in Austin since 1854, with an average high of 99.4 degrees. Even our scrappiest cur-dogs won’t go out in this year’s noon-day sun.

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Summer is officially here and, to me, 4th of July celebrations seem like the perfect place to indulge in a bit of frozen fun. In this podcast, recipe developer Cindy Cuomo shares her ideas about frozen treats like innovative ice cream sandwiches, frozen fruit salads and red, white and blue sundaes. Popsicles and sparklers, anyone? Got a favorite 4th of July memory involving cold treats? I remember eating a whole can of black olives while waiting for the hand-cranked ice cream to freeze. A big bowl of ice cream on top of the olives made me sooooo sick! Listen in and share your memories.

 Frozen Treats [4:33m]: Play Now | Download (4839)

This comment came in to John Mackey’s CEO blog this week and I thought it was worth sharing here — cool story about Mr. Moore’s coffee company and what they are doing (story starts in the 3rd paragraph).

Dear Mr. Mackey -
I love your passion for life and your refreshing ability to express yourself so well in the media - both in speeches and in this blog. It so cool in this society to see a leader such as yourself to express his views on love and life but more importantly your gracious views of and respect for your parents is so critical in this society. We need more people to express their values and to not be afraid to express them even when they may not be so well received in this culture. Thanks again for your two wonderful speeches and your love of life and love and parents.

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I just visited Ron Cottle, one of the better conventional and “emerging organic” growers (and long-time vendor/partner with Whole Foods Market) in Eastern North Carolina and took a bunch of pictures to share. He is just about wrapped-up with organic and conventional blueberries and is just now starting his blackberry harvest (they’re awesome!), and in about 8 to 10 days will be full-speed ahead with his organic grape tomatoes.

This block of about 10 contiguous acres just came to full organic certification this season, and he’s pretty excited about it. Read the rest of this entry »

For about a year, we’ve been giving small, local producers low-interest loans to help them grow their businesses. You can learn more about Whole Foods Market’s Local Producer Loan Program.
Just this week, we finalized our first loan in our hometown, Austin, Texas! Tracy Claros, originally from England, makes and sells incredible English puddings, or cakes, under the name The Sticky Toffee Pudding Company. After starting with just one flavor, Tracy has branched out (one cannot live by sticky toffee pudding alone, although you can try!) and now offers four different puddings, with English Lemon Pudding, Molten Chocolate Baby-Cake (pictured), and Sticky Ginger Pudding rounding out the lot.

I love the classic, the sticky toffee pudding. When I lived in Australia many years ago, my best friend and I used to share these all the time (although there they are called sticky date puddings). The best part, IMO, is the stickiness - an awesome toffee sauce. Totally amazing! And really good with whipped cream or ice cream (but what isn’t?).

Although Tracy’s products are already in distribution in many parts of the country, she still makes her cakes by hand and needed some additional equipment to help her continue to grow. The loan we’ve worked with her on is going to finance a tray sealer, which will help her go from 12 puddings a minute to 40!

We’re always looking for new loan recipients, so please feel free to check out the program information and contact me if you or someone you know would be a good loan candidate.

Check out our South region’s local grower and vendor profiles.

Thanks for watching our slide show and please let us know what you think!