If there is one thing I love about winter, it’s snow, and this year there has been no shortage of the white stuff in the northeast. But it might surprise you to know one of the reasons why I love snow. It’s not because I’m a skier, or a champion snowman builder, or an ice fisherman. Nope, it’s because I like to bag groceries, and there is no more interesting time to do some bagging than right before a snow storm.

Think about it: when the possibility of being stuck in your house arises, how do you prepare? You run to the grocery store and fill up a few bags with your snow day essentials! Here at Whole Foods Market, we prepare for a snow storm by making sure we have everything you need, and by calling in extra help to get everyone in and out as quickly as possible! This winter we’ve had a few storms, which always makes for exciting and busy days. Here’s an example of the types of bags I see on the days before a big snow fall:

The Baby Bag: tons of baby food, milk and diapers, diapers, diapers!

The Single Guy Bag: toilet paper, frozen pizza and chocolate chip cookies.

The Family Bag: Water, macaroni and cheese, cans of soup, multi-vitamins, chocolate milk, cupcakes and stew meat.

The Unexplainable Bag: 20 heads of broccoli.

Personally, my own bag contains ice cream, pasta sauce, parmesan cheese, a loaf of bread and wine (where available). Read the rest of this entry »

Together, we really can change the world. Actually, It’s already happening and with your donation during Whole Planet Foundation’s Annual Prosperity Campaign, we can do even more.

Now through March 31st, please join fellow Whole Foods Market shoppers, team members, Supplier Alliance for Microcredit partners and online donors to help raise $1.5 million for 40,000 impoverished people living in communities around the globe where Whole Foods Market sources products. We run this campaign each year to give back globally and empower the very poor with microcredit loans to create or expand home-based businesses such as weaving, raising chickens and small-scale agriculture, providing an opportunity to lift themselves and their family out of poverty. Read the rest of this entry »

UPDATE 02/18/10: The comment period has been extended until March 3, 2010  You still have time to have your voice and opinions heard!  The easiest way to send your comments to the USDA is on the True Food Project’s Take Action website.

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture is currently considering whether or not to approve the use of genetically engineered (GE) Roundup-Ready alfalfa. Their report says you don’t care about GMOs in organics. Comments are due to them by February 16th, so read on to hear how you can help. (Or go directly to the True Food Project’s Take Action website.)

As part of the approval process, they are required to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), a detailed analysis of how the crop will affect the environment, organic and conventional farmers, farm animals, and the public. They’ve released their EIS on GE alfalfa, and here’s how the True Food Network at The Center for Food Safety summarized the issue in a recent Action Alert:

In 2006, the Center for Food Safety (CFS) sued the Department of Agriculture (USDA) for its illegal approval of Monsanto’s genetically engineered (GE) Roundup Ready alfalfa. The federal courts sided with CFS and banned GE alfalfa until the USDA fully analyzed the impacts of the plant on the environment, farmers, and the public in a rigorous analysis known as an environmental impact statement (or EIS). USDA released its draft EIS on December 14, 2009. A 60-day comment period is now open until February 16, 2010. This is the first time the USDA has done this type of analysis for any GE crop. Therefore, the final decision will have broad implications for all GE crops.

That Environmental Impact Statement, unfortunately, contains a number of questionable statements and conclusions. The part of the EIS that worries us the most is the claim that buyers of organic foods don’t care if those products are contaminated with GMOs (genetically modified, or genetically engineered, organisms). We know that nothing could be further from the truth, and that a huge number of our shoppers care deeply about avoiding GMOs in the foods they buy. Read the rest of this entry »

Right around the middle of February we reach a point in the hard fruit season that often goes unnoticed in grocery stores throughout the country. This is the time of year when we find out if we have enough domestically produced, organically grown apples and pears in storage to make it until the fruit from the southern hemisphere starts to arrive. In the last few years this has not been a problem. Increased acreage in the U.S. Pacific Northwest has provided more than enough overlap for a seamless transition from the fall/winter domestic crop to the offshore imports of the spring and summer. This year is no different, but there are still some changes I make in how I buy (and store) apples. Read the rest of this entry »

Making a meal for one is a lot tougher than it sounds. You can’t live on carry-out alone and you sure don’t want to be eating leftovers for a week. So, what’s a solo guy or gal to do? Turn to The Whole Deal! You’ll find a week’s worth of Meals for One ideas that are simple, tasty and affordable. They are so good, you just might be okay with eating leftovers.

Take a look:

MONDAY: Veggie Monday
Use the organic bread coupon from the in-store The Whole Deal value guide to make the best grilled cheese ever – perhaps cheddar with sautéed apples and onions, or mozzarella with arugula and sundried tomatoes. Add a green salad. Read the rest of this entry »

Olowo-n’djo Tchala is the Founder and Director of Alaffia. In appreciation for our customers supporting their mission, he asked if they could please give away a lovely gift basket along with this blog post. Of course! So, given that February is Whole Trade Month here at Whole Foods Market and Alaffia is one of our wonderful Whole Trade vendors, enter a comment below by February 22, 2010, telling us what you like best about purchasing Whole Trade products. (Need a reminder about the benefits? Check out this Whole Trade Month post.) We’ll select one comment at random to win the Alaffia gift basket. Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t remember eating a lot of fresh herbs when I was a kid. In fact, I don’t remember anybody eating them, but what I do remember was the “little green tree” that would come as a garnish on my restaurant plate. And I also remember pushing that odd little tree to the side of the plate, never to be eaten. Then one day, I decided to venture into the land of mystery. What was this thing? What would happen to me if I ate it? I reasoned that if it was on my plate and touching my food then, by golly, I ought to be able to eat it and live to tell the tale, right? To be on the safe side, I checked with mom, who gave the go-ahead, and I dug in. Not bad, and even better when dipped into my Thousand Island salad dressing! Read the rest of this entry »

I work on the team in our Global Headquarters that answers customer emails, calls, and letters sent to our office. As I’m sure you can imagine my job can get hectic at times. However, I recently received this letter from one of our customers. When I opened the letter it brought a moment of pause to my day. I found customer Janyne’s story so touching. Her letter is a beautiful reminder that the little things we do, even if they seem little to us, can make a big difference to others, and if we treat people with compassion and love it will not go unappreciated. I thought the kindness shown by the Team Members in our Raintree store to Janyne’s family was worth sharing. After opening the letter I shared it with many of my fellow Team Members in the office, and now I’d like to share it with you – a little message of love and caring on Valentine’s Day.

To whom it may concern:

This letter is being written to acknowledge and thank the employees of the Whole Foods Market in Scottsdale, Arizona. Last fall I traveled to Scottsdale to help care for my 94 year old mother, Myrtle Jenkins, who had been placed under in-home hospice care. While there, I accompanied my father to the Whole Foods Market where he and my mother had shopped for the past five years. I assumed that my elderly parents were well recognized in the store, since few who reach that age are out doing their own shopping, let alone driving themselves to the store! When we began checking out, the cashier asked me about my mother and he was visibly shaken at learning she was nearing death. I was certainly taken back by this show of concern from a store employee!

A week or so later, my father once again returned to the store and as he was checking out, realized that a bouquet of flowers had been placed in his cart. When he told the cashier that the flowers had been mistakenly placed there, he was told that they were for my mother-from the store employees. Though we were extremely grateful for the kindness, we did not think that my mother would even be aware of the flowers, as she had very minimal sight at that point. To our surprise, she became quite animated and asked to touch them, then requested they be placed where she could see them-even asking about them during the days that followed.

It is a tribute to your employees, and I believe corporate vision, that this kindness was shown to my mother and our family. Thank you! My mother died November 4th, and my father has since then relocated to Roseville, California where my brother who lives close by has been sure to help him locate the nearest Whole Foods Market. I am sure the employees there are starting to recognize Kenneth Jenkins, the elderly, bent figure with the ready smile.

Again, thank you for the kindness shown to my family.

Sincerely,
Janyne McConnaughey, Ph.D.

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This just in: The USDA published its final rule on access to pasture for organic dairy animals this afternoon. This enhancement to the National Organic Standards has been in the works for many years, and its announcement is a major victory for organic consumers, the integrity of the organic label, and the lives of organic livestock.

While the National Organic Standards already require access to pasture for ruminant animals, this enhancement lays out very specific requirements:

• Animals must graze pasture during the grazing season, which must be at least 120 days per year;
• Animals must obtain a minimum of 30 percent dry matter intake from grazing pasture during the grazing season;
• Producers must have a pasture management plan and manage pasture as a crop to meet the feed requirements for the grazing animals and to protect soil and water quality; and,
• Livestock are exempt from the 30 percent dry matter intake requirements during the finish feeding period, not to exceed 120 days. Livestock must have access to pasture during the finishing phase.

We’ve supported this enhancement through our testimony and comments to the USDA and the National Organic Standard Board over the past four years. We intend to carefully review the final rule and provide our comments to the USDA.

This change is a giant victory for the integrity and continued growth of the organic label, since it adds clearer definition to the role of pasture in organic livestock production. Our experience with our customers confirms that there is an overwhelming consumer expectation that organic livestock are grazed on pasture, which allows ruminant animals to fulfill their natural behaviors.

Stay tuned for more updates, and for more information, check out the USDA’s press release and Q&A on the changes.