Any Organic Eaters?

[TripleDigitRide]

Not sure if I can do this long-term, but I'm thinking about trying only organic foods, or as much as I can.

Are there any places (stores/farmers/etc) that sell all/mostly organic foods? Fruits, vegetables, beef, chicken, fish, etc?

Edited November 28, 2009 by TripleDigitRide

[Kelemvor]

Mt wife gets us mainly organic foods. You can get them at any grocery, but a cheaper route is to purchase from organic local farmers. You can do that by joining a co-op or going to the farmers market. Organic foods are kinda weird about the pricing. Certain things are close to the price of the regular option and others are considerably more expensive. It is a worthwhile venture, though, to try to eat organic as foods these days have a whole lot of pesticides and hormones in them.

[Guest Gun Geek]

I say grow your own, if you can. Organic foods at the grocery store are a rip off, they charge way to much. So yes if you cant grow your own, go to the farmers market to get it.

We have been raising chickens for about a year, we have also had a pretty good crop of jalepenoes, tomatoes, peas, and green beans for the past few years. Next year corn is in the plan. Be prepared for some work though. When canning time comes it is a non stop process.

[KahrMan]

If you are serious about going organic, try to find Penn & Tellars episode of Bull***** on organic foods. it is a great episode.

[Guest SUNTZU]

If you are serious about going organic, try to find Penn & Tellars episode of Bull***** on organic foods. it is a great episode.

Agreed. An "organic" label does not mean what you think it means.

[Steelharp]

I try to get 'em to orgas... uh... never mind...

[TNTitan]

get with a local organic coop.. much cheaper.

[tntnixon]

Let me tell you a true story about organic. It's the main reason why I was pretty much off here for a month starting at the beginning of October. My wife, her sister and I went to a fancy cafe that touts it's food as organic. We all enjoyed a nice Greek Salad. Well within the week, 2 of us were hospitalized and almost died, and the other very sick from Salmonella poisoning.

The dirty little secret is that it is grown in the stuff that is the namesake for Penn & Teller's show. Feces has a nasty habit of having lots of bacteria in it. Vegetables grown in said feces, suck up the bacteria through the roots and into the vegetable itself. While most bacteria is harmless to humans, there are certainly some notable exceptions, Salmonella being one of them. You can't wash it off and can only kill it by cooking it (who ever heard of cooking lettuce).

These type of outbreaks were very common until the advent of modern growing techniques. While people want to believe that any and all disease it contributable to our food and water supply, the truth is both are safer and contribute to fewer deaths than in the history of the world. Just think of it, we live longer than ever in the history of mankind.

While I never bought the organic hype due to my science background,$50,000 in hospital bills and being out of work for 1 1/2 months will probably keep me from ever eating organic vegetables again.

[Raoul]

My wife and I have tried to source our food locally since we were first married. Had our first "organic" garden in 1978. We both grew up in families that raised gardens and canned. We raised our own beef. Back in the day we didn't put much chemicals on our gardens and the animals we raised for food didn't get hormones and such.

I think the trick is not to think "organic" but to try and source your food as locally as possible. I recommend local farmers markets in season. When winter comes we all have to buy from the grocer. Some of the "organic" stuff is ok, but sometimes you have to eat what's fresh and looks good.

Everything in life is a tradeoff. You'd be better off concentrating less on organic and paying attention to the food you eat. More veggies. less meat and dairy.

Just my .02

[Guest Muttling]

As mentioned above, lots of good ways to buy. Farmers markets and organic co-ops are great.

There's a fresh produce market I used to frequent in Hendersonville right beside the Comcast Cable office. (It's tucked away in a strip mall behind CVS pharmacy.) They do group buys from the Menonites in Kentucky from time to time. Great deal on a bag FULL of great produce, check them out.

The farmers market in Nashville is another good way to buy.

As was mentioned before, grow your own is the BEST way to go. It doesn't work year around, but nothing beats the flavors fresh from the garden. What's more tomatos, carrots, and onions are SUPER easy. Squash, potatoes, cucumbers, corn, and many more are pretty easy as well.

P.S. - I'm not organic per se, but I love to cook and nothing beats fresh.

Edited November 28, 2009 by Muttling

[Rightwinger]

TDR, start deer hunting, lay in a bunch of venison and you have done your part for true organic eating.

I'm gonna have some organic tonight I think, gonna try to country fry it like Cracker Barrel if I can get the batter right this time!

[TripleDigitRide]

Anyone ever shopped at Whole Foods? Any reviews?

I would rather buy locally, if possible. I'm more or less trying to see about buying foods that don't contain pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, etc.

[Raoul]

Anyone ever shopped at Whole Foods? Any reviews?

I would rather buy locally, if possible. I'm more or less trying to see about buying foods that don't contain pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, etc.

Whole foods is ok. A little expensive. In my market Kroger actually does a pretty good job.

[Kelemvor]

Anyone ever shopped at Whole Foods? Any reviews?

I would rather buy locally, if possible. I'm more or less trying to see about buying foods that don't contain pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, etc.

Whole foods has just about any organic thing you can think of. It is expensive though. I don't like going because the people there seem like a bunch of vegan, yoga-loving, yuppies...so my wife does it for me when we get stuff there.

[tntnixon]

Anyone ever shopped at Whole Foods? Any reviews?

I would rather buy locally, if possible. I'm more or less trying to see about buying foods that don't contain pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, etc.

Whole Foods is fine, so is Trader Joe's. Both have all the organic stuff you can think of. But since you're a Hendersonville man, why not just shop at Publix. They have organic choices for most anything you would want.

All that being said, read my above post.

[Guest Muttling]

+1 for Publix. Especially their seafood department. Only chain store I've seen with fresh little neck clams.

Drop me a PM if you instructions on fixing clam steamers. They're easy and delicious.

[TripleDigitRide]

If anyone is interested, I found this helpful site. Local Harvest / Farmers Markets / Family Farms / CSA / Organic Food

It lists tons of farms, co-ops, farmers markets, etc in your area.

I've been able to find beef, fruits & vegetable, chicken, eggs, lamb, farms very close to Hendersonville.

I could only find one all-natural beef farm listed in my area, but if I understand their site correctly, the won't be selling any more beef until May. Being a Yankee, I had no idea they didn't sell beef year-round. That's interesting.

There's also a wait on the fruits and vegetable, for obvious reasons.

[Rightwinger]

Grits is a vegetable....

[Raoul]

I could only find one all-natural beef farm listed in my area, but if I understand their site correctly, the won't be selling any more beef until May. Being a Yankee, I had no idea they didn't sell beef year-round. That's interesting.

There's also a wait on the fruits and vegetable, for obvious reasons.

Small local producers only slaughter a limited number of cattle annually. They typically don't have a lot of freezer storage space. Since it's mostly grass fed there are limitations on number produced.

[56FordGuy]

I did a local harvest type of thing a few years ago in East Nashville. It's a lot of hippes and liberal type folks, but they were generally nice enough and the vegetables were good.

That said, there are other ways to go about it that work as well or better. Granted, I'm not doing it now because I'm a greenie, but because I'm thrifty. As an apartment dweller, I don't know how you'd fare with gardening, but I've had success with 5 gallon bucket gardens. Likewise, I doubt you could keep chickens without upsetting some folks.

Meat is not that bad, though. It helps to have a big freezer. I usually try to buy direct from the farm. A friend and his dad kill some hogs about twice a year, I have 25 pounds of pork sausage in my freezer right now. Much higher quality than I could get at the store, and a lot cheaper.

I haven't gone that route for beef yet, haven't really explored the options.

[Jasongar8]

Billy Jackson of Jackson Farms in White House does all natural beef. He kills twice a year and I think the smallest you can buy is 1/4 animal. I am looking for his number and I will post it if I can find it.

[TripleDigitRide]

I did a local harvest type of thing a few years ago in East Nashville. It's a lot of hippes and liberal type folks, but they were generally nice enough and the vegetables were good.

That said, there are other ways to go about it that work as well or better. Granted, I'm not doing it now because I'm a greenie, but because I'm thrifty. As an apartment dweller, I don't know how you'd fare with gardening, but I've had success with 5 gallon bucket gardens. Likewise, I doubt you could keep chickens without upsetting some folks.

Meat is not that bad, though. It helps to have a big freezer. I usually try to buy direct from the farm. A friend and his dad kill some hogs about twice a year, I have 25 pounds of pork sausage in my freezer right now. Much higher quality than I could get at the store, and a lot cheaper.

I haven't gone that route for beef yet, haven't really explored the options.

Yea, keeping my own garden and rasing chickens probably wouldn't make me the most popular neighbor in the complex. With any luck, I'll be buying a house after the first of the year, so a garden should be workable.

Does your friend currently have pork available for sale? Any idea of cuts, prices, etc?

I've been able to find a couple farms in or near Sumner County that do beef, and plan on going in on 1/2 cow with a friend of mine. Looks like that will have to wait until they have some available in May. I've also found a couple farms in Sumner County that also do fresh chickens and eggs.

Who knows how all this will turn out, but I like the idea of eating meats that haven't been pumped full of antibiotics, hormones and dyes. Plus, helping local farmers can't be a bad thing.

[TripleDigitRide]

Billy Jackson of Jackson Farms in White House does all natural beef. He kills twice a year and I think the smallest you can buy is 1/4 animal. I am looking for his number and I will post it if I can find it.

Thanks!

I haven't come accross his farm during my searches. The one I've been looking at is B&W Cattle Company in Greenbrier. They also offer all-natural beef, which is what I'm looking for.

Let me know if you find his number. Thanks again.