a meeting of the minds

Peter Russell, Glennis Walters Smith, Steve Smith, and Phil Thyen had dinner together in the "South Room" at Organic Orbit on Friday March 21st, the Spring Equinox, to discuss a shifting paradigm.

Peter Russell is a physicist from London who lives on a boat somewhere in the San Fransisco Bay. He has dedicated his life's work to the evolution of consciousness, and he has written and evolved The Global Brain - The Awakening Earth in a New Century and numerous other books on consciousness.


Steve and Glennis Smith, the "cosmic couple," have joined forces, combining The Miracle Fund
and The Guide to Health and Healing (two expanding non-profits dedicated to making a difference to the health of people and our planet.)

Phil Thyen is the founder of Organic Orbit, a restaurant concept dedicated to the intelligence and consciousness in food.

organic wine + organic food = delightful

we are hosting a wine tasting/food pairing at the restaurant! if you like good wine and good food, this is not to be missed. click here for more info, or call Organic Orbit at 303.440.8348. they'll be happy to fill you in on the details of the event.

veggie art

just wanted to add a little humor to the blog...

oh, the things you can do with vegetables!

[images from frogview.com]

a couple other veggie art sites to check out:
click here and here

what's REALLY in that??

Ever wondered what's really in your toothpaste? Or your shampoo, mascara, nail polish, or contact lens solution? Well, my friends, it's not always a pretty picture. Think: formaldehyde, nitrosamines, acrylamide, hydroquinone, mercury, ethylene dioxide, 1,4-dioxane.... we're not just supposed to avoid those phalates and parabens anymore.

Don't know what most of these even are? You're not alone. Go to the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep website for more information for findings about unsafe chemicals in our day-to-day products, and Safe Cosmetics for a list of hazardous ingredients in cosmetic and personal care products.

Magic Mushrooms?

I'm currently learning more about medicinal mushrooms, and these babies are little powerhouses of goodness!

This is an article taken from HealthCastle.com about the benefits of 3 specific types of mushrooms: maitake, shiitake, and reishi:

Medicinal Mushrooms: Health benefits include cancer fighting, cholesterol lowering and more!

If we think about mushrooms at all, we may consider them a tasty addition to a salad or casserole. In fact, an estimated 38,000 species of mushrooms, most provide a wealth of protein, fiber, B vitamins, and vitamin C, as well as calcium and other minerals. And at least three species have demonstrated phenomenal healing potential: maitake, shiitake, and reishi. These medicinal mushrooms have been shown to boost heart health; lower the risk of cancer,; promote immune function; ward off viruses, bacteria, and fungi; reduce inflammation; combat allergies; help balance blood sugar levels; and support the body's detoxification mechanisms.

Why are medicinal mushrooms becoming increasingly popular in North America? Harriet Beinfield, acupuncturist and co-author of Between Heaven and Earth: A Guide to Chinese Medicine, explains: " the movement began with healthy food in the late '60s; now it's health medicine. People are interested in medicinal mushrooms because they've been used effectively for thousands of years".

Maitake, shiitake, and reishi mushrooms have many overlapping properties: all boost immune function, all support cardiovascular health, and all show promise in lowering the risk of - or treating - cancer. However, maitake is specifically recommended for the stomach and intestines, as well as blood sugar levels; shiitake treats nutritional deficiencies and liver ailments; and reishi promotes respiratory health and spirituality.

Learn more about the health benefits of these mushrooms by clicking on each name:

reishi
maitake
shiitake

Medical Doctors Not Trained in Environmental Health- what's the risk?

Do out doctors know the full story about our health and well-being?

"There's a disconnect between what we as scientists know and what the people know," Dr. Steingraber said. "There are no pamphlets in the doctor's office that discuss the link between carcinogenic chemical exposure and health. It's just not part of the doctor-patient relationship because many physicians are not trained in environmental health."

Yikes!


Read the full article right here. (from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, via Environmental Health News)

Why Should You Care About Pesticides?

"There is growing consensus in the scientific community that small doses of pesticides and other chemicals can adversely affect people, especially during vulnerable periods of fetal development and childhood when exposures can have long lasting effects. Because the toxic effects of pesticides are worrisome, not well understood, or in some cases completely unstudied, shoppers are wise to minimize exposure to pesticides whenever possible."

(taken from Food News, from Environmental Working Group website)


The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has put together the 4th edition of the Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce. Get the downloadable guide FOR FREE right here, and read more about why pesticides are harmful and the research that is being done.

Some of the results of testing that the EWG has come up with:

Peaches and apples topped the Dirty Dozen list. Almost 97 percent of peaches tested positive for pesticides, and almost 87 percent had two or more pesticide residues. About 92 percent of apples tested positive, and 79 percent had two or more pesticides. The rest of the Dirty Dozen include sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, pears, imported grapes, spinach, lettuce, and potatoes.


Onions, avocados, and sweet corn headed the Consistently Clean list. For all three foods, more than 90 percent of the samples tested had no detectable pesticide residues. Others on the Consistently Clean list include pineapples, mango, asparagus, sweet peas, kiwi, bananas, cabbage, broccoli, and papaya.


(from the October 4, 2006 news release from foodnews.org)

Do You Sprout??

Here's what The Sprout People have to say about sprouts:

Sprouts are one of the most concentrated natural sources

of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, trace elements, amino-acids and proteins on Earth.

In addition to being super nutritious, sprouts are one of the most versatile foods in your kitchen. Sprouts can be the main ingredient or a garnish. Sprouts are a great snack - just fill a bowl, have a seat, and start munching. Every sandwich should have sprouts, every sandwich should be made with sprouted wheat bread, every soup should have sprouts, everyBODY should have sprouts!

Sprouts - like all vegetables, are much more nutritious raw, and since sprouts are living food, they are the most nutritious of vegetables. Because of that some people think it is wrong to cook sprouts, but we think all that really matters is that you Eat More Sprouts, and if you prefer them cooked then cook them! Sure raw is better, but any sprouts are way better than none, so eat as you wish, cook 'em or don't!


Visit The Sprout People website to learn more about growing your own sprouts! They also have a great selection of recipes using sprouts.

Click Here for a Sample Recipe: Chocolate Almond Torte or Balls

Yum!!

we like art, too!

We're also catering an art gallery opening TONIGHT! Come on down to blink gallery from 6-9 pm for some *exquisite* hors d'ouevres created by Chef Michael Farrell, and meet both Michael and Phil Thyen (owner and founder/director). You won't want to mis the art either...

we like cyclists

Organic Orbit is sponsoring the Haystack Mountain Time Trials THIS SATURDAY! GS Boulder Cycling Club is hosting the first race of 2007 on April 21st, 2007 north of Boulder. Come check it out and get some info about the restaurant while watching the cyclists! Click right here for more info on the race.

diy: make a home dehydrator!

here is a great tutorial about how to make your own dehydrator at home, from very common and easy-to-find materials.

and another, this one solar-powered. click right here for the tutorial.

so cool!

for those who like wine...

A fun way to taste a lot of wine and learn about it quickly! (From the Food & Wine Magazine blog Mouthing Off.)

1. Pick a region and grape you want to explore (Washington state Merlot, for example).
2. Invite a bunch of friends over and tell them to bring a bottle of Washington Merlot of their choosing. Some friends will bring cheap plonk, others will splurge-to-impress. Let them.
3. When your friends arrive, conceal the identity of their wines with paper bags or (clean) socks with the toes cut out. (I actually know somebody who does this.) Then number each of the wines at random. This is called a “single-blind” tasting. (“Double-blind” tastings involve sugar pills and electric shocks and aren’t very fun.)
4. Drink, pass, talk. Foster a shame-free, open-discussion environment, and compare your perceptions and opinions with the group’s. Take plenty of notes—or at least pretend to. As soon as everyone’s comfortable using their wine words, make up a few outrageous aromas and flavors and see which suckers agree with you (“high mesa dew” and “burnt gummy bears” have worked for me).
5. Unveil the bottles and drink again. Notice how quickly opinions change when you realize you liked the $6 bottle bearing a cute aardvark better before it was unmasked. Admit this to no one.

This is how many pros taste and evaluate wine (minus the socks), because it works: Sampling many wines of the same place and grape in one sitting helps you notice similarities and differences that would be harder to notice over months of drinking one bottle at a time. And you only have to buy one bottle a week.

Enjoy!

hotdogs and dynamite!

this guy looks pretty psyched about that hot dog! yummmm......

i think this shirt is pretty funny (well, fast food really IS ruining the world, isn't it??)

the t-shirt was created by a great company called threadless-- they have all kinds of awesome shirts, and you should go to their website and check them out! also lots of real-life applications, on people. very funny photos.

(via a great sight all about updates in the world of fast food-- fast food news. they have a pretty funny post about KFC trying to bribe one of the contestants on American Idol to cut his hair as a promotion for a new chicken-type product, with a lifetime supply of free KFC. Mm-mm-good! Wonder what his answer was?)

Family farms on the up and up?

As a result of the big-business mentality we seem to apply to all areas of life these days, it is increasingly difficult for small family farmers to find markets for their products. Big corporations are consolidating to get us Americans the lowest prices possible, and turning organic food into a commodity. While this is great on the one hand (more people eating organic = a positive influence on our Earth), on the other hand we are inadvertently causing harm to a very important part of our population: our local farmers.

Recently, the Association of Family Farms has announced "new standards - and a new seal - to assure buyers that food isn't just raised humanely and sustainably but also comes from small family farms." (via the Colorado Daily)

And it's working! Whole Foods announced a $10-million low-interest loan program for local farmers to get products into their stores, Equal Exchange (the international Fair Trade company) is beginning to incorporate products from US farmers, Burger King is beginning to get eggs and pork from farms using sustainable and humane practices... it would seem we are moving as a whole in the right direction yes? slowly, but surely.

Read the whole article in the Colorado Daily right here.

interview with michael pollen

Michael Pollen, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, met with John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, on Februrary 27th in a public conversation(titled Past, Present, and Future of Food) in Berkeley, California. You can see a webcast of the conversation right here, and read an interview by Anne E. McBride with Michael Pollen right here.

an excerpt from the interview:

AM: Let's talk about your book more specifically. What is the dilemma of today's omnivore? How do you define it?

MP: There are a couple of different dilemmas. The basic dilemma is: What do you eat when you can eat just about everything? There's a set of nutritional answers that people are struggling for. What are the healthy foods to eat? There's also a set of ethical dilemmas. If you want to eat ethically, should you eat organic or conventional? Should you eat local or organic? Should you eat meat at all? Those are really hard questions. And there is really no simple answer. The answer really depends on what matters to you, what your values are.

Energy, for example, is a big part of the food story. Seventy percent of our fossil fuel goes to feeding ourselves, in this country. If you care about energy, you really should look at local food, which has a much lighter environmental footprint. You should get out of the supermarket and go to the farmers' market or join a CSA. If you care about the animals, actually, organic might not be the best answer because now we have organic feedlots, organic factory farms. If you care about the environment — pesticides, especially — organic is the answer. You see, it all depends on what values are driving your decisions. We all have different priorities. There's no one single set of ethical rules.

My hope is that if people have the knowledge, and if they actually see where their food comes from and have access to the information, they will make better ethical choices. Whatever those choices are, they'll be better than eating in ignorance, and shopping in ignorance, which is what most Americans today do — because it's very hard to understand anything about your food. The food chain has gotten so long, so intricate, and so opaque that most people have no idea what they're eating.

The first step towards solving the omnivore's dilemma is knowledge: eating with full consciousness. When that happens, I have a lot of confidence that people will make good choices.