Eat More Greens | Pines Wheatgrass (Virtual Organic Week 2020)
Yesterday was FUN(GI), right? We talked all about adaptogens and mushrooms with Four Sigmatic and today let's talk about dark leafy greens! I met Pines Wheatgrass about 4 years ago and immediately was hooked. They are the original Organic Plant-Based Superfood, established in 1976! They have been making incredible products for over 40 years and really know what they are talking about when it comes organic, organic farming and the organic industry.
I found an easy way for you to add more greens into your life! Keep reading...
Last year, around this time, I was in Washington D.C. with the Organic Trade Association as one of their influencers to "hit the hill" to lobby for the future of the Organic industry and, more specifically, the Farm Bill. Organic Week D.C. is an amazing week organized by the OTA. Organic businesses travel to D.C. to hit The Hill and meet with key members of Congress! When you support the ORGANIC industry, you are supporting organic brands and organic farmers that believe in the health and wellness of your family. Did you know that there are 700 chemicals that are prohibited in organic farming, yet 3000 chemicals are allowed in conventional farming as opposed to 67 that are allowed in organic. Organic producers, farmers and brands are committed to making healthy food safe and available to all Americans! (Here's a photo from one of the Smithsonian Museums - it was very fitting.) Read more about that trip HERE.
This year, things were moved to a virtual "Organic Week D.C." and I decided to do my own version of a Virtual Organic Week! I'm sharing some of my favorite USDA Organic brands with you each day on social media and here on KrystensKitchen.com, as well as sharing some Q + As which each brand. Follow along on Instagram, too!
Who doesn't want to add more greens into their life? Not just any greens though, high quality, dark leafy greens. Whether you want to add it to your smoothies, guacamole, baking or even pancakes (yes!) you should definitely try out Pines Wheatgrass Powder. They also have tablets and capsules (in supplement form) where you can take a serving of them and it's equivalent to a serving of vegetables. Whether you can't get enough in one day or are on the go, traveling or just want more -- the tablets and capsules are an easy go-to.
For us, we eat a lot of greens anyway but we always add the wheatgrass powder to our smoothies and take a few Pines Wheatgrass Green Duo capsules each day.
I am very grateful to share this Q+A with you with Ron Seibold, the co-founder of Pines Wheatgrass (seen in photo above). I just adore him and love his company. I am so grateful for what they have done for the Organic industry (oh it's pretty big -- read below). Thanks, Ron & Pines family!
Why did you start your company/ Why did the company start? We wanted to increase the amount of organic farmland and to change land-use patterns where high-quality farmland was used for housing developments when there were plenty of non-agricultural lands available.
Why is creating organic products important to your company? Organic farming is our prime priority. We established that purpose when we started in 1976, and more than 150 people put in an average of $100 each to help us get started. They invested because they believed in what Steve and I were saying about the importance of sustainable agriculture. As soon as we could, we began using our limited profits to buy and convert farmland to organic. In 1980, I served on a four-person committee set up by the Kansas Organic Producers to write organic standards for our State. The USDA used those them as one of the models for the USDA Certified Organic standards after Congress passed the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) of 1990. We immediately put all our land in the USDA program.
We have always organically farmed all the land we purchased and continue to never apply any products from the chemical poison industry to any of our fields. We are very passionate about organic farming. We disagree with the USDA allowing dual cultivation by companies like CocaCola, Nestles, Pepsi, Amazing Grass, and others to have some of their land certified as organic and other land cultivated with poisons. We also oppose the use of groundwater as irrigation to grow organic crops. Most groundwater used for irrigation, even on certified organic fields, is contaminated with chemical poisons and runoff from confined animal feeding operations that supply the meat industry. Groundwater often contains dangerous chemicals such as Atrazine, which was outlawed in other countries decades ago.
What do you wish consumers understood about organic ingredients/sourcing organic ingredients? I wish they would make a distinction between companies like Pines, which is 100% organic, and other companies who grow some organic foods, but most products they produce and sell are GMO foods that grown with poisonous chemicals. When a farmer grows both organic foods and non-organic foods, they are not committd to organic farming. The only reason they grow certified organic products is to take advantage of those of us who struggled for organic certification and who are passionate about organic farming.
Do you have any advice for other brands or consumers about why they should choose organic products and support the organic industry? Every poison that non-organic factory farmers spray on their fields is associated with a disease. GMO foods are grown using Atrazine and Round-Up. Both toxic chemicals are associated with cancer and other diseases. Recent analyses have should these chemicals are found in and contaminate nearly all foods that are not USDA Certified Organic. Just because the Trump administration has brought back poisons that were banned years ago and has stopped all research on the adverse health effects of other pesticides that are still in use does not make them any less dangerous. Consumers are waking up to the dangers of chemicals used in factory farming and their long term adverse effect on their health. As more consumers become aware, companies that still promote foods containing poisons will lose business with reputations sullied because the companies appear to have no respect for the health of their customers.
Is there anything else you’d like to share about your brand/products/upcoming product launches? We continue to grow the best quality crops. We are the only green food company that does it all at the same location. We cultivate, harvest, package, and ship all from our farm, which is also the farm that grew the first wheatgrass for humans in 1932. We own the laboratory that Dr. Schnabel used for the research that proved that wheatgrass and other cereal grasses cultivated using his standards are much more nutrient-dense than other vegetables. We are proud to follow his tradition.
Where can people buy your products? They can find our products at quality-minded independent natural food stores and large chains such as Natural Grocers, Sprouts and Fresh Thyme. They can search for stores that carry Pines here. Our products are also available on our website (www.wheatgrass.com) for up to 40% off the retail price. Other online merchants such as Amazon also carry our products.
Further reading about Pines:
Add a tablespoon of Pines Wheatgrass powder to your pancake batter next time you whip up a tasty breakfast to make your pancakes green without using chemical artificial food coloring! I mashed some blackberries, strawberries and blueberries to make some chia seed jam (Recipe from my cookbook Eat Real Food.)
