The best, most nutritious eggs come from free-range, cage-free chickens. That’s why all Organic Valley chickens have access to green, organic pastures, where they spend their days clucking, strutting and pecking at bugs and earthworms. On rainy days, the chickens stay in the coop, but keeping them happy and healthy is still Organic Valley’s highest priority. And possibly the best thing about Organic Valley is that they’re not a giant corporation, but a cooperative made up of over 2,000 family farms (some right here in NY State), all pooling their passion and resources to bring organic food to the tables of people across the country.
OV eggs are tough to crack:
- Each egg contains 6g of organic protein
- Organic Valley eggs contain NO antibiotics, synthetic hormones, toxic pesticides or GMO anything
- Organic Valley goes beyond organic standards to provide extra outdoor space for foraging and exercise, more room for perching indoors, and guaranteed shade outside for the hot summer months
**ON SALE ALL MONTH**$3.99 (Reg $5.99)
Hemp History Week is June 3-9! Join us in the 10th celebration of hemp (this year’s theme: The Return of the Plant!) and celebrate its many uses. Did you know…hemp is more than just a healthy whole food source of plant-based protein? It’s also a growing U.S. industry with more than 78,00 acres farmed in 2018. Were you aware that hemp is an environmentally sustainable solution for thousands of non-toxic products ranging from car parts and building materials to paper products, textiles, plastics and even ethanol? Hemp also sequesters carbon from the atmosphere and puts it right back into the soil, healing distressed farmlands when other regenerative agricultural practices are used.
Hemp and Your Health
The more you learn about hemp, the more you’ll want it in your life. Boost nutrition with hemp, which contains all 9 essential fatty acids, Omega-3 and 6, plus a host of vitamins and minerals. Hemp adds a rich and slightly nutty flavor to any dish; enjoy sprinkled on avocado toast, add hemp seed oil to your favorite salad dressing, blend hemp hearts in a smoothie, yogurt or cereal, or mix into cookie dough or granola. You can also pamper yourself with moisturizing hemp body care, or relax with CBD products derived from hemp. (Click here for a rundown of our carefully vetted CBD offerings here in the store.)
As lawmakers, farmers, and families embrace how hemp can support a healthy future for people, planet and our economy, the laws surrounding U.S. cultivation are currently being rewritten. The recent passage of the 2018 Farm Bill with the Hemp Farming Amendment has removed hemp from the Controlled Substances Act, legalizing hemp farming in the U.S. During Hemp Week, we join together in victory across the country as we celebrate the Return of the Plant! and embark on a new era of hemp cultivation in American soil.
Learn more about hemp at HempHistoryWeek.com.
You are what you eat…even when it comes to your sunscreen. Try as you might to avoid it, it’s still possible to ingest sunscreen from your lips, or inhale toxic ingredients in sunscreen sprays. That’s why the Environmental Working Group (EWG) suggests avoiding sunscreens with ingredients that can harm our lungs or other organs. Both active and inactive ingredients in chemical sunscreens have been shown to cause myriad health issues in users, including hormone disruption and low birth weight. Broad-spectrum mineral sunscreens using either titanium dioxide or zinc oxide are currently the only ones considered safe by the FDA, who declared in February that chemical sunscreens will need more testing to determine safety.
Check out three of our favorite (reef-safe) mineral sunscreens for Summer 2019:
1. All Good: With certified organic ingredients (tested in their own “herbal test garden”), the highest quality medicinal herbs, and a strong commitment to reef-friendly products, All Good is as good as it gets. In addition to the causes its uplifts through the 1% for the Planet program, All Good maintains an Activist Athlete program reserved for top athletes who excel not only in an outdoor sport, but also in fighting for environmental and social causes. Protect yourself: We carry All Good Sunscreen Butter SPF 50, Sport Spray SPF, Kids Spray SPF30, and Sunscreen SPF 30, all with 80 minutes of water resistance.
2. Think Sport: Founded by a biochemist with a passion for health and preventative medicine, Think Sport sets itself apart by working with leading scientists to create safe, clean sun care alternatives, effective enough for even the most extreme athletes. Driven by a desire to educate the public about the dangers of too much skin exposure and the harmful chemicals in many sun care products, Think Sport is a founding member of the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) Sun Safety Campaign and a member of the Safe Sunscreen Council. Products apply and absorb easily, with no oily feel. Protect yourself: We carry Think Good Baby, Kids and Adult formulas, all in SPF 50, with 80 minutes of water resistance.
3. MyChelle: One of the first cosmetic manufacturers to reject ingredients that are toxic to marine life, MyChelle’s Sun Care products are clean, safe, effective, and natural. In addition to broad-spectrum protection by way of a mineral base (zinc oxide or titanium oxide), MyChelle adds antioxidants to shield from infrared radiation and slow the creation of wrinkles; perhaps this is why it is recommended by dermatologists. MyChelle is a founding member of EWG Verified, the program that lets you easily identify the products that meet EWG’s criteria for transparency and health; look for the EWG Verified mark. Protect yourself: We carry Michelle Sun Shield Spray SPF 50, Solar Defense Body Lotion SPF 50, Sun Shield Unscented SPF 28, Liquid (Non-tinted or Nude) SPF 50, and Sun Shield Clear Stick SPF 50.
The Coalition to Save Hempstead Harbor (CSHH) is a volunteer, nonprofit organization, founded in 1986. CSHH is dedicated to identifying and eliminating environmental threats to Hempstead Harbor and surrounding communities. Our objective is to advance the public interest in protecting and restoring our local environment to its full ecological and economic potential. Currently, CSHH has been involved in a year-long Habitat Restoration project in Glenwood Landing and also organizes several “cleanups” throughout the year. Most recently, CSHH sponsored an Earth Day press conference and rally to oppose offshore seismic blasting and oil and gas drilling.
The fundamental force behind CSHH’s efforts is the belief that concerned and informed citizens can make a difference in events that shape the future. They seek to increase awareness of environmental issues and promote greater appreciation of the local environment. Most importantly, the public is encouraged to participate in local conservation issues.
Just in time for Earth Day, we’re excited to announce that our April Charity of the Month—All Our Energy—is all about protecting our local environment.
With its focus on advocacy, education, and empowering people to support renewable energy development and act on environmental protection, All Our Energy is near and dear to our hearts. They educate the public and empower local volunteers to raise awareness, advocate for change, and take action in local beach, waterway, and open space clean-ups.
Some of All Our Energy’s recent successes include the Long Beach and Sea Cliff reusable bag initiatives, which keep millions of needless bags—most of which are made of fossil fuels—from becoming pollution every year.
By contributing to All Our Energy through our Charity of the Month program, we’re all taking a step toward a brighter future for the planet. Thank you, as always, for your support!
If you feel climate change is too big an issue for you to personally impact, think again. Each of us can take small steps to be more eco-friendly and sustainable — starting in the kitchen. Following are nine ways to reduce energy consumption, limit landfill waste, and make an overall difference in your environmental footprint.
1. Water consumption: Dishwasher vs. hand washing
Hand washing can give you a better sense of control over how clean your dishes get, but unless you’re a very eco-conscious hand washer, it can also be very wasteful. Researchers at the University of Bonn in Germany found hand washing can use as much as 27 gallons of water and 2.5 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy to wash 12 place settings, compared with 4 gallons and 1.5 kWh used by a dishwasher. For those of you who don’t have a dishwasher, here are a few ways to be more efficient with hand washing dishes:
- Remove large food scraps from the dishes with a spoon or a fork.
- Manual dishwashing is easier if the food is not dried to the dishes, so start washing soon after the meal.
- Do not pre-rinse the dishes under running tap water.
- Manual dishwashing is best done in two sinks: one with hot water and detergent, the other with cold water for a quick rinse.
2. Energy efficiency: Gas vs. electric stove
When talking energy efficiency between a gas and an electric stove, the gas stove is a clear winner. It takes about three times as much energy to produce and deliver electricity to your stove. A gas stove will cost you less than half as much to operate, according to the California Energy Commission, provided you have an electronic ignition and not a pilot light.
3. Reduce Electricity Consumption: Get to know your fridge
- The U.S. Department of Energy estimates your refrigerator takes up 14 percent of your household energy usage. While it’s your best friend in keeping food fresh, if you’re not using it efficiently, it can be a major energy hog. Here are some quick tips for keeping an eco-friendly fridge:
- Allow leftovers to sit at room temperature for a while before putting them in the fridge. Hot leftovers raise the temperature inside your fridge, so it has to work harder and burns more energy.
- Check the rubber seal on your fridge occasionally to make sure it’s keeping cold air in and warm air out. To check, slip a dollar bill into the door; if it slips out easily, you need to fix or replace the seal.
- Keep your freezer as full as possible. You can fill an empty space with reusable ice packs so it will stay cooler.
- Check how old your fridge is. If it’s more than 10 years old, consider replacing it with an Energy Star-qualified one.
4. Reduce landfill waste: Buy in bulk, not packaged
Buying bulk items means consuming less packaging, and saving money as you buy only what you need (you also get to try just a little of something that might become a new favorite). Check out Rising Tide’s bulk department for grains, nuts, seeds and other staples that you might ordinarily buy pre-packaged from the grocery shelf. Save the planet, and some cash while you’re at it.
5. Reduce carbon emissions: Buy local
Buying local produce and other items is not only a great way to get organic and natural foods; it’s an eco-friendly step to end the oil-consuming transportation methods for carrying groceries to stores nationwide. Visit local farmers’ markets for farm-fresh fruits and veggies. Rising Tide is committed to offering local, organic produce and goods whenever possible.
6. Surround yourself with eco-friendly design
If you happen to be considering a kitchen remodel, there are opportunities to consider sustainability when it comes to design. HGTV recommends nine environmentally-friendly design elements:
- Bamboo surfaces
- Scrap wood
- Fluorescents and natural lighting
- Cork
- Recycled stone-chipped composite countertops
- Top and bottom freezer/refrigerator units
- Recycling stations
- Convection ovens
- Natural fabrics
7. Be eco-friendly: Eat healthy
The Environmental Defense Fund estimates that if every American had just one meat-free meal per week, the carbon dioxide reduction would equal the removal of more than 5 million cars from the road. Also, eat fresh foods whenever possible. Eating fresh not only promotes better health, it also conserves energy used in processing, packaging and delivering products. A great, easy project to help you eat more fresh food? Plant a vegetable and herb garden. If you don’t have the backyard space, check out a community garden in your area (or start one).
8. Reduce food waste: Reuse scraps for additional meals
The Natural Resources Defense Council estimates getting food from the farm to our fork eats up 10 percent of the total U.S. energy budget, uses 50 percent of U.S. land, and swallows 80 percent of freshwater consumed in the U.S. Yet, 40 percent of the food in the U.S. goes uneaten. That’s about $165 billion each year that goes to waste. What can you do? Consider all the ways you can reuse food scraps, stems, leaves and leftovers. Cook with a whole head of cauliflower. Use the apple cores and citrus peels one more time before composting. And taste the leafy tops of your favorite root vegetables.
9. Cut energy costs by cooking outside
Ease the strain on your AC by getting outside to cook. Grilling is a great method that brings the heat from cooking outside, thus reducing the need to turn up the air conditioning. Outdoor grills also use less energy than your stove.
Article courtesy of Delicious Living.
The approach of spring is a great time to embark on a deep cleaning—of our homes, yes, but also of some of our less planet-friendly habits. How can we “green” our lives this spring? When it comes to our travel habits, our digital usage, or even the way we treat our old clothes…there are fun and easy ways to go clean in 2019.
[We’re also in favor of the classic version spring cleaning —digging deep into some of those hard to reach areas and making them sparkle. Check out our Monthly Flyer for sales on Earth-friendly products to safely banish dirt all over your home.]
Look into Ecotourism
Ecotourism destinations are vacation spots that promote environmental responsibility, with an emphasis on conservation, education, traveler responsibility, and active community participation.
Not only do these destinations offer eco-friendly accommodations, there are often rules for travelers to follow to help preserve the beautiful natural wonders for years to come. For example, resorts may require eco-friendly sunscreens that are biodegradable and safe for coral reef exploring. What’s more, many ecotourism destinations recycle tourism revenue into preserving and conserving natural environments.
Consider staying at an Earthship, a kind of passive solar house made of both natural and upcycled materials, such as earth-packed tires.
Search destinations around the world that are certified by The International Ecotourism Society, which promotes responsible travel to natural areas that conserve the environment and improve the well-being of local people.
Observe an Eco-Sabbath
Set aside one hour every week to get completely off the grid. Not only will you be removing any personal environmental impact for that hour, but you can also use that time for meditation or relaxation. Studies also show that staying away from your phone and other devices for even just a day can help you read people’s emotional cues more effectively and make you plain old happier. And who couldn’t use more of that? During your eco-Sabbath:
Don’t use any devices or machines
Don’t buy anything
Don’t switch on anything electric
Don’t answer your phone
Don’t use any resources
Recycle Textiles
When it’s time to spring clean your closet, a general rule of thumb is to donate clothes you haven’t worn in a year or more. (If you’re like us and obsessively watching the Netflix show Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, you’ll also want to determine if each article of clothing “sparks joy” before deciding whether it stays or goes.) Many communities offer drive-up donation bins or locations for textiles that are unusable, and nearly 100 percent of all used clothing and household textiles can be reused or recycled, according to the SMART (Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles) Association. Forty-five percent of these textiles are reused as apparel; 30 percent are converted into industrial polishing or wiping cloths; and 20 percent are processed into fiber to be manufactured into new products.
Article courtesy of Delicious Living Magazine.
This month we celebrate our right to make the kinds of non-GMO choices that influence retailers and food manufacturers, and ultimately, our food supply. Non-GMO month at Rising Tide allows us to showcase our favorite Non-GMO Project Verified companies and the products that make them so special.
Take the Challenge
What better time to make Non-GMO part of YOUR healthy lifestyle? The Non-GMO Project has created a program to get you started. The Non-GMO Challenge, established in 2012, is a monthlong experience that empowers shoppers, brands and grocery stores to support the right to know what’s in our food. Take the challenge and tailor it to your own particular goals. Maybe you pledge to eat only non-GMO snacks, or to eat one completely non-GMO meal each day. Maybe you go all in and vow to eat non-GMO the whole month long. Get creative; there are as many ways to pledge as there are eco-conscious consumers like you.
Whatever your pledge, be happy in the knowledge that you are driving change around the world! You’ll also be entered to win a non-GMO DreamBox filled with non-GMO Project Verified goodies, thoughtfully created by our friends at the Non-GMO Project.
Take the Non-GMO Challenge this month. Here’s how:
1. Make your Non-GMO Pledge and encourage friends, families, coworkers and others to join you.
2. Post a photo of yourself to social media and state your pledge in the caption. Don’t forget to use the hashtag #nongmochallenge.
3. Complete your entry on livingnongmo.org to be entered to win a Non-GMO Dreambox and other big prizes.
4. Click here for further details.
Look for the butterfly when shopping, as it will always lead you to a non-GMO Project Verified company and product!
Local Farm Welcomes Volunteers of All Abilities
Alethea Vasilis graduated from college, then took her backgrounds in dance and cultural anthropology and embarked on a life-changing adventure to Northern Mali. Here she saw firsthand two agricultural communities coming together through dance, drumming, and food. She was hooked.
When she returned to the U.S., she worked as a support person for Rachel, a young woman with autism. She brought Rachel to her father’s farm (her dad is Peter Vasilis of Long Island’s Orient Organics), and Rachel fell in love with the calming rhythm of farming work. This led to the start of the one-acre SustainAbility Farm at Oyster Bay’s Plantingfields Arboretum in 2011, which Alathea worked at and then managed in 2013. In 2014, when SustainAbility moved to Upstate, New York, Orkestai Farm was born.
Orkestai—derived from the Ancient Greek for collaborative movement, or the part in a theater piece when dancers move together to interpret nonverbal parts of the play—provides an opportunity for Alathea and her staff to bring together farming and the arts through a program she calls a CCA: Cultivated Community Agriculture. A CCA share at Orkestai consists of a weekly CSA share filled with local and sustainable produce, free access to Expressive Agriculture events (like a one-of-a-kind performance by theLong Island Vegetable Orchestra), yoga on the the farm, and, perhaps most importantly, thrice-weekly experiential farm learning, when people of all abilities come together to build community, learn about farming, and develop confidence in areas previously unexplored. New for 2018: a Kids’ Program for ages 2-10, featuring experiential learning once a week and one Sunday a month (no CSA share included).
According to Vasilis, the diversity among the volunteers and staff at Orkestai mirrors that of the crops themselves. “Orkestai Farm facilitates person-centered expressive and educational support for people of all abilities as they learn to grow food, participate in an inclusive community, and care for the land, ” she says. “We echo the notion of environmental biodiversity with a call for the acceptance of human neuro-diversity, a philosophy which honors the inherent worth of everyone in our community.”
To tour Orkestai, or inquire about the CCA program or about your group volunteering at the farm, visit http://www.orkestaifarm.org. And thank you for contributing to this wonderful program for the month of June through our Bring Your Own Bag program!
For National Dairy Month, we’d like to talk a bit about some of our favorite milk and milk products: those that come from 100% grass-fed cows.
The reasons for our passionate support of these products are two-fold. First, there’s nutrition. One study showed that organic whole milk from grass-fed cows contains more than 60% more omega-3 fats and 25% fewer omega-6 ones than conventional milk (a ratio of more omega-3s and fewer omega-6s is a formula for lowering risk of chronic disease). A study in the British Journal of Nutrition shows that consuming grass-fed milk products also means a boost of certain important nutrients, especially iron and vitamin E.
Second, grass-fed milk is better for the environment. In order to produce the highest-quality milk, pasture-fed cows are moved to different pastures throughout the season, a pattern that prevents overgrazing, creates healthier water tables, puts carbon back in the soil by increasing grass production, and improves the health of grazing land.
Our Milks Are Better
At Rising Tide, we’re proud to carry a variety of grass-fed milk products from family-owned farm cooperative Organic Valley, along with smaller, artisanal dairy companies like Pennsylvania’s Trickling Springs Creamery, and Maple Hill Creamery, based locally right here in New York State. The standards these companies adhere to are outstanding. Click here for a look at what food and farm policy watchdog group Cornucopia Institute has to say regarding the many dairy companies on the market. (Hint: the Big Food options don’t fare well!)
We’ve also got a bunch of grass-fed milk CHEESES that you will want to work your way through (take your time; enjoy yourself!):
Maple Hill Stone Creek Cheddar
Maple Hill One Year Cheddar
Maple Hill Dharma Lea Dutch (Gouda style)
5 Spoke Creamery raw milk Harvest Moon
Organic Valley Grassmilk Cheese in Raw Cheddar
Organic Valley Grassmilk Cheese in Raw Sharp Cheddar
Diva Cheese, made with certified mountain meadow milk from the UNESCO Biosphere Mountain Dairy in the heart of Switzerland.
***GRASS-FED DAIRY ON SALE***
Maple Hill grass-fed Kefir in Plain and Strawberry are on sale all month. reg. $5.99, ON SALE $3.99.
On May 12, join us in celebrating World Fair Trade Day and the movement of small-scale farmers and artisans around the world. Consumers and mission-driven brands are a key part of this movement; to shop these brands is to invest in food and farming systems that feed the planet and give back to the land.
Each fair trade brand’s products and its producers tell a different story: Alaffia’s deodorant helps support reforestation projects in rural Togo, increasing food security and helping to slow erosion. Alter Eco’s chocolate partners are reintroducing heirloom cacao varietals as part of an agroforestry project in Ecuador. In India, Dr. Bronner is partnering with a project that is revitalizing land into a rich, regenerative ecosystem to grow mint oil that puts the tingle in your soap—and a wealth of food and cash crops. Equal Exchange’s coffee helps power deep organic practices, and farmer-led workshops that pass the wisdom on to the next generation of Honduran farmers.
Small-scale producers are growing food and farming systems that give back to their communities and regenerate our planet. When you support the fair trade brands that support them, you’re helping grow that future, too.
Look for special in-store deals throughout May, and let your purchases be Fair for Farmers every day!
Last Earth Day we made big news when we launched our BYOB—Bring Your Own Bag—initiative, wherein we began to charge customers $.10 for every paper bag we used, and donate those monies to a different local charity each month. The goal? To cut our use of paper bags in half, year over year. And while we’re still striving to meet that goal, we made incredible headway by cutting our paper bag usage by 30% in a year’s time. (Incidentally, fewer paper bags meant a savings of $3,900 for Rising Tide Market…all of which and more was donated to 11 different local charities. Thanks to this planet-saving program we were able to donate $5,000 to these charities from 2017-18, and we’re still going strong!)
On Trend
With BYOB, we are clearly representing a movement that’s gaining ground in our neck of the woods. Suffolk County passed a $.05 plastic bag fee in January, and The village of Sea Cliff followed suit last month. The issue is certain to come up in our hometown of Glen Cove before you know it, and we will most certainly be on the front lines, encouraging this Earth-positive change.
As Earth Day approaches again, we’re excited to fill you in on a new planet-forward partnership we’re exceedingly proud of. Climate Collaborative—a coalition of concerned businesses from the natural products industry working collaboratively to catalyze bold action, amplify the voice of business, and promote sound policy to reverse climate change—was introduced to us last year by INFRA, a coalition of independent retailers that has played a vital role in the day-to-day workings of our business for close to a decade. (INFRA’s mission, incidentally, coalesces beautifully with that of the Climate Collaborative: To strengthen our members through collaboration to forge a sustainable future.) As Rising Tide has always been dedicated to doing its part to protect the planet for future generations, we didn’t hesitate to sign on, and immediately went to work evaluating our impact on the environment and changes we could make to mitigate it.
Commitment to Change
“Change isn’t easy for most people,”says Jerry Farrell, Rising Tide founder and owner for 42 years. “Every time we take action to lighten our carbon footprint, it is a change that comes from our customers first. They are always pointing us in this direction, and they always appreciate these changes once we’ve committed to them. This is just how our customers are.”
“Pretty soon Glen Cove will be faced with a decision to require a tax on plastic bags and there will be more debate on this topic,” Jerry continues. “For us, and for our customers, this is an easy decision to make, and Rising Tide will take a leadership role.”
As a condition of our partnership, the Climate Collaborative has asked each member to commit to four of nine innovative and practical climate initiatives. Rising Tide has chosen the following:
1. Food Waste. We’ve already begun the process of reducing food waste in our supply chain, by implementing a system for tracking waste. The next step: analyzing the waste to see where we can create efficiencies.
2. Energy Efficiency. We’ve taken steps in this area by switching our lightbulbs and refrigeration to LED lighting. When we move to the new store, we’ll also be looking to source a more energy-efficient and better quality freon for our refrigeration.
3. Packaging. As most of our customers already know, we made the decision to eliminate plastic bags five years ago. More recently, last year, we took the additional step to charge our customers $.05 for each paper bag we give out, and then to donate those monies to a different local charity each month (see above). As we move forward, we’ll also be looking closely at all of our single-use items (tableware, straws, food containers) and finding ways to source the most sustainable, eco-friendly products. Through our relationship with INFRA and the Climate Collaborative, we are able to see what other stores throughout the country are doing in this area. Some of the stores in California, for example, are using mason jars for their soups, and reusable containers for water, laundry detergent etc. This is the kind of thing we would like to implement when we move to the new store.
4. Responsible Engagement in Climate Policy. We’re committed to supporting legislation that promotes energy efficiency and renewable energy; increases investment in a clean energy economy; supports climate change adaptation; and puts a price on carbon emissions. INFRA, the trade organization that represents Rising Tide and hundreds of other independent natural food retailers, is actively lobbying in all of the above areas. Through INFRA we are able to stay abreast of all the important legislation that impacts organics, the food supply, and other topics that affect our customers and our business.
Stay tuned for more about our relationship with the Climate Collaborative and how it will help us walk the path to sustainability for years to come.
Organic farming is the solution to nutrient-rich soil
For over 10,000 years, humans have depended on soil. Today, soil depends on us. Due to agricultural processes like higher volume tillage and the use of pesticides and fertilizers, the health of our soil is decreasing at an alarming rate. Without healthy soil, we face more pollution and less cultivation.
Healthy soil is crucial for many important aspects of life on our planet:
- Soil Protection – Soil is a valuable natural resource, essential to creating healthy crops. Healthy soil helps plants soak up essential nutrients, capture carbon from the atmosphere, resist drought and disease.
- Water Conservation – Soil is crucial for a clean water supply, acting as a water filter, trapping pollutants before they enter the groundwater supply. Healthy soil can capture and store water during droughts.
- Vital Nutrients – Healthy soil contains micro-organisms, organic matter, carbon and oxygen to create a nutrient-rich and thriving ecosystem.
- Fresh Air – With low or no-till farming, soil works to capture carbon, preventing it from being released back into the air.
According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), about a third of the world’s soil has already been degraded, mainly due to chemical agriculture, soil erosion caused by deforestation, and global warming. If the world continues down its current path of soil degradation, the United Nations estimates that the world’s top soil could be gone within 60 years.
What Can We Do to Save Our Soil?
When we purchase organic meat and produce, farmers are encouraged to incorporate organic farming practices, or to switch to organic altogether. The same goes for organic grocery items. When people continually purchase organic food it shows consumer support for organics and then companies will try to meet that demand with better, more competitive prices.
Cascadian Farm is one of the vendors we can trust to produce food you can feel good about eating, and to help create a sustainable future, one bite at a time. We’ve got many of their products on sale all month long; check out the end cap next to soup aisle.
***ENTER TO WIN***
It’s almost time for you to embark on your own organic gardens (Yeah, spring!). To help support you in your efforts, we’re raffling off a Gardening Kit to one lucky shopper, complete with Tool Tote, Kneeling Pad and Garden Gloves. To enter, like us on Instagram and tag a friend. The winner will be announced on April 2!
As we dive into a new year, we’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who made it possible for Rising Tide to donate more than $7,000 to local charities in 2017.
–The launch of our Bring Your Own Bag (BYOB)/Charity of the Month program was an unmitigated SUCCESS! Since the program began on Earth Day 2017, we’ve raised more than $4,000 for amazing charities in our local area, at the same time raising awareness about the use (overuse!) of paper bags. Thanks to YOU all, we were able to reduce our paper bag usage by ***23%***, and we are well on our way to meeting our goal of cutting our bag use in HALF in one year’s time.
The BYOB donations not only help local Charities of the Month to continue to thrive and meet their own goals—they also allow us to meet the people behind the charities, and to learn more about the wonderful and exciting work going on in our own backyard. So…a great big thank you as well to all those folks that work to serve the neediest members of our community!
–Our first-ever Round Up for the Holidays allowed us to reach our goal of $3,000 ($1,500 from our customers matched by Rising Tide Natural Market). This money will be evenly split between two local charities that help fight hunger in Glen Cove and beyond:
the North Shore INN and Island Harvest. This cause is near and dear to our hearts…we’re always ready and willing to help others get the food they need to thrive.
Looking forward to more giving this year! Thanks, as always, for your support…
We are pleased to introduce you to our January Charity of the Month: All Our Energy.
All Our Energy advocates, educates, involves and empowers the public to support renewable energy and act on environmental issues. Their core missions: renewable energy advocacy and awareness, environmental stewardship, and public education and involvement through events and outreach opportunities that lead to action from participants.
In keeping with these missions, one of All Our Energy’s main efforts has been to reduce the proliferation of single-use bags on Long Island. In 2016, the group was instrumental in getting a $.05 bag tax passed in their hometown of Long Beach, and is currently working to see the same law established in Rockville Centre, Sea Cliff and other Long Island towns. As many of you know, this is also a cause we are passionate about…in fact, our Charity of the Month program is funded by our very own Bring Your Own Bag (BYOB) initiative—a policy that charges customers $.10 for every paper bag we give out at checkout, then donates those monies to a different local charity each month.
Upcoming Film About Plastic Bag Pollution
On January 25 at 7 p.m., All Our Energy in conjunction with Sea Cliff Village Environmental Conservation Commission and the Sea Cliff Village Library will present a free screening of the award-winning film “Bag It” at the Sea Cliff Village Library. Don’t miss a chance to learn more about how plastics are affecting our lives…and what we can do about it.
With such a carefully curated meat department, we need to be super selective about which vendors we bring in to the store, and which products we feel will best serve our customers. The Piggery, based just a few hours north in Ithaca, NY, meets every single one of our requirements for a local, artisanal vendor—and then some! And while you’re falling in love with their Nitrate Free, Pasture Raised Uncured Pig Dogs or like us, their Rosemary Thyme Rubbed Pastured Pork Chops (see recipe below!), you should know that people behind the pigs are as lovely as their meat is delicious. We were lucky enough to chat with Brad Marshall and Heather Sandford—husband-and-wife owners of The Piggery—to get their take on how their business became what it is today, and to learn the mission behind the meat.
RT: Who IS The Piggery?
TP: The Piggery is a regionally recognized whole animal butchery located in Ithaca, NY that has been featured in Edible Brooklyn, Time Out NY, The New York Daily News, Bon Apettit and more. We’re also farmers! The Piggery Farm in Trumansburg, NY and JD Farms in Eaton, NY graze heritage pigs and turkeys on certified organic pastures and woodlots and finished on non-GMO feeds. We operate one of the smallest USDA butcher shops in the country where we handcraft meats for awesome customers like Rising Tide.
RT: What is The Piggery’s Origin Story?
TP: It’s been a long and winding journey! We’re not exactly sure how it happened either! We (Brad and Heather) moved back to Upstate NY (outside of Ithaca) in 2004 to homestead and develop our 70-acre farm. We were very interested in local/small scale farming and noticed that there was very little meat at the farmers’ market. Only frozen, poorly processed/unfamiliar cuts (like rump roasts) seemed to be available from local farms. We were already raising pigs for ourselves and thought it’d be an interesting idea to slaughter weekly, process the meat on farm under a NYS Ag & Markets license, and bring fresh meat and cured items to market. Within 6 weeks, we had a line 40 people deep at the opening bell and it hasn’t slowed since. We’ve always felt that The Piggery is a community driven project that has grown and evolved to meet the needs of our community, even though that community has grown a little geographically.
RT: What makes The Piggery stand out from other local farms/butchers/artisanal meat purveyors?
TP: We’re unique in that we’re truly a farmer-owned and operated pasture-raised/non-GMO fed farm and whole animal butchery. Not many farms have a model of following their herd from birth through final processing for the customer. We’re very focused on raising well cared for animals for over a year and producing meat that’s clean—just meat and spices—for our customer.
RT: What’s something about The Piggery that most people don’t know?
TP: Hmmmmm… I would say they probably don’t know how many hours we spend doodling on notepads trying to figure out how to use the whole animal every single week…. It’s a tricky, yet stimulating puzzle. It’s very important to us to use as much of every animal harvested from our farms as possible.
RT: What’s the latest news from The Piggery? Anything new in the pipeline we should know about?
TP: All sorts of things are happening in The Piggery-verse these days! Although we’ve always raised our animals on Certified Organic pastures with non-GMO feeds, we’re in the home stretch of being Project Non-GMO Verified which is soooooo exciting! It’s been a mountain of paperwork, but we’re so proud to support this project. We’re also updating our package with more details like Nutritional Info, Gluten Free. Antibiotic Free, Non-GMO Project Verified. We really are just a group of small farmers and didn’t realize how much customers depend on those labels. It’s taken us a little while to save up the funds for a redesign:) We’re also improving our on-farm feed mill operation which feels pretty great!
RT: When you’re not noshing on your delicious meats, what are you loving to eat right now? What are your go-to snacks on the farm?
TP: Heather’s pretty paleo these days and loves sipping on bone broth and hacking recipes with almond flour. The Thai restaurant down the street gets an awful lot of her business on cheat days:) Brad is the biggest carnivore you’ll ever meet. You’ll regularly find him wandering around the butcher shop break room gnawing on a smoked hock.
RT: Like you, so many people dream of leaving behind their urban/suburban lives for life on the farm. What advice do you have for those interested in pursuing this kind of dream?
TP: It’s as equally painful, hard, expensive, joyful, fulfilling and magical as it looks. 🙂
RT: Okay last question…at Rising Tide, our customers love your Rosemary Thyme Rubbed Pork Chops, made from The Piggery’s pasture raised heritage hogs. Any tips on preparing them to bring out their innate deliciousness?
TP: I LOVE the Rosemary Thyme chops. If the weather gods are kind to us, they’re great on a grill. But around the holidays, when most people are cooking inside, here’s my cooking recommendation:
Put a bit of lard, grassfed butter or olive oil in your favorite cast iron skillet and warm over medium low/medium heat. Place chops in skillet for 5-10 minutes. Flip and cook other side for about 5 minutes. Use a digital meat thermometer to check temperature near the bone. When the temp is 147 degrees F, remove from heat and rest chops for 5-10 minutes.
If you have a little extra time…. sautee some onions in lard, butter or olive oil until translucent. Add some fresh or re-hydrated mushroom slices, a bit of heavy cream, and fresh or dried rosemary to make a luscious sauce to top your chops. Enjoy!
For many bakers, food coloring plays an important role in making holidays prettier, more festive and a lot more fun. If you hesitate to use commercial food coloring filled with artificial food dyes, you’re in good company; consumer watchdog CSPI says artificial food dye can cause everything from hyperactivity and allergic reactions to cancer. (The group is actually calling for the government to ban three of the most common dyes. See how Europe took steps back in 2010 to rid its food supply of the toxic dyes.)
This year, choose food coloring you can feel great about. We’re so excited about the beautiful Holiday Tree Sprinkle Set from Color Kitchen Foods, along with their toxin-free icing in green, yellow, blue, orange and pink. All Color Kitchen products are made with simple ingredients, including pigments from vibrant plant sources like turmeric, spirulina, beet, radish, cabbage, and annatto. Plus, they’re vegan, gluten free, non-GMO and contain no hydrogenated oils. Just good, clean colors to magically transform all your holiday baking.
Here are some treats you can make this holiday season with your Color Kitchen Foods icing and sprinkles. YUM!
Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies (recipe from the photo on this post)
Candy Cane Mousse
Hanukkah Cutout Cookies
Gingerbread Cookies with Royal Icing
Red Velvet Cheesecake
The holiday season is a magical time of the year—but can also be a wasteful one. The time period from Thanksgiving-New Year’s has a huge environmental impact in terms of water use, greenhouse gases and land disturbance caused by the production of some of our favorite holiday treats and staples. The good news? If we take even tiny steps toward reducing our footprint this holiday season, the results an go a very long way. (FUN FACT: If every family reused just two feet of holiday ribbon, the 28,000 miles of ribbon saved could tie a bow around the Earth!).
Here are some easy ‘green’ shifts to consider this year:
DIY Gifts. If you’ve been given a homemade gift lately, you know how special it feels to receive such a treat. Keep it simple, keep it healthy, and keep it from the heart this holiday season.
Gifts in a Jar
Edible Food Gifts
Gifts Kids Can Make
Or…buy eco-friendly gifts. Resist buying gifts that will end up in a landfill. Purchase Earth-forward gifts that will improve the life of the recipient without harming the planet. Some of our favorites:
Use recycled wrapping paper. Did you know traditional gift wrap is not always recyclable? Reusing and recycling materials you find around the house (paper grocery bags, magazines, newspapers, old bits of fabric) is a better (and free!) way to go—at least your wrap served a purpose at one time. Or purchase reusable wrap like this.
Make your own decorations. Most of these DIY decoration ideas—based on recycling and upcycling what you have at home and foraging for what you don’t—cost next to nothing to make and are fun family activities (with a subtle environmental message attached!).
Use LED holiday lights. A household with an extravagant Christmas light display will spend enough money to heat and power an average house for six weeks, and produce 882 pounds of carbon dioxide. Save energy and reduce harmful CO2 emissions by purchasing LED (light emitting diode) lights this holiday season. LED lights are pricier, but they last longer and use 80 percent less energy than conventional lights. Solar lights—charged on a sunny winter day and glowing by night—are also a better bet, and require no electricity source.
Buy an organic tree. Like conventionally grown produce, the pesticides used on conventionally grown Christmas trees have been associated with a range of health issues including cancer, birth defects, asthma and more. Find an organic Christmas tree farm on Long Island/NY State, then make sure you dispose of it the right way.
Don’t waste food. Americans throw away roughly $165 billion in uneaten food every year, according to government data. To help combat all this waste, the NRDC’s Save the Food Campaign has come up with a dinner party food calculator…just in time for the holidays. Make what you need, eat what you make.
Enjoy your holidays! And if you start a new holiday habit with an eye on the environment, post it on Instagram, and tag Rising Tide Market. We’d love to see what you’re up to! Little changes can go a long way…
We are pleased to introduce you to our October Charity of the Month: Grassroots Environmental Education’s ChildSafe School initiative
Grassroots is a New York-based non-profit organization founded in 2000 with a mission to educate the public about the links between common environmental exposures and human health, and to empower individuals to act as catalysts for change within their own communities. Their programs are based on science, and their network of environmental experts includes leaders in the fields of environmental toxicology and medicine from Yale, Columbia, Harvard, Tufts and New York Universities, U.C. Berkeley, Mount Sinai School of Medicine and other similar institutions.
Keeping Our Children Safe
As part of our continued efforts to support organizations that work with children and the environment, we will be raising funds for the entire month of October for Grassroots’ ChildSafe School initiative. The ChildSafe School is an award-winning science-based program designed to help you make your child’s school environment as safe as it can be.
Recent increases in rates of asthma, cancer and other childhood illnesses as well as learning and behavioral problems linked to exposure to toxins in the environment have sparked an increased interest in the environmental quality of schools.
The ChildSafe School provides a step-by-step framework to help parents, teachers and administrators make their schools as environmentally safe as they can be, by adopting policies such as:
- prohibiting the idling of school buses and other vehicles
- mandating the use of safe cleaning products
- eliminating the use of pesticides on school grounds and playing fields
North Shore School District Benefits from ChildSafe
Thanks to the hard work and dedication of Patti Wood and others at Grassroots, in 2011, New York State became the first state in the country to pass a law banning all pesticides on school grounds. But they’ve also undertaken initiatives closer to home. In 2016, every school in the North Shore School District switched from toxic rubber crumb playground surfaces to woodchips. Up next: The ChildSafe School is taking on the removal of wireless routers in classrooms, and turf fields and artificial fragrances in schools.
For more information on The ChildSafe School, visit www.thechildsafeschool.org. For more on all the amazing work Grassroots is doing for our community and beyond, visit them at www.grassrootsinfo.org.
October is Non-GMO month…what better time to talk about Biodynamic Farming—what it is and how it affects the food you eat? Here are the Top 5 things you need to know about biodynamic farming and its potential impact on all our lives:
(Note: all photos for this story are from Rosendals Garden, the amazing Biodynamic Farm Jerry and Ashley biked to during their recent trip to Stockholm. There has been so much talk in recent months of the growing trend in biodynamic farming, they wanted to see what it was all about!)
- Biodynamic and Organic farming practices come from the same place. The organic farm movement grew out of the development of the biodynamic approach to agriculture that started in the 1920s. (The term organic was coined from the biodynamic principle that the farm should be viewed as a self-contained organism).
- In practice, the biodynamic farm is run very much like an organic farm, with a focus on building soil fertility, rotating crops, banning GMOs, and eliminating chemicals and hormones.
- The major difference between organic and biodynamic farming: Biodynamic farms feature a completely closed system and the use of biodynamic preparations. Having livestock on the farm, dedicating at least 10% of the land as a biodiversity preserve, and growing certain herbs and plants on the farm help maintain it as a self-contained and sustainable system.
- The Demeter Biodynamic® Processing Standard (there are 16 categories in all, including oil, wine, cosmetics and body care) fundamentally ensures an unbroken chain of accountability from the farm to the finished product.
- The demand for biodynamic products is increasing in the U.S. (In Europe, there are entire stores that carry only biodynamic products!) Every commercial farm or product must be certified through Demeter International, the oldest ecological certification organization in the world to legally use the term Biodynamic on labeling and promotion.
As of 2016, Demeter USA (the U.S. representative of Demeter International) has almost 200 members and certifies more than 20,000 acres. These numbers are set to increase as they have been experiencing an average of 10% growth in certification in recent years. Why the resurgence now? More and more consumers are alarmed (and fed up!) with the byproducts of conventional farming: erosion of topsoil, increased pesticide usage and run-off, global warming, animal abuses, low value of produce, and GMOs.
Shop Biodynamic at Rising Tide
Rising Tide market has its finger on the pulse of every new biodynamic certified product that enters the marketplace. In store now:
For more on Biodynamic farming, check out this article from Shape magazine.
The U.S. Organic Industry is growing, growing, growing—organic food now accounts for 5.3% of all food sales in the U.S. We don’t need to tell you…across all organic food categories, shoppers are placing high value on freshness and convenience.
Says Laura Batcha, chief executive officer of the Organic Trade Association (OTA), “The organic industry continues to be a real bright spot in the food and agriculture economy, both at the farm gate and the check-out counter.”
Meeting Demand
Good news, right? Yes, if the supply could meet the demand. Even as consumer demand for organic food grows, the percentage of certified organic farmland in the United States stays below 1%. According to the USDA, the annual sales of organic foods has increased by double digits every year since the 1990s. This is great! However this low supply/high demand dichotomy leaves farmers struggling to meet the needs of their customers. Transitioning to organic is a three-year process that can often leave the farmer in an odd limbo between conventional and organic production, which can prove to be very costly. Larger farms have the resources, but many medium and small farms cannot afford the risk.
There is a silver lining…a new program has recently been launched to help mitigate the burden of farm transition. Leading organic certifier Quality Assurance international (QAI), part of the National Sanitation Foundation International (NSF), is working with industry partners to support farmers through the Cettifed Transitional Program. By auditing and verifying each step of the three-year process, the program assures consumers that they are supporting a farm through a challenging transition, and it provides farmers a way to continue to sell their crops as they convert their land to be eligible for organic certification. Programs on the local, state and federal levels will still be needed to support farms in transition, but the Certified Transitional label will go a long way toward helping farmers to join the organic movement.
For more information, visit the QAI website or NSF.
Article courtesy of the Independent Natural Food Retailers Association (INFRA). Rising Tide Market is a proud member of INFRA!
Years ago, Ashley P.’s mom dragged her to the beach in the middle of the winter to view a meteor shower. They brewed their coffee, bundled up, and headed out to take in a not-to-be-missed natural phenomenon. (The shooting stars made it remarkable; the coffee, bearable!)
This weekend (Aug 12-13), you have a shot at experiencing a similar astral explosion –a Perseid Meteor Shower—for yourself. And while it’s summer, the nights still get cool, so bring along your hot tea or coffee in a new 12oz Hydroflask Coffee Cup, with Hydro Flip cap ($19.99). Your brew will stay nice and warm while you bask in the glow of a celestial wonder you’ll remember forever.
Check out these tips to make the most of your pre-dawn star search (hint: the more you minimize moon glow, the more meteors you’ll see!)
We are so excited to announce our August Charity of the Month: the Coalition to Save Hempstead Harbor!
Since 1986, the Coalition to Save Hempstead Harbor (CSHH), a volunteer, nonprofit organization, has been dedicated to identifying and eliminating environmental threats to Hempstead Harbor and its surrounding communities. Their objective is to advance the public interest in protecting and restoring our local environment to its full ecological and economic potential.
Why We Chose the Coalition to Save Hempstead Harbor
We love that the CSHH executes its mission by promoting appreciation of the local environment and getting the public involved in local conservation issues—issues that directly affect the community we call home!
If you would like to donate to the Coalition to Save Hempstead Harbor above and beyond your BYOB donations, e-mail Liz at marketing@risingtidemarket.com.
And if you want to help improve the local environment and make a difference in and around Hempstead Harbor, consider becoming a member of the Coalition. No experience necessary. Be part of the change!
Everyone who makes lunches—for themselves or their kids—knows what a hassle it is to make meals (every day!) that are well-rounded, healthy and most elusive of all…enjoyable to eat. Try as we may, time and creativity can be hard to come by in the midst of work, carpools, homework and other obligations.
Yet…the facts are in. School lunch is not something to be overlooked or undervalued. Among the many, many studies about school lunch, a recent paper out of U.C. Berkeley demonstrated that school districts serving healthier lunches had higher test scores. A direct correlation. If these districts can improve test scores by jacking up nutrition content, imagine what you can accomplish from your kitchen at home?
It All Starts With an Idea
As with most things in life, the first step is inspiration. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has put together some great tips for cleaning up your school lunches in terms of ingredients and sustainability (zero-waste lunch, anyone?). Pinterest is a well-spring of innovative lunch items, as is this article on bento-box lunches, and this one from Bon Appetit. 100 Days of Real Food has loads of ideas for real healthy lunches, made with real clean ingredients. Peruse the articles, then come in to Rising Tide to stock up for the first few weeks of school. We’ve got a whole lot of back to school snacks and more on sale in August; you may find your child’s favorite new treat amongst them.
Not yet sold? This article from the NY Times does a great job illustrating how far a few solid, healthy school meals can go in the life of an impoverished child.
Here are a few more back-to-school recipes to get you started:
Carrot Applesauce Muffins
Hummus Wrap
Creamy (Vegan) Tomato Rice Soup (Thermos lunches are the bomb! Or try our Lifefactory glass storage containers…on sale this month!)
Peanut Butter Stuffed No-Bake Cookie Bites
**Post and WIN!**
What’s YOUR favorite lunch to pack for work or school? Post it on our Instagram and you’ll WIN 2, 8oz reusable round storage containers from Preserve—perfect for all your on-the-go snacks. Just come in and show us your post…the containers are yours!
For omnivores, a traditional July 4th BBQ means burgers, hot dogs, and other meaty treats. Think out of the (butcher’s) box this summer, and you’ll be healthier for it.
You might have heard: grilling meat at high temps can cause nasty, carcinogenic heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to form. That char you love so much on your grilled chicken? Once your meat reaches that level of blackness, the protein has literally transformed into a whole different, cancer-causing chemical.
All You Need Is a Few Good Marinades
If meat IS on your summer grilling menu, there are ways to reduce its harmful byproducts. The simple act of marinating can reduce the concentration of HCAs by up to 99%! The trick is to choose a marinade without added sugars (store-bought commercial barbecue sauces are the worst), preferably one that’s thin and vinegar-based (beer and olive oil can also cut down on carcinogens). As an added bonus, add some herbs from the mint family (basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory, marjoram, oregano and thyme); they’re rich in antioxidants that can counteract any carcinogens created by grilling. Check this out for more on safer meat grilling.
Or better still…go veggie this 4th! Grilling provides a smoky twist to seasonal produce (and man, is this season’s produce amazing).
And we’re not just talking veggies…grilling fruits is healthy way to soften, sweeten and bring out all their lovely juices. Having friends over? Provide a whole bunch of fruits (peaches, plums, pineapple, bananas and more) and let each person kabob and grill their own picks.
When deciding which fruits and veggies to throw on the grill, keep in mind the Dirty Dozen—those items plagued with the greatest amount of harmful pesticides.
NY Times Grilling Essentials
Tips for Grilling Veggies
How to Avoid Mistakes When Grilling Veggies
Best Fruits to Grill
Amazing Grilled Fruit Recipes
A mild, rainy winter has led to an extra tick-y season here in Long Island and other places around the country. Unfortunately, ticks bring with them the possibility of contracting conditions such as Lyme Disease (which can be treated if caught early) and Powassan virus, which currently has no treatment.
Our resident Wellness guru, Jen, has some important tips to help you stay tick-free this summer.
1. Wear lightly colored clothing to make ticks more visible.
2. Tuck pants into socks to minimize skin exposure.
3. Run a lint roller over your body and clothing before heading outdoors.
4. Take/eat garlic, Brewer’s yeast, and Vitamin B6 to make you less appealing to ticks.
5. Use DEET-free insect repellents. Otherwise known as N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide, DEET has been shown in studies of rats to kill off the neurons in the brain that control muscle movement, learning, memory and concentration when treated with a dose equivalent to that a person would use. Children could be at a greater risk here, as their skin absorbs the DEET more readily. Opt instead for essential oil-based repellents containing powerful oils such as lavender, lemongrass, rose geranium, eucalyptus and citronella.
Rising Tide’s TOP PICKS for Avoiding Ticks:
- Nantucket Spider:
Bug Repellant for People, 8 oz., $12.99
Summer Camp Repellant for Kids, 8 oz., $12.99
Extra Strength Bug Repellant for People, 8 oz., $12.99
Tick & Bug Repellant for Dogs, 8 oz., $12.99
- Quantum:
Buzz Away Extreme, 4 oz., $9.99
- COMING SOON: Woodstock Herbals Hikers Guard Spray and Lotion
If you DO find a tick on yourself or someone else, follow these tips for removing it.
See what the Town of North Hempstead is doing to manage their tick situation (naturally!) this summer.
We are thrilled to report that the first month of our Bring Your Own Bag (BYOB) program was a whopping success. We saved hundreds of paper bags and are set to donate over $600 to our first-ever Charity of the Month: the North Shore INN.
And it is all because of YOU!
Here are the details:
- From April 22-May 31, 2016: 1,939 customers brought in reusable bags
- From April 22-May 31, 2017: 3,861 customers brought in reusable bags….a 50% increase over last year!
- The North Shore INN will receive a check from us for $626.75. The nonprofit soup kitchen was established in 1989 to feed hungry people in the Glen Cove area, and serves hot meals on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from noon to 1:00 p.m. in the First Baptist Church. (In addition to this BYOB donation, Rising Tide Natural Market has a longstanding relationship with the INN, donating food each Friday.)
So, just to recap–we reduced our paper bag usage by HALF during the first month of the BYOB initiative, and are on pace for our overall goal: reducing the number of paper bags by half FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR. So let’s not let up! Researchers say it takes an average of 66 days for a new habit to stick.
Keep bringing those reusable bags!
JUNE CHARITY OF THE MONTH
Our June Charity of the Month is Cove Animal Rescue. It’s mission is another one we can REALLY get behind: to increase the adoptability of homeless dogs and cats through training, socialization and improved surroundings (like it’s amazing cage-free cat wing!) that facilitate transition to a home environment.
Thank you again for jumping on board with this important initiative!
Hemp has long been a darling of the environmentally conscious consumer. What many people DON’T know is that hemp contains no significant amount of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and as such, it’s impossible to get high from it. Despite this reality (and hemp’s many redeeming features), hemp is still considered a Schedule 1 Narcotic under the Controlled Substances Act.
How archaic!
This year, the 8th annual Hemp History Week celebrates America’s rich history with industrial hemp BEFORE it was outlawed (the Declaration of Independence was written on hemp!), and educates consumers about the barriers to hemp farming in the United States.
More Facts About Hemp:
* Hemp seeds are an amazing source of sustainable protein (more protein than even chia or flax seeds…add to smoothies, or sprinkle on cereals, yogurt and salads), are anti-inflammatory, great for your skin (thank you, amino acids!), can balance hormones and even reduce pain. And hemp seed oil–the oil derived from pressed hemp seeds–contains the most heart-friendly essential fatty acids of any nut or seed oil.
* The cultivation of environmentally-friendly hemp yields more protein while requiring significantly less of each natural resource (land, water, fossil fuel) and producing fewer emissions than protein that comes from animal sources.
* Hemp crops pay. In Canada, hemp nets $200-$400 per acre, while just across the border, U.S. soy and corn typically net less than $160 an acre, according to the USDA.
* Millions of U.S. cars made by Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, and Tesla Motors are already being built with interior hemp-composite panels. If these companies could source U.S. grown hemp it would create long-term jobs in all sectors, strengthen regional economies, and maximize supply chain efficiencies. It’s a win-win-win!
At Rising Tide, we’re getting behind hemp all week by discounting hemp products from one of our favorite vendors: Nutiva. Check out the end cap all week and add some hemp into your life!
For more information about hemp and what you can do to help change Federal policy on hemp farming in the U.S., click here, and join Hemp History Week on Facebook.
If you’re already a Farmer’s Market devotee (like we are!), then you know that markets are a great place to get the freshest local produce, dairy, breads and other artisanal items (and the perfect spot to spend a few quiet hours on a summer Saturday). Supporting small local farms is imperative in this era of GMOs and Big Food; our farmer’s market purchases gives them the cash they need to provide a healthy, sustainable alternative to mass-produced foods.
Here are some more great reasons to make a stop at your local Farmer’s Market a regular part of your week.
Lucky for us, the Sea Cliff Farmer’s Market is about to open for the season. From June through October, each Saturday from 9-1, the market offers just-picked organic produce, all grown on Long Island, most from Nassau and Western Suffolk County. The farms represented are Restoration Farm (Old Bethpage), Beagan Gooth (Old Brookville), Youngs Farm (Old Brookville), Fox Hollow Farm (S. Huntington), Three Castles Gardens (Old Westbury), Pietro’s Farm (Old Westbury) and Orient Organics (Orient Point).
In addition to produce, the Sea Cliff market will have:
- Eggs and honey from Raleigh Poultry Farm in Kings Park
- Delicious breads, popovers and other sweet treats from Heritage Bakers in Glen Cove
- Jams, jellies, soups and other goodies from Gourmet Your Way
Plus, if you time it right, sometimes you can get amazing small-batch olive oil from Casale Sonnino, direct from Roma, Italy…che buono!
The Sea Cliff Market is scheduled to open for the year on June 17. It’s located at St. Luke’s Church at the corner of Glen and Roslyn Aves. in Sea Cliff, and takes place rain or shine (when it rains, they are indoors at the Parish Hall).
For market updates, follow them on Facebook.
Here in the first world we take our bananas, chocolate and coffee (oh yes, especially our coffee!) for granted. But many people in other countries are not so lucky. Each day, tens of thousands of people in various Asian, African and South American countries—men, women and even children—work themselves to the bone in unbearable conditions for pennies so we can continue to enjoy the things we love.
The Fair Trade movement seeks to level the playing field for workers around the world, ensuring that everyone enjoys decent wages and working conditions, regardless of where they live. Other principles of the Fair Trade movement: no child or forced labor, environmental sustainability, workplace non-discrimination, and investment in community development projects.
Set on the second Saturday of May each year since 2004, World Fair Trade Day is a global event designed to draw attention to the objectives of the Fair Trade movement. This is a great time to consider choosing Fair Trade alternatives for some of your favorite products.
How Do I Shop Fair Trade?
More than just chocolate, coffee and bananas, the Fair Trade designation can refer to any of the following:
* a variety of agricultural and handcrafted goods, including baskets
* clothing
* cotton
* coconuts
* home and kitchen decor
* jewelry
* rice
* soap
* tea
* toys
* wine
How Do You Know If It’s Really Fair Trade?
There are different third-party certifications for Fair Trade products. Depending on the certification, they may inspect fields, processing plants, and sometimes trading operations to ensure fair trade standards are met. Check the websites of your favorite fair trade brands to learn more about what they are doing to empower workers to organize and tend to what matters the most to them (and to us!): their families, their communities and the environment.
Today, in honor of World Fair Trade Day (and why not make it the rest of the month?), choose products from some of our favorite Fair Trade brands committed to working with small-scale farmers within the framework of the Fair Trade movement. Theo, Dr. Bronner’s, Alter Eco, Alaffia and Guayaki are all ON SALE this month at Rising Tide Market.
Happy World Fair Trade Day!
We’re excited we’ll soon be carrying the latest in eco-entertaining products from Preserve: compostable Cups and Straws. These single-use products—ideal for picnics, birthday parties and special occasions of all kinds—are made from plants and return to the soil when the party is over.
Preserve 12 oz cups come in packs of 8, and are suitable for hot and cold beverages, are non-toxic, manufactured in the U.S. from renewable resources (can be composted in a commercial composting facility). The Straws (come in packs of 50) are also made from plants, completely non-toxic and can actually be disposed of in a backyard composter—right next to all your veggie scraps and grass cuttings! Both Cups and Straws come in bright colors and stylish patterns and will be the eco-friendly star of any gathering.
This Earth Day (April 22), we’re launching a green initiative that’ll be a game changer (and a no-brainer!) for us and our customers. In order to reduce the number of paper bags we’re using (and the trees we’re destroying in the process), we’re committing 100% to a Bring Your Own Bag (B.Y.O.B.) policy at Rising Tide Market.
Here’s how it works: While we’ve always rewarded customers for bringing in reusable bags, now we will ask you if you would like that reward ($.10/bag) to be donated to a local charity instead.
In addition, for every paper grocery bag we give out, we will CHARGE $.10, which will—you guessed it—be donated to a local charity as well. The charity will change every month and will be clearly posted above the registers for you to read all about.
In 2016, we gave out 101,000 paper grocery bags. Through this B.Y.O.B. initiative, we’re hoping to cut that number in HALF in 2017! (To help the cause we’re also selling our reusable Rising Tide grocery bags AT COST: 2 for $3.)
This eco-partnership with our customers is a win-win: our customers develop new, greener, planet-saving habits around grocery shopping (B.Y.O.B.!), and we give a hand to the folks living in our community that need it the most. The first charity we will contribute to is the North Shore INN, a nonprofit, volunteer-based soup kitchen formed in 1989 to feed hungry people living in the Glen Cove area.
If you have any questions about this program, feel free to ask any staff member. Thanks, as always, for your support! We know you’ll help make this initiate a great success!
If Mother’s Day (May 14) is the best time to start planting outdoors, then April is when you lay the groundwork for all the growing that’ll happen in May. We’ve got everything you need to get started.
Organic Seeds: Rising Tide is proud to carry Certified Organic, non-GMO Project Verified seeds from Vermont’s own High Mowing Seeds.What started in 1996 as a one-man operation is now a thriving business making available to home gardeners over 600 heirloom, open-pollinated and hybrid varieties of vegetable, fruit, herb and flower seed. Each variety of seed has been evaluated for flavor, yield, resistance and uniqueness, and we’ve got some 140 varieties in the store.
Organic Plants: Each spring, we look forward to the arrival of our beautiful herb, vegetables, fruit and flower plants from Marion Gardens, family-owned growers located on the North Fork of Long Island. In business since 1987, Marion Gardens grows more than 250 varieties of plants, and sells to many of Long Island’s best garden centers. The best part? All Marion Gardens plants are locally grown, Certified Organic and non-GMO. Once we get the plants, we’ll be carrying receive a new selection each week…check Facebook and Instagram often for details!).
Beautiful Bulbs: For when you can’t wait for spring blossoms, we’ve got Tulips, Hyacinths and Daffodils in gorgeous shades of spring—the perfect gift when visiting friends and family for Easter/Passover.
It’s almost spring…time to RENEW, to dig out from the piles of dirt and clutter we accumulated over the winter and get everything glowing again.
Are your cleaning products as healthy as your diet? According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a nonprofit environmental research organization, 53 percent of cleaning products they reviewed contained lung-harming ingredients; 22 percent have been shown to cause asthma. In addition, carcinogens like formaldehyde and chloroform were found in several cleaners.
DIY Cleaning
In an effort to minimize the negative effects of chemical cleaners in your own home, common household items can be great substitutes. Here are some must-haves to keep in your DIY cleaning supplies arsenal. Stock up on the basics, then use these simple recipes to create everything you need to make your house sparkle, naturally.
Lemon: Super effective against household bacteria (and smells fresh and lovely!)
Olive Oil: Makes a great base for leather furniture cleaner and more
White Vinegar: Safely cuts through grease, and removes mildew, odors and stains
Baking Soda: The ultimate green cleaning weapon—cleans, deodorizes and scours
Tea Tree Oil: An excellent natural disinfectant and natural mold fighter
Make These Products Extinct
Once you’ve greened up all your necessary products, let’s dump the ones the EWG says we don’t need anymore, EVER. These include:
- Air fresheners (open windows instead, or diffuse your favorite essential oils)
- Anti-bacterial products, which can spur the rise of antibiotic resistant superbugs. Good old soap and H2O does the trick every time!
- Fabric softener or dryer sheets. Instead, use wool dryer balls or add a little vinegar to the rinse cycle.
- Drain cleaners (use a plunger or snake instead) and oven cleaners (make an inexpensive paste of baking soda and water).
As part of our mission to nourish our community through the products we sell and the knowledge we share, we believe it falls on us to take the lead in establishing practices that nourish and protect our planet, as well. That’s the impetus for our new experimental initiative: B.Y.O.B (Bring Your Own Bag!).
Rising Tide spent $12,800 on 101,000 paper grocery bags in 2016. (We eliminated the use of plastic bags back in 2012, and the customers loved it!) While we’ve previously awarded customers with $.10 for every reusable bag they use at the store, it has not resulted in a reduction in the number of bags.
So we decided to take the idea a few steps further this year.
1. For every paper bag we use to bag your groceries, we will charge you $.10. The proceeds will be DONATED to local charities, a different non-profit entity each month. (The Cause of the Month will be clearly displayed by the registers.)
2. For every reusable bag you shop with…HOORAY! You are doing something incredible to protect our trees and the life of our planet.
3. We will continue to sell our reusable Rising Tide shopping bags to you AT COST: $1.99/each.
4. Last but not least: In 2017, Rising Tide will commit to spending the same $12,800 on grocery bags we spent in 2016 OR…every dollar we don’t have to spend on bags (because you are all bringing in your reusable ones) will be donated at the end of each month to that month’s charity of choice. (For example, if we reduce the number of bags in half, and spend $6,400, we will donate the remaining $6,400 to our local charities.)
So…we don’t profit on this initiative, but if it works, we do something great for the environment AND help out lots of folks in the Glen Cove community. Plus, we will have joined together as a community to make a difference, which is awesome, too. A number of forward-thinking and progressive communities from coast to coast have already embarked on similar tree-saving initiatives, and we feel a bold project like this will resonate with our community, as well.
We’re sure you’ll have questions. Please feel free to ask about this when you’re in the store. We are genuinely excited to put our efforts toward a healthier planet and a more sustainable future. We hope you’ll get behind it, too!
