Happy Earth Day!

Specials and Recommendations
Yes, it's that time of year again here in the U.S....Earth Day, April 22. Since so much of our decision to buy organic is about what's best for the planet, as well as what's best for ourselves, why not take a look at the Sierra Club this Earth Day? If their mission of protecting air, earth, water, and natural beauty isn't enough, then maybe the nifty free travel bag is. This offer is good through April.

Once Earth Day is past, our next holiday is none other than Mother's Day. If you're not going to be able to visit Mom in person but will send her a gift instead, the Web is the easiest way to do it. Save yourself the trip to the post office and have her gift shipped straight to her door.

So, a few ideas for Mom:

If Mom likes her organic wine, check out the specials at wine.com. Save 15% on gift baskets with promo code LSAPRGB and 10% off any order of $150 or more with promo code LSAPR10. Both of these are valid till the end of April.

And Cellars Wine Club offers 10% off with promo code mom07. They've been a little weak on their organic selection lately, but give it a try.

In the UK, try drinkon.com for an assortment of organic spirits.

If you'd rather send a wine gift than the wine itself, check out the Wine Enthusiast sale page.

If Mom likes other kitchen gifts, Sur la Table has all kinds of stuff on sale.

For fun gifts in Australia, remember Rainbow Designs. They're adding special items just for Mother's Day and have put their Easter leftovers on sale, in case you just didn't get enough. All prices include shipping throughout Australia.

Back to the US for a minute: if you like the traditional flower gifts, remember Organic Bouquet. All their flowers are grown using sustainable practices. They have chocolates and gifts as well.

On a non-holiday topic, for UK meat eaters: Save the Bacon has another competition going. This time, you can enter to win £100 by All you have to do is to selecting in order of importance the reasons why you buy from Save The Bacon. Visit their website to answer.

Ever willing to take one for the team, I found some organic chocolate from Seeds of Change. I tried two varieties: the La Dominicana dark chocolate and the Narragansett dark chocolate with candied pecans, cranberries, and orange oil. Even the La Dominicana had a slightly sweet, almost fruity, flavor to it. The Narrangansett was even more so, of course, with tiny pieces of cranberry and nuts. I'd recommend either one if you like dark chocolate. You can see the chocolate and more Seeds of Change products at amazon.com.

Feature Article: The End of Organic Coffee...and chocolate...and...
When we talk about organic products, there's always the consideration of buying local. Is it better to buy imported organic food, that's been transported thousands of miles, adding the resultant pollution? Or is it better to buy locally, even if the food isn't organic? We could go in circles on that one.

For most of us in the developed world, though, there are products we can't buy from local producers. Coffee, for example. Demand for organic coffee has been growing, like the demand for other organic goods, and Third World coffee producers have been eagerly working on meeting it. Since much organic coffee is also Fair Trade certified, these growers are fairly compensated for their crops, and they receive support for their communities.

Is this about to change? The United States Department of Agriculture issued a ruling that tightens the requirements for organic certification. In a nutshell: Within the U.S., organic certification requires on-site inspection for compliance with organic requirements. Most organic farms in the developing world are actually cooperatives, since the farms themselves are so small. Due to the large number of small farms, however, inspecting every farm every year just isn't practical. So each year the USDA has inspected a representative sample of farms in a co-op, usually 20% of them, and certified all farms in the co-op based on that sample. The remaining farms would be self-policed by the co-op, and they'd all be inspected within a five-year period.

In its recent ruling, however, the National Organic Program has determined that all farms must be inspected annually. This decision wasn't random; it came from the discovery that a Mexican grower group was failing to detect both the use of insecticides and the storage of organic food in fertilizer bags. So in the face of this violation, the USDA has tightened the requirements for all. Unfortunately, this could make organic certification cost-prohibitive for grower groups. This will affect not only coffee, but tea, bananas, cocoa, spices, and more.

For more details, read the full Salon article.

In the meantime, here are some recommendations for organic coffee, while it's still easy to find:
B & D Gourmet Coffee
Coffee AM
Nectar of Life
Coffee for Less
Joffrey's Coffee and Tea Company

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