Join us for a Twitter chat on Organic Gardening

by Fawn Pattison, Senior Advocate

I hope you can join us for our first-ever Twitter chat - it's all about Organic Gardening!

We are so excited to be teaming up with our friends at MomsRising for an evening chat all about our favorite activity. Best of all, the featured guest will be Tom Philpott, writer, farmer and food & ag correspondent at Mother Jones magazine. Tom is the cofounder of Maverick Farms, a center for sustainable food education in Valle Crucis, North Carolina.

When: Tuesday April 29
Time: 9 PM EST
Where: On Twitter! Use the hashtag #EcoTipTue to follow the conversation

Whether you're just getting started with gardening, or you're a master gardener, please join us! We'll be talking about:

• tips for getting started with an organic garden
• how to fight pests naturally
• how to make sure your soil and beds are safe
• how to make and use compost in the garden
• ways to get kids involved in your garden

And of course we'll be taking your questions and ogling each other's garden pictures. I hope you can join us. Leave a comment to let us know you're coming!

Hungry for real pesticide protections? So are farmworkers.

by Fawn Pattison, Senior Advocate

Each year farms across the United States use over 800 million pounds of pesticides – weed, bug and fungus killing chemicals – to grow our food. Some of those chemicals wind up on the food we eat. Some of those chemicals wind up in our water. These chemicals are associated with a wide array of health problems in humans, from increased cancer risk to learning disabilities.

But more than anyone else, the people affected by pesticides are the people who pick our food: farmworkers. From higher cancer rates to learning disabilities among children, farmworkers suffer the greatest burden of harm from the pesticides used on our food.

This week, farmworkers are demanding a change.
A team of farmworkers from North Carolina and Florida are braving brutally cold weather to travel to Washington DC for meetings with the US Environmental Protection Agency and members of Congress. Members of NC FIELD and the Farmworker Association of Florida have left their jobs and families behind this week to convey their message in Washington: End the delays that have slowed down new pesticide rules for over a decade. It’s time to finally move forward on the Worker Protection Standard (WPS), the set of regulations intended to protect farmworkers from exposure to hazardous pesticides on the job.

The WPS governs things like what safety equipment must be worn, how workers are trained, and what information is provided to workers about the chemicals they’re working with. By any measure, the WPS has failed in its job so far. The WPS allows teenagers to work as pesticide handlers. It is unclear about many requirements, like how soon employers have to provide medical attention in case of an emergency, and whether workers should get written information about the pesticides to which they are exposed.

Why does this matter to the average consumer? Just imagine if the workers in an automotive plant were under-trained and under-informed about the materials they worked with every day. Workers need to be able to report faulty equipment, misused chemicals, stupid mistakes and breaches of the law. When they can’t, we all bear the consequences, in the form of foods, streams and soil contaminated with hazardous chemicals. And the farmworkers themselves suffer most of all.

The decision-makers at the EPA need to hear from the people most directly affected by the political choices they make. If they do, we all reap the benefits.

P.S. Stay tuned to our Twitter and Facebook page to get updates from the team in DC this week!

Safer Food, Farmworkers and Families

by Fawn Pattison, Executive Director

As we sit down to Thanksgiving dinner this week, many of us will say a prayer of thanks for the hardworking people who harvest our food. While we enjoy the harvest’s bounty, we also reflect on those who work hard in the fields, facing many dangers and often not earning enough to put food on the table themselves. That’s why Thanksgiving week is also designated as International Food Workers Week.

This week a coalition of farmworker supporters is launching a new campaign to keep farmworkers safe from one of the biggest hazards they face on the job: exposure to toxic pesticides.

Check out ProtectFarmworkers.org and add your name to the petition calling on the federal government to fix the outdated pesticide rules that are failing to keep workers – and us – safe from exposure on the job.

Farmworkers are some of the hardest working, yet least protected, workers in our country. Many laws that protect almost every other worker in the U.S. do not apply to farmworkers.  There is one set of standards, however, that is designed to help protect the health and safety of farmworkers from pesticide exposure: the EPA’s Worker Protection Standard for pesticides. Yet these standards are grossly inadequate for the men, women and children who are on the frontlines of our food production system.

A healthy, safe, and fair food system would benefit us all, protecting the health and serving the economic needs of farmworkers, farmers, rural communities and consumers. Shifting away from reliance on hazardous pesticides is a key step toward this goal. But as long as harmful pesticides are in use, farmworkers need better protections in the field.

Farmworkers have one of the highest rates of chemical exposures among U.S. workers. They are regularly exposed to pesticides throughout their workday in various ways, from mixing or applying pesticides to planting, weeding, harvesting or processing crops. In addition, farmworkers often live in or near treated fields, and harmful pesticides can drift into their homes. Health impacts can include both acute poisonings and long-term, chronic health effects such as various cancers, Parkinsons’ Disease, asthma, birth defects and neurological harms, including developmental delays and learning disabilities. Farmworkers’ children are particularly at risk.

Current regulations have failed to protect farmworkers and their families from pesticide exposure and harms. California farmworker poisoning data illustrate the extent of this nationwide problem, reporting hundreds of poisoning cases each year. Hundreds more — possibly thousands — go unreported due to workers’ fear of job loss and/or retaliation. Further exacerbating the problem is the fact that many states have weak or nonexistent systems for reporting poisoning incidents.

After more than a decade of broken promises and delays, EPA is now poised to strengthen the rules protecting farmworkers; but the agency needs to do so now and it needs to get it right. EPA must issue revisions to strengthen the Worker Protection Standard before the end of the year. The new regulations should include the following key improvements:

• A minimum age of 18 to work with pesticides. Currently teens as young as 16 may work mixing, loading and applying these highly toxic chemicals.
• Better and more frequent training on health risks of pesticides.
• Worker access to timely information about the use, location, and hazards of specific pesticides on the farm where they work.
• Special protections for pesticide handlers.
• Improved enforcement of safety standards at the state level.

The farmworkers who harvest our food need protection from toxic pesticides. Safe fields go hand in hand with safe food. Add your voice and learn more at ProtectFarmworkers.org.

Expectations Exceeded! Volunteering with Toxic Free NC

by Paul Chang, Outreach Intern with Toxic Free NC

Being surrounded by the fresh atmosphere of the Raleigh Midtown Farmers Market gave me a well-needed rejuvenating burst of energy.  The people, the products, and everything that goes into an active healthy community was present.  I honestly loved every part of it!

Participating as an outreach volunteer at Toxic Free NC gives me a chance to enjoy what I love doing most: building relationships and educating people.  Going in to my first outreach event at the Raleigh Midtown Farmers Market, I didn’t really know what to expect.  I was very curious to see what this outreach would actually look like in action.  But, when we arrived, I was immediately comforted by the calm, yet busy atmosphere of everyone trying to find their fresh veggies early in the morning.  Everyone who was interested in Toxic Free NC who came to our table was super friendly and easy-going.  I came up with the hypothesis that since these people are filled with fresh and/or organic foods in their bodies, their personalities are fresh and organic.  You know what they say, “you are what you eat.”

Laura and Paul volunteering for Toxic Free NC

Educating and interacting with the individuals was my favorite part of the whole day.  We joked, we laughed, and we educated with passion!  I really feel that this outreach program is a truly effective way to get the word out to the community about reducing their exposure to toxic chemicals.  The simplicity of this outreach was the best part! Giving out information, starting conversations about toxic chemical exposure, and just sharing personal experiences about environmental health was amazing.  Also, letting people make their own least-toxic household cleaner through our practical demonstration was some good educational entertainment for me.  To add to this amazing experience, it was “Pie Day” at the Market.  When I heard the news that 11 other tables in the farmers market made pies for people to sample, my day couldn’t have gotten better.  I sampled, I voted, and I was satisfied by the unique flavors of each pie in my stomach.


My experience with this volunteer outreach event exceeded all my expectations in every way!  The atmosphere, the people, the music, the kids, and our educational purpose all intertwined into a day of fresh fun.  Also, having random, yet interesting, conversations with two awesome people from Toxic Free NC throughout the day was a big cherry on top!

More Fresh, Local, and Organic Food on Your Child Care's Menu: Here's How

by Toxic Free NC Staff and Jennifer Li, Children’s Environmental Health Writing Intern

Many families are making local and organic produce a priority these days, and almost everyone needs to increase the fresh foods in their diet. Locally grown produce is the freshest, so it contains more nutrients and it supports local farmers. Why organic? Organic foods are grown without synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified ingredients, synthetic food additives or processing agents, and are environmentally friendly. Research shows that kids who eat a mostly organic diet have much lower levels of potentially harmful pesticides in their bodies.

We interviewed Jan of Country Sunshine Children’s Center, and Shawna of Bright Horizons at Raleigh Corporate Center, both in Raleigh. Their commitment to children’s health is truly inspiring, and the methods they share are feasible and effective. From co-op programs with parents to growing fruits and vegetables in gardens, we hope other childcare centers can use these creative and helpful tips from the pros!

So, how can you get more fresh, local, and organic food onto your child care menu?

Here are 5 tips to get you started:

1. Purchase fresh, local, and organic foods from the Farmers' Market, grocery stores, and food distributors, especially when the vegetables and fruits are in season.

“Anytime we can, we get away from frozen or canned foods and incorporate fresh fruits and vegetables into our menu.” —Jan, Country Sunshine Children’s Center

2. Child care centers can obtain reimbursements for nutritious meals from the Federal Food program.

3. Start a Co-op Program. Country Sunshine uses a “Partnership with Parents” to bring in more fresh foods without driving up costs.

How does it work? 

• 3 times a week, children at the Country Sunshine Children’s Center are provided with fresh, healthy fruit and vegetable snacks from parents. 
• Parents are asked to provide fresh produce for one classroom (about 10-20 kids/class) only once per month.
• Each classroom’s parents are designated a specified amount of a particular fruit or veggie snack for every month. For example, parents may be asked to bring watermelon, apples, lettuce or carrots for the class.

4. Plant a garden at your childcare center.  Children enjoy growing their own fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers to have fun and learn, grow their own snacks, and provide treats for their families to taste.

How does it work?

Seeds are both provided by parents and bought from stores. Children can determine the types of seeds they want to plant.

How can we start doing this?

• Children can start growing seeds from containers to study them and observe how they grow. Some centers choose to hire a landscaper to build the garden space. This can also be done by parent volunteers if there is a plan for the garden. 
• Use plants that are easy to grow from seeds: Sunflowers, basil, cherry tomatoes, pumpkins, carrots, and lettuce.
• More examples of what they have grown: Lemon Cucumbers, Green Beans, Peas, Bell Peppers, Jalapeños, Tomatoes, Watermelons, Basil, Marigolds. 

The garden is a “learning experience, where children learn to take care of living things and have buy-in to the food they eat.” —Shawna, Bright Horizons at the Raleigh Corporate Center.

5. Educate staff, teachers, and parents about your work to provide healthy, organic food to their kids! Both Bright Horizons and Country Sunshine use a regular email newsletter to keep parents updated about menus, volunteer opportunities, and gardening (along with all the other important news from their centers).

You can publish announcements and seek parent support through your child care center newsletter, at parent meetings, etc.

Share information about organic food with parents so they get involved with what you are doing. Eat Local, Eat Pesticide Free! and Organic on a Budget are two great starter fact sheets from Toxic Free NC that can help.

Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Shawna of Bright Horizons at the Raleigh Corporate Center and Jan of Country Sunshine Children’s Center for allowing us to share the great information they provided for this article!

Jennifer Li is passionate about advocating for improved health in communities. After interning at the Museum of Life and Science last summer to promote healthy living, she was excited to build on her experience to make a difference in improving environmental health with Toxic Free NC.

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Did you find this article helpful? Approximately once a month, Toxic Free NC volunteers or staff write a newsletter-ready article, focusing on children's environmental health, that we send to child care centers across North Carolina.



These articles contain helpful tips on ways child care centers, staff, and the children's parents can reduce kids' exposures to toxic chemicals and pesticides...we also think they're great for using in your home, too!  We hope you find the article useful and feel free to share.



If you would like any of the past articles, please email Lynne Walter for copies or to be added to our Child Care News list.  Examples of past articles include:
    •    Having Fun in the Sun: Avoiding Sunburn, Skin Cancer, and Toxic Chemicals, too
    •    Toxic-Free Gardening with Kids: 5 Tips for Gardeners at Home, School, & Child Care on Getting Rid of Bugs Safely
    •    Round Up Your Weeds Without Toxic Chemicals!
    •    Get Pesticides Out of Your Kids' Classrooms: It's Easier than You Think!
    •    Mosquito Management in Child Care

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Text and Photo, Copyright 2013 by Toxic Free NC.  NC Child Care centers have permission to use text and photo for educational purposes with their parents and staff, provided full credit is given to Toxic Free NC.

Friendship Gardens Provides Fresh, Local Food to the Charlotte Community

by Elizabeth Chatfield Vernier, Office Management Intern

It all started with a void in fresh produce. The local meals-on-wheels program in Charlotte, Friendship Trays, had always relied in part on farmers donating fresh produce, but it wasn't enough. Friendship Gardens was created to fill the void by connecting local backyard gardeners with Friendship Trays.

Kathy Metzo, Friendship Gardens' Development Director, explained that Friendship Trays used to rely on "donations from grocery stores, frozen vegetables, and fresh vegetables from out of state".

The small garden they started out with did not come close to providing 750 meals a day, so they branched out and began adopting community gardens. "Our goal was 16 gardens, but we had 36 gardens in 2 years, and now we have at least 55 gardens," Kathy said. Some adopted gardens were already in existence, and some were assisted by Friendship Gardens from the ground up.

Friendship Gardens supports volunteers in their backyard gardening program every step of the way. From providing free seeds, food safety and garden training to providing a space for friendship and sharing information, participating gardeners have the tools to succeed.

The large garden network enables support and resource sharing among gardens. Potluck meals allow volunteers and gardeners to connect with each other in an informal setting. According to Kathy Metzo, structured workshops give novices a baseline, and those who garden by trial and error learn the science behind gardening.

Even though Friendship Gardens is based on giving, its success is likely due in part to recognizing that gardeners must enjoy their own harvest. Their Homegrown program improves food access for residents of Habitat for Humanity homes by setting up small residential gardens. They use hearty plants for the new gardeners. This way, participants quickly see the fruits of their labor so they will continue gardening.

The same principle is applied to the backyard gardeners. Friendship Gardens encourages garden volunteers to keep some of the harvest themselves in addition to donating a portion of it to Friendship Trays.

As Kathy Metzo puts it, "Last summer I sautéed some vegetables [from her own garden] in a pan: tomato, okra, and zucchini, with a little olive oil, and sprinkled on some mozzarella. It's simple. You feel like no matter what you grow, how awful a gardener you are, no matter how awful your harvest is, you're still feeding yourself. Even if you just have two okras, one tomato and a zucchini half eaten by worms, you can put half of the zucchini in the compost and eat the other half."

---
Friendship Gardens was a nominee in Toxic Free NC's 1st annual Save a Bee Beehive Giveaway in 2012. With support from The Burt's Bees Greater Good Foundation, we award a beehive and organic gardening support to a NC community garden working on food access issues in our state.

By encouraging organic gardening and promoting pollinator protection we hope to make it possible for community gardens in NC to grow even more healthy, pesticide-free food for their communities.

Find out more about Toxic Free NC's Save a Bee Beehive Giveaway and how you can help protect pollinators and support community gardens near you.

The Bees are speaking: It's time to act

By Jean Strandberg & Fawn Pattison

Bombus terrestris, the beloved bumblebee

This October, Toxic Free NC is focusing on our friends, the pollinators. Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard that domestic honeybee populations have plummeted in recent years. Farmers in North Carolina and across the US face a dramatic shortage of hives to pollinate their crops. Nearly half the managed beehives in NC have been lost since the mid-1980’s.

But did you know that wild pollinators are even worse off? While their populations are hard to track, biologists estimate that wild pollinators have suffered a 95% population decline in NC in the same time period. New research shows that wild pollinators are even more important to our food supply than domesticated bees. A recent study looking at 40 different crops across the globe showed that wild pollinators are twice as effective as honeybees in their pollination efforts. This is in part due to the variety of pollination techniques used by wild pollinators, as well as a tendency to cross-pollinate (honeybees usually pollinate within a single plant). 

We must act now to stop the pollinator collapse, or we will be very hungry people before long. We're already seeing the effects of fewer pollinators on the planet. Yields in crops that do not require pollination are growing at a much faster rate than those that do, and more and more farmers are finding it necessary to rent hives from around the country to ensure the success of their crops. Among crops requiring pollination are some of our favorite foods: cucumbers, almonds, blueberries, watermelon, apples, strawberries, melons and peaches all require pollination. If we fail to address the causes of these losses, we may soon have to give up many of the foods we love.

But many voices are telling us not to act. Pesticide makers argue loudly that their chemicals aren't to blame. They pay troops of scientists to create data that distract our attention from the harmful effects of agrochemicals on bees, butterflies and birds. But agrochemicals like the widely used class of insecticide, neonicotinoids, are strongly linked to declines in honey and bumblebee populations. There are plenty of other contributing factors besides pesticides, of course.

Hang around any beekeeper, and you’re sure to hear about the Varroa mite’s attack on their hives, introducing RNA viruses that disrupt hive function and can eventually lead to colony collapse. Climate change has been linked to an increasing incongruity between when bees are active and when flowers are in bloom. Pesticides, pathogens, climate change, decreased crop diversity and habitat destruction all play a part, individually, and in combination. 

But having many factors involved is no excuse to sit back and let a disaster happen. We must act now to fix what we can! The overuse of pesticides is a huge contributor to these declines. Pesticides kill beneficial insects and pollinators like bees and butterflies that are necessary to provide a healthy ecosystem where we can thrive. Pollination is required for three-quarters of global food crops, and one of the things we can do right now to conserve these essential pollinators is to use fewer pesticides.

The US Department of Agriculture, and our state Commissioner of Agriculture should be acting fast to promote farm technology that protects pollinators: More organic farming, more Integrated Pest Management, ending the use of pesticides most highly toxic to bees, and creating incentives for farmers to diversify crops and provide more pollinator habitat. The pollinator collapse is a man-made disaster, and one that we can stop if we choose to. Let's choose wisely.

Growing gardens and relationships with farmworkers

By Anna Jensen, Community Organizer

I've been thinking a lot this summer about how change is made, and I keep coming back, in various ways, to the centrality of  relationship building.

This year, we made a conscious choice to narrow the scope of our farmworker outreach in order to focus on building deeper, more meaningful relationships with farmworkers. Instead of presenting information about pesticide protections to as many workers as possible, we decided to return to the same three camps at least twice a month during May through August, with the goal of having repeated conversations with workers about their experiences, needs, and ideas for the future. We wanted to support workers not only in their quest for better protections from pesticides at work, but also in other aspects of their lives so that they felt they had what they needed to advocate for themselves.

As we have done in previous years, we brought seedlings and supported farmworkers in organic gardening. We arranged for someone to cook dinner for the largest camp three times over the course of the season, and we sat down and ate dinner with 25 farmworkers, and we listened. By listening, we learned more about workers' food traditions, their knowledge and work backgrounds, and what motivated them to fight for safer work places, or what prevented them from protecting themselves or speaking up.

We distributed over 80 tomato, cucumber and pepper seedlings to 3 camps, increasing access to pesticide-free food for more than 50 farmworkers during the agricultural season this year. The chile peppers in the largest camp did especially well, and one farmworker there said that "one of them is worth ten of the ones we buy at the store." We also conducted hands-on gardening workshops in each camp several times during the season, identifying problem bugs and what to do about each one without using pesticides, as well as finding good bugs to leave alone. Each of those workshops facilitated deeper conversations about the harms that pesticides can cause and the importance of protecting themselves and fighting for alternatives. The workers ended the season with knowledge they can use next year, and pass on to other farmworkers if they don't come back to our area again. Most of the farmworkers we talked to, however, plan to be back in the same place next season, and we ended the season with stronger relationships with those farmworkers that Toxic Free NC can build on next year. We are building a network of farmworkers ready to engage in advocacy, or serve as resources to their friends and coworkers about their work rights and about organic gardening.

Some of these workers will participate in focus groups on pesticides and reproductive health with us before they leave, providing us with information we can use to educate more workers next year. And we will rely on the relationships we have built this year to help spread the word, educate others, refine our work, and involve more farmworkers next year. As the harvest season ends here, I am grateful to all of the farmworkers who welcomed our visits, took time to talk with us, and gave us feedback to improve our work after completing their own long, difficult workdays.

Zombie Attack on North Carolina Organics

NC Department of Agriculture brings 2005 Frankenfood legislation back from the dead.

by Fawn Pattison, Executive Director

Photo by Grmisiti via Flickr

The NC Department of Agriculture has revived a bill from 2005 that directly threatens organic agriculture and small farmers in North Carolina. H 379,“Clarify Board of Ag Authority/Plants,” uses an innocuous title to launch an offensive on anyone who grows a crop in North Carolina without a corporate patent on it. Rep. Langdon (R-Johnston), chair of the Agriculture Committee, has filed the bill in the NC House of Representatives.

Here we go again. A nearly identical bill called “Plant Regulation” was filed on behalf of the NC Department of Agriculture in 2005. Like its undead counterpart, H379 would prevent any government entities – local governments in particular – from enacting any ordinance or legislation to restrict the sale or cultivation of any plant in NC, reserving that authority solely for the NC Board of Agriculture. 

Here’s a good question… Why?

Have any North Carolina cities or counties attempted to restrict genetically-modified crops, the way four California counties did in 2004? No. But that’s what triggered this inane legislation the first time around, when identical language was enacted into law in 15 different states.

So what’s the problem?

Genetic material from GMO crops can contaminate neighboring crops:

• Monsanto and other companies have aggressively defended their patents, to the point of suing farmers for patent infringement when they save and re-plant seeds that have been contaminated with genetic material from neighboring crops.
• Genetic drift can make a farmer’s crop unsaleable in places like the European Union, which has tougher restrictions on GMO crops. Genetic drift can also harm a farmer’s organic certification.

The bill also has fallout for local governments, who would be prevented from restricting the sale or cultivation of invasive species that may be affecting them locally. It could even prevent local governments from enacting notification policies to protect organic farmers from genetic drift, according to the Center for Rural Affairs.

When this legislation was first introduced in 2005, the NC Senate inserted language to protect small farmers and organic neighbors from the potential damage. The result? The bill was killed, and Dr. Frankenstein returned defeated to his lab… apparently to wait for a more favorable environment in which to raise this bill from the dead.
 
The effect of H 379 will be to further concentrate corporate control over food and farming. It’s clear why a bill like this might be good for the likes of Monsanto, but how is it really good for farmers?

Dear Grocer...

photo by dmason via Flickr

by Fawn Pattison, Executive Director

If you live in a rural area, you may not have a wonderful grocery store full of organic items close by. Some larger grocery chains are incorporating more organics into their lines, in response to customer demand.

How can you get your local grocery store to do the same? Ask them!

One of the members of Toxic Free NC's Community Leadership Council, Connie Schultz, had a great idea. Why not create a sample letter that makes it easy for consumers to ask their local stores to do better?

Here's a sample letter that you can use. Just copy & paste the text and print it on your own stationery. Be sure to add your own name and address, and personalize it if there are other things you want to say.

If you hear back from your local grocer, let us know what they say!

Date, 2013

Your name and address

Dear Store Manager, 

I have been a customer at <your store> for many years. I appreciate all that you do to make shopping at <your store> a pleasant and convenient experience.  

You may know that organic foods are a fast-growing part of the marketplace. In fact, I and many of my friends drive all the way to <Raleigh or Chapel Hill, or Asheville...> to shop at the <large organic market>! That's inconvenient for me, and lost business for you. 

Would <your store> consider bringing more organic products in to the store so that I don't have to drive to another city to get them? In particular, I'd like to see:

• More fresh organic produce, especially North Carolina-grown varieties of sweet potatoes, strawberries, and greens

• Organic frozen vegetables like broccoli and spinach - they are so convenient!

• Organic dairy products, especially milk and yogurt

• <.... list the items you want to see!> 

Organic food is important because when you eat it, you take fewer toxic chemicals into your body. One of the other sources of toxic chemicals is actually the food packaging. Many retailers are getting Bisphenol-A (also known as BPA) out of their canned food and other packaging. I hope that <your store> will do the same.  

Thank you for considering my request. If you have any questions, you may reach me at <provide your phone, email or other method of contact>.  

Sincerely,
<Your full name>

I'll take my superfood without the side of malathion, please.

Photo by mystuart via Flickr

by Fawn Pattison, Executive Director

Is it blueberry season yet?

As soon as spring starts to poke its nose out, I start daydreaming about the delicious things I'll be eating from my garden and from the farmer's market this summer. Chief among my food fantasies: Blueberries.

What's not to love about a blueberry? They're small, cute, delicious, packed with vitamins and antioxidants, and they grow like crazy here in North Carolina. Here's something I don't love: the side-dressing of pesticides that come with conventionally-grown berries.

I got a jarring reminder of why I buy organic berries at yesterday's meeting of the NC Pesticide Board.

The Board was hearing the case of a farmer from Bladen county who had violated pesticide rules by sending workers in to harvest blueberries too soon after a pesticide application. The grower had applied a pesticide formula that included malathion - a notorious nerve poison - and had the berries harvested before the required 24-hour pre-harvest interval was up. One worker was hospitalized with suspected pesticide illness (though the exact cause could not be confirmed). The Ag Department's inspector came out several days later and collected samples. Those samples showed malathion residue. The grower was fined $800.

Just a moment. About those berries... Board member Benson Kirkman asked if the blueberries could have been on a farm stand for sale the same day.

Yes.

Uncomfortable silence.

The berries were in fact harvested too early. But only by a few hours. Just 24 hours after an application of pesticides that could still be detected several days later - pesticides that may even have made workers sick - EPA rules allow those same berries to be harvested and put up for sale.

That's why blueberries landed on the "Dirty Dozen" pesticide list in 2010, and it's also a very good reason to buy organic blueberries this summer.

Our plan for Toxic Free NC in 2013

by Fawn Pattison

It's a New Year like we’ve never known before.

In the wake of November’s election, 2013 ushered in the harshest political environment that North Carolina’s health and environment have ever known. The state legislature can and will inflict plenty of damage. But that doesn’t mean we should despair!

The state legislature does not lead social change – it only follows. Their job is to codify the change already taking place within our communities. That’s why Toxic Free NC always focuses our work where it matters most – in the communities around North Carolina where real change begins.

We’ll never cease to watchdog state government and speak out for health and justice, but our work doesn’t depend on them. Here’s our plan to keep moving forward in this harsh political environment:

• We'll work with folks like you to change city and county ordinances to bring healthy, pesticide-free food to more of the people who need it most. Local policies can promote local and organic foods, gardening, beekeeping and urban farming, and reduce pesticide pollution.

• We’ll continue to sweep though the child care sector – public and private – with a safer approach to pest control that protects our children from chemical harm.

• We’ll target the corporations that neglect our health and well-being with shoddy products that over-use hazardous chemicals, and we'll help you to be a savvy consumer.

• And most of all, we will keep building our base of power by bringing the voices and ideas that matter most – yours – into powerful collaboration with new allies around the state. Whether it’s helping your child care drop the toxic chemicals, or taking citizen lobbyist teams to Congress for federal chemical reform, we will use this time to keep getting smarter and stronger. 

Working together, we will continue to make real change on the ground throughout North Carolina. And when the state legislature’s iron is hot again, we’ll be ready to strike!

Now more than ever, we are so grateful to have you with us. And now more than ever, we need your help.Make a gift to Toxic Free NC and lend your support to make us even stronger. Even better, if you're not already a monthly donor, consider making a recurring gift so we can count on you to be with us every step of the way. When the going gets tough, we’re in it together. Please make a donation today.

P.S. Next week, we're sharing details about our community organizing plans for 2013. We're excited to share them with you. Stay tuned!

New short film reveals teens’ experiences being sprayed with pesticides

Last week Toxic Free North Carolinareleased our latest Farm Worker Documentary Project film, Overworked & Under Spray. It’s a six-minute piece featuring six high school-aged farm workers’ stories about being sprayed with agricultural pesticides while tending crops in fields across NC.

For two months this summer, full-time Student Action with Farmworkers intern Abi Bissette and I crisscrossed the eastern side of the state. We visited farm worker families in their homes, giving out pesticide safety information and discussing their rights as farm workers. By midsummer we had assembled a group of motivated, outspoken teenagers who have worked cultivating and harvesting blueberries, strawberries, sweet potatoes, green beans, grapes, cucumbers and tobacco.

“You could see the spray coming at you...but we kept on working. The next day I didn't feel so good,” Felix Rodriguez, one of the youth featured in the film, told us during his interview. “I wouldn't feel comfortable talking about pesticides to the owner or supervisor because they'll see you as nagging. They just really want you to work.”

When we asked the youth how they would fix the situation, they had a range of impressively astute answers:  put more inspectors in the fields, get rid of child labor in agriculture, make stronger regulations for crew leaders. But one message we heard loud and clear from everyone interviewed was “enough is enough”. The exploitation of children (or anyone) for cheap food—and the poisoning of the people who work to fill our grocery store shelves—has gone on for far too long. It’s time for eaters of conscience to demand an end to abusive, toxic agriculture.

Here in North Carolina we're actively working to protect children, and all workers, from exposure to toxic pesticides and other dangerous working conditions. Want to take action for farm workers in NC? Check out our website for three simple steps you can take.

Good news for a new year

Here's a little tidbit of good news to start your new year right. Last week a California appeals court upheld a previous, landmark ruling that organic farmer Larry Jacobs has the right to sue a neighboring farm for pesticide drift that occurs through volatilization. The lawsuit was on behalf of Jacobs Farm Del Cabo, whose organic herbs are sold in Whole Foods stores all over the country. Jacobs' farm was contaminated in 2007 when pesticides from a neighboring Brussels sprouts field volatilized and made their way to his fields, making his entire dill and rosemary crops unmarketable.

We hear on a pretty regular basis from organic farmers and gardeners in North Carolina who are frustrated and concerned about the risk of pesticides drifting onto their crops. This ruling may set a positive precedent for not only those farmers and gardeners, but also for farm workers who are often on the receiving end of pesticide drift.

There is of course, still plenty of bad news to go around. Here's a story about a group of South Carolina hunters who were hospitalized after they were exposed to the pesticide Temik while hunting. Temik is used a lot in North Carolina, and many of the violations that the NC Pesticide Board settles each year involve the mishandling of this particular toxic pesticide.

Here's to progress, and a whole new year of working to make harm from pesticides a thing of the past!

Agrarian Road Trip with the Presbyterian Hunger Program

Guest post by Toxic Free NC Intern Laura Valencia.

After interning with Toxic Free NC in the summer of 2009, working specifically on farm worker advocacy, I was left with the nagging sensation that the global food system was seriously ill. I learned first-hand about the symptoms of the sickness through sharing stories with farm workers who provide much of the labor that keep the food system chugging along. Pesticide exposure, poor housing, and unsafe working conditions were just a few aspects of the status quo that I not only heard about, but saw with my own two eyes. It wasn’t hard to come out of the summer with the idea that the food system is an unbridled beast, a problem that neither law nor economy would be able to fix.

Then, in the spring of 2010 I heard about the Presbyterian Hunger Program’s Agrarian Road Trip to the US Social Forum. Although the name is a total mouthful, the idea is quite simple: get together 15 people from across the country to road trip through eight states and visit just and sustainable agricultural projects. Or, in other words, my dream vacation. This trip gave me the opportunity to see the local agriculture movement as up close and personal as I saw the problems with conventional agriculture, and learn about much needed local solutions to national and global problems!

We toured from Louisville, KY to Detroit, MI by way of Berea KY, Maryville TN, Asheville NC, Wytheville VA, Mullens WV, and Youngstown & Cleveland OH (map). I’d like to report on the NC projects that our group visited and commend your state on a fantastic variety of agrarian projects!

The Veteran’s Restoration Quarters and Transitional Housing in Asheville, NC is a converted Motel 8 with over 150 rooms. According to Director Michael Reich, the facility is in the top 5 of 600 similar facilities in the United States, evidence that they run a tight ship! One project, the Victory Garden, was started by two current residents who asked for a garden when they moved in. They now work a large piece of land sunrise to sunset every day of the week. This victory garden not only provides food to the men’s quarters, but also to the women’s quarters in the city. The two men also run a weekly tailgate market to support their project! Produce also goes to the culinary classes where other veterans work to develop skills. The Victory Garden serves the community: it is not divided into plots for different people, it is a garden that is completely communal. While giving us a tour, the men mentioned their composting initiatives and also their use of IPM. In the photo to the left, Ed, a resident of the Veteran’s Restoration Quarters talks with Talitha, a Road Tripper from California. If you look closely, you can see a patriotic scarecrow in the background!

The Free Store at Warren Wilson College was started in 1999 as a part of Warren Wilson College’s super progressive recycling program. As a college student, I was blown away by WWC’s initiatives across campus: local food advocacy in the cafeteria, sustainable ag practices taught in the classroom, and an eco-dorm for leisure activities! As a college student, I am also sensitive to big-budget college spending vs. small-budget college student saving. The project that I saw that really appeared to not only be cutting-edge environmentally but also progressive socially was the Warren Wilson Free Store. The Free Store is an initiative to divert waste from the landfill – the message on their website is clear: “If you have some stuff you want to get rid of, no matter what it is, and you think that someone else might still be able to use / salvage it, bring it down.” Shelves upon shelves are filled with half-used shampoos, old cell phone chargers, dirty shoes, and suitcases. Just about everything a college student would throw away is found there, and more! I even picked up a “Warren Wilson Admissions” polo shirt. This project is part of WWC’s awesome recycling program, which you can check out here.

Our group spent the night at Warren Wilson College and had the pleasure of making Marc Williams’, local ethnobotanist, acquaintance. Marc led us through a meal that used over 30 ingredients, the vast majority local and harvested just that day. The menu included: herbal tea of monarda, spearmeint, sassafras leaves; pesto of lamb’s quarter and basil; garden salad with more lamb’s quarter and lettus, garnished with day lilies and monarda (left); and for dessert, juneberry-blackberry cobbler. Marc Williams, our favorite genius, is an ethnobotanist, teacher, chef, and farmer who went to Warren Wilson College and Appalachian State University. He is leading an online course that is donation based and based on the book Botany in a Day. Check it out!

One last story I’d like to tell is about a lunch our group shared in Brevard, NC at Fred and Elizabeth Bahnson’s homestead. Because our trip was sponsored by the Presbyterian Hunger Program, we often spent time with theologians and learned specifically about faith-based organizing around the local foods movement. The Bahnson couple, who are building an eco-house just up the hill from their gravity-fed edible forest and permaculture garden (idyllic, no?) are both theologians who met at Duke Divinity. My fellow roadtripper Bethel (her blog here) describes the Bahnson’s projects with detail:

Where the Bahnsons live is actually a microclimate in the midst of the mountains – a tropical rainforest, receiving nearly 80 inches of rain each year – as much as Seattle. As they build their new house, the Bahnsons have planned to harvest the rainwater, situating their catchment system on top of a hill – to gravity-feed to their biointesive growing beds. In addition to rainwater catchment, Fred has designed swales on the contour of the land to irrigate native fruit trees and prevent erosion on the steep slope on which their farm is southerly-facing. Other highlights of their farm-to-be are living mulches that fix nitrogen (lupine) and accumulate other deep nutrients (comfrey), as well as growing their own grains (Hopi blue corn for grinding). Elizabeth is currently dreaming of a goat dairy.

If you are interested in the connection between food and faith, check out an article Fred Bahnson co-wrote for the organization he founded, the Anathoth Community Garden. He points out, as many agrarian theologians do, that human and humus are not so far apart, a fact often supported by the Bible’s stories. The Bahnson’s are a living example of a desire to serve the soil rather than dominate it.

reflections on farm work in the heat of the summer

I went berry picking this past Sunday afternoon at Vollmer Farm, a certified organic former-tobacco-farm about 45 minutes northeast of Raleigh. Berries are among my very favorite foods in the whole wide world. So, inspired by the season's bounties - blackberries & blueberries & even a few strawberries - I organized this little berry picking trip with a couple friends. Only one big problem: Sunday was blazing hot with a heat index of 105 degrees, and we went in the hottest midday hours. Whew, not so smart! Under hats, sunglasses and sunscreen, we picked sluggishly for an hour or so, rested often in the shade, then retreated to showers and air conditioning as soon as we'd picked enough to justify the trip. (Photo by Kate Pattison. The author picking blackberries at Vollmer Farm.)

Even with the heat, picking berries was pretty pleasant work - sometimes I was close enough to my friends to chat, and the rest of the time I was alone with my thoughts and the beautiful - if sweltering - day. Being on a certified organic farm, I had no qualms about pesticide exposure as the breezes cooled my bare arms and legs, and as I taste tested the different berry varieties. But, as I squatted and stooped and sweat, I thought a lot about farm workers. Here I am, an "agritourist," picking berries by my own choice, on the farm of my choice, no more or faster than I feel like, and I get to go home whenever I want....and even I am pretty uncomfortable, feeling pretty paranoid about sunburn and getting enough water. What would it be like if this was my job, if I picked berries all day long?

Toxic Free NC Leadership Council member Melissa Bailey wrote an email this weekend about her work with youth farm workers in Eastern NC that I'm sharing some of here with her permission, because she writes so eloquently about this issue.

My team and I have spent a very grueling week. I say this humbly because getting in and out of air conditioned vehicles and sweating an hour under the tin roofs of mobile homes/housing is nothing compared to what agricultural laborers suffer in heat indexes that are now regularly between 105-110 degrees.

The situation causes me to reflect about real climate change and if we can expect similar heat waves over this and future summers. It also raises questions about just how hot it can get and for how long. In short, we all dread August at this point (us and the workers).

I recall a conversation I had with a colleague and very good friend last season when children were experiencing breathing problems and our youth were losing weight quickly with some only getting as far as the cool porch floors or shaded areas in their shorts before they fell into exhausted sleep/rest.

She told me about what it is like when you breed prize animals, in this case, dogs. She recounted the importance to the owners that the animals remain disease and illness-free. She discussed the thousands of dollars some breeds can bring to the owners in income. She explained that the animals had air conditioners, regular physical examinations and were only exercised/trained in the early mornings
and late evenings. We talked about hydration and diet.

I felt sick to my stomach at the comparison. To this day it resonates. I understand the differences. I know people are supposed to seek their own medical attention, their own air conditioning, their own safety levels while in the fields. The
problem is, we all know they don't. Not because they don't care. But because they don't want to miss work, appear weak, or anger the contractor/grower. In short, they desperately, desperately need their jobs.

They need to work so badly they are willing to work in dangerous heat indexes for 8-12 hours, in conditions where contractors/growers can be found at the edge of the field with the water and sitting in their air conditioned trucks/vans. I know this because I drive by it every day I'm out there. Anyone who thinks otherwise is extremely naive.

A few camps only work until noon. The common thread in those camps seems to be that the grower/contractor won't put his workers in the field if he/she is not willing to work under the same conditions. One would think that the human condition would provoke this kind of behavior. Unfortunately, these contractors/growers are a minority.

This heat is so dangerous. It isn't Texas heat or Mexico heat. It's a humid heat that provokes every drop of moisture from your body. In time you stop sweating and you start to feel cool, then you begin to shake. If you don't understand what is happening, you say things like, "My body is used to the temperature now," and maybe you don't drink anything else because you're afraid you'll start sweating again...

Why? Obviously the injustice nags at me but I guess the larger question of how did we ever get to the point that we could so completely dehumanize the labor necessary for our food supply is the larger question. What happened? And how in the world can we keep this from slipping further and further into a time when we just buried them and bought more?

I have to go now. (...) I love my job, even in 107 degree heat indexes. I get to take them (the workers) water and fresh fruit and take them to the clinic and even call the occasional ambulance. I can't really teach anything. They fall asleep too quickly. But still, I go and sweat with them. It seems like the least I can do for a situation I am so powerless to affect.

Thank you, Melissa, for the work that you do!

Now for a little comic relief: check out this article about a joint effort between the UFW and the Colbert Report: "In a tongue-in-cheek call for immigration reform, farmworkers are teaming up with comedian Stephen Colbert to challenge unemployed Americans: Come on, take our jobs."

Stay cool, everyone!

on "natural" meats and choosing local & organic

Guest post by Toxic Free NC volunteer Hayes Simpson.

I was forever changed a couple of weeks ago, and will henceforth always practice the “sniff test method” before I begin to cook any type of food with an expiration date!

Here's the story: I went food shopping on a Thursday, went out of town for the weekend, returned on a Sunday afternoon. Later in the afternoon, I chopped some onions, crushed some garlic cloves, and set out spices for the whole chicken that I intended to roast. I unwrapped the chicken, plopped it on a roasting pan while the oven preheated, and Whew! All of a sudden something was amiss; the air was thickening with a fetid odor that begged to be extinguished. First I ran to the bathroom, then to the shamed chicken, which I quickly double bagged and carried out to the garage. But, when I checked the slimy wrappings, the "sell by date" was for that very day!

For one thing, I probably should not have left uncooked chicken in the fridge for that long. Check out this Food Storage Guide. Fresh poultry is supposed to spend only one or two days in the fridge, oops! Us “master chefs” learn something new every day!

But here's a little more background on this chicken… I purchased it from a grocery store where I don't normally shop because they don't carry many organic products. But shop there I did, and seeing no great meat choices in the freezer section, I chose a whole chicken from behind the meat counter display case. It was labeled “natural” and had been produced on a “farm.” I think it was the word “natural” that sold me.

So, what does the label “natural” mean when it is applied to meat and poultry? The USDA says that meat and poultry labeled “natural” must not contain artificial flavoring, color ingredients, chemical preservatives, or artificial or synthetic ingredients, and can only be processed “minimally.” Really, the “natural” label refers to what happened to the animal product AFTER slaughter. This means that so-called "natural" products could contain pesticides, added hormones, or antibiotics! Pesticides and other pollutants build up in the fatty tissues of livestock that are exposed to them. When we consume animal products that have pesticides in them, those chemicals wind up in our own bodies. Unlike microbial contaminants, we can’t "kill" pesticides and other chemical pollutants by cooking them away. For more info on pesticides in food, go to: http://www.whatsonmyfood.org. It seems there could have been quite a few pesticides in that rotten chicken that I thankfully did not eat! (Maybe it was a blessing in disguise.) Too bad I can't "sniff test" for pesticides in my food!

We meat eaters do not have to abandon hope just yet, however! We have the option to shop for local, sustainably produced, pasture-raised animal products. Pasture-raised meat is leaner, higher in Omega-3s, has been shown to help lower LDL cholesterol levels, and is MUCH less likely to contain harmful bacteria and pesticides. This site provides a great summary of research on the health benefits of pasture-raised, "grass fed" meats.

Lucky for those of us in the Triangle area, we are surrounded by plenty of alternatives for purchasing healthy, sustainably-produced meat, poultry, and dairy products. A great resource is the Triangle Meat Buying Club. Members order their meats online from a local farm. Each month, participating farms are listed along with the products they offer. You place an order online, then simply pick up your order from the farmers at the designated pick-up site. This sounds sooo much more pleasant than scrutinizing labels in the meat department of a crowded grocery! And, you can’t beat getting to shake hands with the person who actually helped produce the meat that will soon be on your dinner plate. (The photo above is from one of the Triangle Meat Buying Club's suppliers, Coon Rock Farm in Hillsborough.)

For more information on pasture-based local producers look at the NC Choices site. Another idea to consider is joining a CSA Farm that offers meat, poultry, and/or dairy products. If you feel that this is too big of an expense, consider splitting the cost of a CSA share with a friend or family member. Personally, that is my plan. I was fortunate enough to visit a great CSA farm that specializes in pasture raised chicken. Check out the farm blog at: http://castlemainefarm.blogspot.com.

I know that I will feel much more comfortable adding wholesome, fresh chicken to my meal plans, perhaps some beef tenderloins for special occasions, and I can’t forget the delight of Sunday morning bacon. Perhaps my nose can relax now too!