5
February
2010

Rhubarb rhubarb, is bigger better?

How big is too big?

We often hear about banks that are “too big to fail”, or car manufacturers that must “survive at all costs”. Usually, it’s for our own good. Only large, well-captitalised companies can implement the important changes we need to make to thrive in the 21st century, right?

Quite the contrary.

Real innovation so often comes from small groups and the young upstarts tuning into the times. Literary movements can be three of four highly influential people. Political tsunamis occur because of the works of one writer, or a few, seemingly chance meetings. History is written in terms of people, not only because we understand it best that way, but because huge social changes are so fundamentally affected by key people at key times.

As the now cliched Margaret Mead saying goes, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

That works both ways around. Where many see shadowy forces behind much of the world’s ills, you can equally say never underestimate the power of a few thoughtless and greedy people to change the world.

When it comes to the environment, we see the same pattern. While the large companies or organisations, with bloated bureaucracies, can’t seem to get the simplest things done, small, innovative people and companies are changing the world quickly.

Greenpeace regularly publishes a guide to greener electronics, listing the environmental efforts and sins of the various manufacturers. It caused an outcry when it first came up, with Apple Computer listed at the bottom, but Apple, to their credit, have implemented some of the most critical changes, and now sit at the upper end of the scale. Nintendo, Microsoft and Lenovo are at the bottom, Nokia and Sony Ericsson at the top.

However, a small Indian company, Wipro, has trumped everyone else and produced a computer completely free of hazardous PVC (polyvinylchloride) and BFR (brominated flame retardants), right down to their power cords.

In cars, while General Motors killed their electric car in 2006, and Chrysler canned theirs shortly after using it to get US government bailout money, a number of small companies have been successfully selling electric cars for a while, mainly in Europe and Asia. The most well-known is Tesla, with their sports car capable of going 217 km/h.

How are you making a difference?

Rhubarb rhubarb
I have a soft spot for rhubarb, as it was the first edible plant I ever grew, on a tiny plot in my parent’s garden. Not that I ever ate it. The tart, sour taste was too much for my custard and ice-cream trained pallette. One of the tragedies of a modern diet, high in refined sugar and other sweeteners, is that we lose our appreciation for the other tastes. Bitter, sour, astringent – these are tastes, not unpleasant horrors to be avoided at all costs.

Rhubarb is pleasantly tart, and a very good source of Vitamin K, calcium, potassium and manganese. The traditional way of describing the benefits of a food are in terms of their components. Vitamin A is good for the eyes, zinc for the brain, and so on. While this is in some sense true, there’s usually much more complexity, and it’s more important how things work together. Just as pesticides, tested individually, may seem safe, in untested combinations, it’s very unlikely the body welcomes them. Similarly, while the various vitamins and minerals, tested individually, all show certain effects, their effect together is is much more important.

Rhubarb however is perhaps an exception. While most think of calcium as being good for the bones, and it is, taken in isolation as a supplement it can do more harm, as the body may be unable to utilise it properly, leading to calcification in the wrong places, even while the bones remain weak. It’s all about that digestive system again, and how we utilise what we eat. A good dose of sauerkraut may do more good than popping lots of pills. Rhubarb, however, is really good for the bones. Vitamin K, calcium and manganese are all important for bone health, and rhubarb contains them in ample supply.

Perhaps more people though have heard of the phrase “rhubarb rhubarb” than have tasted fresh rhubarb. The term apparently began when stage directors would instruct crowds of extras to say “rhubarb rhubarb”, giving the impression of general hubbub. There was even a 1980 film, “Rhubarb rhubarb” where the only dialogue uttered was the word “rhubarb”, over and over (and over) again.

Candida
Talking of digestive systems, this week’s video is by the dynamic David Wolfe, on the topic of Candida. View it on the blog.

Coconuts
This week we have coconuts new on the site. They’re young green coconuts from Mozambique, which means they’re high in water, and low in the coconut flesh, perfect for drinking. We still have coconut oil available too. It’s one of the only oils to be cooking with as it has a very high heat point, and doesn’t have harmful side-effects when heated for cooking, like most other oils. Of course, you can have it raw too – it’s a great ingredient in smoothies.

Don’t forget
People are quite frequently leaving cold items behind at collection points. Remember, your cold items will be stored in a cooler box at the collection, and are marked separately at the top of your order sheet. Please don’t forget them!

To order, head on over to www.ethical.org.za.

Have a great week,
the Ethical Co-op team

5
February
2010

David Wolfe on Candida

David Wolfe is always a dynamic speaker, and this video is a small segment from the 2009 Longevity Experience seminar in California. Here, he talks primarily about candida.

I suggest viewing it in fullscreen, as the video size unfortunately isn’t customisable.

The video is originally from the Longevity Conference site, where you can also find more details about the full video.

28
January
2010

Sour what?

As a child, sauerkraut wasn’t exactly top of my favourite food list. The thought of fermented cabbage just didn’t get me salivating at the lips.

I never revisited it as an adult until, one day, a year or so ago, a friend served up a bowl of sauerkraut. I was hooked.

Sauerkraut is high in Vitamin C (as is cabbage generally), and keeps for a long time in its brine, it was used by sailors to ward off the dreaded scurvey. While British sailors used limes for this purpose, earning the nickname “limeys” from their enemies, German sailors used sauerkraut, the basis for the term “kraut”.

Making sauerkraut is easy – just add salt and water. Various lactic acid bacteria (naturally present on all vegetables) kick in and the fermentation process begins. It’s these same lactic acid bacteria that exist in a healthy digestive system preventing the growth of parasites and yeasts.

It’s easy to damage our intestinal flora. Antibiotics cause particular damage, as does alcohol, birth control pills and refined foods. The high levels of bacteria in sauerkraut are a great way to restore digestive balance. They also contain two particularly powerful cancer-inhibitors, isothiocyanate and sulphoraphane.

It’s also purported to be a powerful hangover cure. If anyone has success with this, please comment below!

Change is the only constant
For those who’ve had a long holiday, a reminder that we’re now open for orders until Tuesday afternoon, 2pm. We get our fresh produce from the farm on Wednesday, pack through the night, and get it to you fresher than ever on Thursday.

Don’t forget to keep an eye open for new collection points closer to you. This week Amber Way in San Michel, Noordhoek, is back on the map. You can set your default collection point by going to “Change Details” after logging in.

To order, paddle on down to www.ethical.org.za.

Have a great week,
the Ethical Co-op team

22
January
2010

From slag to salmon

Earth has an amazing capacity to regenerate itself. Whenever people talk of “saving the earth” they usually mean “saving humanity”, or at least, saving our standard of living. The earth will be just fine.

I wrote last year of salmon returning to the River Seine. If images of salmon cruising through Paris, one of Europe’s largest cities, seems remarkable, perhaps another comeback is even a more remarkable. South Wales was once land of the coal mine, where the rivers ran black with coal dust. The River Taff alone at one point received 100,000 tonnes of colliery waste each year. Pitheads and slag heaps once dominated the landscape but the coal industry declined. From a high of 620 mines, the last mine was closed in 1994, although a group of retrenched mineworkers bought it and kept operating it until two years ago. Government and community groups have been working on water quality ever since the mines began to close, and now, for the first time, salmon have returned to all rivers in the area.

Salmon are a signature species, needing very clean water along the entire river, as they spawn at the top of the river in the shallows, then swim down to the sea, and finally back again. That the waters of south Wales are clean enough to welcome them back gives us all hope.

GM surging ahead in South Africa
Meanwhile, according to a Monsanto spokesperson, plantings of GM crops are surging ahead in South Africa. Shortly after the release of the recent study implicating three varieties of Monsanto maize with organ failure, the spokesperson estimated that 10 percent more white maize has been planted. White and yellow maize plantings are estimated at 2.5 million hectares, of which over 75 percent is GM, he said. Just in case we’ve forgotten the official line, he finished off by claming that GM technology aims to “feed the world, secure food security, and alleviate famine and poverty”, none of which are achieved by allowing our food supply to be monopolised by the world’s largest seed company, one with a proud history of producing such useful contributions to society as the chemical weapon Agent Orange and Bovine Growth Hormone.

Fresher and later
Don’t forget that we’re managing to bring you your veggies an extra day fresher, which means that you can order right up until Tuesday 14h00. Do try get your orders in early though – not everything is available right up until the end. And if there’s anything you can’t miss out on each week, you can place a standing order, which gets automatically placed for you each week.

To order, head on over to www.ethical.org.za

Have a great week,
the Ethical Co-op team

14
January
2010

Even fresher, and the maize maze

Even Fresher
It seems to have been a scorchingly hot summer so far, in Cape Town at least, and yesterday took the sugar-free goji berry cake. So it’s great timing for our move to provide you with even fresher food. Whereas before, we’d receive our fresh produce on Tuesday, pack it on Tuesday and Wednesday, and get it to most of you on Thursday, now we’re receiving all our fresh produce a day later, on Wednesday. You still get it on Thursday, but it’s a day fresher.

No sitting on shop shelves for days – we get it, pack through the night, and deliver it straight to you.

Maize
Maize, mielies, corn. Whatever you call it, it’s one of South Africa’s staple foods. And, to our shame, most of the maize we feed our people is genetically-modified. The most comprehensive study to date of the effects of genetically-modified food on mammals founds a strong link between three varieties of Monsanto maize and organ damage, in particular to the kidney and the liver.

Now proving that something like food is harmful is very difficult. The design of the study is critical. There are countless studies, funded by the biotech giants, showing no correlation between their produce and any harmful effects. Most of these are seriously flawed. They only look at short-term effects. They use such a low dosage as to be meaningless. They compare unrelated feeding groups.

All these flaws are well-known to researchers, but the volume of these flawed papers muddies the waters, justifying the approval of their produce.

Short of force-feeding humans GM food, and seeing how their organs deteriorate, this new evidence looks pretty conclusive. Expect a rash of studies showing the opposite.

But it’s not just the cobs. So many products contain maize. Take a look at those ingredient lists next time you’re buying processed good – if it contains maize, and it’s not organic, it’s almost certainly genetically-modified.

There’s no difference
One of the classic tactics to get GM-produce approved is to claim that there’s no difference. It’s just like breeding a new variety, they say. That untruth has long been exposed, but in New Zealand it got taken to a new level. A poultry farm was feeding its chickens a genetically-modified soy feed, and claiming that the chickens contained no GM ingredients. Their defence that “research confirms that animals that consume feed with a component of GM are no different to animals that have been fed a GM free diet” was overturned by the New Zealand Commerce Commission.

Company of the Year
It’s ironic then that, as I mentioned last week, Forbes magazine announced its company of the year as, no, not us – Monsanto were the worthy winners. For many, businesses are measured simply on how much money they make for their shareholders, and by this measure Monsanto has been a success. However, just a few days after the award, Monsanto surprised analysts by announcing a loss, based on reduced herbicide sales.

Here’s wishing a fantastic 2010 for all those pioneering farmers doing things the right way, for everyone.

Safe?
The safety debate has been raging equally fiercely in other areas. Lead is well-known to be harmful to the body. The British and US governments have set a level of 10 micrograms per deciliter as being safe. However, another study has found that children who had blood lead levels between 5 and 10 micrograms per deciliter scored an average of 49 percent lower on reading tests and 51 percent lower on writing tests than children with levels below 5 micrograms.

Now that lead-free petrol is here, the prime source of lead contamination in South Africa is paint, particularly when it’s peeling or chipping, and children are particularly susceptible. If you’re planning a paint-job anytime soon, don’t forget our range of lead (and other nasty)-free paint in our Home & Garden section.

Have a fantastic week,
the Ethical Co-op team

8
January
2010

2010 and the company of the year

We’re open for 2010 at last. Personally I can’t wait to get back to online shopping after being forced to venture out over the festive season. Perhaps it didn’t help that I chose the craziest days of the year, December 24th and January 2nd, but I won’t be hurrying out again anytime soon.

Monsanto wins Forbe’s Company of the Year
In a wonderful puff-piece, Forbes has annointed Monsanto as the company of the year. Repeating all the old nonsense, confusing gene insertion and plant breeding, repeating claims of how the world will starve without them, claiming farmers love having no choice of seed supplier, and calling those who disagree “enemies”, the piece begins with a sweet story of how Monsanto is working hard for our health by developing a soya bean with enhanced omega-3 fatty acids, thus saving the world’s fish stocks at the same time (fish oil is a common source of Omega-3 supplementation). Conveniently ignoring the fact that every commercially released GM crop to date contains not health benefits – rather enhanced traits such as resistance to a particular brand of herbicides, of benefit to no one but the Monsanto’s herbicide sales department.

The good news? The reaction, even on the Forbes website, has been overwhelmingly negative. It’s becoming harder to misrepresent reality, and people’s ability to see through marketing is greater than in the past.

Mustard Seeds
Mustard seeds are one of the oldest-known spices, appearing in writings from at least 5000 years ago. Very high in selenium (a mineral particularly low in South African soils, and vital for the immune system), mustard seeds are also a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, much better than any genetically-modified soybeans.

They’ve also been well-studied for their anti-cancer effects, and are high in isothiocyanates, which have been shown to inhibit growth of existing cancer cells and protect against the formation of new ones. Cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, as well as colon and rectal cancer, seem to be best affected.

Mustard seeds also have the distinction of appearing in many religious texts. Buddha told a story of a grieving mother, who, having lost her only son, asks the Buddha for a cure. He asks her to bring a handful of mustard seeds from a family that has never lost a child, husband, parent or friend. When she can’t find any such family, she realizes that death is common to all.

In the Quran, Allah states that on the Day of Judgement, even the equivalent of a mustard seed will be accounted for, and no soul will suffer the least injustice.

Jewish texts compare the universe to the size of a mustard seed to demonstrate the world’s insignificance and to teach humility.

In the Christian Bible, Jesus talks about the mustard seed as a model for the kingdom of God which initially starts small but grows to be the biggest of all garden plants. He also mentions that faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains.

Let’s move some mountains and make 2010 a fantastic year.

To order, go to www.ethical.org.za,
The Ethical Co-op team

11
December
2009

Final Week

The final week
It’s the last week to place your order for delivery this year. For Cape Town customers, the site closes for the final time this year on Monday December the 14th for delivery on Thursday December the 17th. For courier orders countrywide, orders received on December 17th will be dispatched on Friday 18th. Any orders on Friday or after will be dispatched on Thursday January 7th.

We re-open for Cape Town orders on Friday 8th January, for delivery or collection on Thursday 14th.

Gift ideas
In my family, everyone talks about not buying each other presents, about not falling into the consumerism trap, and then rushes out to buy each other loads of presents. If you’re equally unable to resist, here are some gift ideas from our range.

Top of the list must of course be a box of cow patties. What can be more desirable than a box of quality biodynamic cow patties for the gardener in all of us. If for some reason the recipient hasn’t (yet) got green fingers, perhaps some unbleached, locally-produced toilet paper will do the trick. Some toilet paper marketed as “green” is imported, and some bleached, and in our opinion, especially with such a bulky, low-value product, neither are acceptable.

I realise though that not everyone has the same dream gifts as me, so perhaps there are other options more to people’s tastes.

The 2010 Conscious Living Diary, made of 100% tree-free paper, contains yummy recipes, fun ideas, soul-full poetry, planting guides and more. There are various toys from the Green Shop, and a great range of soaps. None on a rope, as far as I’m aware. There’s various solar-powered lights, from small lanterns for internal use, to motion-sensor ones for outdoor use, Himalayan Salt lamps and a quality range of incense, Fair-Trade, packaged in recycled packaging, and of course free from the usual synthetic additives.

Have a safe, joyful and generally fantastic festive season, and we’ll be in touch again in the new year.

To order, head on over to www.ethical.org.za,
the Ethical Co-op team.

4
December
2009

Climategate

Some weeks it seems more challenging to find good news than others, and this week is one of them!

Climategate

Getting to the truth is a complex issue, and most of choose what we want to believe based on our own psychology rather than any delving into the detail. You see two reports. One says cellphone emissions are harmful. Another says they’re not. Most of us have already made up our mind which one is the “truth”, we “know” the answer without looking at a shred of evidence.

Most of us too can’t handle change that’s too rapid. We’re even afraid of it. We vote for oppressive political parties (better the devil you know). We behave self-destructively, eating food or taking substances we know and feel are harmful to us. But then a report will come out saying it’s OK, and we choose to be re-assured.

Many of us have a tendency to reject bad news (others choose to seek it out!). Perhaps we know our relationship is failing, but we choose to ignore it, hoping it’ll go away. We know our tax affairs are a mess, but we bury our head in the sand.

We know we cannot continue to pollute the earth, to destroy the forests, to use the atmosphere as a sewer, but we continue to do all these things because we always have, we don’t want to confront them, or we choose to feel powerless.

Our effects on our climate have long been politicised. The facts about the effects of greenhouse gasses on the atmosphere are not controversial, but the game is played out in the murky world of political dealmaking.

Have you heard of the Global Warming Policy Foundation? The group aims to “help restore balance and trust in the climate debate”. Chaired by Lord Lawson, Margaret Thatcher’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, this esteemed group of scientists (actually the trustees are six British Lords, a banker, an economist and a bishop) is in essence a right-wing think-tank aiming to avoid all measures that would attempt to halt global warming, and they do so by denying there is a link between human activities and global warming.

Or the Advancement of Sound Science Center? Another group claiming global warming is “junk science”. This one was funded by tobacco company Philip Morris, and generally supports industry-friendly positions on topics such as smoking, global warming, smoking and pesticides.

Or the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change? They take a slightly different tack, claiming that global warming will be beneficial to humans. Still, the goals are the same, let’s not do anything about it! They’re funded by ExxonMobil, the oil company.

Or the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, which claim that the science behind global warming is uncertain. They also take other industry-friendly lines, campaigning against Open Source software, for the tobacco industry, and got together with Donald Rumsfield, Dick Cheney and others in support of the B-2 bomber program in the US.

Or the Global Climate Coalition, an organisation (now defunct) that opposed action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This one was funded by Shell, Exxon, BP, and others.

I’m sure most have heard of “Climategate“, the stolen emails that supposedly show the nefarious scientists have been up to no good, lying and manipulating data. Conveniently stolen shortly before the climate change summit in Copenhagen, they’re already being used by the world’s oil producers to bolster their position. Saudi Arabia has claimed the leaked emails show “that there is no relationship whatsoever between human activities and climate change”. Convenient isn’t it, for the country with the world’s largest oil reserves, and the world’s largest oil producer. Burning oil is OK, they say, it has no effect, don’t believe those doomsayers! The emails prove nothing at all except give another glimpse into our flawed human nature. The science remains unchanged, but the politics goes on.

The list goes on and on, organisations with agendas that have nothing to do with truth, and everything to with money. Unfortunately, a few of these organisations, and some stolen emails, make a lot more noise than countless technical reports listing statistics on melting ice.

The goal for Copenhagen is to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Unfortunately, with all the muddying of the waters, too many are focused on arguing about whether it’s happening or not, rather than the solution. And many of the solutions being proposed at Copenhagen are not very good at all. They range from a carbon tax to cap and trade schemes to offsetting emissions by supporting contraception in developing countries.

Frankly, many of the solutions being proposed are ludicrous, unworkable, or do more harm than good. After all the haggling, the likely ones are unlikely to be effective enough. James Hansen, one of the scientists who helped put global warming on the agenda, has gone so far as to say he hopes Copenhagen fails. The whole idea of offsetting too often in reality means business as usual, while, say, donating a few condoms to Africa offsets the greenhouse gas emissions. Ludicrous!

Hansen compares this to the medieval custom of paying the bishops to give one redemption, a system that was “patently absurd but suited both sides”.

What’s new

So, if there’s not much good news to find “out there”, we’ll have to make some ourselves! We have Pioneer red plums from Esperance farm in Riviersonderend, a variety which usually herald the start of the plum season. There’s also rhubarb, and, back after a short break, a variety of produce from Appelsdrift.

Other new items back in stock include lentils, quinoa, alfalfa sprout seeds, Thai red rice, Luscious Lemon cordials (very limited quantity), Natracare tampons, beetroot salad, carrot & almond preserve, pickled onions and more seeds

Relax or Pleasure?
Being human in a community exposes us to a wonderful range of points of view and preferences. I was reminded of this last week when trying a cup of Pukka tea, their range now also being back in stock. I’m normally a big drinker of tulsi teas and green teas, but I was trying a bag I hadn’t tried before, Pukka’s “Pleasure”. Cocoa, licorice and roasted chicory, I lifted it to my mouth, took a sip, and was immersed in ecstasy. After I’d emerged, I turned towards the person I was with, ready to rapture about this fantastic tea. Her face was contorted and screwed up in disgust!
If you’re willing to risk ecstasy or agony, the Pukka teas can be found amongst our wide assortment of herbal teas. Unfortunately, our organic black and green teas are out of stock.

Abandoned Apricots
We’ve been receiving numerous reports of abandoned apricots left behind in cooler boxes at collection points. Please remember to pick up your cold items when you pick up your box – cold items are listed separately at the top of the sheet. We store apricots (and one or two other lines) in the cooler box with dairy items, as they’re particularly sensitive and can’t be left out in the warm box while they wait for you!

Closing for the festive season
There’re 2 more weeks before we close for the festive season break. Our last delivery this year is on Thursday 17th), so make sure you stock up. This’ll be the last week we’re offering Vondis Pet Food, so make sure too you have enough to last your pet into the new year.

To order, head on over to www.ethical.org.za.

Have a fantastic week, filled with Pleasure, joy and good news,
the Ethical Co-op team

27
November
2009

Massive immune system collapse

I’m experiencing a massive immune system collapse, otherwise known as a cold, so it’ll be a short newsletter today. More organic veggies for me clearly.

What’s new

We have garlic from Sandveld Organics (apparently very potent!), and cucumber from Rooikrans Farm. There’s also cinnamon sticks, garam masala, granola, lemongrass, origanum, curry powder, thyme, apple cider vinegar and white lasagne from Good Life organics.

Apologies to Hout Bay customers – a glitch meant there were difficulties in ordering last week. It should all be sorted again this week.

To order, head on over to www.ethical.org.za.

Have a great week,
the Ethical Co-op team

19
November
2009

Greenpeace’s new South African head, and ides of all kinds

New Greenpeace leader
South African Kumi Naidoo has taken over this month as head of Greenpeace, as I mentioned in June. He intends to make his main focus the impact of climate change on the world’s poor, and with the deal in Copenhagen under threat, has already criticised US president Obama, saying that “During his election campaign… every single speech that he gave, he talked about a planet in peril, referring to climate change… We all understood that he ‘got’ it.”

Now, this week, the oil lobbiests will be celebrating as Obama and other world leaders said it would not be possible to reach a climate change deal ahead of next month’s UN conference in Copenhagen. They also dropped a target of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, outlined in an earlier draft.

Without binding targets, the leaders of the world can continue to build coal power stations “in their national interest”, or chop down forests to “make best use of their national resources”.

As Naidoo says, “We can’t change the science. The science is clear. We have to change the politics”. Unfortunately, it’s looking like politics as usual, where the world’s leaders meet and make deals behind closed doors. Greenpeace’s renewed focus on providing a voice to the world’s poor, most vulnerable to climate change, is a welcome breath of fresh air.

Herbicides, Insecticides and Pesticides
Do you know the difference between herbicides, insecticides and pesticides or do your eyes glaze as one ‘ide’ merges into the next? It’s quite simple really. Insecticides kill insects, and herbicides kill plants. Both are pesticides, as are a range of other ‘ides’ designed to kill various other things, such as fungicides (fungi) and alvicides (birds).

It’s easy to be misled if you don’t know the difference. In the US, the use of genetically-modified crops has resulted in a drop in insecticide usage of 29 million kilograms since 1996. How wonderful! Cue organic farming is all a load of nonsense outcry. However, at the same as insecticide use was dropping, thanks mainly to these traits now being present in the crop, herbicide use grew by 174 million kilograms. More worryingly, 46 percent of the total herbicide increase occurred between 2007 and 2008, as the ’superweed’ phenomenon spreads. Other plants are becoming less susceptible to the herbicides, so more and more are being applied.

Of course farmers who adopt this model are forced to buy a particular brand of herbicide, supplied by the same company that supplied them the seed.

A failed technology, of benefit to biotech company shareholders only.

As Naidoo said in a recent interview, “most starving people live in countries with food surpluses, and worldwide we have more than enough food to go round. The solution to hunger does not lie in genetic manipulation. It lies in resolving the social, political and economic issues that prevent food from reaching hungry people. As the U.N. said in their agriculture assessment, sustainable, ecological farming techniques can do far more to address poverty and food security than G.M.O.s”.

What’s new
Our stock levels are looking healthier again, and there are more old favourites back in stock. We still have Elgin apple juice, as well as apple cider vinegar, jams and grape juice, and Nature Fresh mouthwashes and toothpastes are back too. There’s also tofu, and stacks of new seeds from Sandveld organics. Sandveld provide a valuable service supplying organic seed as more and more seed companies are bought up and put out of business by the biotech giants.

We’re also happy to announce a new collection point in Tokai.

To order, head on over to www.ethical.org.za.

Have a fantastic week,
the Ethical Co-op team.