2011 21.4 Washington Organic Week
To make Washington Organic Week a success, we’ve put together a reading list to cultivate continued support of organic in Washington and beyond. We got some help from Philip Lee of “Readers to Eaters,” a unique educational bookseller in Seattle, to develop a reading list for consumers. Several of these books were penned by Tilth Producer members!
Cultivated Reading
Organic, Inc.: Natural Foods and How They Grew by Samuel Fromartz. From the publisher: “Business writer Fromartz traces organic food back to its anti-industrial origins more than a century ago. Then he follows it forward again, casting a spotlight on the innovators who created an alternative way of producing food that took root and grew beyond their wildest expectations.”
ISBN: 9780156032421
The Omnivore’s Dilemma for Kids: The Secrets Behind What You Eat by Michael Pollan. From the publisher: “From fast food and big organic to small farms and old-fashioned hunting and gathering, this young readers’ adaptation of Pollan’s famous food-chain exploration encourages kids to consider the personal and global health implications of
their food choices.” ISBN: 9780803735002
Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit by Barry Estabrook. From the publisher: “Tomatoland reads like a suspenseful whodunit as well as an expose of today’s agribusiness systems and the price we pay as a society when we take taste and thought out of our food purchases.” ISBN: 9781449401092
Tender by Tamara Murphy. From the publisher: “With over 100 recipes and gorgeous color photography by Angie Norwood Browne and food stylist Patty Wittmann, TENDER is a way of showing gratitude for the tenders, for our communities, and for trusting our intuition.” ISBN: 9780982722503
Chefs on the Farm by Shannon Borg and Lora Lea Misterly. From the publisher: “A visually rich tour of an organic farm, where award-winning chefs learn sustainable food practices.” ISBN: 9781594850806
Growing a Farmer by Kurt Timmermeister. From the publisher: “Told in Timmermeister’s plain spoken voice, Growing a Farmer details with honesty the initial stumbles and subsequent realities he had to face in his quest to establish a profitable farm for himself.” ISBN: 9780393070859
Fair Food: Growing a Healthy, Sustainable Food System for All by Oran Hesterman. From the publisher: “Oran B. Hesterman shows how our system’s dysfunctions are unintended consequences of our emphasis on efficiency, centralization, higher yields, profit, and convenience-and defines the new principles, as well as the concrete steps, necessary to restructuring it.” ISBN: 9781610390064
Governor Gregoire Proclaims Washington Organic Week
WHEREAS, agriculture is a cornerstone of the Washington State economy; and
WHEREAS, Washington is second only to California in production of organic food and is number one in producing organic apples, pears, cherries, sweet corn, green peas, snap beans and onions; and
WHEREAS, organic production has grown significantly in the last 20 years, with more than 750 farms on 100,000 acres meeting organic certification today; and
WHEREAS, sales of organic food rose 3.5% in the past two years, despite the economy, while sales in other food sectors were stagnant or declined; and
WHEREAS, Washingtonians care about their environment and have been leaders in the national organic agriculture industry; and
WHEREAS, Washington created the WSDA organic certification program, joined the National Organic Standards Board, and established the nation’s first organic agriculture major at Washington State University; and
WHEREAS, Washington State is proud to honor the benefits of local organic agriculture to our economy; to our personal, community and environmental health; and to our family farmers and rural communities;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Christine O. Gregoire, Governor of the state of Washington, do hereby proclaim September 11-17, 2011, as
Washington Organic Week
in Washington State, and I urge all citizens to join me in this special observance.
Signed this 28th day of July, 2011
Governor Christine O. Gregoire
