In this issue:
- America, the Almonds Blossoms are Falling
- Freedom Butter
- Macadamia Butter
- Milk of Paradise
- Black Tahini
- Snugglespoon
- The Taste of Primordial California
- Medjool Dates
- Bring Your Vision out of the Kitchen
- Come work and learn with us
- Become a Living Tree Investor
Dear brothers and sisters,
Two handlers of conventional (non-organic) almonds each had an instance where the almonds they packed were contaminated with Salmonella. These two instances occurred over a period of 6 years. A few folks got tummy aches. This so roused the folks who control the almond industry that they mandated that the entire crop be fumigated. This is doubly tragic in that the almond crop has been short for the past three years. Finally, when they got a bumper crop, the largest ever, of 1.3 billion pounds, instead of rejoicing in the bountifulness of this California earth, albeit so abused, they can think of nothing better than to fumigate it. Your American heritage - fumigated! Something like 600,000,000 pounds will be treated with the remainder exported to civilized countries where fumigation is forbidden.
Now the real culprit is large scale mechanization. Nothing can compare with the speed and fury of modern harvesting - as much as 700 acres of almonds are harvested per day. The trees are shaken mechanically and the almonds are hauled to the edge of the orchard where they are piled up into a mountain and covered with a tarp. Now these almonds are moist and with the sun beating down this is an ideal breeding ground for any sort of untoward bacilli. Conventional orchards are lunarscapes, there is no cover crop of mixed grasses and legumes. There is no biodiversity. The cow manure, often in liquid form, that is dumped on the orchard is bound to mix with the almonds. Whereas in organic orchards there is a rich, very diverse covering of plant life. This layer of life acts as a natural buffer reducing the danger of contamination. Also fresh manure is not used in organic orchards it must be composted first.
Instead of fumigation they could have encouraged more orchards to become organic. They could have altered the way the almonds are harvested. The analogy with the unspeakably filthy conditions in slaughter houses applies:- instead of cleaning them up, their solution is to irradiate meat.
The substance chosen to fumigate the crop is a delight called propylene oxide. It is a carcinogen. It used to be used as a fuel additive for racing cars but this was discontinued as it proved too dangerous. No one gets near the stuff unless dressed in a space suit equipped with a respirator, goggles, rubber hands and boots. Furthermore it is an explosive. It produces more explosive energy per pound than anything short of nuclear, but without the "environmental problems" of radiation, you'll be edified to know. (Those almonds in your breakfast granola might help start your day with more of a bang than you ever imagined!)
Archaeologists in coming bright years will be amazed. After digging through layers of petrified excrement they will shake their heads in disbelief as they decipher the newspaper scraps.
Here a generation allowed its food to be fumigated, sterilized, "pasteurized", irradiated and genetically mutated. Not one of its elected representatives spoke out. Not one presidential candidate muttered a word about the slow poisoning of America.
In Berkeley We Call It Freedom Butter
We invite you then to open a jar and spread our almond butter on a slice of apple. Experience its texture and savor its aroma. Taste its whole bodied flavor. Maybe it will inspire you with the wisdom of John Muir, the courage of Martin Luther King Jr. and the genius of Steve Wozniak. This is the ethos of Berkeley and we invite you to partake of it.
Here in the sixties, you spoke for brothers and sisters everywhere. When circumstances require, you will speak out again.Freedom Butter, in its aliveness, is an intimation of this America can be.
Buy three or any multiple of three and get a 20% discount.
Raw Organic Macadamia Nut Butter
This nut butter is like a revelation! I have eaten macadamia butter before and loved it, but all other macadamia butters pale in comparison to the complex and subtle flavors of the one made by Living Tree. First, the texture is more like a cream than a spread - smooth, thick, and amazingly light. And since there is no added oil or salt, the true flavor of the nut - complexly sweet and even milky - shines through.
It is as if the long, loving process that Living Tree Community uses coaxes the flavor out. In short, the package label lives up to its promise of taking you back to times long past. This is possibly the best nut butter I have ever tasted.
Karrie Higgins
Portland, OregonBuy three or any multiple of three and get a 20% discount.
Milk of Paradise - Organic Macadamia, Cashew Spread
Oh My Goodness! so delicious - almost tastes like white chocolate - the combo. And now that I am looking at your website I want to buy everything!
Beth
Los Altos Hills, CaliforniaBuy three or any multiple of three and get a 20% discount.
Organic Black Sesame Tahini
A glorious, shining black. Made from organic UNHULLED black sesame seeds. The taste is profoundly sesame - robust and enlivening. This is our original creation (others have since tried to copy it). We presented it to the organic food industry at the Natural Products Expo in Anaheim, California in March 2003.
Black sesame seed is said to be effective in mitigating premature gray hair. An excellent source of calcium for those avoiding cow's milk.Used in traditional Chinese medicine to nourish and fortify the liver and kidney yin. Said to help blurred vision, tinnitus, and dizziness. Used traditionally to help patients recover from severe illness. Will nourish blood deficiency in the body, lubricates the intestines and deep internal organs. Helps move the bowel.
Buy three or any multiple of three and get a 20% discount.
Snugglespoon, Wildflowers of Australia, Organic Honey
Unheated, unfiltered and raw. This honey has a buttery, butterscotch flavor. So different from other honeys. A unique product of highest quality.
Harvested from eucalyptus flowers in a remote region of Australia under the watchful eyes of master beekeepers. They gather the honey without harm to the bees. A natural antiseptic and preservative. Children under one year of age should not eat raw honey.
The shelf life of honey is 4000 years... in case you were wondering.
Share the gift of alive honey with family and friends!Buy three or any multiple of three and get a 20% discount.
The taste of Primordial California
750ml Alive, Organic Olive Oil - Unheated, Unfiltered, UNPRESSED, Extra VirginI gave some of your olive oil to my sister-in-law. Instead of a wine-tasting, she had an olive oil tasting party. She had friends bring olive oils from Italy and all over Europe. They did a blindfold taste test...hid the bottles and poured oils in dishes and tasted with bread. LIVING TREE Olive Oil was unanimously voted THE BEST Olive oil. They were all surprised to learn that it was a US made olive oil that they had chosen by taste alone. Just wanted to share that story with you. Yours is the only olive oil I have used for over 6 years now. Mm-mm! Thanks from
Elizabeth (Cookie) Maki
Cape Coral, FloridaBuy three or any multiple of three and get a 20% discount.
Organic Medjool Dates Sundried - New Crop! Large, extra fancy
Your dates are awesome! I've been loosely following the raw diet and juicing. I'm trying to eat healthier and take better care of myself. I will be ordering more products from you. I can't have too many dates in the house because I will eat them all in one sitting. They are better than candy! I dip them in cacao nibs and wow!
Karen C. Daniels
This Month's Specials
Special Extra Bonus for orders over $150:-
One Heart and Sol, Alive Almond-Raisin Halvah 8oz.
Bring your vision out of the kitchen!
For some years, in this column, we've suggested that sooner or later the housing bubble would pop. Now in hindsight, we see that in the years 2001-2006 there was an almost unimaginable decline in lending standards. This led to a surge in subprime mortgages which touched off an astonishing and unprecedented boom in housing prices. Vast numbers of home loans were made requiring less and less collateral, with ultra low teaser rates, to uncreditworthy borrowers. In many cases no one bothered to verify their income and assets (if any). As for risk?! What risk? After all housing prices were going up- forever!
Foreclosures are now at the highest rate since the Great Depression. Policy makers are stuck; both housing prices and the dollar are free fall. We suspect that the coming meltdown will be an unprecedented ecological disaster .That policymakers can think of no way out, comes as no surprise; we invite you to attain cosmic consciousness by coming to the realization that the forces of "globalization" who fumigated your almonds and those who created the housing bubble are the same.
Now, it seems to us, that you who have chosen life in the food you eat, have an opportunity to bring your vision out of the kitchen. America needs you! Think globally and start locally.Don't take it on the chin.You've worked your derriere off to provide yourself with a livelihood. Making ends meet is going to become increasing precarious. All of us are going to pay for the "globalization" of the American economy.
We urge you to get together with neighbors and friends and start a food coop or buying club. Combine your purchasing power! Buy in bulk! You'll save considerably, both on the cost of goods and on shipping. We'd be delighted to offer you wholesale prices. Contact us to request that we email to you our Coop and Buying Club literature. What wonderful discoveries you'll make! That stay-at-home mom would make an excellent manager. That retired gentleman across the way, a former accountant, would make a great bookkeeper! Put up a sign in the laundromat and see what sort of response you get! Maybe this will lead you to further discoveries like community gardening, cooperative day-care centers and home schooling.
Big Almond wants to keep you as a "consumer":- anxious and isolated, whose existence is defined solely by your purchasing power. We suggest that you hug your neighbor instead and hug this American earth! This, surely, is the deepest ecology.
Become A Living Tree Investor!
We are seeking investors who can provide the long term, stable capital we need to help our enterprise become the leading manufacturer of alive, organic and kosher certified nut butters. We offer the prospect of asset appreciation in the organic food industry; it's been growing at the rate of 20% for over a decade. Right now we are in two locations in Berkeley. We've outgrown both and want to consolidate our administration, sales and manufacturing. We plan to move to a larger facility, engage more teamworkers and purchase more productive equipment. If you'd like to learn more, email us.
Work, learn and ski with us!
Two weeks ago we went out to the Central Valley to visit almond growers. That evening we drove up from the great plain, once an ancient sea bed, to the forests of the Sequoia National Park... Everything was hushed under a blanket of snow. The next morning in the pristine sparkling air we put on our skis and went out to see the General Grant tree towering in its majesty above the snow banks. Everything was enveloped by the peace of a bright winter's morning. Then we went back to our van and drove down the steep incline, out of the forests and 10 foot snow banks. As we drove, the banks softened into drifts and then the only vistage remaining of the snow were wisps among the foliage of trees. Down we drove in the sparkling air. Soon the road became less steep as the austerity of winter gave way to spring. As it leveled out at last we found ourselves among orange groves, the bright fruits clearly visible among the dark green foliage. Beyond this, as far as the eye could see were the almond groves, an ethereal sea of white. They were in blossom. These were the blossoms of forgiveness the blossoms of renewal. This California, this American earth, what it could be! It has been so pillaged and plundered and yet each Spring there is always that hope. We invite you to explore with us the High Sierras this summer.
We offer an opportunity to become a professional in the organic food industry. We offer first hand experience in sales and marketing.At the same time, we'll introduce you to our Living Tree Seven Fold Way:- A live food diet featuring green drinks, vigorous physical exercise, restful sleep, creative inquiry, organic gardening, showing respect and kindness to all and contemplation. As we see it, vigorous daily exercise is an inseparable part of a live food diet, inquiry is part of our responsibility to engage and understand the world in which we live .and contemplation helps to bring it all together. For more visit on Our Way.
Your resources will include the research libraries at the nearby University of California-the finest in the world and a treasure trove for early California history. What better place could there be for contemplation than Yosemite National Park, "the incomparable valley" as John Muir called it, one of the most beautiful and inspiring places on earth.
We suggest that you apply by sending us an email introducing yourself Also please include a resume.
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Service is our business. If you have questions, suggestions or comments please write. We want to hear from you!
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Alive food is saying yes to life! So let's express our thanks for the gift of alive food by affirming life in everything we do.
LivingTreeCommunity.com
Living Tree Community Foods
P.O. Box 10082
Berkeley, CA 94709 USAThis is an occasional mailing by Living Tree Community Foods. If you would like to be removed then click on unsubscribe me
