Green Somethings: The Blog

Natural and Organic

Doctors tell us to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables every day to ensure good health. However, eating fresh and unadulterated stuff is becoming a distant dream for most of us. We get vegetables from cold storage, grains from chemically  fertilized crops and  pesticides on fruits and vegetables.  In the absence of stringent laws regarding food some elements in society have no qualms in playing with the health by using industrial dyes to tint the vegetables, injecting colour and sucrose in fruits.

Though there are places, which sell material and organic stuff the problem  is that these places are not conveniently situated. Our hectic life gives us little time to do the shopping.

The recently opened Altitude Store provides an answer to your needs. Founded by Ayesha Grewal,  it is an online store for organic and natural products. They provide home delivery of all products and also have weekly home delivery of fruits and vegetables. list of vegetables and fruits ready for delivery is mailed to members every Tuesday.

It has a  varied range of products from whole grains, lentils,cereals,rice, beans, snacks, sweetners, preserves and spreads and spices. They also have bakery items and snacks. A choice of  natural and cold pressed extra virgin oils  and natural clarified butter is available. You can also buy an assortment of herbs.

They also sell natural bees wax candles in three sizes, natural freshners, handmade paper, biodegradable tableware, which consists of cups and round plates. Lovely gift hampers of Artisan Cheese, breakfast cereals, herbal teas,  table herbs, candles, cosmetics, soaps and handmade paper.

Orders can be placed online and on the phone. Payment is after delivery and they accept cash.

Recently, they have set up a store in Shanti Niketan market, New Delhi.

Buy organic and natural products and live a healthy life.

Article inputs by Nupur Roopa 

Zero Budget Natural Farming

The Management Development Institute, Gurgaon is organizing a lecture series along with GAP Inc. on the 9th and 10th of Nov.  The topic of discussion is of great personal interest so thought should share with all my readers. In case you are in New Delhi or NCR and wish to join, please send an email to sugandha118@gmail.com. 

 Zero Budget Natural Farming

  
 

Subash Palekar, the man behind zero budget natural farming has been practicing it for the last 25 years, He says, “zero budget farming technology could solve the food and farm crisis in the country by cutting the cost of production and doubling productivity and production.” Over 25 lakh farmers in different parts of the country, including Kerala, have adopted the zero budget farming technology today.

For over sixty years, Indian agriculture was in a slumber. Lands were scandalized by an unknown thing called as synthetic fertilizer. This was done to help the farmer get a 'better' harvest.

As the farmers started using it, they noticed that the soil had become infertile and could no longer bear crops for the next season. Advised to add more and more fertilizer to the soil to compensate for the nutrient loss, the farmers kept on adding fertilizers but soon realized that plants that grew with fertilizers now needed pesticides. Thus not too long after, they started using pesticides. But gradually the pests became resistant to these chemicals leaving the farmers puzzled.

The farmers forgot one basic thing about the soil – that it HAD LIFE. 

Zero Budget Natural Farming means for all the crops, the production cost will be zero. In Zero Budget Natural Farming nothing has to be purchased from outside. All things required for the growth of the plant are available in the soil that they are grown in, more specifically around the root zone of the plants. 

In the forests, there is no human existence, but, even then the trees bear enormous fruits. That means nature has supplied all the nutrients needed for the plants. In year 1924, Dr. Clark and Dr Washington, the world famous soil scientists came to India in search of crude oil. They took the samples of thousand feet deep soil and tested it at their American laboratory. The results proved that as we go deeper in the soil, the nutrients required for the growth and production of the plant increase in quantity. 

However, thanks to the excessive use of synthetic fertilizers and poisonous pesticides in farms these nutrients are not available because the micro-organisms who convert these non-available nutrients into available forms are destroyed. 

Gap Inc. in partnership with MDI is looking to spread this message of sustainability which has the potential to combat the scourges of both poverty and climate change. Mr. Subhash Palekar will be available in Delhi to address this critical issue during the 9th and 10th of November.

For details about the event please contact sugandha118@gmail.com. You can also check the agenda on the Facebook event page.

Get Organic Apples in Delhi/NCR

It's raining apples! Pure, 100% chemical free, straight-from-the-farm red apples up for grabs in New Delhi and NCR. At Rs.160 a Kg and home delivered, these are a steal. Just in time when the country is reeling under the scare of H1N1 and cursing the rain gods for showing little mercy, a Royal Delicious Organic apple each day is sure to keep the doctor away. Try them once, and you'll be ordering in for the next three weeks - pretty much the duration that the crop will remain.

The apples are not only free of any chemicals, they get to you within 48 hours of being harvested at the farm! While these organic apples may not come as bright red as the apples you see with the fruit guys, you can be rest assured that no artificial color spray has been used on them, the stuff that usually gives the bright red color to the regular apples.

Grown at orchards which have not tasted any sort of chemical since the year 2000, these apples are a perfect choice if you care about the health of your family. Since we're anyway taking all the pains of making home deliveries, gift a box or two to friends and family as well! You can order a minimum of three Kgs ( approximately 10-15 pieces ) which we'll deliver anywhere in South Delhi and Gurgaon. You can place the order right away and we will SMS you one day before the delivery to ensure the best time for delivery.

Email to singhafarms@gmail.com or call at +91 9811799439 to place an order now!

VOTE for WynFarms at TATA NEN Hottest Startups

 

If you read my last post and agree with me that businesses like WynFarms carry the potential to create a furor in the Indian agro industry, vote for this startup to be one of India's hottest by following this link.

Just so you know that you're not wasting your time - WynFarms has already made it to the final 30 (out of some 300) at the TATA NEN Hottest Startups

VOTE FOR WYNFARMS

WynFarms - Fresh Cut Veggies at Your Doorstep

We all know what a luxury time has become. And slowly but certainly demanding jobs, near 24*7 work hours, night shifts et al have taken an obviously serious toll on the way we eat and what we eat. While it is tough to change the 'way we eat' habits, I would say it is still controllable to manage what we eat.

Agreed, fast foods like burgers and pizzas are omnipresent these days and they sure provide instant gratification. And agreed that the ingredients of these fast foods are not the most nutritious. But given that the fast food joints take supernormal precautions to ensure hygiene and freshness of the vegetables used in their food products, it can be argued that the lobbies against fast food are sometimes over-hyped.

WynFarms, a Bangalore based farm to refrigerator supply chain business has been doing just that - supplying fast food chains like McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Domino's Pizza, ITC Foods with quality fresh cut vegetables. The vegetables are grown on select farms, machine cut and packed to meet food safety standards. The chill chain solutions keep the packed vegetables fresh, retaining color and weight.

A high degree of attention is paid to the growing, supervising, harvesting and grading of these vegetables. A dedicated team manages the washing, cutting, packing and transportation to nearer outlets to reduce the burden on today's time pressured consumers, especially with regard to the freshness, quality, hygiene and convenience of these vegetables. The result - ready to eat vegetables with pure farm freshness, grown with sound agricultural practices.

Currently WynFarms services only branded quick service restaurants or QSRs which have multi location outlets. This ensures volume sales while dealing with a select customer base. Their success mantra - total cost management (TCM). How? By assuring on time supplies in ready to use cut sizes, in storable formats and conforming to food safety standards. This reduces planning and procurement costs, supervision cost, storage costs, water usage, garbage generation and disposal costs and finally allows these restaurants to focus on their core capability of serving quality food to their customers. Further, the predictive supply chain model has helped endure supply disruptions and price volatility which are common impediments in any fresh produce supply model.

Not only is customer service of prime importance but enabling WynFarms employees to take crop farming opportunities back to their homes which are  within a 60-80 km radius of select cities, has helped support these individuals to take on intra-city delivery responsibilities by giving them guaranteed business during their start up phase. Employees are trained on personal hygiene and educated about clean water.

The company has been expanding its national reach by working with like minded entrepreneurs in Mumbai and Delhi where they have provided infrastructure design, execution and technology support. After servicing close to 250 quick service restaurants and handling almost 3000 metric tonnes of vegetables at a national level, WynFarms plans to grow in a second market that is flight kitchens/kitchens of Indian multi outlet brands and also move up the food chain by providing relevant fresh food components to the existing markets.

For contacts and products at WynFarms, visit their website- http://wynfarms.com