Kelly Shea, VP of Government and Industry
Relations and Organic Stewardship for White Wave with a mutual hero
of ours, Jeffrey Smith of the Institute for Responsible Technology, one of the leading proponents of GE Labeling and the ill effects of GMO Contamination. This photo was taken at the Organic Farming Research Foundation luncheon at the Natural Product Expo West 2010.
4:35 pm
June 4, 2011
In all honesty I want to admit that
this “Quote Unquote” documentary by
an unnamed poster called calling himself/herself
Organic Spies has gotten under my skin
and sent me on a journey to defend
two on my favorite organic Stewards:
Julia Sabin and Kelly Shea.
THE WHOLE STORY STARTED
WITH THIS LITTLE DOCUMENTARY
NOW GATHERING UP STEAM ON THE INTERNET
I was dragged kicking and screaming into
a whole day of attentiveness to this story that began
yesterday afternoon
with an innocent viewing on the Stonyfield FB site
and chicking on this link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCK0MTS4mvI&feature=share
RELATED
COMMENTS
ON ORGANIC SPIES
SITE AND FURTHER WRITING
Photo of Julia Sabin during the early 2000's
on stage at the OTA Fundraiser at the Anaheim
Convention Center
Before we get too deep into another split in our very fragile
Organic Movement that puts glee on the faces of the forces
that would like us to do that, I want to give my personal support
for Julia Sabin and Kelly Shea, two very caring and powerful women
I have watched for near a decade guide and midwife
the organic movement.
About ten or more years ago, I first started to note the good
works of OTA,The Organic Trade Association. I would show up
at the Natural Product Expo West, my favorite natural products
show on the west coast each March.
I gradually made friends, and got to know
personally many of the OTA and Other Organic Stakeholders
as well as the many of the personnel who worked for
New Hope Natural Media, the expo organizers.
The OTA would stage the most fantastic banquet in those
days of my coming to the show. One year, not long after
I had hip revisions, in 2001, I wanted to go into the OTA
fundraiser banquet that cost around $75.00.
I was standing outside in the hallway.
I was still on crutches. $75.00 was a lot of money to me.
I was leaning up against a table waiting for a "friend,"
who might have a ticket for me.
I was feeling exhausted and forelorn.
A woman came up, and asked if I had a ticket.
We talked. She said, "I must be the friend you are waiting for."
The woman gave me a ticket to get in the banquet.
She was the president of OTA. Her name was Debra Boyle.
Over the years, I became the OTA Volunteer photographer
for that very same banquet. Numbers of my photos ended
up in slideshows on the big screens at the event.
One year, I provided fresh picked local organic strawberries
from one of my lead sponsors, JR Organics of San Diego
whose attendance and contribution of some of the finest
locally grown organic strawberries, was highly appreciated by the OTA
and its sister non profit, research arm, The Organic Center.
I personally watched the Anaheim Convention Center kitchen
transformed by the presence of the OTA and the Organic
Farming Research Foundation, another great non profit,
who would fill the Aramark kitchen with some of its finest organic chefs, their organic produce and products.
On June 3, 2011, I gave Jim Tripp, Anaheim Convention General Manager,
a call, and he confirmed my own sense of things. The Anaheim Convention
Center now has one of the most forward and advanced sustainability
programs in the nation. All these traces to the presence of OTA
every year staging its events here.
For more than five years or more, I watched the valuable trade organization raise valuable funds in a single to do sustain their non profit work.
The organic stakeholders I have met are all generous people, giving
of their success. They would contribute to the OTA
noteworthy causes, that include making sure the Organic Trade
position is heard in Washington D.C.
Julia Sabin over the years was frequently on stage as one of the benefactors,
along side other organic entrepreneurs I came to know.
Over the years, I found my place in OTA. The organization
would buy one of my photos and send it out as a gift item
to it key Stakeholders who contributed.
I imagine someplace, sometime
I have had one or more of my photos cross the desk of
Julia Sabin.
I am not exactly everyone's favorite photographer
the way I jump in and out of everyone's face
with my camera and rather odd personality that can be pushy
and offputting. I am always showing up with some kind of living plant
as my sidekick.
Julia Sabin has always been kind, and I know she is that
kind of woman.
I know if there is any funding to be had in the companies that she works for, she has giving it up to OTA and the Organic Center--sister non-profits that are out for the public good.
We live in strange times, when the goal of where we are headed
is not measured by who we alienate, but who we can befriend. I trust
Julia Sabin to know whose company to keep. In working for
Smuckers and Knudsen, that tells me that there is something good in these companies and she is part of that good. I trust Julia Sabin's judgement.
From where I stand, one thousand years from now,
the earth will still stand. The question is, will we still
as a human race be standing? Our future relations
will still be standing because we have each learned something
about Standing Up for Nature's Original Technology.
Part of Standing up for nature is learning how to collaborate
and get along with each other.
I believe our future world will be organically grown
as it has always been but for a mere blimp of time on
the screen of events when GMO and GE foods have become
an issue. The strategies of peacemaking that it is going to take
to get there to a more peaceful world are not fully known
fully to many of us, but I know from personal experience
that women such as Julia Sabin and Kelly Shea have want
it takes to bring us closer to the good.
We live in a world where many organic companies
have been bought up by bigger companies.
It only makes sense that in the speedy growth process,
there transformations will happen, and organic stakeholders
become invested in the success of larger companies who
are feeling their way into seeing a bigger picture.
I know and sense Julia Sabin and Kelly Shea are two
of our finest bridge buliders.
These bigger companies want to be headed where the success lies.
You can bank on organic for a healthy future, and many of
them with any good sense of business, know this.
When all is said and done, I stand by Julia Sabin.
She has a spirit of leadership to continue to lead us
through the Shift that is asked now.
KELLY SHEA
During the 2010 show, I began to see Kelly Shea up close.
She is another powerful and caring woman leader in the organic field
who is guiding the industry. At the 2010, Organic Farming Research
Foundation Luncheon, another hot ticket at the Natural Produce Expo West,
I began to spend time with Kelly. Her allies that show up in my photos
include Jeffrey Smith, one of the lead spokespersons for a tipping
point toward Non- GMO support. If you want to know where Kelly
stands regarding organic and Non-GMO, look to the photos.
In 2011, Kelly was my main cheerleader at the Natural Product Expo
West for the launch of my Spring Campaign Standing Up for Nature's
Original Technology, each of us being an Organic Uprising.
Kelly opened numbers of doors for me at the 2011 show, introducing me
to the Horizon Organic leaders. I was glad to be there to celebrate
the 20th Anniversary of Horizon Organic at the show through my camera. When I went on to teach at the Cultivating Food Justice Event in San DIego,
I gave Kelly a cal. She had Horizon Organic ship out two boxes
of their organic cheese that was very much appreciated by the kids
at the local Scripps Wellness Center in City Heights, and at our lunch the follow day as we fed everyone at the free event.
The aspirations of White Wave are to be the earth's favorite company.
As a planter of dreams, and Your Enchanted Gardener, I See and
Seed that that will come to pass, with women like Kelly Shea in
positions of leadership.
Julia Sabin and Kelly Shea are two friends and leaders of the organic
movement. They have both made enormous contributions to the growth of the organic movement. When all is said and done, I am sure they will continue to lead and help our world for the better.
OTA is to be congratulated for all the good it has done in behalf
of the Organic Standard over the years, and standing up to defend
organic in the shifting education process that helps the public understand
organic benefits and make a better informed choice.
Everything else will come out in the wash.
Leslie Goldman
Your Enchanted Gardener
June 3, 2011
4:42 am
RESPONSE TO THE TREE HUGGER PIECE
BY THE OTA'S CHRISTINE BUSHWAY
JUNE 3, 2011
"The Organic Spies video brought up a number of areas of concern about the structure and mandate of the OTA. Some of those concerns, especially their organizational opposition to GMOs, have been answered, but a few questions remain. Even if all of the board members have a personal dedication to organics it's tough to accept that the multi-national corporations behind some of them don't have conflicting interests.
At this point it's up to the 6500 members of the OTA to decide if the current board represents their interest and vote in some new blood if they aren't satisfied. There's an election coming up, if you're an OTA member board nominations can be submitted until June 23.
For now I'll give the last word to Stephens, "United, we will accomplish more. As it is said, you catch more bees with honey than you do with vinegar." "
--Christine Bushway,
CEO Organtic Trade Association
QUOTE FROM JULIA SABIN
QUOTE FROM JULIA SABIN 2008
Speaking at The Organic Summit in June 2008,
Julia Sabin, OTA's Current president, noted that there are distinct
benefits that arise from the diverse constituencies making up the organic
industry, "It is important to see our differences of perspectives as patches
in the quit that isthe organic community, with each square reflecting its
unique perspective but ultimately harmonizing in a shared objective
and core values," Sabin Said. Still, opposition is not likely to end anytime soon, meaning that the organic industry as a while is likely to continue to content with the challenges it creates..
The Organic Trade Association has called for a moratorium on the use of genetically engineered (GE) organisms in all agricultural production, and for mandatory labeling of GMO foods since 2000. Read OTA’s official position here.
To address the challenges posed by the growing threat from GE crops, OTA formed a GMO task force, in January 2011, to help shape a new comprehensive GMO policy for OTA. Among the safeguards that OTA believes need to be seriously addressed include assignment of liability and a system for compensation for losses due to inadvertent contamination; compensation for the organic industry’s costs of testing and commingling prevention throughout the supply chain; preservation of seed stock supply and genetic diversity; comprehensive environmental, public health and socio-economic assessments prior to deregulation; retention of regulatory authority by USDA after deregulation of GE crops, and labeling of GE crops and product ingredients.
The GMO Task force is currently working to inform OTA’s developing White Paper on the impact of deregulated GM crops on organic agriculture and to inform OTA’s drafting of an updated official GE policy for review and adoption by the Board of Directors.
June 3, 2011
OTA’s Executive Director, Christine Bushway, delivered the plenary presentation at the Slow Living Summit, a sustainability conference in Brattleboro, VT to a crowd of two hundred people. In addition to providing an organic market update, she addressed the growing presence of GMOs in our food supply and how OTA is engaged in fighting the proliferation of GMOS to protect farmer and consumer choice. Follow the tweets here.
CHRISTINE BUSHWAY WAS
ALSO AT THE DECEMBER 20 MEETING OF STAKEHOLDERS
IN WASHINGTON D.C.
This meeting led to the unexpected deregulation of
GE Alfalfa that shocked many in the Organic Industry.
Horizon is a brand within WhiteWave Foods, a leader in corporate citizenship. WhiteWave is dedicated to manufacturing innovative, authentic and nutritious branded food products through socially and environmentally responsible practices. WhiteWave Foods is a subsidiary of Dean Foods Company.
What is the relationship between WhiteWave Foods and Dean Foods?
WhiteWave Foods Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dean Foods. The company was established in 2004 when Dean Foods consolidated Horizon Organic, White Wave, Inc. and much of its Dean National Branded Group into one consumer packaged goods organization.
What is WhiteWave Foods’ Position On Genetic Engineering?
We understand that some people may have ethical or environmental reasons for avoiding genetically altered foods. At WhiteWave Foods, we believe that labeling foods with genetically altered ingredients is not a safety issue, but rather an initiative to help consumers make informed choices.
What is WhiteWave Foods’ Position On Organic Farming?
We believe that a corporation is most successful when it conducts business with an eye toward the greater good of society. Support for organic agriculture and small family farms is a key element of our responsible livelihood commitment.
CREATING THE TIPPING POINT
FOR A RETURN TO NATURE'S ORIGINAL TECHNOLOGY
EACH OF US BEING AN ORGANIC UPRISING
Thanks to my sponsors for giving me time to write
about these things this summer.
GROW ORGANIC ALFALFA SEEDS
FOR AN ORGANIC UPRISING!
SUPPORT OUR SPRING CAMPAIGN
ORDER COMMEMORATIVE ORGANIC ALFALFA SEEDS
AND THE ART WORK HERE
TO PLANT YOUR DREAM http://plantyourdream.net/?p=1301
LARGER
STANDING UP FOR NATURE's ORIGINAL TECHNOLOGY,
ORGANIC UPRISING!
GROW ORGANIC ALFALFA SEEDS
FOR AN ORGANIC UPRISING!
KELLY SHEA OF WHITE WAVE
STANDING UP FOR NATURE's ORIGINAL TECHNOLOGY,
ORGANIC UPRISING!
KELLY SHEA OF WHITE WAVE
HELPED LAUNCH STANDING UP FOR
NATURE'S ORIGINAL TECHNOLOGY,
ORGANIC UPRISING!
Kelly Shea, VP of Government and Industry Relations
and Organic Stewardship, at White Wave, a company that aspires
to be the Earth's Favorite Food Company,
was a tremendous ally for the launch of
Standing up for Nature's Original Technology,
Organic Uprising!
This is our Spring 2011
campaign here on the Plant Your Dream Blogs.
White Wave, through Kelly's cheerleader,
became a lead sponsor of our photo galleries
from the Natural Product Expo West.
Edmond Bordeaux Szekely Quote
on Adapting to Nature.
PROPS TO THE PLANT YOUR DREAM BLOG
SPONSORS
HELPING THE WORLD TO GET BIOSMART
WINTER 2011
HELPING THE WORLD
GET BIO SMART
through using BioSmart
Sustainable Packaging and Serviceware.
Made From 100% Natural Sugar Cane.
Bagasse is a by-product of sugar cane
production.
ANTHONY RUSSO BIOSMART
100 % SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING SOLUTIONS
PLEASE VISIT THE NEW BIOSMART SITE.
TELL VENDORS WHO USE STYROFOAM
AND OTHER GREEN PACKAGING PRODUCTD
TO SUPPORT THIS COMPANY THAT
MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE ON THE NET
PLEASE VISIT THE PLANT YOUR DREAM
PUBLIC WEBSITE TO VIEW STORIES
ABOUT THE SEED DREAMS WE SUPPORT
AND THAT SPONSOR BEET KEEPERS, RETURN! Http://www.plantyourdream.net
LESLIE GOLDMAN
YOUR ENCHANTED GARDENER,
Leslie writes daily on his more personal
Plant Your Dream Blog Online Journal http://curezone.com/blogs/f.asp?f=92
Leslie Goldman, Your Enchanted Gardener,
sees and seeds success for super ripe
people and their dreams. His constant companion
is Keep the Beet Media Star, the Worlds Frst Talking beet plant.
Her mission is to help us all turn our beat around
with nature through planting a beet in a pot.
Keep the Beet. Eat the Greens, says Keep the Beet.
THE PLANT TO THE LEFT
IN THE PHOTO ABOVE
is
KEEP THE BEET MEDIA STAR,
THE WORLD's FIRST TALKING BEET PLANTR
KEEP THE BEET SEZ
...Get use to it...yes, I am a talking beet plant
and I often write here through Leslie on this
plant your dream blog...for more about me
go to ..
A record of Leslie's
life process. Serves as a palate
for new creations.
Leslie is in the wounded healer tradition.
he does his best to share his ups and downs
that we might all acknowledge we are
stars in Keep The Beet's Rock Your Soul Opera
called Beet Keepers, Return!
The Shift has happened.
We can no longer ask nature to adapt to us
but more so honor the journey of learning.
We can turn our breakdowns into breakthroughs.
CAMPAIGN TO EDUCATE WASHINGTON
ON REAL FOOD SAFETY
VIDEOS ON THE NEW PLANT YOUR DREAM WEBSITE http://plantyourdream.net
THESE ARE OUR AIMS
1-To support mobilization of one Farmers’ Market in our local area, the Hillcrest Farmers’ Market in San Diego. To continue to work with local organic farmers and help them sell more of their produce. To continue to produce
short video's about foods and shoppers at the Hillcrest Farmers' Market.
To continue to educate shoppers about the use of foods sold by local organic farmers.
1A -To See and Seed the success of the New Roots Community
International Rescue Committee Farm. To help in all ways possible
to tell the story and stand with these farmers and local IRC garden
products, including the Aquaponics Center.
2-To continue to develop a 1/3 acre parcel of land near San Diego State College named the Enchanted Garden Intentional Community Growing Grounds where those who live here and those who live around the world may study our process of learning how to keep the beat with nature. Through learning to live together cooperatively as a household we seek to live in harmony with the earth. The motto of the house will be Keep The Beet.
Spring 2011 Outreach:
Through growing a simple beet in a pot,
and grow organic alfalfa in pots, we can regain our beat with nature.
Not all in the house garden. Some like to prepare food. Others help with other jobs, or rent rooms. The land, as of June 2011 has a need to be refinanced. b A Trust to hold the land is one idea that has been suggested. The Seed Dream would be to leave a museum and park for future generations to learn from this experiment in cooperative living. This experiment in cooperative living has been going on since the early 1970′s. What we learn here can help others, and Washington, understand and adapt to some of the shifts being asked of all of us now. The focus summer 2011 is to create more infra-structure and prepare to be a local community resource through these
Shifting times. We need to begin with ourselves, and here in our backyard.
3- To develop relationships with those who influence Washington and government. A vast coalition across all political, religious, and philosophical lines has now formed. Mainstream media needs to be reached through bloggers filling the gap where journalism once told all points of view. Elected leaders need to be encouraged to follow the principles expressed in the song “America The Beautiful.”
4- We see the world as we know it now coming to an end. A Shift has already happened. It is for each of us to adapt to the earth and relearn the laws of nature, rather than attempt to further adapt nature to our ways. The source of our economic and health crisis is that we have lost our beat with nature. We can regain the beet through becoming once again a nation of gardeners who live in a world of gardeners. One Pot+One person=You are a Gardener. Start to grow your own food now.
5- To accept the mandate, that in San Diego we can model a city
growing its own food. To do all we can in our own backyard to
further this Seed Dream. To work with other groups through outreach,
and create events where the community can join in our extended
community here.
CAMPAIGN TO EDUCATE
WASHINGTON ON REAL FOOD SAFETY
Read about the goals of the year long campaign here.
Study materials about Real Food Safety.
Watch Videos of Micro-farmer Barry Logan
and much more! http://plantyourdream.net/?page_id=50
THE CAMPAIGN TO EDUCATE WASHINGTON
ON REAL FOOD SAFETY
Our year long Campaign to Educate Washington on
Real Food Safety aims to return the beat of Nature
to Washington. Our campaign begins with
each of us locally regaining our beat through
having a moment of awakening.
We can grow a bit of our own food.
ALL POINTS OF VIEW ARE WELCOME
TO ENTER INTO A NATIONAL CONVERSATION
ON REAL FOOD SAFETY
"My Enchanted Friend,
Heartfelt thanks for another “Enchanted” plant.
I love + bless it & you.
It graces my desk beautifully. Thank you!
I deeply appreciate you ‘seeding our dream’
to sell millions. I wish the same for you."
HEALTH MAGIC THROUGH CHLOROPHYLL
THROUGH LIVING PLANT LIFE
by Dr. Bernard Jensen
I wrote this one from his words.
This book is available from Bernard Jensen International
DEDICATION IN
THE ULTIMATE GARDENER
CHARLIE NARDOZZI
of the NATIONAL GARDEN ASSOCIATION
COPYRIGHT CLARLIE NARDOZZI
To Leslie Goldman,
The Enchanted Gardener,
for planting dreams and
seeds of inspiration.
To all those who garden
and for those who dream to
have a garden one day.
BIO NOTE FROM
THE ULTIMATE GARDENER
ON LESLIE GOLDMAN
YOUR ENCHANTED GARDENER
Leslie Goldman, AKA Your Enchanted Gardener, plants seeds of
success for super ripe people and their dreams. The Ultimate Gardener morphed from a "Seed Dream" between Leslie and the publisher, Peter Vegso, at the 2008 Book Expo America. Leslie's
companion is Keep The Beet Media Star, The World's First Talking Beet Plant.
Keep The Beet's message is that we can each grow our own food,
starting with growing a local, organic beet in a pot. "Keep the beet.
Eat the beet greens," is Beet's message. Leslie writes daily on the "Plant
Your Dream" blog, and sees photography as a way to show how he
sees the world. You can learn more about Leslie's Enchanted Garden Projects by viewing http://curezone.com/blogs/f.asp?f=92
and http://www.plantyourdream.net
Post include "Plant Your Dream," "Words Men Need to Know and Women Want to Hear," "The Seven Love Cures," "Job's Tears: Grow A Necklace,: "Super Ripe Images" and "Beep Keepers."
This book has six photos by Leslie Goldman
Your Enchanted Gardener
on across from the Title page, Nasturtium flowers, Enchanted Garden;
nectarines, next to the pic of the little boy, after page 10
blueberries, opposite to page before page 11;
Chocolate Peppermint and squash, next to page 34,
two pages after page 82, double truck, my favorite cactus flower,
and yellow flower of Oxalis;
"I’ve been waiting half my life to tell somebody about Leslie Goldman.
Always figured I’d wait for some desperate moment.
Now it’s here."
-- Bob Baker, Los Angeles times Magazine
"Do you remember, a lifetime ago,
when Nat King Cole had a hit song
called "Nature Boy"? It told about
"a strange, enchanted boy"
who wandered far, very far,
and when he met you,
he taught you many things.
I've met that boy,
or someone very much like him,
and he is now a man known as
"The Enchanted Gardener..."
I may never be the same."
--Paul Froemming,
Montecito Journal,
July 16, '99
"A magic day he passed my way and while we spoke
of many things Fools and Kings, this he said to me,
'The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be
loved in return." -- "Nature Boy," written by eden
ahbez, recorded by Nat King Cole in 1947.
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