Showing posts with label san jose organic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label san jose organic. Show all posts

Friday, August 3, 2012

StartOrganic Announces Northern California Growth Plans




San Jose, CA - July 9, 2012 - Building healthy communities just got a little bit easier in the Bay Area with the successful launch of startup, StartOrganic.  A fresh-faced, service-based organization, StartOrganic provides turnkey residential gardening services in which they build, maintain and harvest organic gardens for residents across the Silicon Valley.  

Far from your run-of-the-mill gardening service, StartOrganic is a values-based organization founded by two University of California, Santa Barbara alumni and long time friends, Josh Levine and Troy Smothermon.  With a shared passion for driving widespread cultural change Smothermon speaks to their mission, “With a health crisis that has reached critical mass, greater transparency across the food chain, and sustainability increasingly woven into the country’s social fabric, individuals, families and communities are armed with information and hungry for change.  StartOrganic is empowering people to take their food supply into their own hands and homes.” 

Converting virtually any usable space, from backyards to front lawns, into productive organic gardens, Levine and Smothermon attribute the rapid expansion of StartOrganic to its largely grassroots fanfare.  “When we work with customers, it’s amazing to see the organic gardening experience take hold in their community.  Instantly, friends and neighbors are talking about our gardens and asking how they can grow one of their own,” says Levine. 

Taking the process a step further, Levine and Smothermon have also established produce share events in which customers are invited to bring gardening surpluses to a community produce exchange, simply trading one’s own crop for another’s.  Produce, not dollars and cents, is the only thing that changes hands.  

As the market for organic, sustainable products continues to mount, StartOrganic provides a simple, yet innovative, solution.  Grow your own.  Equipping customers with the infrastructure and ongoing service required to be successful, StartOrganic brings new meaning to localizing the food source.  Looking ahead, Levine says, “Backyard gardens are for everyone, and our mission is to pollinate StartOrganic principles within our local community and beyond.”

About Start Organic
Founded in 2011 by partners Josh Levine and Troy Smothermon, StartOrganic provides residential organic gardening service to the Silicon Valley, with plans to expand throughout the California market.  With a hands-on approach, StartOrganic works with customers to build, maintain and harvest organic home gardens, enabling gardeners of any experience level to enjoy the fruits of their labor – homegrown, pesticide-free, seasonal produce throughout the year.  
---
Link:
http://startorganic.org/StartOrganic_Announces_Northern_California_Growth_Plans_2.html

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Veggielution Farmstand Opening

Last weekend the Veggielution farmstand finally began selling to the public! Almost 56 pounds of fresh, organic, (very) locally grown produce was sold during the soft opening. Everything is sold on a sliding scale. Price 1 is $0.00 for those that are in true hardship, Price 2 is what you would pay at a typical grocery store for standard veggies, and Price 3 is what you would pay for organic produce at a specialized store (this is the support Veggielution pricing!).

The sheer fact that we now have an active farm in the middle of San Jose in 2010 is already mind-blowing... but the care and passion that goes into this production is what makes it truly special. I was fortunate enough to get a behind the scenes tour of "the acre" and everything is tended to by the hands of enthusiastic volunteers. Even the fertilizer is made on-site from scratch and is fed live to the crops (vs. pre-packaged dead fertilizer with fewer nutrients). Hopefully later this year their little acre will expand and they'll be able to offer an even wider variety of produce.















Please support the effort by visiting their farm stand at 647 S. King Road, Saturdays from 2:30pm-3pm! I picked up some broccoli and cilantro last weekend and can attest to the quality... amazing stuff. They're also looking for volunteers if you're interested in contributing to the healthy, local, organic foods movement!