Little worms or pesticides in your Organic Food ?
With moisture setting in, there is a good chance your stock of organic food grain may start showing sign of hidden life. If not then there is a good chance of pesticides residue in it. This is a simple test of poison in your food grain. Some of the most popular brands of organic rice in India are found with pesticides. Read the report to know more.
http://cercindia.org/grahak-sathi-exposes-shocking-truth-behind-organic-rice/
Below is a picture of our Taraori Basmati Rice from our organic farmer in Dehradun, Uttarakhand #JaivikFood.
Pitless Tree Plantation
The recent incidents of uprooting of big and old trees in Chennai and many other metro cities is a sign that something is not right. Of course, one big reason is the concretisation of the ares around the trees but there is much more than that which is not right.
Look closely and notice the raised soil around the main stem of the trees in our organic farm and compare with tree plantation in any conventional farm with a pit around it to feed fertilisers and water etc. It’s amazing to note how wrong are the conventional practices of modern agriculture. There are no feeding roots near the main stem and creating a pit simply makes the stock root immersed in water which makes it weaker because then it doesn’t grow much deeper looking for water. At the same time the feeding roots which generally grow on top soil don’t spread farther as the fertilisers are fed directly near the stem. This whole process is against the nature where feeding roots spread in the soil in search of food (nutrients) and make a strong foundation for the tree. The result is obvious when we see even big trees falling easily in City areas.
#Pitless #farming #organic #jaivikfood
Zero Residue vs Organic and Natural Fruits
Please note the difference between #Pesticide Residue Free and Organic (#Naturally Grown) Fruits like Grapes, Mangoes , Bananas etc. Though, residue free are 100% safe to eat as the chemical residues are within the maximum residue limits and are naturally ripened without any artificial intervention, however, these can not be claimed as “Organic”. The term “Organic” or “Natural” has more implication than just the pesticides residue in the fruit/crop. That is because chemical #pesticides and #fungicides are used by such farmers during the flowering time and onwards for protection against infection and to assist fruit setting. In addition, more synthetic fertilisers, hormones etc are applied to ensure the optimum health of the plant. As perIIHR recommended practice, the final protective spray is stopped not less than 15 days before the actual harvest to ensure lower limits of harmful residue in the fruit/crop. However, the pesticides and chemical fertilisers added by farmers do still seep into the soil, intoxicates the air and water and thus are harmful to environment and bio diversity in a longer run. So, buying such product does not meet the full objectives of organic /natural farming. On the other hand, Organic or Natural farming uses alternative techniques to take care of the these problems and ensure that the environment is not harmed in any way.
One should, at the least , avoid artificially (#Calcium Carbide) ripened fruits. The easy way to recognise if the fruit is naturally ripened or not is to examine the colour and texture. If its evenly coloured , #monoculture , evenly ripened but wrinkle free and pale then its artificially ripened. The other thing to note is the colour and taste of the pulp. If it has dull colour of pulp inside compared to what you get beneath the peel and taste is not upto mark of the variety of the fruit then its not good. The naturally ripened fruit (even if it has over ripened and is spoiled at some parts) when you cut open will have evenly ripened pulp with good flavour and taste.
Eat organic and naturally grown food and Enjoy healthy living !!!
All that Shines is not Gold…Organic vs Inorganic
Be prepared for upcoming Mango season. The fruit sellers will have all good looking, perfectly ripened mangoes ( much before their normal ripening season).
Remember, All that Shines is not Gold. Watch this and other related Youtube video “Vidari pollen” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fzspdomxr8
How to Buy Organic Food
Understand What’s Organic food :
In simple words, #Organic means #food grown #naturally under hygienic conditions and without the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. The ill effects of over use of chemicals by farmers to either protect their crops or to increase the yield over last 3-4 decades across India are well known. These were elaborately shown in the famous episode of TV show #Satya Mev Jayte hosted by Aamir Khan in 2012. Many #mothers today are aware and want to ensure healthy and pure food for their family and are opting more and more for organic food. The good part is that we are seeing more and more options being available to them in the Metro cities. The Big Question they face is that how to ensure the food they are buying at premium price is organic, healthy and better than the other food.
Most of the Organic food sellers are trying hard to provide you the healthier and safer options. However, it’s best in your own interest to be aware of few simple things while buying organic food items. Here are few listed below:
- Try to know the source from the vendor. Some general information about the origin will help you assess the authenticity. The #freshfood is generally available according to climatic conditions of the area of production and any mismatch should be a cause of concern.
- If some items are available in large quantities and available for a longer period, you need to be alert. Most of the organic food items are available in limited quantity and during season only unless stored in cold storage.
- Some of the vegetables like Capsicum (Coloured and Green) , Bitter Gourd, Cucumber, Brinjal etc attract pests despite best efforts. If your veggies are always free from these than be alert. Please note that most of the times, you can cut the bug infected part and use the rest of it.
- It’s an agreed and legal practice to polish food items. However, Organic food should not be polished or subjected to any kind of hormones for growth, colour or size enhancements. If you find food items very attractive in colour, shape and size with spotless clarity and shine, again you need to be alert. Check for wax or oily surface and reject if found so.
- There should be a clearcut, observable differentiation in taste and flavour in your organic food. You can’t miss it.
- In addition to taste, you will also observe that your requirements of some of the pure organic food is reduced eg. Turmeric & Chilli powder, dry pulses like Rajma, Urad , Unpolished Rice etc are consumed in lesser quantity compared to their inorganic counterparts.
- Some #farmers believe that using cow’s dung as manure and urine based solutions for pest control makes their farm produce as Organic. This kind of food is definitely better than chemically treated ordinarily available food. However, there is one more condition of hygienic environment. Water and air of the area bring pollutants to farm. Farming near Industrial waste carrying water source (like Yamuna banks in the Delhi and surrounding regions ) cannot be classified as Organic even with the best of farmers efforts unless there is highly controlled conditions to treat them.
- Try to get pics of farms or plan farm visit once in a while. This will not only instill your confidence in the vendor but at the same time can help you connect with the roots and the farmers. Include these trips as part of your holidays. The family will love it and farmers will get encouragement too.
- Some of the processed items like juices may use ingredients like sugar, oil, additives and preservatives which may not be pure organic. As long as this is declared to you, it should be ok if the fruit juice is from good source and processed under hygienic conditions.
- Feedback is an important process to improve the quality of goods and services of your vendors. See if your vendor is listening to and responding to your input.
Happy Buying Organic Food.
Launching of JVF Club Membership
Loyalty pays and so do we at Jaivikfood !!! JVF Club membership on first cum first basis would be allowed to limited customers in the first round. All our existing customers, without whom, we would not have come so far, would be automatically offered to be registered as JVF Club members to start enjoying the benefits it comes with. That does not mean remembering your loyalty card number, in fact, there would be no such card or number. We believe in knowing you by your name and address. The benefits will roll back to you automatically whenever you qualify for them.
Benefits :
1. Special members discounts of 10% applicable on Minimum order value of Rs 1500/- or more.
2. No delivery charges for order value of Rs 500 or more.
3. Complimentary samples of our newly introduced products exclusively to you.
4. Priority in your order fulfilment in case of limited quantity of any product.
5. A guided tour of Organic Farms once a year subject to suitability of resources/climate etc.
6. Refer your friends and you earn additional 5% discount on your next purchase , every time your new reference places his/her first order of Rs 1000/- or more.
Eligibility and other T&Cs :
1. At least 3 orders in a month.
2. Order to be placed by 8pm Thur·sday for delivery on Sundays.
3. An yearly non-refundable deposit of Rs 1000/- ( waived for initial round of JVF members)
4. JVF Club membership is subject to discretion of the management of the company.
5. JVF Club program can be withdrawn by the company anytime without any claim whatsoever except that the yearly deposit,if any will be returned on pro-rata basis.
Welcoming Monsoon !!!
With first showers of Monsoon hitting North India on 29th June, the whole landscape looks different. Every single living thing seems to be happy and welcoming the rains and thanking rain Gods! We are hoping that rains will improve the supply of fresh stocks. Last Sunday, we started fresh stocks of vegetables like Cabbage, Pahari Potatoes, French Beans and Cherry Tomatoes. We missed some of our customers who were still out on vacations. We also missed few deliveries in far off places in Delhi as we ran out of stock. We understand that it may be causing some difficulty to our customers but we are fully dependant on the harvesting by farmers on Saturdays and sometime the supply does not match the demand. We are working to link more farmers from Uttarakhand but transportation in hilly terrain is always a challenge. We are trying our efforts in converting more farmers to Organic “bit by bit”.
Looking forward to serving you better with every new weekly delivery of fresh and pure vegetables from certified Organic farms in Uttarakhand.
Getting Ready for New Season
Friends, with harsh summer getting over, slowly there is improvement in supply of fresh Organic Veggies from Uttarakhand. The supply from Shivalik ranges will start with Pahari Aloo , Cabbage etc. in addition to other summer veggies like Gourd family.
We have also reduced our prices as we are expanding our customer base in Delhi. Requesting all the friends in South Delhi, East Delhi and in NCR Vaishali / Indirapuram to please visit our site www.jaivikfood.com and show your interest by registering yourself and we we will connect with you soon to arrange delivery in your locality.
JVF Club- An exclusive members club
Coming Up “JVF Club” – An exclusive members club open to select few only to avail great benefits as below:
1. Special members discounts of 5% on most of the products and 50% on Delivery Charges.
2. Complimentary sample of our newly introduced products
3. Given the limited quantity of organic fresh food, you as JVF Member will have a priority in your order fulfilment.
4. A guided tour of Organic Farms once a year subject to suitability of resources/climate etc.
5. Last but not the least, you will get our branded reusable cotton Jhola worth Rs 150/- to be used for collecting your order