THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 2, 1994 TAG: 9411010089
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
When I look at the last misshapen peppers and eggplants in my garden, I occasionally have sweet dreams of how handsome they might have been had I used pesticides, herbicides and lots of chemical fertilizers.
It's only a fleeting dream, I promise, and then I wake up.
My yard is full of little animals that I enjoy, like birds and butterflies, ladybugs, praying mantises and other insects. And there are box turtles, toads, green snakes and earthworms, creatures that at the very least, would be chased away by such harsh treatment.
To me, flowers and vegetables are only a wedge of the pie that makes up my garden. Box turtles, butterflies and other animals complete the circle, not only as necessary ingredients, but also as aesthetic ones.
Equally as important, I know my organic vegetables (however misshapen) are healthier for me and the folks I feed. I truly can't imagine anything more unappetizing than squirting a poison on those peppers and, knowing I had done that, eating them - or worse, serving them to someone else. Despite all manufacturers' claims for safety, nobody can convince me that's a good idea.
Yet, I know that I am eating and serving such food every day when I purchase it from the grocery store. It's only better because I didn't do the dirty deed myself.
Now, I don't have to worry any more. ``My'' grocery store on Laskin Road has opened an organic foods section. Super Fresh produce manager Mark Blachura has been quietly building up his stock of organic foods and now some weeks, he has as many as 30 different products on the counter.
It all began last spring when Blachura was trying to accommodate a regular customer, Mike Cohen. The North End resident asked Blachura to stock organic fruits and vegetables because he wanted to purchase the healthiest, chemical-free foods he could for his wife Lolly who was ill with cancer.
Blachura began to order in response to Cohen's request. Although Cohen's wife passed away, Blachura continued stocking the foods, as a personal commitment to Cohen and the memory of his wife. Then other Super Fresh customers began to purchase the produce, too.
``He (Cohen) got the first customers,'' Blachura said. ``And then the interest spread by word of mouth.''
Now with the arrival of Farmer Jack on Newtown Road, an A&P chain like Super Fresh, Blachura will be able to get a large number of organic foods more consistently because the two stores will be making joint orders.
Most of the fruits and vegetables come from California and all are certified organic. Prices are running about 25 to 30 percent higher than other produce, Blachura said.
He is ordering grapefruit, pears, apples, lemons, oranges and cantaloupes. Tomatoes, onions, red potatoes, celery, broccoli and cauliflower are on the shelves. One of my favorites is Spring Mix, a mixture of washed greens - radicchio, spinach, red leaf lettuce and other goodies.
``I'm already selling 40 pounds a week of Spring Mix,'' Blachura said.
Laine Rutherford is one customer who has begun to make a dent in the organic foods display. She's been buying organic products for at least seven years and has been shopping primarily at health food stores. Now, she has found that the Super Fresh products are cheaper.
``I like to give them to my children. I'd rather them not eat pesticide-laden food because they get enough of that other places,'' Rutherford said. ``I want to get back to as natural a state as possible.
``It makes for smarter, healthier children!''
Although some health food stores and produce stands, to their credit, have been committed to organic vegetables for years, the only way for organics to become cheaper and more prevalent is if the large chains stock them, too. Super Fresh and Farmer Jack are leading the way in Virginia Beach.
It makes so much sense, not just for the Cohens and the Rutherfords of this world but also for you and me and all the humans and creatures that live on this earth.
And every piece of Blachura's organic produce is a whole lot prettier and tastier than my peppers and eqgplants, I can assure you of that.
P.S. A Christmas Craft Faire will be held from noon to 5 p.m. Friday and Sunday, and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the Francis Land House. Crafts and Christmas collectibles along with goodies, like Brunswick stew and ham biscuits will be featured.
FLOCKS OF BIRD WATCHERS will gather at the annual Cape Henry Audubon Society Bird Seed Sale from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Princess Anne Farmers Service, 5651 Virginia Beach Blvd. in Norfolk. Prices for a variety of seed begin with $1.50 for a suet cake and go up to $17 for 50 pounds of black oil sunflower seed. Bird feeders will be 15 percent off.
BACK BAY WILDLIFE REFUGE acting manager Joe McCauley will present a program on how wildlife will be affected by seasonal road closures at the refuge at 10 a.m. Saturday in the refuge auditorium. Call 721-2412 for reservations.
LEARN ABOUT GUY FAWKES DAY, a 17th century holiday still celebrated in England, at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Adam Thoroughgood House. Admission is $2. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know about
Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555. Enter
category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARY REID BARROW
In memory of a customer's wife who died of cancer, Super Fresh
produce manager Mark Blachura has quietly built his organic foods
counter to as many as 30 different products.
by CNB