How to order Organic Food on POW Island!

With all the health and environmental problems out there, you really can't afford not to eat organic these days.  And guess what?  It can actually be pretty cheap... Here's how to do it...       

General supermarket:  Azure Standard
www.azurestandard.com
Phone: 541-467-2230   
Azure is basically an online supermarket.  It is full of just about everything you could need, from healthy bulk whole foods (wheat, rice, beans etc) to delicious treats like organic ice cream and raw milk cheeses.  All you have to do is set up an account with them, then you can just hop online and do your shopping.  There are lots of useful photos and descriptions, and they have great specials.  Items can be purchased individually just like at the grocery store, but buying by the case makes it even cheaper.  If internet shopping is just not your thing, then they will send you their product catalog and you can simply call in or fax them your order.

How to organize it:  Azure has a minimum order of $550, so it may be easier to place an order with a few friends (or you can just place a big order alone whenever you need to).  If you order in a group then each individual's order must be at least $50, and the group order must come to $550. Each individual pays Azure for their share of the order when they place it, and each individual order will come packed in its own boxes, making sorting very simple.  The way you group an order is to send it to the same shipping address so it is important that everyone in the group uses the same shipping address.  For example: "Ship to: Mary Smith, C/O (insert shipping company here) to (Craig or Thorne Bay) Alaska".  Choose a C1 or C3 shipping route, and Azure will take your order to the shipping company.  Then let the shipping company know it is coming. 

It is possible to order dry and chill items during our cooler months, but you must remember to write SHIP DRY ONLY on your order and to tell the shipping company.  Shipping dry is not only a lot cheaper, but you will get charged the minimum charge for 250 lbs if even only one item in your order ships chilled, a rather unpleasant surprise at pickup time.  However, as long as you make a point of shipping dry with every order, it is ok to order cheeses, eggs and other chilled items during winter, they keep fine.  Your invoice will tell you how many pounds each individual's order was, then you can split up the shipping charge with your group that way.

Very Important: Call both shipping companies and research which works best for you. Ask about how frozen and chilled orders work.

Frozen / Chilled foods: For freeze/chill orders, get your group organized to place one or two each year.  The shipping company will charge you for a minimum of 250 lbs, so it is good to organize a big order.  Write "SHIP FROZEN/CHILLED" all over that order and soon you will be the beneficiary of all sorts of delicious treats like organic chicken and healthy frozen pizzas.

Fresh Produce: Full Circle Farm
www.fullcirclefarm.com
Phone:425.333.4677
This is the easy way to have fresh, seasonal fruits and veggies delivered to your door.  Here you get a box of fresh produce delivered weekly or biweekly.  You can choose between large, medium and small sized boxes.  Every week you can view your order online and change up to five items to customize the order to your tastes.  The produce will be seasonal and local, which is even better for you and the environment! PAC Air will ship it from Ketchikan to the Island, so there will be an extra shipping charge with them.

Fresh Produce: Organically Grown
www.organicgrown.com
Phone: 503-496-0457
If you have more time than money this is a fun and cheap way to fill your house with fresh organic produce.  Organically Grown is a wholesaler, so they sell cases of fruits and veggies, although they do sell many of their items in smaller quantities (ask for a "Split Sheet").  Prices are great; usually my orders of assorted produce average between $1.20 and $1.70 a pound including shipping.  But it does take work and organization. 

How to order:  Price sheets come out on Friday night.  You have until Tuesday morning to place the order.  My group used to meet every Monday, but now we have worked out a way to plan our orders using a shared email address. The first person writes an email stating how much they would like of each item and how much they could take if needed to make up a case.  This is saved in the "drafts" folder.  Then the next person adds in their items and saves it, and so on.  Finally the group organizer looks over the order and decides whether to order a whole or half case of each item and places the order with Lucas at Organically Grown.  The group organizer will have an account with OG, and the order will be paid for by the organizer.  Here you can SHIP DRY during winter as long as it is not too cold, but make sure that you call the shipping company in Seattle before it arrives there as these details are easily lost.  Check with your shipping company as sometimes tomatoes and bananas ship at a different temperature, and you could get charged extra for this. 

Then your group will need to get together to sort, weigh and divide up the costs of this order.  It is actually quite enjoyable!  You need reliable group members for this one, but the price and the great produce make it worth it!

Meats: Thundering Hooves
www.thunderinghooves.net
Phone: 866-350-9400
If you want organic and humanely killed meat, try this small farm in Washington.  Tour the farm on their web site, and they are happy to answer questions. All their meat is raised on unsprayed pasture, making the meat healthier and higher in Omega-3's, and the animals happier.  Cows are meant to eat grass, and get sick when fed grain in feed lots which makes it necessary to pump them full of antibiotics.  Pasture fed animals are cleaner, have had a better life, and are not fed any hormones either.  This farm brings in a mobile abattoir unit to the farm so that each animal can be killed individually and quietly without any stress to it or its neighbors and without the stress of transportation.

The meat is delicious. Keep an eye on the specials.  The prices here are impressive too.  You can get packages of cheaper cuts of meat, or even buy half a cow or a side of pork or lamb to reduce costs.  The easiest meats to buy are beef, lamb and pork. You can get tasty sausages, the best bacon, and everything from stew meat to the finest cuts of steak. Chicken and turkey is easier to buy from Azure. 

How to order: The meat is frozen on the farm and you can buy it online in neat packages.  This order must ship frozen so you may need to form a group to reduce shipping charges.  The farm will charge you 7% of the price of each individual's order to take it to Seattle, and once again, make sure everyone is shipping to the same address in order to group the order.  Just pick one person in the group to ship to or you will get multiple shipping charges!  

Don't worry; ordering organic is easy. Just keep an eye on it, check in regularly with the shipping company and ask lots of questions of everyone else until you are comfortable with the system.  Ask around, there are networks of organic enthusiasts all over this island who will be quite happy to show you their techniques.  There are many companies out there like these. If you discover a good one, spread the word!  Once you get the hang of it, the quality, time savings, and cost savings can make shopping a treat! 

And last but not least, check out your local stores.  They are trying hard to carry more organic items so encourage them by buying these products.  Shop around the island and you will find all sorts of treasures including organic milk, fresh produce, spaghetti and even organic beer!