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local organic food

Is organic worth it?

EAT BETTER LIVE BETTER NEWSLETTER / May 9,2018

Tips, hacks, recipes, stories, and the weekly special all help you eat better live better with fresh local food!

IS ORGANIC WORTH IT?
And can you even trust organic labels?

When you've got nothing else to go on, that organic label seems like an easy solution. Organic foods have a reputation for being more nutritious and safer. Plus, organic can cost up to twice as much as conventional - must be better, right? The truth, it turns out, is complicated...

Read the rest of the newsletter below, or view this issue as a printable PDF with clickable links.

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harmony hill farm local food

This one thing helps local families find local food

EAT BETTER LIVE BETTER NEWSLETTER / May 2,2018

Tips, hacks, recipes, stories, and the weekly special all help you eat better live better with fresh local food!

THIS ONE THINGS HELPS LOCAL FAMILIES FIND LOCAL FOOD
Plus helps working moms & dads serve up healthy eats, too

That “thing” is our veggie fairies! Seasonal Roots veggie fairies, a.k.a. neighborhood Market Managers, are the irreplaceable links that bring farmers and families together. If it weren’t for our veggie fairies there would be no Seasonal Roots. Not only do they deliver fresh local food to your doorstep, they also handle one-on-one customer care and spread the word about local food. They're committed to supporting farmers and families.

Seasonal Roots veggie fairies come...

Read the rest of the newsletter below, or view this issue as a printable PDF with clickable links.

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real fresh vs fake fresh

Real fresh vs fake fresh

EAT BETTER LIVE BETTER NEWSLETTER / April 25,2018

Tips, hacks, recipes, stories, and the weekly special all help you eat better live better with fresh local food!

REAL FRESH vs FAKE FRESH
3 Things that make local food truly fresh + more nutritious, flavorful

The external appearance of modern produce tells you very little about what’s inside.

Big Corporate Agriculture grows its produce all over the world, usually wherever they can get the job done the cheapest. So the produce has to be able to survive at least a week, and sometimes months, of travel and storage before it gets to a grocery store.

The result: Big Ag has focused on developing produce varieties that have a long shelf life and are tough enough to withstand lots of the rough handling. Nutrition and flavor are not Big Ag’s priority, even when the label says...

Read the rest of the newsletter below, or view this issue as a printable PDF with clickable links.

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vegan home delivery

Seasonal Roots to the rescue!

EAT BETTER LIVE BETTER NEWSLETTER / April 18,2018

Tips, hacks, recipes, stories, and the weekly special all help you eat better live better with fresh local food!

A NEW MEMBER TELLS HER STORY
By Faye D, Seasonal Roots member

On February 9, I broke my leg. For two weeks I couldn’t put any weight on it at all and for eight weeks I was dependent on a wheel chair, a walker, crutches and finally a cane. Needless to say I couldn’t cook or buy groceries. Although my husband is not comfortable in the kitchen and only a little more comfortable in a grocery store, he did pitch in to do his best at cooking and the shopping. Still, it was a very difficult time for us both.

The best thing ever was that just before the accident I had signed up for Seasonal Roots...

Read the rest of the newsletter below, or view this issue as a printable PDF with clickable links.

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Magnolia Farm mushroom health benefits

Secret mushroom health benefits

EAT BETTER LIVE BETTER NEWSLETTER / April 11,2018

Tips, hacks, recipes, stories, and the weekly special all help you eat better live better with fresh local food!

PLUS SURPRISING NEW THINGS THEY'RE MAKING OUT OF MUSHROOMS

In American culture, there’s a stigma attached to mushrooms. They are, after all, a funny looking fungus. And when it comes to wild mushrooms, most parents tell their kids, “Don’t touch them, you’ll die!”

So it takes a certain sense of adventure to move beyond those white button mushrooms you find in every grocery store and try a mushroom that looks like, say, an oyster. Mike M’s oyster mushrooms come to us through Schuyler Greens, the company his brother...

The Veggie Fairy Blog has a Q&A with Mike about how he grows his oyster mushrooms (including a photo), links to scientific studies, and more cool ‘shroom inventions.

Read the rest of the newsletter below, or view this issue as a printable PDF with clickable links.

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mobjack bay fair trade coffee

This is how fair trade coffee helps the Chesapeake Bay

EAT BETTER LIVE BETTER NEWSLETTER / April 4,2018

Tips, hacks, recipes, stories, and the weekly special all help you eat better live better with fresh local food!

FAIR TRADE COFFEE'S GOOD FOR RAINFORESTS & PEOPLE, TOO!

Celeste was a professional ballet dancer. Jo was a corporate IT guy. But they had always dreamed of running their own business together. And they both loved the waters of the Chesapeake Bay near their Virginia home.

So in 2007, talking over their morning coffee, they decided to launch Mobjack Bay Coffee Roasters.

The business com-bines their love of coffee...

Find out more about Celeste and Jo, how to visit their tasting room and what "Fair Trade" & "Rainforest Alliance" certified means below, or view this issue as a printable PDF with clickable links.

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riley shaia spinach health benefits

Spinach is good for your brain, too …

EAT BETTER LIVE BETTER NEWSLETTER / March 28,2018

Tips, hacks, recipes, stories, and the weekly special all help you eat better live better with fresh local food!

...AND OTHER COOL SPINACH FACTS

Vintage cartoon fans can probably quote Popeye the Sailor Man’s famous line from memory: “I’m good to the finn-ich cause I eat my spinach!” A whole generation of kids grew up thinking they would be stronger if they ate spinach.

Spinach offers amazing health benefits. It’s rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. These good things are associated with boosting immunity, lowering blood pressure, fighting the causes of cancer, reducing inflammation, easing constipation and ulcers, and supporting good vision, healthier skin, and stronger bones. It may even ...

Find out more from Riley about spinach storage, history and benefit below, or view this issue as a printable PDF with clickable links.

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whole grains grat harvest bread co

Does freshness matter in whole grains?

EAT BETTER LIVE BETTER NEWSLETTER / March 21,2018

Tips, hacks, recipes, stories, and the weekly special all help you eat better live better with fresh local food!

THIS LOCAL BAKER GRINDS WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR DAILY. IS IT WORTH THE TROUBLE?

Two of our most popular breads are the honey whole wheat and the 9-grain from Great Harvest Bread Company in Mechanicsville, Va. We wanted to know: Does whole grain have to be fresh to be good, the way produce does? The minute veggies and fruits are harvested and exposed to air, light, and heat, they start losing their vitamins. Does the same thing apply to whole grains?

In their unmilled seed form, grains are designed to last at least until next year’s planting. The thing is, once you grind those whole grains into flour...

Find out more about grains and baking bread from June, owner and head baker at Great Harvest, below, or view this issue as a printable PDF with clickable links.

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humane farming

Humane farming is good for humans too. Here’s why.

EAT BETTER LIVE BETTER NEWSLETTER / March 14,2018

Tips, hacks, recipes, stories, and the weekly special all help you eat better live better with fresh local food!

LOTS OF PASTURE AND NO PESTICIDES, ANTIBIOTICS, HORMONES, OR GMO'S AT THIS LOCAL FARM

Out of the six kids in the Avery’s Branch Farms family, Oliver is the one in charge of their pasture-raised chickens. The family also raises cows and pigs. With support from Seasonal Roots and other Virginia families and restaurants, their farm has really grown. Their chicken flock has grown from five hens and a rooster to 3,800 hens. The egg business is now big enough for 24-year-old Oliver to launch (cue the drumroll…) AUTHENTICITY FARMS!

Even as the flock has grown, Oliver’s commitment to his family’s humane farming practices has remained the same...

Learn the difference between cage-free, free-range, and pasture-raised below, or view this issue as a printable PDF with clickable links.

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kids healthy snacks

The guide to kids healthy snacks

EAT BETTER LIVE BETTER NEWSLETTER / February 21,2018

Tips, hacks, recipes, stories, and the weekly special all help you eat better live better with fresh local food!

THIS IS HOW YOU GET KIDS TO MAKE GOOD SNACK CHOICES LIKE THESE!

After Beth joined Seasonal Roots, she grabbed this snapshot of her son posing with green pepper slices and cherry tomatoes.

“My son just came home from school and these were HIS choice of snack!” Beth reported. “In the past he would go for something in the pantry. He loves the fresh veggies as much as I do!”

The average American kid snacks three times a day, and chips, candy, and other junk foods...

For tips on kids and healthy snacks, continue reading below, or view this issue as a printable PDF with clickable links.

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