Raw From the Farm

Your source for organic farm-direct raw grains, nuts, seeds, sun-dried fruits, sea veggies, and pure raw supplements.
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About Us and Our Foods  
 
Our History.....
                                                                                          
We here at Raw From the Farm are raw foodists.  We began our journey in response to our own frustration in finding quality, locally grown, pure raw sun-dried fruits, nuts, and grains (with the enzymes still intact!).  When contacting the buyers of health food stores or other companies, we found they often did not know what type of heat or processing the foods had been subjected to.  Usually, they purchased their products from distributors who also did not know this vital information.  We tried to determine the sources of these foods so we could ask our questions directly to the grower and processor, but often were not provided that information.  We found that some foods, while available from farms in the United States, were purchased from countries such as China (where it could be purchased cheaper), where the processing methods were completely unknown.
 
Thus began our research in finding farmers that understand and support, through their growing and processing practices, the same standards we require for the food we eat.
 
See The Foods We Carry in the next column for more information about our standards. 
 
About our bags.....
 
We offer two types of bags for shipping our foods:
 
  • We believe in using the most sustainable products available.  For that reason, our standard bag is made from cellulose from euculyptus trees and is completely compostable and biodegradeable. When purchasing in this bag, transfer the food to a glass container abou receipt, as this bag is not for storage.   This bag should be composted either in your own compost bin or in your city's green bin.  The manufacturer that makes our bags works with suppliers that are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council or the equivalent in that particular country.  Here is some info about the Council's standards http://www.fscus.org/standards_criteria/

 

  • Some people prefer a ziploc bag.  For this reason, we are offering a PVC- and Plasticizer-free resealable plastic bag. While these are not biodegradeable, they will not leach PVCs and Plasticizers into your foods like regular plastic might. We previously offered a discount for this choice, but we are really wanting to decrease the amount of plastic that is out there.  Therefore, we are still offering the choice, but not the discount incentive to choose this bag. Please re-use these bags whenever possible.      
 The Foods We Carry....
                                                                                     

We have very strict standards with the foods we carry. These standards include:

                                                                                               
  • Organically grown - our foods are biodynamic, wildcrafted, pesticide free, permaculture, or certified organic.  Each food we sell has a description as to its growing methods. 
  • Locally grown - this ensures fresher products that have not been subjected to the pollution levels that exist during long transports.  This also decreases transportation emissions that contribute to global warming.   For products not available locally, we purchase from farms as local as possible that also adhere to our other specifications.  For our imported products, we go through Navitas Naturals and Nutiva.  The respective owners have visited the farms to insure quality of product.

 

  • Raw
  • Dried Fruits - Many fruits available are dried with artificial heat or rehydrated/washed with hot water.  We realize this kills enzymes.  Raw From the Farm carries only sun-dried fruits, where no heat is used during washing and no artificial drying.  Freezing is necessary on some foods (per certification requirements) to kill existing insects without fumigation. Our research has found that for dried fruits and nuts, where there is very little moisture content, the integrity of the food is not compromised when frozen.  When a dried fruit or nut is frozen, the enzyme activity is slowed down, but not destroyed.  Even so, we always try to find foods that meet all of our other requirements and were not frozen.  None of our foods are sulfured.
  • Nuts and Seeds - The nuts and seeds we sell have either undergone no drying during processing (almonds, sunflowers, pine nuts) or have been air-dried (macadamias, pecans, walnuts).    The other nuts have not.   We plan to carry more nuts and seeds as we find foods that meet our strict standards. 
  • Pure -  as we research foods, we have found some processors that add ingredients during the processing, such as oil to raisins.  We only work with farmers where nothing is added to the food during processing.  Our raisins are a little stickier, but they sure are yummy!  

 

You will notice that some items, like tomatoes and macadamias, are more expensive than the other foods.  This is due to a limited growing season and intense labor that comes with managing these foods.  We cut costs wherever we can to keep the costs low for our customers.

 

This page was last modified on Tuesday, February 16, 2010 11:25:03 PM