Organic Moment

Delicious, sustainable food is the ideal. Friends and a beautiful setting don’t hurt either.

It’s a sunny summer weekend and the Maine Coast is ours. A morning of running in the park, walking dogs, and riding bikes brings on a healthy hunger. You know, the kind you’ve really earned. A trip east to Damariscotta seems like the best decision we’ve made in years, complete with our stop at a coop market that sells local and organic foods. It’s seventy five degrees, the clouds are wispy and rare and moving in time with salty gusts. The day has dealt a nice hand.

Now it’s time for lunch.  The meal is one for the log, and we each recognize this fact in real time. Proclamations of “this is awesome” and “we are so lucky right now” float in and out of the conversation. I know you can picture the scene because you’ve all received the postcard or read the travel write-up in the Times; it’s the classic waterfront seafood spot in Maine. A salty sunbleached deck held above the chilly, grey-blue Maine waters by pylons and barnacles. Handpainted signs on hanging driftwood. Picnic tables creaking under the weight of local beer, local seafood, and locals. The harbor is our backdrop. The Lupine are in bloom. The tourists haven’t arrived yet.

Charlie, owner of both Schooner Landing and town, it seems, greets new arrivals with an anecdote and receives one in return. He makes us feel at home effortlessly. Checking in for a bit of banter, then disappearing to tend to the restaurant, write up the schedule, chat with the regulars. Charlie’s on.

Briny oysters and sweet Maine lobsters arrive at our table, hours after being pulled from the very ocean view we’re enjoying right now. The fishermen and women that harvested our food live down the street. Here, people know each other, and they know where the food they eat comes from.

ORGANIC MOMENT
Responsible fishing methods provide hope that future generations may find a living the same way, much like the organic family farmers who provide our milk. Stonyfield’s products come from over 200,000 acres of organic farmland, which avoids the use of over 200,000 pounds of insecticides and herbicides every year. Further, keeping persistent pesticides off the farms and out of the water runoff also helps keep them out of the oceans.

It’s all connected. We at Stonyfield know that – it’s integral to our mission as a company. Even so, we all have those moments when it hits us: what we do, be it working for a company like Stonyfield or eating a simple meal that’s been produced sustainably has a direct and real impact on the health of our shared planet. It’s what we call ‘an organic moment’ and it’s a good feeling.

So here we are, taking it in, enjoying a meal and our connection to it — a summertime Organic Moment worth sharing.

Have an organic moment you’d like to share? We’d love to hear it!