We hope our GreenLinks page will grow to provide a guide to Organic shopping, gardening and growing in the Birmingham and West Midlands area. There will be links to regional and national websites offering a broad range of resources, plus lifestyle and vegetarian/vegan topics, recipes etc. We welcome suggestions for establishing West Midlands community links from anyone interested or involved in the organic/environmental movement.
Any comments or suggestions welcome by email to: greenlinks@organixentral.co.uk
Links Organic - quick access to our organic business website directory, news and information.
The Organic Supermarket is a new portal site designed with healthier living in mind. The premise of the site is simple, it's essentially one big searchable list of organic goods and natural food suppliers based in the UK.
Green-Search - THE Ethical Search Engine - aims to provide you with an invaluable resource for web sites that promote environmentally friendly issues or provide sustainable products. It is about choices - your choice to support ecologically sound companies that care more about our planet than they do profit margins.
All Organic Links directory, a comprehensive, one-stop, listing system for the organic industry. Search the database for specific items or browse the listings categories below for information you may be interested in.
alotofOrganics - Bringing you Organic, Vegetarian, Special Diets, Ethical, and Eco-Friendly Produce
THE NATURAL FOOD HUB: NATURAL FOODS & WHERE TO GET THEM - comprehensive New Zealand-based site.
Birmingham Freecycle The Birmingham, England Freecycle Network is open to all who want to "recycle" that special something rather than throw it away. Whether it's a chair, a fax machine, piano or an old door, feel free to post it. Or maybe you're looking to acquire something yourself! Nonprofit groups are also welcome to participate too! One constraint: everything posted must be free. This network is brought to you by The Freecycle Network, a nonprofit organization and a movement of people interested in keeping good stuff out of landfills. Check out freecycle.org for other cities and info on the movement! E-mail birmingham_freecycle-owner@yahoogroups.com for questions or improvement ideas!
Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, promote equity and enrich society and culture.
Elm Farm Research Centre - Sound, independent information, advice, news and comment on organic farming, food and associated issues.
The Soil Association: large, informative site with many links and resources
Henry Doubleday Research Association: Europe's premier organic gardening organisation. Researching and demontrating environmentally safe growing te chniques. Large and informative site on all aspects of organic growing.
Pesticide Action Network UK: Increasing the sustainable and ecological alternatives to chemical pest control. We work with government regulators, policy makers, farmers, NGOs, development and environment organisations, trade unions, consumers, journalists and the public.
Primal Seeds exists as a network to actively engage in protecting biodiversity and creating local food security. It is a response to industrial biopiracy, control of the global seed supply and of our food. This evolving tool is designed to empower individuals to participate in the creation of tomorrow.
Greenpeace Website contains information and updates on the threat of genetic food engineering, as well as other environmental topics.
The Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association (BDA), a non-profit organization open to the public, was formed in the U.S. in 1938 in order to foster, guide, and safeguard the Biodynamic method of agriculture. Biodynamics is a science of life-forces, a recognition of the basic principles at work in nature, and an approach to agriculture which takes these principles into account to bring about balance and healing.
The Vegetarian Society is working towards its vision of.. 'a future where the vegetarian diet is acknowledged as the norm..'
www.vegan.com: vegan news and views.
Genetic Engineering - Paradise on Earth or a Descent into Hell? Long, very detailed argument by Keith Parkins, with excellent links and extensive references:
"Any human endeavour involves risks, there is then a trade-off against benefits. The acceptable level of risk is a political decision, once the risk has been assessed. With genetic engineering the risks are unquantifiable due to the degree of unknowns. For the population at large there are no benefits, nor is there a demand to be satisfied. There are no environmental benefits. That is not to say there are no benefits. The biotech companies hope to make a big killing. It may be a bigger killing than they anticipated. The big question is who benefits: the consumer, the environment or industry?"
Organic Consumers Association: Campaigning for Food Safety, Organic Agriculture, Fair Trade & Sustainability. US website.
World Wildlife Fund European Policy Office: Domestic European environmental laws and the other major EU policy areas like agriculture and fisheries are now all covered by an over-arching legal obligation in the new Treaty of Amsterdam. This states that environmental protection must be integrated into the definition and implementation of the Community's policies with a view to promoting sustainable development. Bringing this about is WWF's work in Europe. Join us in making it happen.
wholehealthmd.com Foods Index A useful reference tool for almost any vegetable enquiry: just remember it is US-based, so swede=rutabaga, courgette=zucchini, aubergine=eggplant, spring onions=scallions!
Welcome to Greencuisine.org: This website is based on organic nutrition and has evolved from the inspired teaching of chef and nutritionist Daphne Lambert at Penrhos Court in Herefordshire. Books, recipes, articles, cookery courses and events.
The Vegan Chef: Eating a vegan diet doesn't have to be boring. In fact, there is no reason why it shouldn't be the most exciting way to eat. Fresh whole foods, organically grown and naturally prepared, are among nature's most precious gifts. This website will be devoted to this wonderful way of eating, with recipes created from a vegan chef's perspective.
Vegetable Patch Recipes - over 50,000 recipes and growing!
www.organicfood.co.uk: UK information and organic lifestyle website. Includes news and views, organic lifestyle information, trade and consumer chatzones, herb directory, organic product reviews, recipes, celebrity interviews and much more.
Welfed is a recipe-based local site, giving weekly nutrition and recipe advice.
The Vegetarian Resource Group has vegetarian and vegan recipes, vegetarian and vegan nutrition information, vegetarian and vegan cookbooks, Vegetarian Journal excerpts, vegetarian travel information, vegetarian and vegan brochures.
www.vegetarianrecipe.com: Your home for great vegetarian recipes, meal ideas and cooking advice.
Antony Worrall Thompson has his online home here.
Honesty Cosmetics: cruelty-free products suitable for vegetarians and vegans.
Whole Earth Foods have been producing organic food since 1967. We are committed to creating safe, nutritious and delicious choices for people who care about food and the environment. All our products are certified by the Soil Association.
Green People: Keep yourself up to date with the organic community through this UK information/products/lifestyle site.
Birmingham Freecycle The Birmingham, England Freecycle Network is open to all who want to "recycle" that special something rather than throw it away. Whether it's a chair, a fax machine, piano or an old door, feel free to post it. Or maybe you're looking to acquire something yourself! Nonprofit groups are also welcome to participate too! One constraint: everything posted must be free. This network is brought to you by The Freecycle Network, a nonprofit organization and a movement of people interested in keeping good stuff out of landfills. Check out freecycle.org for other cities and info on the movement! E-mail birmingham_freecycle-owner@yahoogroups.com for questions or improvement ideas!
Ryton Organic Gardens: Ryton Organic Gardens is an internationally famous tourist attraction as well as being the site of HDRA's headquarters. Ten acres of display gardens are managed entirely organically and all aspects of domestic horticulture are on show.
WellCat is an animal charity based in Birmingham dedicated to caring for and re-homing cats in and around Birmingham and the West Midlands.
Warley Woods Community Trust is dedicated to the restoration and renewal of a local parkland area, originally landscaped in the 18th century by Sir Humphrey Repton. Membership is open to anyone with an interest in the park and its history.
144pp - £10.99 : Mitchell Beazley 2001 : ISBN ~ 1 84000 427 4
"The delicate physiology of babies and toddlers makes them susceptible to potentially harmful substances in food. Their immature immune and central nervous systems leave them particularly vulnerable to damage from additives, pesticides, and other chemical residues commonly found in non-organic food. Research has shown that babies and toddlers have a greater exposure to these substances than adults. This is because, proportionally, they eat larger quantities of a smaller range of foods which, if non-organic, tend to have the highest residue levels, such as apples and milk. Buying organic for babies is easy because they eat such a limited selection of foods! As well as reaping the benefits of a nutritionally-balanced diet, your child's health will benefit from the quality of the ingredients that you buy. Choosing organic will not only protect your baby from potentially harmful residues, but it will also help to establish good health for life."
Amanda Grant is a mother and highly-regarded food writer. She is resident food expert for Prima Baby and had her first baby, Ella, two years ago. She was expecting her second child when writing this book. She has been Food Editor for the Sunday Mirror Magazine, Woman's Journal, Cosmopolitan and Having A Baby; she has written several books, including The Powerfood Cookbook, Lunchbox and Eating For Two, and appears regularly on telvision and radio.
A comprehensive and beautifully laid out guide to the benefits of an organic diet for you and your baby. The initial chapters are on baby nutrition (including vegetarian and vegan options) and buying, storing and preparing organic foods; there are four chapters of recipes for different age groups - 4-8 months, 8-12 months, 1-2 years and 2-3 years - and a concluding reference section on foods to avoid, seasonal foods, and the benefits of organic eating. There are more than 100 quick and easy recipes, from purees to toddler suppers, all set out in a clear and accessible style.
How to plan, conceive and raise the healthiest infant of the new Millennium. This popular guide for parents, published by Green Books in October 2001, features over 600 useful organic and environmentally-friendly products and sources for both parents and babies - from organic reusable nappies and babywear to food supplements, bedding, toiletries, books, magazines, restaurants and outings. Experts recommending that parents go organic for a healthy baby in the book include Leslie Kenton, Patrick Holford, Dr Sarah Brewer, Maryon Stewart and Dr Marilyn Glenville.Twenty good reasons to go organic are featured, along with preconception programmes, a rough guide to organic parenthood and organic food, health and nutrition tips. The book costs £7.95 and can be ordered online at www.theorganicbabybook.co.uk or from Green Books at 01803 863 260.
Grass is unique among the world's plants, not only in its adaptability, but in the power of its elaborate root system to enrich soil with humus. The method of land management that turns this to advantage is mixed arable and livestock farming, using crop rotation to restore fertility to soil exhausted by food production: traditionl mixed farming of this kind is now virtually obsolete in Britain, since farm subsidies encourage farmers to rely instead on chemical fertilisers. The resulting high levels of artificial nitrogen make cereal crops susceptible to diseases, requiring further chemical treatment: soil structure is damaged, destroying wildlife from micro-organisms up to earthworms, insects, songbirds, small mammals, kestrels and barn owls.
Graham Harvey shows how modern British agriculture is little more than an elaborate means of transferring money from the taxpayer to the pockets of the agro-chemical industry, laying waste the countryside in the process: he sets out the history of the North American prairies as a grim warning, where it took only three generations to turn a rich and delicate ecosystem into the wind-blown 'dustbowls' of the 1930s. Now the loss of grassland can be seen to contribute to the greenhouse effect: grasslands take carbon from the atmosphere and lock it safely in the soil. They do this more effectively than tropical rain forests, and Harvey argues that a return to grass-based husbandry would crucially alleviate global warming.
Organic Central delivers fresh Organic vegetables, fruit, and eggs weekly to your home in the Birmingham area.