Autumn!

by cary, September 18, 2009 | Permalink

Every season in North Carolina provides different opportunities for embracing all that our area has to offer. The season of autumn in particular has distinct flavors (and colors) that we can all appreciate.
 
Join us this Friday from 4-7 p.m. as we kick off this season with our Fall Apple Fest and Local Celebration. We will be hosting several local producers and sampling this year’s crop of local apples and some of the endless ways in which to enjoy them. Local farmer Mike Slaton will be providing some excellent music for the night and copies of the Feed the Farm: Homegrown Music for the Soil will also be available for sale. Mike is one of many artists who offered his music for the benefit CD that raises money to help North Carolina farmers in crisis.
 
Fall crops are filling our shelves these days! From the big and bountiful local mums that greet you in front of the store and throughout our produce department, you will find the freshest arrivals that will remind you how lucky we are to live in this area. Check out the local apple cider from Hendersonville (on sale for 2 intensely satisfying half gallons for $5) or the local Gala apples from Taylorsville, NC (only $1.79 a pound). You can also check out several regional varieties of apples from Georgia (including Jonagold, Granny Smith, and Red Delicious) to satisfy all your apple needs. With the sun going down just a little earlier every night, you might find yourself in the kitchen a little earlier with just enough time to make some homemade applesauce. Aah, the taste of fall!
 
Another wonderful annual tradition for this time of year is the Carolina Farm Stewardship (CFSA) Farm Tour which is happening this weekend. This popular event is the perfect way for you and your family to experience a local farm, meet local farmers, and get a first-hand look at what is growing out in the fields right now. You can visit farms that produce all sorts of local treasures such as flowers, wool, vegetables, herbs, cattle, trees, pigs, fruit, mushrooms, cotton, eggs, soap, and bees! There are 20 farms on the tour and you can pick and choose which farms you want to visit. You can pick up your button (which allows you to visit as many farms as you would like both Saturday and Sunday) at all local Whole Foods Markets, at any of the farms on the tour, or through the CFSA website.  New farms are added every year making this a tradition for many local families and individuals who take this opportunity to get out and see where it all happens! We promise that you will leave the tour inspired by all the local love and dedication that is happening all around us and eager to stay connected.

Fall Means Tailgating!

by cary, September 13, 2009 | Permalink

We have been treated to a few nice cool days this week and it is hard to not start to happily anticipate the colorful days of autumn that lie just ahead. The long sunny days of backyard barbeques and pool parties may be over for another year, but we have so much to look forward to in the season that lies before us.
 
One of the most anticipated events of the fall season is the return of football! Whether you celebrate at home or bring the fun to the tailgate, this is a great opportunity to enjoy some traditional football fare. We have everything you need to create a tasty and memorable experience for you and all your pigskin loving friends. Every team in the store is focused on helping you get the best seasonal favorites and you will find easy suggestions everywhere to help create the event that you’ve been looking forward to since the playoffs last year. Be sure to take advantage of our Prepared Foods Team where the shelves stocked with their ready-to-go picks so you can focus on the game. Their classic potato salad and home-style coleslaw are also on sale this week!  Look for our Win a Tailgating Party display and enter for a chance to win all the food for a Tailgate Party plus a $100 Whole Foods Market Gift Card.  This contest will run through the end of September.

 Another important day that is quickly approaching is the holiday of Rosh Hashanah. We will be having an apple and honey tasting next Wednesday, September 16, to sample a variety of fall harvest apples and local honey. As Rosh Hashanah celebrates and welcomes the Jewish New Year, it is a popular tradition to celebrate with apples dipped in honey symbolizing the desire for a sweet New Year. Come join us for this tasting next Wednesday from 11 am to 3 pm.
 
Still holding on to the long days of summer? You can still find colorful heirloom tomatoes that are just screaming summertime on sale in Produce right now. These luscious and beautiful tomatoes will only be around for a few more weeks- pick up a few while you still can.  

New Premium Body Care!

by cary, September 2, 2009 | Permalink

Anyone that has tried our 365 Everyday Value line of products knows that they are the real deal: premium products and a not-so-premium price. You’ll find everything you want behind this product, and nothing that you don’t want- like hydrogenated oils, artificial colors or sweeteners, preservatives and more.
 
The same holds true for our body care items. Since we have quality standards for all the 365 Everyday Value food items that we carry, we also have Premium Body Care Quality Standards which set some body care items above the rest. Our experts spent years taking our quality standards even further and developing new standards to which a product could be evaluated that truly brings it to new heights. These are standards that matter most to us and we are proud to be able to offer them to you. As we learn more about the highest safety and most responsible sources of these products, we keep setting the bar higher.
 
The qualities that a product must meet to be considered a Premium Body Care item are results (we need effective products that offer the most benefits), the source (keeping the ingredient as close to its natural state as possible), environmental impact (choosing the most responsible source for the ingredient and ensuring that its manufacturing and eventual trip down the drain will have little impact on the environment), and safety (making sure that every ingredient is safe for use on the body). There are over 300 ingredients that we won’t allow in these products that are contained in many conventional body care items!
 
You will find many item that fit this strict criteria labeled with the Premium Body Care symbol in our Whole Body department and new items are being added all the time! One of the most exciting is the new 365 Everyday Value Body Care line! You may be familiar with the line of shampoos, conditioners, lotions, and shower gels that have been a staple on our shelves for several years. They have always been affordable and effective- and they smell great too! Our Whole Body experts recently made the commitment to hold our brand to the highest possible standard and they reformulated the 365 Everyday Value body care product line so that it now meets all the criteria to be labeled Premium Body Care. The best part of this reformulation? The price remains the same! The big 32 ounce bottles are only $4.99, and the 16 ounce bottles are only $2.99. You will still find your favorite smells- lavender, herbal mint, grapefruit, and unscented- but they are richer than you might remember the previous line.
 
You’ll find these new items (and so much more) in our newly remodeled Whole Body department in the center of our store! We’ve made it easier to find what you need and, as always, can help you find anything you are looking for. Just ask!   Also, stay tuned for details of our Healthy Living Fair on October 17^th.  We want to celebrate our new look with a Whole Body party- details forthcoming on our store calendar.