Sustainable snacking
Nell Newman’s line of organic goodies supports smart growing practices and
gives back to good causes. By laura Svienty

nell ne Wman’s interest in organics began early. While growing
up as a bird-lover in Connecticut, she found out that the peregrine
falcon was almost extinct because of DDT. That realization helped
shape her outlook toward pesticides. As an adult, she worked
for two summers at falcon release sites, and

later spent some four years raising funds for the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group in California.

“Running a release site gets pretty crazy. You go live in the woods for six weeks to two months,” Newman explains. “You do dawn-till-dusk observations, switching off with one other person. I remember one where I’d hike to my car every couple of days—a 7-mile round trip. My mother [award-winning actress Joanne Woodward] was a little nervous, so she brought me a schnauzer named Spanky for protection. I’d bring back food: frozen chickens for the falcons.

I’ve never been so fit in my life.”

Nell Newman and flock in her Santa Cruz backyard. Opposite page: Nell and her famous father re-interpret Grant Wood’s American Gothic for the Newman’s Own Organics label.

Winning dad over But as soon as there were more breeding pairs and the peregrine’s status “improved,” the research funds dried up. It was a brutal blow, but rather than throw her hands up in the air, Newman used