greeningof a

County

A coalition of local farms and businesses is

working to make Northern California’s Marin

County the first all-organic county in America.

By Karen Solomon • photography By Jan e. WatSon

Eating organic is beneficial to your own health and the planet’s, which is why one California county just north of San Francisco wants to make it a way of life. Marin Organic, a nonprofit association of more than 40 farmers and organic food producers, as well as more than 50 green-minded restaurants, bed and breakfasts, and other businesses, seeks to make organic food available throughout Marin County, from its farms to its schools, hospitals, prisons, and homes.

Along with that comes Marin Organic’s ambition to address environmental, economic, social, cultural, and political challenges and to foster sustainability. Helge Hellberg, executive director of the organization, explains, “A farm goes beyond just food producing in bringing all of these factors together.” To Helberg, supporting organic means promoting eco-literacy so that people can understand their relationship to the soil.