Dec 4, 2008

New Year’s Resolution: Beauty From A Local Harvest

(BRIGHTON, Colorado) — In the United States, the average grocery store’s produce travels nearly 1,500 miles between the farm where it was grown and your refrigerator. Simply put, this is harmful to our health, environment and rural communities. Small and locally owned businesses build a more sustainable and just society. Local products are fresher and healthier and also reduce the carbon footprint due to the minimized transportation needed to get products from the farm to your table.

Buying locally goes beyond purchasing apples, carrots and chicken; it extends to personal skin care as well. Lily Morgan, CEO of Lily Organics, understands the importance of supporting local businesses. She has spent nearly 30 years in research and development, in the lab, at the library, on the farm and traveling to over 80 countries studying plants and products to craft the most holistic and therapeutic line of skin care products in the world. She produces her handcrafted skin care from her certified organic farm located in Brighton, Colorado. She considers her product to be at peak freshness as it is made fresh weekly with no synthetic chemicals and leaves virtually no carbon footprint.

So what does buying locally made skin care and produce mean for our local communities… more than you expect…

Benefits to your Health: buying locally means you are getting produce and products at their prime. They have not been sitting on the shelf in a truck for up to seven days but rather can offer you the most nutrients needed in a healthy diet. Lily Organics skin care is made weekly on her organic farm and mailed directly to you or can be bought in local health food stores. Besides you wouldn’t pick an orange fresh from a tree and then let it sit for weeks would you?

Benefits to our Earth: While produce is sitting in trucks undergoing extensive processing it also uses a tremendous amount of fuel to get where it needs to go. This equates to 100 times the amount of travel compared to produce bought locally. In other words, that is ten percent of the energy used annually in the United States. Also the packaging used to keep things fresh, usually plastic or paper, soon becomes waste as it is difficult to reuse or recycle. To reduce any carbon footprint, Lily Organics uses glass bottles with no other unnecessary packaging.

Benefits to our Economy: Money spent locally stays in the community which boosts the local economy and keeps it out of the hands of larger corporations. In your conventional supermarket only 20 cents goes to the grower, giving the other 80 cents to the middleman. Buying directly from the farmer switches the figure allowing the farmer to retain 80 cents.

Beyond these benefits, buying locally today will greatly improve our communities for tomorrow. Future generations will have access to nourishing and abundant food while sustaining an eco-friendly and financially prosperous society.

This does not mean drastically changing your life… it can be as simple as deciding to buy organic and locally made skin care. What better time to make a change than the start of this new year. Lily combines the desire to be beautiful, eco-friendly and green with traditional techniques of organic growing. Each product honors ancient farming methods to create her exquisite skin care line. Just remember that every time you go out to eat, buy produce or shop for a new lotion you have the choice to eat at a locally owned restaurant, buy from a farmers market or support a company in your town. It is never too early or too late to make your New Year’s resolution. See how creative you can get to better your health, economy and community – the natural way.

Lily Morgan is the author of Beauty, Health and Happiness – A Way of Life. She is the founder and formulator of Lily Organics, an organic, fresh and chemical free skin care line of facial care products. For more information please visit www.lilyorganics.com.