I have recently become US Representative for the well-respected organic and fair trade certifier, called IMO, and am helping them to set up a US office.  IMO has a social and fair trade program which is really interesting, and is offering certification of Fair Trade for products that never were able to get this certification in the past, and also a certification called Fair Wild which is specifically for wild harvested goods.  This Fair Wild certification is also interesting because it might be viewed as a very pragmatic approach to setting up benefit/share relationships between people who hold traditional knowledge, and the companies that want to commercialize those wonderful products.  Here is a press release we recently sent out:
New Third-Party Fair Trade Certification Available for a Wide-Range of Products

One of the most prominent organic certifiers, The Swiss-based Institute for Marketecology (IMO), is launching a new Fair Trade certification, labeled “Fair for Life”.  Until now, Fair Trade certification has not been available for many types of products.  For the first time IMO’s new fair trade standards makes Fair Trade certification available to many products, thereby opening new market opportunities as consumer awareness and demand for fair trade products is growing quickly.

“Fair trade is behaving similarly to the early movement in organics, and is predicted to grow similarly, as there is no sign of slowing to this consumer demand,” says Kerry Hughes, M.Sc., US IMO Representative, also Founder of EthnoPharm, a natural products consulting company with over a decade of experience. IMO has a strong presence throughout the world, with offices and representatives in about 30 countries, and certification practices in over 90 countries. With a new representative in the US, IMO certification will be more attainable to US companies.

A key attribute to the IMO certification is that, compared to the Fairtrade Labeling Organization (FLO) standards, the only other standards available for Fair Trade certification, IMO Fair Trade will be available for a wide range of materials and products: herbs, foods, spices, botanicals, including multi-ingredient products, wild harvested produce (under the new Fair Wild standard), and non-food products including handicrafts, textiles and toys.   Another key aspect is that the standards were specifically developed to allow any type of smallholder producer organization to be certifiable, including cooperatives and contract production.  Plantations and processors will also be certifiable. Additionally, IMO Fair Trade Certification offers operators incentives for continuous improvement of social and trade conditions beyond minimum requirements. The new certification is built on full transparency; therefore, social performance ratings and fair trade premium use of every certified operation will be published on the new website www.fairforlife.org..

For more information, Kerry Hughes and Florentine Meinshausen from IMO will be conducting a Webinar telegroup, November 20, 2007, at 1 PM PCT, to introduce the IMO Fair for Life certification, and the steps required to becoming certified. To attend the tele-conference, or for more information, email Kerry directly at: Kerry@EthnoPharm.com.

Many of you know that I am a supporter of Projeto Kirimurê, and would like to see more people support it.  It is really creating a nice environment for at-risk youth, while teaching traditional arts, social and environmental responsibility.

Here is some information about a Benefit we are holding on December 1st, Please attend if you can, and if you can not, you can also support by buying seasonal or non-seasonal greeting cards! 

Acclaimed Photographer Best-known for Work with Hip-Hop Artists to Donate Artwork for Socially-Responsible Brazilian Project Focusing on At-Risk Children

Berkeley, CA.—November 22, 2007—In just a few weeks the Capoeira Arts Foundation will open its doors for an elegant and entertaining evening Wine Tasting and Art Showcase Benefit, at 1901 San Pablo Ave, Berkeley, CA, featuring an art show opening by acclaimed photographer Mike Schreiber (www.mikeschreiber.com), tastings of Brazilian wines and cachaça, donated by RioJoes.com, a live capoeira performance (an Afro-Brazilian art form involving dance-like fight and music), live music, and shows.

The world-renowned photographer, Mike Schreiber, has taken special interest in the project, and is donating an entire photojournal exhibit to raise money for this benefit.  Mike Schreiber is best known for his work with hip-hop artists, such as John Legend, Mos Def, Common, Nas, and M.I.A. His work reflects his background in Anthropology, for in addition to providing an aesthetic viewpoint, his photos capture the cultural life of his subjects. To visit a preview of the show, please see www.mikeschreiber.com, and select “Projeto Kirimurê” under Portfolios. There will also be blank greeting cards featuring Mike’s work available by visiting the link below.

The event will benefit Projeto Kirimurê, an after-school program that offers capoeira and music classes, as well as academic support in the areas of literacy and environmental education to at-risk youth in Bahia, Brazil. The program was founded by the Capoeira Arts Foundation’s own Mestre Acordeon, who explained that his purpose in creating such a program was “to give back to the people who gave me capoeira.”

According to Schreiber, “I took special interest in this project when I saw the beauty and importance of this traditional art form in Brazil. I spent over a week at the project and saw first-hand how lives of these children are being enriched through capoeira.”

On December 1st the evening’s event will begin at 8 o’clock and will end at midnight. Light hors d’oevres will be served and there will be additional drinks available for purchase. Semi-formal attire is requested.

Tickets are available for purchase by calling (510) 666-1255 or by visiting http://www.capoeiraarts.com/caf/events/. Tickets are $65 per person (100% tax deductible).  You may also donate to Projeto Kirimurê by visiting www.projetokirimure.org, or by purchasing seasonal and non-seasonal cards at: http://www.capoeiraarts.com/misc/kirimurecards.htm.

I am turning over a new leaf.. trying to send more posts. I have several articles that are appearing in magazines (such as the Nov/Dec Issue of Spirituality & Health) in the next couple of months in response to my book, The Incense Bible, so I would like to talk a bit about how to burn Authentic raw incense. This is the difficult part of using raw incense, and is definitely why incense sticks and cones are more popular (because of their convenience). If you would like to know more about what is real raw incense, please visit: www.organo-leptic.com or check out The Incense Bible. But in short, it is the actual resins, leaves, bark or other plant parts themselves, that are dried and burned directly, without synthetic additives, like potassium nitrate (salt peter), or fragrances, synthetic glues, etc. (these things are most commonly found in incense sticks). So, once you find some nice incense resins you would like to burn, how do you burn them? That is what I would like to talk about here. To simply, the options you might choose are as follows:

1- Charcoal.
Charcoal for incense burning comes in different qualities and from different sources. Organo-Leptic.com (my incense store) offers two types. Both kinds are used the same way. The first is larger than the other, and may be easier to hold while lighting. Either type of charcoal should be held with tweezers on one end while lighting, as they get hot quickly! Hold a flame up to the other end of the charcoal until you see a glowing red in the charcoal. Make sure to place the charcoal on a fire-proof surface, as it will get quite hot and may start a fire if you place on wood. Once your charcoal is lit, you may then begin dropping pinches of loose incense (whether resins, bark or leaves) onto the charcoal, and enjoy the smoldering scents.

*Swiftlight Charcoal. This type of charocoal is more common and also more “crude”. You may notice a slight charcoal odor when burning.

*Bamboo charcoals. These are made specifically for incense burning, and are cleaner and more natural. They are also smaller, and more appropriate for small spaces.

2- An “Incense Stove”.
Soon, Organo-Leptic.com will be offering its exclusive candle-powered incense stove, you may make your own stove, or you may find electric incense stoves available from Shoyeido. These stoves are nice because they produce little to no smoke, and cause the incense to burn very slowly, thus releasing the scents very slowly. Incense stoves are particularly good if you are studying scents or if you have asthma or extreme sensitivity to smoke.

3- Other Ideas.
Natural Incense may be burned using other methods. One of my favorites is on a hot rock. If you are sitting around a campfire, a rock that is warmed in the fire may act as a little incense stove on which to burn incense. Do this at your own risk, though, as some rocks explode when placed in fire due to their content of water.

Enjoy experiencing real raw incense in a new way, and please let us know your experiences first hand.

All the Best,

Kerry

I have created this blog as a place for me to post some of my meandering thoughts on medicinal, aromatic and healing plants, as well as reflecting on the relationships between plants and people I encounter around the world.

As I have just launched the Organo-Leptic.com website and I am anticipating on talking more in the press about both raw incense and raw chocolates (as featured in the website and my new book, The Incense Bible), I wanted to start the blog off with some suggestions on recipes for raw chocolates. You can enjoy raw chocolate bars by buying them from the Organo-leptic.com website, but if you happen to want to make your own raw chocolate confections from raw cocoa nibs (these are different than regular cocoa nibs), then you might try the recipes below. These were shared with permission from Ben Kamm of Sacred Succulents. Enjoy!

In Health,
Kerry

Raw fudge recipe:
1.5 cups nibs
1/3 cup raw coconut oil
1/8+ cup honey

Warm coconut oil until liquid and mix this thoroughly with nibs and honey. Place in fridge for 1 hr to resolidify, then run mixture through a Greenstar, Champion, or similar juicer with the blank plate in place. If it doesn’t get too runny, you can run it through twice to make it extra smooth. Then spread on wax paper in a shallow dish, and refrigerate for an hour or two to re-harden. Cut to desired size and enjoy. Vanilla or small amounts of medicinal herb powders can be added for something extra.

Another nameless energizing creation:
1 cup almond, peanut, or some other nut butter
1/3 cup nibs
1/8 cup Lycium fruit
1/8+ cup honey
4 Tbsp hulled hemp seed
2 Tbsp chia seed
2-4 Tbsp maca root or mesquite meal powder

Mix thoroughly in a bowl, shape into balls or squares, and dust lightly with maca/ mesquite powder if still sticky.