Growing Organic Children
Richard Spiegel and the team at Volcano Island Honey Company have been practicing and promoting sustainable business and sustainable agriculture for 30 years. VIHC has attracted international attention for its exquisite, artisan honey and innovative business practices. But perhaps Richard’s most influential work was done quietly at home, in the garden. The world’s most important and unrecognized job- raising children!
Following in the organic family footsteps, Richard’s daughter Shaina had a career at QAI (Quality Assurance International), one of the world’s largest organic certifiers. When Shaina left QAI to focus on raising her children, she continued to weave her belief in organic agriculture into her home life. Shaina’s homestead, in a small country town north of Escondido, California, has a sizable organic garden, chickens, avocado, fruit and nut trees.
This blog post was inspired by some pictures (above) that Shaina recently sent to Richard of grandchildren Hayden, Sierra and Leila Jane, on harvest day at their homestead. All three helped harvest, prepare, cook and then enjoyed eating a delicious meal from their garden.
Known as “the plant lady,” Shaina has been instrumental in getting a school garden program off the ground (or into the ground as the case may be!) at her son Hayden’s school. Richard loves seeing the positive influence of a healthy, natural lifestyle on his grandchildren and the other children that Shaina works with.
“My daughter Shaina grew up around the organic honey business and in our organic garden in Hawaii. Shaina and her children are proof that we can change the world and influence many suceeding generations by living what we believe,” says Richard. “What a great legacy.”
In addition to nurturing our own children, Volcano Island Honey Company hosts lot of school groups at the farm. Over the years, hundreds of school children have learned about the bees and enjoyed taking home their own little jars of honey with spoons.
How sweet is that?
Posted by Andrea Dean
Tags: Certified organic honey, Honey, Honey Farm, Honey White, organic children, Organic Honey, Raw Organic Honey, richard spiegel, volcano island honey company
