July 30, 2010
Eco-friendly living on display at Peter Becker
By David Hare
FRANCONIA — Green is gold at the Peter Becker Community.
On Thursday the continuing-care facility held its first Green Fair for Eco-Friendly Living.
According to Paul Nye, vice president of mission support, the fair is the first of its kind among local senior care facilities.
"I've not seen any neighboring facilities doing this," Nye said.
The event was open to the public as well as residents of the facility. Guest speakers touched on topics such as composting and gardening, energy conservation, and organic foods.
The buffet in the main dining room included such fare as cage-free deviled eggs, grass fed beef sliders, fruit, and Jersey fresh tomato bruschetta.
The same thyme, rosemary, sage, and oregano sprouting outside in the herb garden will later be used by the kitchen staff in preparing dinner, Nye said.
"We do programs like this intentionally to express our appreciation of being part of the community at large," he said.
Among the vendors at the fair, Tatiana Granados, co-founder of Common Market, a wholesale distributor of local food, offered visitors to her table blackberries from Lancaster County.
"There's a rising awareness so you see more people are eating local foods," she said.
Joe McGonigle, owner of Skippack Creek Farm, showed off his chemical-free, naturally grown vegetables, including a basket of heirloom tomatoes as big as softballs.
Or, as he calls them, "mortgage lifters."
"The term comes from the Great Depression," McGonigle said. "Farmers, in order to pay their mortgage, would grow and sell tomatoes like these."
Now that you have your free-range chicken burrito topped with organic salsa made from McGonigle's mortgage lifter tomatoes, what are you going to eat it in?
Karl Allmendinger of Singer Equipment Company has the answer: "environmentally friendly foodservice products."
"See this cup," he said, holding up a 9 oz. clear plastic cup. "It's made from plants. The whole thing."
Corn starch, to be exact, making the cups, as well as the cup holders, napkins, straws and take-out containers, the very definition of biodegradable.
"These are what we call cradle to grave products," Allmendinger said. "They're purchased, used, recycled and put back into the environment."
