Bicentennial Company Wishes You a Happy and Safe July 4th!
July 4th in 1976 was the celebration of America’s Bicentennial. On that 200th birthday, our country had just been though the longest war in our history. Many of us had become disillusioned and cynical about the free enterprise system.
Against this backdrop more than 100 people joined together in 1976 to build a new kind of company. Their company would "give the common man a chance." None of them were wealthy. The average investment was $200. They took a gamble by investing in an idea that promised to put care of the planet above profits.
To reflect their belief in this concept, the shareholders selected the Pine tree as their logo. That's because the Pine tree is a international symbol of the peace found in nature.
Bicentennial Goals Continue
The founders envisioned buying farms and converting them to organic using profits from selling Pines Wheat Grass and other green superfoods. It was win-win. The company would convert land to organic while increasing health for the people. Pines Wheat Grass offered an easy and low cost way for people to increase their daily servings of dark green leafy veggies. After more than 40 years, we remain proud that our profits have gone to support that goal and that thousands of people have improved their health with all our green superfoods.
During our first year in 1977. after the harvest of our first twenty acres, Pines launched Pines Wheat Grass. The two-co-founders, Steve Malone and Ron Seibold, walked into more than 2,000 health food stores in 35 States. They wanted to educate the natural food marketplace about the high nutritional value of wheatgrass. The two men didn’t know at the time that they were starting what would become a green superfood segment that now is a major category in natural food stores.
41 Years after the Bicentennial, our Message is Mainstream
Although they only made small investment, the stockholders of Pines are proud that their message of “eat more green” is now mainstream. As a part of Pines efforts, healthy people and those trying to return to good health now know the they need more dark green veggies. Although many of Pines’ users prefer tablets or capsules, others mix the powders with juice or smoothies and other recipes. Others simply mix stevia-sweetened Mighty Greens with water for a clean and tasty drink..
Veggie Nutrition with Powder, Tablets or Capsules
Our bicentennial message was reinforced by the Centers for Disease Control. Their studies showed that 9 out 10 Americans don’t eat enough chlorophyll-rich wholefood vegetables. Pines Wheat Grass and our other original green superfoods make it easy to increase the greens in your diet. The USDA Food Plate says we should be eating more vegetables than any other kind of food.
Standards from the Father of Wheatgrass
Pines was the first green superfood company in the health food market. After more than 40 years, we are still the only grower of wheatgrass to follow scientific standards. Charles Schnabel, the Father of Wheatgrass, outlined them in 1937.
Unlike other growers, we follow Schnabel's growing and harvesting standards. We are also the only green super food grower to follow his packaging standards. As a result, the vegetable nutrition in Pines products provides more nutrition than other products.
Oxygen Removed from Each Bottle to Retain Freshness
During most of the past 80 years, brands of green veggie powders used earth-friendly amber glass bottles with special metal caps. This packaging allowed companies to remove the oxygen and tightly seal the bottle. Oxygen causes loss of green nutrition and color. Pines is the only company that still uses oxygen-free glass bottles.
In recent years, in order to increase profits, most companies now package in plastic containers or paper packets. You can see the obvious effect of oxidation in the above picture. Worse than the loss of value by oxidation, plastic is not earth friendly and is made with fossil fuel, which is toxic to life.
No Irrigation on Our Farms - Natural Rainfall
Pines is also the only whole food wheatgrass, barley grass and alfalfa grower in Kansas that does not use ground water for irrigation. Instead, we grow in appropriate climates for those crops. Our farms in the Northeast corner of Kansas receive plenty of natural rainfall. Thus, we never need irrigation. Moreover, Pines strongly opposes the abuse of the once-pristine fossil water of the Ogallala aquifer in dry areas in Kansas. That water was always very limited. Farmers grow crops there that need rain. Because the region is dry, they have to irrigate.
Blind Greed Caused the Depletion and Contamination
The Ogallala took thousands of years to accumulate. Dry land farmers wasted this precious resource to grow animal feed for the confined animal meat industry during the past 70 years. That contributed to massive depletion of the aquifer. Many wells are now dry. Further, the use of pesticides for growing animal feed and GMO corn for ethanol has poisoned the aquifer. These farming abuses caused depletion and contamination of what was once pure and plentiful clean water resource .
Pines is 100% Organic and Does Not Practice Dual Farming
Our bicentennial company owns and uses the only dryer in Kansas built for Certified Organic food. We do not practice dual farming. Farmers who use dual farming grow organic crops part of the year and pesticide-based crops the rest of the year. We oppose dual farming and oppose such farmers receiving organic certification. We believe dual farming to create an "organic sideline" shows a lack of sincerity. Clearly dual farmers do not care about organic farming. They simply profit from the efforts of those who sincerely do care and who are 100% organic.
Unlike other dryers in Kansas, we did not build our dryer for pesticide-based animal feed for the meat industry. Instead, we built our dryer and use it ONLY for organic, Non-GMO Project Verified, Kosher, human food. We have never and will never use our farms and dryer to produce animal feed for confined-animals suffering in crowded pens waiting for slaughter. Because we do not use our farms and facilities to support the industrialized meat industry, we are are uniquely vegan friendly!
Have a Great Holiday!
The people of Pines wish everyone a happy and healthy July Fourth as we celebrate democracy, freedom and liberty. We hope all people will protect their health by eating more green veggies. Please visit our store locator or order online.
