Read the Latest on Parabens and Breast Cancer

We don't know about you, but at Valley Green, we're pretty happy that colder temperatures have finally set in. Cold weather during the winter is a necessary part of having a successful growing season the following spring and summer. (Not to mention we just like to curl up with a good book next to the wood stove!) Of course, during the cold month of January, it's also fun to curl up with your laptop and go shopping!

Have you heard about chemical preservatives, known as "parabens" and how they relate to breast cancer? 

Read the latest from Jill Ettinger's article on OrganicAuthority.com about why it's important to avoid these chemicals that are found in everything from our shampoos and deodorants, to body lotions and foods.

All Valley Green Naturals products are free of parabens, phthalates, sodium laurel/laureth sulfate, formaldehyde, and petrochemicals. Orders are made fresh weekly, and all items are caringly hand-blended, bottled, labeled and shipped on-site at the Valley Green Farm.

Tried, Tested & Tasty!

We discovered these gluten-free tasty morsels over the holidays! Made by "The Cookie Jar," you can find them, along with other natural and organic sweet treats on Abe's Market!

Need Some Serious Comfort Food?

Kick up the heat and try Cindy's Spicy Cheesy Chicken Bake! It's another new post in the Valley Green Kitchen on Just-a-Pinch.com.


'Til next time, all our natural best!

Cindy DeVore &
The Hardworking Team at Valley Green

Visit Valley Green Naturals Now!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

It's a fun and exciting time of the year at the Valley Green farm! This year, we're thanking all of our customers and friends, and wishing you a joyous, peaceful and happy holiday season with a discount-a-day for the 12 days before Christmas!

Check out the daily "News From The Farm" posts on our web site, or subscribe to our newsletter for updates.  

And have a wonderful holiday season!

Cindy DeVore 

and the hard-working Elves at Valley Green Naturals

Thanksgiving Thoughts... A celebration of happiness and hope

Enjoy your holiday feast, knowing you've helped

Now, more than ever, folks need assistance.

There's no kind act too small when it comes to feeding the hungry. With every $1, our regional food bank in the Blue Ridge area can provide 4 meals to feed the hungry. And honestly, you may be surprised by just how many people need help these days. 


Think about the millions who have been unemployed for some time now. Eventually, their benefits run out. And where can they turn to feed their families? Fortunately, people like those at the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank and thousands of other workers and volunteers across the country have made it their priority to take care of others in need. 


Our regional food bank feeds thousands of elderly citizens and families in the Piedmont region, and there are many local and regional organizations across the country doing the same work. Valley Green Naturals donates financial support to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. This holiday season, we're asking others to make a contribution as well - or donate to the local food providers in your area. No amount is too small. 


Remember... Just $1 feeds 4 people. With your help, you'll sit down to your Thanksgiving dinner, knowing that others may celebrate the holiday without hunger.

Help feed those in need

From now, through December 31st of this year, when you purchase Valley Green Naturals Simple! Perfecting Cream or Hydration Plus Facial Therapy, we will donate 20% of proceeds from each sale to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank to help provide meals to those in need.

With every $1 received by the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, they can provide 4 meals to feed the hungry.  Not since the Great Depression have so many been in need of help.

Show your support when you purchase these products from Valley Green Naturals.  Every dollar makes a difference to those in need.

Nanny's Holiday Purple Cabbage

Talk about beautiful and seasonal goodness!

I can't remember a Thanksgiving in my life when our family hasn't prepared my grandmother Nanny's purple cabbage -- or as she used to call it, "red" cabbage.

It must be the German heritage in me that absolutely loves the flavor of this wonderful side dish of the Autumn season. This is an heirloom recipe in our family -- simple to make -- and I hope you enjoy it as much as our family has for generations.

You can find ingredients and directions for this dish in Cindy's Recipe Box on Just-a-Pinch.com!  

Tell us your favorite holiday recipes!

If you're willing to give up a few family secrets, we'd love to post them on our Facebook page, with credit to the creative Chef and originator, of course!

Happy Thanksgiving

As we gather with friends and family this Thanksgiving, we know that we have so much for which to be thankful. Every morning, when we wake up on the Valley Green farm, the beauty that surrounds us is a constant reminder of how bountiful Mother Nature is in meeting our everyday needs.  This holiday season, we are thankful for our health, our happiness, our hopes, and for the many people who have supported our dream to make Valley Green Naturals a reality.  Thank you to all of our lovely customers, whom we also call our friends.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Cindy DeVore & The Hard-working Team at Valley Green



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Crab Cakes, New Gift Set & "Things That Go Bump In The Night!"

Double double, toil & trouble,
Fires burn & caldrons bubble!
See what we're cooking up this month at Valley Green!

Things that go bump in the night...

The Valley Green farm house is 268 years old this Halloween!

This time of year, there's a lot of activity in the old place. Of course, we're busy making products and filling retail orders for the upcoming holidays, but often, there's a different kind of bustle in the air during the harvest season. Doors have blown open, chairs have been moved, TVs have popped on and off, even a rap-rap-rapping at the front door has been heard, yet no one ever is there... at least no one who we can see!

Last year, HGTV's FrontDoor.com included one of the many haunting stories from the Valley Green House in their feature article on "Living With Ghosts." This old house has seen the Colonization of Virginia, the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and quite a bit of amazing history since.

The Valley Green home and hobby farm helped to inspire the name of our company, and we're very pleased to be one of the families in history to occupy this fantastic property... even if we're not the only ones residing here!

New Gift Set for Guys

Coming Soon! Just in time for the holiday shopping season, Valley Green Naturals will be introducing its newest gift line for men. The Hunter's Call Collection will include Valley Green Naturals Organic Shampoo For Men with matching scented Organic Shower Gel. Also included is our new Hunter's Call natural soothing Aftershave. Finishing touches in this masculine box of natural luxury include a wrapped, scented goat's milk soap and two packs of organic tea. All products are scented with our very popular and phthalate-free English Tweed fragrance for men. Look for this product on our web site in the next couple of weeks!

Valley Green's Southern-style Crab Cakes

In case you missed our Facebook post last week, Cindy made her delicious Southern-style Crab Cakes with creole seasoning. A Valley Green cookbook featuring many of our favorite country recipes and tips from the farm is now in the works.  In the meantime, as the recipes are loaded online, you can find them in Cindy's recipe box at JustAPinch.com!  

Love Fresh Eggs?

If you've been thinking about keeping a backyard flock, you'll want to check out the handy references and vendors we've mentioned in our past News From The Farm blog post on the subject. Collect the hatchery catalogs from the companies we've listed, and make plans over the winter to welcome your new feathered friends.  By spring you can be set up and ready to order your baby chicks!  

Join Us!

Saturday, October 22nd, 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. Enjoy free wine tasting, hot apple cider, appetizers and free samples of Valley Green Naturals products! Where? Heritage Cabinet Supply, 59 Culpeper Street, in Old Town Warrenton, Virginia.

Since our start in 2009, we have worked hard to produce unique natural products with the very best quality ingredients for our customers. At Valley Green Naturals, we believe in keeping prices affordable so that more folks can purchase and enjoy natural and organic goods. For those who'd like to get a headstart on holiday shopping, we're offering a 20% discount on all orders placed by October 15th. Just visit the Valley Green Naturals web site, and use Promo Code "HappyFall" in your shopping cart at checkout. 

As always, we appreciate each and every one of you, and we wish you an enjoyable and lovely autumn season!  Happy Fall, Y'all!  

- Cindy DeVore & The Hard-working Team at Valley Green

http://www.valleygreennaturals.com/ 

Ooo-la-la, Onions!

If you had the forethought to plant onions this past spring, you are one of the fortunate folks who has the pleasure of harvesting those beautiful, mature, end-of-summer delights from the garden! Onions are good for you; they store well, and they're a staple ingredient in many fabulous dishes.

But even if you're not pulling onions from the dirt outside your house, there are ample supplies at local farmer's markets and grocery stores. Just look for naturally-grown or USDA organic onions that are herbacide- and pesticide-free. If you are harvesting your own onions from the garden, be sure to let them dry out properly before storing. The National Gardening Association has some great information about harvesting and storing your own onions.

Around this time of year, my family gets a hankering for a dish that, in 18th century France, was considered "food for the poor." Onions are plentiful and easy to grow. It only made sense that the French, who can take just about anything and make it taste wonderful with butter, would fashion a soup that would endure through the ages. Soupe à l'oignon, or French Onion Soup as it has come to be known, can be made with just a few ingredients, or enough to fill an entire recipe card. The secret to the perfect onion soup is how slowly and thoughtfully the onions are cooked. Carmelization -- the slow-cooking of onions in olive oil or butter to draw out the onions' complex sugars -- is an important step. Some recipes call for 30 minutes of cook time; others require hours. Our recipe is a happy medium between those two. And every time we serve this dish at Valley Green, it receives rave reviews.

So without further ado, I hope you'll enjoy this recipe for Valley Green Farm's French Onion Soup!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 stick organic butter
4 lbs organic yellow onions, peeled and sliced
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1 1/2 tsp organic sugar
1 Tbsp flour
2 cups Chardonnay wine
64 oz. organic chicken broth or stock
1 tsp black pepper
1 loaf French bread, sliced into 1/2 inch thick pieces
1/2 stick organic butter
1/4 tsp garlic salt
2 Tbsp Grey Poupon or good Dijon mustard
2 cups Gruyere cheese, shredded

Directions:

1. Melt 1 1/2 sticks of butter in large pot. Add onions and stir to coat well with butter. Cook over medium-low heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until onions begin to soften.

2. Reduce heat to very low. Add 1 cup wine. Stir in thyme. Cover pot and cook onions about 20 minutes, stirring frequently, until they are very soft.

TIP: The key to success with this soup is to cook the onions slowly. Cooking too quickly can cause soup to be bitter. Use very low heat.)

3. Uncover pot and increase heat slightly. Stir in sugar, flour and remaining wine, and cook for 5-10 minutes uncovered. Add chicken broth (or stock) and pepper, and cook for another 5 minutes uncovered. Soup should be bubbling lightly.

4. Reduce heat to low again. Cover pot and let simmer (very low) for 25-30 more minutes. Stir every 5 minutes.

5. Heat oven broiler. Melt 1/2 stick butter in dish in microwave. Add garlic salt to melted butter and mix well. Place French bread slices on cookie sheet and brush the tops of each with your melted garlic butter. Place under broiler for 1 minute or less to toast VERY lightly.

6. Remove your croutes from the oven and brush each piece lightly with Grey Poupon or Dijon mustard. Sprinkle each piece with Gruyere cheese and place under broiler again. (Reserve remaining Gruyere cheese for soup topping.) Toast croutes approximately 1 minute or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Remove croutes from oven and place 2-3 in the bottom of each soup bowl.

7. Ladle French Onion Soup into bowls. Float 3-4 more croutes in each soup, and sprinkle each bowl with a generous amount of Gruyere cheese.

Makes approximately 8 servings.

This soup is wonderful when re-heated! Store your croutes and gruyere cheese separately in the refrigerator. Reheat soup on stove; drop croutes into hot soup and top with gruyere cheese, and you're ready to go!

In the words of Julia Child,

Bon Appetit!

Cindy DeVore
And the hard-working Team at Valley Green

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There's always something special going on at Abe's!

Don't forget to stop by and check out the latest all-natural goods offered by Abe's Market!

From munchies and sauces, to toys and decor, you'll find it at Abe's! Valley Green Naturals is proud to be a part of the fantastic community of eco-savvy, earth-friendly and body-safe product sellers on Abe's Market!

**********************************************************************************

Valley Green Naturals products are now available at Heritage Cabinet Supply!

That's right! Heritage Cabinet Supply in Old Town Warrenton, Virginia sells much more than cabinets!

Virginia locals - stop by and say hi! And check out their new inventory of Valley Green Naturals products. Visit Heritage Cabinet Supply at 59 Culpeper Street, Warrenton, Virginia.



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Keep It Simple - a plan that works

You know those TV commercials with the beautiful models twirling carefree through city streets, seemingly oblivious to everything around them? One image after another of pretty young faces flashes across the TV screen, showing you “visible results.” This is what you’ll look like if you use our product, the images say to our subconscious. And we are transfixed.

Companies that produce those TV commercials are the mega-giants of their industry. Their products are mass produced cheaply and efficiently on a conveyor line. Ingredients in those mass-produced products include things like “dimethicone, octocrylene, ensulizole, and octisalate.”

Chemists who work in product development for these companies would have you believe that each new ingredient is the latest advancement in anti-aging or body-enhancing formulas. Who cares if you can’t pronounce it – it’ll tighten your skin, so try it!

I mean, honestly, a generation ago, we weren’t using all these strange chemicals to make

ourselves look young and pretty. And I can assure you, lovely Cleopatra had only nature’s ingredients at her disposal; yet she managed to leave a beauty legacy that has endured through the centuries.

When I ventured into my mid-forties, I suppose it would have been easy to fall into the trap of seeking out the latest and best facial moisturizers and anti-aging serums. Instead, however, being one who embraces a simpler and less complicated lifestyle, I shunned all chemicals and began studying botanicals and natural oils to learn just what nature has to offer. I’m at a slight advantage over Cleopatra as I have a world of information at my fingertips through the Internet. Nonetheless, my drive and motivation to find the ultimate natural anti-aging ingredients are the same as hers were over 2,000 years ago.

Given all that I have learned about natural ingredients over the past several years, one common belief seems to join all that we work to achieve at Valley Green Naturals: Simple is better.

We like that old saying, “Keep it simple, stupid!” Nothing could be more accurate – not only when it comes to producing high-quality natural products, but also the way in which customers should be treated and business should be handled. I’m an old-school girl, and on the farm we’re an old-school team. That attitude translates into every aspect of what we do at Valley Green Naturals.

Our products are chocked full of the most beneficial botanicals and super-foods for the body that nature can offer.

Does the maker of that commercial-brand facial cleanser actually stand near active bee hives, watching the beekeeper pull the honey that’s used in the product? I don’t think so! But at Valley Green Naturals, we do.

Does the manufacturer of that well-recognized shampoo bother to ensure that there is no carcinogen contamination in the formula before people scrub it into their scalps? Doubtful. But at Valley Green Naturals, no way will you find carcinogens in our products!

And that new facial moisturizer that contains nano-particles to “deeply penetrate skin layers” – does that big company tell consumers that nano-technology is largely untested, and that those chemical ingredients are bound to slip into the bloodstream and vital organs? Ok, you got us again… Of course they won’t tell you if they don’t have to.

And by the way, we don’t use nano-ingredients at Valley Green Naturals because we think they’re unsafe.

Those chemical-laden products and anti-aging formulas you see on TV and in magazines just don’t hold a candle to what nature can offer. Valley Green Naturals product ingredient lists are short and simple. We do things the old-fashioned way, like hand-blending our products, steeping our own botanical oils, and working together as a trusted team to make a difference in the lives of our wonderful customers.

Call us old-fashioned if you’d like; we won’t deny it. “Simple” works. ‘Nuf said.

Have a wonderful day!

Cindy DeVore
And the hard-working Team at Valley Green

Welcome to our Techno-Farm!

It took an official entry into midlife for me to realize that certain benefits really do come with age -- and I'm not referring to my upcoming membership with the AARP (although I've heard they're pretty great). I'm talking about having enough history behind me to truly appreciate where we've been, and how far we have come.

Show of hands... how many of you actually have used a manual typewriter? And I don't mean an IBM Selectric -- I'm talking manual, plink-plonk. At age 6, when I begged my parents for that blue toy typewriter, I'm sure they never imagined that one day their daughter would smoke laptop keyboards at 90 words a minute, blogging about techno advances. And when we all played "Pong" for the first time (remember that?), I certainly never thought about future needs for a playroom that can accommodate actual-size rumbling car racing seats with steering wheel, gear shift, accelerator, break and clutch pedals, and a giant flat screen TV with surround sound. It's like something out of Fahrenheit 451! And don't even get me started on smart phones and texting...

We have all this great technology, with which, thanks to my kids, I've been forced to stay somewhat current. But what have all of these technological advances done to us as people? After all, we really are social animals who need human contact. Don't get me wrong -- I embrace new technology as much as the next person. But I can't be alone in thinking that we are slowly but surely losing touch with each other. When someone writes me a check, I don't even need to drive to the bank anymore to make a deposit. I can scan it, log into my online banking, and proceed with the transaction electronically. And ah! That just gave me more time to accomplish something else in my day, which very likely will involve being online and void of contact with others.

The ever-growing "cold world" we're facing has long been a contributing thrust behind our

business, Valley Green Naturals. We're small... caring... concerned about others and our world... and we like it that way! How many businesses exist today in which you can communicate directly with those who make the product they sell? And how many of the businesses that provide products to meet our daily needs are passionate about what they do?

We love interaction with customers. In fact, we encourage it! This is where technology comes in, in a very positive way to enhance personal contact. Companies that provide a service or product to customers, regardless of what that product or service is, need not only to espouse about themselves, but they need to listen. We genuinely want to know what our customers need and want from us. Fulfilling those needs and making our customers' lives a little better in some way makes all that we do worthwhile. It's energizing to receive messages from folks who have been touched positively by products produced by Valley Green Naturals. Each new day in the company is even better than the last. And there's an old saying: If you love what you do, it isn't work!

While we're on the subject of using technology to reach out in a personal way, there's another company whose goals are like our own in providing good-old homegrown personal service to their customers. Abe's Market is a unique online place for finding all things natural and organic. Toys, munchies, clothes, bags, soaps, shampoos, pet treats, vitamins, home decor... you name it; they've got it! Know what else they've got in this crazy-techno-world? Incredible personalized customer service. Just like with Valley Green Naturals, if you've got a question about a product, you'll get an answer straight from the people who make it. Abe's values each and every one of their customers like they are members of a family. And that's why Valley Green Naturals is pleased to also be a part of the Abe's Market seller community.

So, while the rest of the world goes further into the depths of online solo-ness, rest assured that there still are folks out there who use technology to offer a "visit on the farm" or a real live chat with a baker or toymaker! How cool is that?

We've come a long way, baby!

Cindy DeVore
And the hard-working team at Valley Green


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