ORGANIC MEALS ON WHEELS
Thursday, February 7
Organic food has become quite the trend in recent years, and with sustainability and the environment on everybody's minds, it seems the trend is here to stay. Although high prices and a lack of variety at the grocery store hinder many from actually trying synthetic-free food, there are companies out there willing to help.

Garden On Wheels is a local, family owned business looking to help open the world of organic food to the people of Bloomington-Normal. Created and run by the Abraham family, the company is serious about their work.

"We're not a hippy dippy company. We're the real thing," Clark Abraham, family patriarch, said. "We talk the talk, you know, but we're also walking the walk."

Abraham, a former employee for Greenpeace, believes in what he does and works hard for it. The everyday stresses a small business owner often feels can be multiplied in a market as new as organic food. Abraham handles these pressures with grace, and seems to accept it with open arms.

"I come from a long line of self employed people. My dad used to sing 'I Did it My Way' all the time and it stuck with me," Abraham said. "I go to bed with my job and I wake up with my job."

The Abraham family originally founded Garden On Wheels as a co-op with other local farmers. Soon enough the business became successful enough to buy its food from both local and regional farms, including Wettstein Farm, a local organic farm specializing in beef, pork, poultry and eggs.

"We should do whatever it takes to get organic meat and produce to the people," Denny Wettstein, head farmer for Wettstein Farm, said.

With the help of so many different farms and the company's on demand business model, Garden On Wheels delivers organic food fresher than most grocery stores ever could.

The company receives all of its food early in the morning every Tuesday and delivers the packages by Tuesday afternoon.

"[Grocery stores] just don't carry that much and their stuff can't stay on the shelf that long, so they end up losing," Abraham said. "We're the freshest, unless you get lucky and go to the grocery store the day it's delivered."

One can purchase three different sized packages from the Abrahams, each with a large variety ranging from romaine lettuce to mangos.

As for the cheap college students wondering why they should even bother with organic, the Abrahams take pride not only in the fact that they are fresher than retail stores, but cheaper as well. Small orders cost $20, medium orders $27, and large orders $42.

"We have a number of students that we deliver to already," Abraham said, "We'll even deliver to your dorm."

Abraham said he is genuinely happy to deliver to students, as he knows students are the future and fate to make our country more sustainable. With the recent wave of young people registering to vote for the upcoming elections, Abraham said he has faith.

"I think [the young] generation is doing a great job. There is a lot more awareness," Abraham said. "It's great to see, especially since you guys are the ones who will be in the middle [of the sustainability movement], you guys are going to be stuck with the bill."

Abraham and his family take great pride with the timeliness and quality of their business. With a number of delivery people every week, the operation requires great focus and determination. The Bloomington-Normal area is a big place and with a steadily growing customer base, it seems hard work is paying off.

With hopes of one day expanding to Peoria and even creating an online organic grocery store, Abraham and his family hope to bring their on demand business model to more people in an even easier fashion.

With the labor Abraham and his employees pour into the business, it seems these dreams should be attainable.

For Clark Abraham, being able to feed his own children healthy food is one of the best perks from the success of Garden On Wheels.

"I can bring home the good stuff to feed my family. Plus it's also good work. I get a great workout doing this job," Abraham said.

Thanks to hard working people like the Abraham family and their employees, more than just the customers are benefiting. A successful business in the organic industry breeds success for everyone else in the market, customers and business owners alike, according to Wettstein.

"To get a strong customer base helps out all organic farmers," Wettstein said.

People like the Wettstein and Abraham family are making that effort easier for those who feel too busy to contribute to the green movement. With hopes of businesses like Garden On Wheels sparking awareness and action, many see a change on the horizon.

As Aldo Leopold, the father of American wildlife conservation, said, "We shall never achieve harmony with land, any more than we shall achieve absolute justice or liberty for people. In these higher aspirations the important thing is not to achieve, but to strive."

For more information about Garden On Wheels and the importance of organic foods, check out gardenonwheels.com.

By Joe Dutra

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