A Brief History of Homeland Organic Market
Homeland Organic Market's Founder & Owner Mark Patro
Mark’s attraction to natural food started in the late 1970’s with lunchtime visits to a Natural Food store in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. That store has since gone out of business, but its taste has lingered on. The fabulous “Earth Sandwich” which was essentially Havarti dill cheese with, alfalfa sprouts, lettuce, tomato and a non-egg mayonnaise on whole wheat bread. It was a staple of the deli there on Charles Street. I do not recall anyone’s name who worked there, but I do recall the spirited young woman who was deli counter chef. She introduced me to many things that other folks I interacted with thought of as “grass & cardboard” in those days. The “Green Earth” introduced me to many ideas about how to eat and cook food. These ideas have remained with me over the years.
Another of my lasting good habits from those days is the making and drinking of fresh carrot juice. Making and drinking fresh juices of many sorts has become a much wider practice in natural food circles these days. I bought myself a home juicer about fifteen years ago when Jack LaLane was selling his Power Juicer on late night television. As it turned out, I was pining over the closing of my favorite health food store.
Some years later I was diagnosed with elevated blood pressure and paid much closer attention to sodium content in the foods that I consumed. This later led me to thinking about corn syrup content. Using unpeeled fruit in the juicer focused my attention on eating foods that are grown without the application of pesticides. As it turns out this movement away from chemical additives in food lead to a desire to eat unprocessed food. I must admit this is not a complete transformation, but my desire to eat foods which are not processed has drawn me to those with low sodium content. My doctor tells me this change in food habit has contributed to my losing a few pounds which has in turn probably helped in lowering my blood pressure numbers. I am not a medical expert so I cannot tell you what to do in this regard. You should consult your doctor or nutritionist.
So here we are living in a suburb outside of Baltimore now, after many years of urban living, and there are no organic health food stores nearby. So I decided to start this online ecommerce business to help my friends and neighbors have access to natural and organic food products. As our business grows we will be adding new features to our website. We encourage you to shop with us because we are a small independent locally owned business. Our primary goal is to cater to the needs of our customers. Please let us know what your needs are. Thanks for shopping with Homeland Organic. Tell your friends to visit us online at www.HomelandOrganic.com.
Our initial effort in the Natural Foods Market is Homeland Organic Coffee. We are supplying the home coffee roaster with green organic coffee beans, a choice of roasting machines in a variety of prices and, of course, coffee grinders and coffee brewers. We are now selling green and roasted coffee beans at the Owings Mills Farmer's Market on Sundays from late May to late October.