What's that green stuff in my muesli?

Here's a question we get every so often: "What's wrong with my muesli? The oats look moldy." Don't panic. It's not mold. In fact, it's not even the oats! One of the grains we use in our Swiss Mueslis - organic and conventional - is rye. Rye can range in color from brown to blue-ish to downright green! There's nothing wrong with it. In fact, we think it adds interesting color to the mix. We just got in a new shipment of organic rye and Jill, our Production Manager, let us know that it had a particularly green color, so we might want to brace ourselves for the inevitable calls. So, call if you wish. We love to talk to you. But, don't worry about the green in the muesli. It's just the rye.

Welcome to the Wildtime Foods blog

Welcome to the Wildtime Foods blog. 

We are a small, artisan food processor located in Eugene, Oregon. We make granolas, mueslis, porridges (oatmeals) and trail mixes and distribute them to natural food stores and co-ops throughout the country. As a very small business (16 employees) that does everything by hand, we have our share of challenges. Getting the ingredients to make our products is the first challenge we face every day. Once we climb that hill, next we have to sell the products. We do it the hard way, calling one store at a time, building relationships, convincing buyers that we have a unique product that they can sell profitably in their store. 

Competing in a world of factory food - and even most organic food is factory food - is a huge challenge. We can't compete on price. We can't entice stores to carry our stuff by heavily discounting it. We can't afford a huge advertising budget to create pull for the stores. Heck, we can't afford a small advertising budget. But, with all the things we can't do, there are things we can do and we do them well.

We always answer the phone during business hours (8:30 am to 4:00 pm, Pacific Time). We know our customers by name, not number. We deliver products that stores and consumers know are always good for them. Nothing artificial. No preservatives. Always whole grains. Always nut and fruit piece that are large enough that you can recognize what you are eating. 

We do everything - and I mean everything - by hand. This means we treat the grains, nuts and fruits gently. We examine every ingredient as it goes in so that we can discard anything that does not meet our standards. We pay attention to quality every step of the process.

And, because we do things by hand, we employ people, not machines. That means we are helping people to make a living, to have a life. Machines are cheaper. We know that. But we are not on this Earth to help machines. We are on this Earth to help people. Our values go into each box of cereal that we make.

I hope that you will visit this site often, see the issues that arise for a small business with a conscience and share your feelings with your comments.

And, by the way, if you could help us out by buying Grizzlies Brand cereals at your local food store, that would be great. Or you can find us on the web at www.wildtime.com.