These days, more than ever, we place great emphasis on the word “natural”. I think that is because we all suspect that chemical compounds while amazing don’t belong in our food chain, on our skin or even in our home environments.
I believe we need to THINK about what we consume, why we consume it and take determined steps to live more in tune with nature and what is natural. Personally, I feel that if we really want to achieve a natural lifestyle and optimum health and well-being, we need to take a more holistic approach to life – eating local and organic foods but also cooking from scratch, and using natural and organic products throughout our entire home, from the kitchen to the bathroom, and from the make-up bag to the medicine cabinet. 
At Ballymaloe Literary Festival earlier this year I attended two talks on natural and organic wines, one with Isabelle Legeron who is a Master of Wine and the author of a book on Natural Wines, and another by winemaker Caro Feely who makes organic wine in Saussignac in South West France and whose wines we sell in Organico. I found both talks fascinating - both women are passionate about wine and feel very strongly that we should all consider very carefully the origins of and ingredients in the wine we drink. Coming out of those talks I felt even more strongly that I want to know that a person made the wine I drink, rather than a corporation; and furthermore I only want to drink organic and natural wines from now on. 
Dearbhla Reynolds will be Guest Chef at Organcio on 15th September[/caption]
This year at the Ballymaloe Literary Festival I was delighted to meet one of Ireland’s great fermentation enthusiasts, Dearbhla Reynolds. Dearbhla has written an amazing book on the vast subject of fermentation; called The Cultured Club – Fabulously Funky Fermentation Recipes, which was John McKenna’s Book of the Year for 2016. The book covers everything about fermentation - why you should be interested, how to go about it and dozens and dozens of fabulous recipes on fermenting everything from miso eggs to fermented hummus! Dearbhla is incredibly passionate about fermentation (as one would want to be to write a book on the subject!) and she is particularly interested in helping people to bring fermented foods firmly and fully into their diets and lives, rather than simply eating them as side dishes. But more on that and on the amazing feast we are planning to host with Dearbhla later... for now, why are we banging on about fermented foods anyway? 
Dr Perlmutter's book Grain Brain[/caption]
This is the title of an article by a doctor and health writer I follow called Christine Northrup. Surprised? So was I! But I was also intrigued, so I did some digging. My mother gave me one of Dr Northrup’s first books - called Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom - when I was 20, and I have found it a great resource for over 20 years. So when she published a video that claimed we could all get smarter with age, I sat up and watched! And then I realised this was information worth sharing.
Many of us know someone who suffers from Alzheimer's or Dementia, or we are close to someone who has a family member who suffers. And from reading the newspapers you would think brain and memory decline is inevitable as we age, as it certainly on the rise in many Western countries. However, Christine Northrup argues that we shouldn’t just accept that our mental sharpness will decline with age - she maintains we are in charge of our own lives and we can influence how our health develops into our older years.
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