The French contingent of the So Organic team is taking part in a fun run to raise money for Trees for Cities, a charity that works at greening urban spaces all over the world for leafier places to dwell. Their mission is "to advance the education of the public in the appreciation of trees and their amenity value, and in furtherance of this the planting and protection of trees everywhere, and in particular inner city areas".

Tree-Athlon is a 5km run. There are 3 being held across the UK this year - one in London, Leeds and Manchester.

Projects Tree for Cities have initialized include establishing wildlife gardens at schools and protecting woodlands across the country. Other than greening UK cities the charity is planning to go international and help plant fruit trees and indigenous plants in Peru, Addis Ababa and Nairobi.

The London run is scheduled for the 19th of September at beautiful leafy Battersea Park. Participants wear bibs with a personalized Tree Wish to encourage sponsors with their individual tree goal. All those who run in the London Tree-Athlon receive a sapling to take home and plant.

Entry to run is £20.00 which of course goes to towards the charity's activities. But you can also create a Just Giving page like Christelle. If you'd rather sit than run under the trees perhaps you'd like to sponsor Christelle on her leafy quest. She's aiming to raise £500. Her sponsor page is www.justgiving.com/SoOrganicForTrees/ if you'd like to make a donation.

Alternatively if you'd like to become a member of Trees for Cities they offer four membership packs starting at the Sapling Club Membership (‘for growing kids') at £1.50/month which will plant one tree a month to a Family Tree Membership at £6/month which will plant six trees a month.

Making headlines in all the major newspapers last week was the result of a report on organic food that it is no healthier than non-organic food. The report in question, commissioned by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), found that "there are no important differences in the nutrition content or any additional health benefits, of organic food when compared with conventionally produced food".

Of course this created a frenzy in the media. The Times reports: "Organic food is no healthier than other produce, according to the Government's food watchdog". Joanna Blythman from the Daily Mail says it's "a cancerous conspiracy to poison your faith in organic food". Leo Hickman from the Guardian says "it's just a shame we can't ask the local birds, fish and insects for their expert testimony on which method they prefer."

Carried out by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine this is an accurate report as far as the past research that was used to create its findings goes. But there is so much it misses out. It reviews 11 studies only and the FSA itself admits to a lack of research on which to base findings.

It is unclear in many of the studies that ‘certified' organic produce was used. It does not include contaminant content i.e. foods exposed to pesticides, herbicides and the like and it does not compare the environmental or ethical impacts of organic and conventional agricultural practices. Also 4 of the 6 human studies used 20 participants or less and 4 other studies didn't consider the overall diet of participants - "almost akin to feeding a doughnut-eating coach potato and a vegan cyclist organic apples for a week and then comparing the differences in their health" as Mark Anslow from the Ecologist aptly put it. Not exactly meaty evidence to draw strong conclusions from, is it?

The researchers concluded at the end of the report that the evidence base currently available "contains limitations in the design and in the comparability of studies... examination of this scattered evidence indicates a need for further high-quality research in this field." Hopefully scientists pick up on this and we'll soon see an influx of more detailed, comprehensive research undertaken.

Despite all the controversy around nutritional benefit of organic food there is strong evidence to support it's importance for animal welfare, a chemical-free environment, and the avoidance of genetically modified produce. Organic is the way forward for us however you look at it.

What do you think? Will you stop eating organic based on this report? Write in and let us know.

By the way the researchers did find significant differences in nutritional content of organic and conventional foodstuffs including higher levels of phenolic compounds, magnesium, zinc, flavonoids, sugars, dry matter, and phosphorus in organic food. A worthy find considering many of us in the west are deficient of zinc or magnesium.

Summer evenings are coming so it's time to dust of those recipes best saved for balmy nights. Well I've just been handed a really scrumy and easy as pie (actually, it's quite a lot easier than fiddly pie) courtesy of my partner's mother Heather. Given Heaths Australian I've kept the Zucchini name as is.

This recipe is great for those that can't eat wheat or dairy. Vegans could omit the egg if they wish as it's not essential. It about 8 patties and so is good for two. It goes lovely with fresh Greek Salad and a bottle of biodynamic white... sitting in a leafy garden, in the early evening preferably.

All you need for my new favourite summer recipe is:

1 zucchini (courgette) grated
2 potatoes grated
1 onion chopped finely
1 garlic clove grated
1 cm cube of ginger grated
2 tablespoons of soya flour
1 egg
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of olive oil

Mix all the ingredients into a large bowl. Heat pan on moderate temperature. Add oil. Add large tablespoon dollop of patty mixture into pan. Cook lightly on both sides and serve. Doesn't get much easier than that!

News just in from the Worldwatch Institute (the independent research organization for sustainable living) on the global organic agriculture industry. They say that there has been a 118% increase between 2000 and 2007 of organic agricultural land worldwide. 32.3 million hectares organics are taking up but that's still only about 1% of the total land being farmed in the world.

Wordwatch's Vital Signs 2009 report also says that the Asian organic food market is experiencing huge growth rates of 15%. China now has 2.8 million hectares of organically managed land whilst India has 1 million hectares.

We've already noticed with companies like Cadbury's buying Green & Blacks that supply chains are merging and Worldwatch confirm this adding that there is a growing trend for a highly processed organic foods.

A trend that is bound to bring further debate is that global sourcing rather than local in the organic industry is becoming prevalent - the quantity of organic products traded internationally is on the up. We'd love to hear what you have to say on this - send us you're comments and we'll share with other organic-ites.

Is this something to be encouraged or shunned? At first it seems a little scary to this city dwelling, garden admiring (not so good at the planting and picking yet), organic buying type such as myself.

I'd read articles on foraging in progressive eco thinking magazines like the Ecologist and Resurgence, but never really considered making a picnic lunch activity of it. But then I spotted, in the local What's On guide Greenwich this summer, a Guided Walk (but wait there's more) for Edible Wild Plants and Herbs.

On the walk you will learn from an expert how to forage for wild food in Greenwich Park (who would have thought!). You will also receive a few recipe tips to prepare your food finds with.

Being so local I think I may give this one a go. After all you've got to try it before you truly know whether you like something -a bit like a try before you buy but you don't have to buy! Note to self: don't watch movie Into the Wild before you go on edible wild plant walk. (You'll have to watch this brilliant film yourself to know why - I'm not one for spoiling the ending!)

The walk is being hosted on Wednesday 19 August from 10.30am to 12.00noon. The meeting point is Greenwich Park, Charlton Way. For more information visit www.royalparks.org.uk.