ECONOTES : A Natural Selection

For a different twist on Valentine’s Day, you can “Say It With Flours” and make an environmental statement along with your pledge of affection.

Mothers & Others for a Livable Planet, a national nonprofit environmental group, is offering a gift package of three varieties of organic flour from organic farming pioneer Arrowhead Mills in Hereford, Texas, along with special recipes from New York’s Union Square Cafe, which features regionally grown food.

“The idea is to say ‘I love you enough to care about your health,’ ” said Wendy Gordon, executive director of Mothers & Others. “We’re trying to call attention to organic food in a lighthearted way.”

The $30 gift package includes a year’s membership to Mothers & Others and 15 issues of their imaginative newsletter, “The Green Guide for Everyday Life.”

This is the third holiday-food project for Mothers & Others (for Thanksgiving they offered a full turkey-day menu, minus the turkey) and part of a campaign to popularize organic food, Gordon said. “Most people think you can only find it in health food stores, or that it is dry and tasteless.” In reality, the organic market has undergone major growth in both breadth and diversity, she said.

Feb. 7 is the deadline for ordering the Valentine package. For more information, call (212) 242-0010, Ext. 302, or e-mail queries to mothers@igc.apc.org.