Beyond Organic, Simplified. Dr. Cowan’s Garden offers beyond organic products that make healthy eating simple and delicious. Seeking to increase vegetable diversity in his own diet, Dr. Cowan launched Dr. Cowan’s Garden in 2016, with his wife and two sons, beginning with a line of beyond organic vegetable powders that make it easy and convenient to eat a wider variety of vegetables every day for increased health and vitality. Since then, our family has grown, and so have our product offerings. We continue to develop exciting new products, which include an ever-expanding line of vegetable powders, pantry items and pasture products!

Powders. Nutritionally powerful, beyond organic vegetable powders, including signature superfood products like our Ashitaba Powder (the only domestically-grown organic Ashitaba Powder that we know of), Burdock Root Powder (grown on one of the only remaining organic burdock farms in the U.S.) and Turmeric Powder (grown in the unique, nutrient rich soil of Hawaii); as well as our unique powerhouse vegetable blends such as Low-Oxalate Greens Powder (selected for nutrient density and low oxalate properties), Three-Beet Powder (a powerful blend of three types of beets) and our Threefold Blends (Slightly Sweet, Savory and Spicy), featuring the highest quality roots, leaves/stems and flowers/fruit for diverse health benefits. We offer a variety of vegetable powders, featuring flavor profiles and health benefits that fit into a wide range of dietary needs and cuisine styles.

Yes. In fact, they are “Beyond Organic”, Grown Domestically By Small Family Farms or Sustainably Foraged. Our vegetables, grains and legumes are domestically grown in the U.S. by small family farmers who are, at a minimum, growing organically. Most are either Demeter-certified, working toward certification, or utilize most of the biodynamic farming principles (sometimes referred to as “regenerative farming”) that nurture the health of the soil to produce superior, nutrient-dense vegetables. Some products, such as Chaga Nuggets and Wild Ramps, are wild foraged using sustainable harvesting practices. Our vegetables are picked and processed at the peak of freshness throughout the growing season, when their Brix levels are the highest. Through our low-temperature dehydration process, we are able to preserve about 90% or more of the plant’s nutrients, with the exception of vitamin C, which is readily available in various fresh citrus fruits/juices, peppers, berries, broccoli and other sources.

Think of the powders like you would a spice or a seasoning. You can add them to soups and stews; sprinkle on eggs, roasted vegetables, salads, baked potatoes, popcorn; blend in smoothies; fold into rice, pasta, baked goods or casseroles, or add to anything you like to eat. You may add them during the cooking process, or sprinkled on at the end; whatever works best for your recipe.

They're great for parents of picky vegetable eaters, people who travel or don't have much time to cook, and creative cooks who want to experiment with different flavor profiles. Use them to make your dishes more flavorful, or to “sneak” more vegetables into your family’s favorite meals.

The idea is to eat the foods you and your family enjoy, and to use Dr. Cowan’s Garden vegetable powders to increase your vegetable diversity for optimal health. If you have access to and enjoy fresh organic or biodynamic vegetables, please continue to eat them, while incorporating the powders to achieve the goal of eating smaller amounts of 10-15 vegetable varieties per day. This is the way our healthiest ancestors ate for many generations before commercialized products infiltrated our “modern” diets.

From Dr. Cowan:“As an example of how we use the powders, just this morning to make my morning soup with broth, I had only a small bunch of greens and a pepper from the garden. I also didn't feel like cutting up and sautéing a carrot and zucchini, so, instead, I added a teaspoon of Dr. Cowan's Garden Threefold Blend Slightly Sweet (carrots, beets, kale, Swiss chard and butternut squash). Voila! A soup with now five vegetables instead of two. Similarly, when I make pancakes, instead of using all flour (spelt or emmer wheat), I replace a quarter of the flour with our Winter Squash Powder. The taste is delicious, and I am diversifying my diet and adding more nutrients and healing phytochemicals to each bite.”

Very little nutrition is lost in our proprietary blanching and dehydration process (mostly vitamin C) and, depending on where you source your vegetables, our powders may even be more nutrient dense.

A little nutrition is lost in preparing our vegetable powders, but not much; mostly vitamin C is lost in cooking and dehydration, which can easily be replaced by other foods. According to the USDA, most of the nutrients (like B vitamins) are at around 90-95 percent levels in dehydrated vegetables. The only exceptions are vitamin C, which is maintained at around 60 percent, folic acid at 65 percent, and thiamine at 85 percent.

Locally grown, organic and biodynamic produce is always best, but if fresh vegetables are out of season, limited in variety, grown in soil contaminated with glyphosates or other toxins, or shipped across long distances, they may not be as nutrient rich, or worse, may contain harmful toxins.

We source our vegetables from small family farmers using organic and regenerative farming methods to safely grow the finest, most nutritious vegetables. Let the taste and smell of the powders be your guide. These powders are very fresh foods!

From Dr. Cowan: “On the first day of medical school, I heard one of my professors make a statement that has informed my approach to medicine ever since: ‘Always remember, the dumbest kidney is smarter than the smartest nephrologist.’ In other words, we have a lot to learn about the human body, and its inherent wisdom is the ultimate teacher.

I apply that same thinking to food: ‘The dumbest plant is smarter than the smartest chemist.’ In other words, the nutrients in, for example, kale, work together in a way too complex for us to isolate and put into a pill. If we want the phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals from kale -- and other nutritious vegetables -- we should eat kale that has been grown without chemicals, and picked when its color and flavor are at their peak.

Some supplement companies do use whole foods in their supplements, and they can be excellent adjuncts when dealing with a health challenge, but even the most conscientious whole-food supplement manufacturers use additives such as maltodextrin, soy flour, calcium stearate and other stabilizers, which many people seek to avoid. I maintain that our bodies want to be nourished by whole foods, not synthetics, and that means a diet of good fats and proteins, and a large variety of vegetables.”

To quote the Radiant Life catalog: ‘Synthetic or isolated forms of vitamins are poorly assimilated and stress cells, often unbalancing the body's enzyme substrates.’”

Yes, there are less expensive alternatives, but we’ve found that miron violet glass works like a natural filter that blocks the aging wavelengths of light and lets in only the wavelengths that enhance potency (UV-A, far-infrared and visible-violet). You can wash and reuse your jars again and again! Our refill pouches have the perfect amount of powder to refill your jars!

We became convinced of the effectiveness of miron violet glass jars when we did our own test with freshly picked cherry tomatoes, one placed in a miron jar and one in clear glass. After 3.5 months, the miron jar tomato still looked freshly picked, and the one in clear glass was rotten (see photo to right). It took 5 months for the miron jar tomato to begin showing signs of aging. Based on this test, we recommend using your powders within three to five months for maximum nutrition benefits, though they remain shelf stable for 2 to 3 years or more.

From Dr. Cowan: “I heard about Miron (or purple jars) years ago but never tried them, mostly because they are very expensive. More recently, I revisited the issue as a way to properly store many of the common foods I use (oils, water, crispy nuts) and found that there are some interesting things about these jars. Normal sunlight consists of three "types" of light, which scientists call UV-A, UV-B and UV-C. UV-B and UV-C stimulate plants to grow, but they also cause decomposition of the plants after they die. UV-A does not provoke the same decomposition, or, at least, it affects decomposition to a much lesser extent. Early research also suggests that UV-A and far-infrared wavelengths have an energizing or preservative effect on whatever they encounter, although this is a very complicated subject. The color and thickness of the Miron jars are intended to screen out as much of the UV-B and UV-C wavelengths as possible, while admitting as much of the UV-A and far-infrared wavelengths as possible. These properties allow for prolonged storage and, possibly even an "energetic" enhancement of the contents of the jar.”

To learn more about the science of biophotonics, click here.