“Off The Beaten Path” Suggestions for Healthy Living in DFW.
HIKING
Cedar Hill. If you park on the east side of the Cedar Hill 9th Grade Center during non-school hours, you’ll find an open field with a steep slope that serves as a trailhead for some of DFW’s best hiking. You will be led into more than four miles of trails which sit on property once owned by Northwood University, with terrain reminiscent of the best of the Texas Hill Country. Cedar and juniper frame tracks narrow and wide, and there’s even the remnants of an Exertrail (monkey bars and all) over to the east. The elevation changes are as challenging as one can expect in our area, with limestone primarily underfoot to keep the trail from getting as muddy as its Cedar Hill Nature Preserve counterpart. 1515 W Belt Line Rd, Cedar Hill, TX 75104.
BIKING
Oak Cliff Nature Preserve. While many cycling enthusiasts know about this south Dallas gem, there are many casual trail riders who have lived here for decades with no idea of its availability. The trailhead can be accessed by taking the DART Rail Red Line to its Westmoreland Station terminus, and from there, 6.5 miles of intersecting trails can provide hours of interesting technical riding among the pecan and bois d’arc. The preserve is part of the Texas Land Conservancy and maintained by the Dallas Off-Road Bicycle Association. 2875 Pierce St, Dallas, TX 75233.
EATING
ORCHARD At The OFFICE. This Richardson-based office fruit delivery service has a single purpose: to deliver fresh fruit to businesses in the DFW area. Offerings come in artfully-arranged fruit baskets or in bulk packages for larger operations. Bananas, apples, avocados, clementines, and even mangoes and grapes are available to offices any day of the week. They’re ideal for offices looking for healthy snacks or to make the most of their wellness budget. https://orchardattheoffice.com972.295.9091.
DRINKING
Eiland Coffee Roasters. Another Richardson business, Eiland imports coffee beans from all over the world and roasts them in an enormous cast-iron apparatus in their warehouse. They specialize in coffee by the pound, and the beans they supply from various Ethiopian, Brazilian, and Sumatran regions (to name just a few) will make you a coffee snob. Recently they’ve put more energy into their retail side, so whether you’re looking for a vendor for your business or a great-tasting latte, they’re a great choice. http://www.eilandcoffee.com532 N. Interurban St, Richardson, TX 75081.
WORKOUT
Sweat Society. Just southeast of Frisco’s main square sits a workout facility that serves as an antidote to the big box gym concept. Sweat Society is more of a shared workout experience with seasoned trainers guiding clientele through High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) methods. Loyalty remains high as regulars feel like family, and the skillset of the training staff gives every session a personalized feel. https://sweatsociety.net7151 Preston Rd Suite 141, Frisco, TX 75034.
Harvest Project Food Rescue keeps its feet on the ground and a smile on its face.
It’s early Saturday morning. Danae Gutierrez pulls into Lipman Family Farms, a massive produce wholesaler, driving her old white pickup with her son Dorian riding along. She uses it because it gets the job done. She makes this trip every Saturday morning because she gets the job done. Her mission: to pick up as much unsalable but sufficiently edible produce as the flatbed will allow, and drive it down to one of several locations throughout DFW – in this case, San Francisco De Asis Episcopal Church – where a team of volunteers will work to sort the food for redistribution.
“We didn’t even have a name when we first started!” laughs Ms. Gutierrez, recalling the origins of an organization that started, and has remained, humble. “We didn’t have a truck or anything. We really started with nothing. That’s why I couldn’t take all the grapefruit!”
To explain that statement necessitates a bit of history…
Gutierrez and her parents emigrated to the United States when she was seven. With low-income potential, her family often experienced food insecurity, unsure of where their next meals would come from. For this reason and many others, her parents placed a high value on education, and Danae’s intellect and vibrant, outgoing personality served her well throughout her formative years. She is not afraid of hard work and is willing to step in when she sees that “somebody needs to do it!”
When her son Dorian became a student at Cigarroa Elementary in Dallas, she saw a need for leadership at the PTA. Before long, she was elected President and even received a DISD Volunteer Impact Award for School Support. During this time, she met Luis Carrillo, a fellow PTA board member who was also working with Dallas Mexico Casa Guanajuato, a community center serving the Mexican citizens of Dallas. Carrillo was seeking quality produce for the senior citizens, as the contributions they were receiving were not always usable. Gutierrez said, “well, somebody needs to do it”, and in the summer of 2014, she went about the process of talking to the produce wholesalers near the Farmers Market.
“I went to this one place, and they had twenty-five boxes of beautiful grapefruit!” Gutierrez recalls. “They had a couple of blemishes on the skin, so they weren’t for sale, but they were in great shape. So I took a box and they were saying, ‘when are you coming back for the other twenty-four?’” She laughs and says, “That’s when I realized there were literal tons of produce going to waste, and we just had to get it to the people who needed it.”
Ms. Gutierrez smiles as she recalls the origins of Harvest Project, as she smiles about many things. Her positivity and tenacity transform the seemingly onerous task of food rescue into a positive mission.
Since 2014, Harvest Project has grown – cautiously, responsibly, and humbly. Gutierrez wants to be sure the nonprofit never gets so ambitious that it overreaches its primary purpose. “We don’t want to have people who are counting on us to be waiting around, because we’re spending too much time going too many places.” In a given month, Harvest Project will take its seven vehicles to seven locations – some weekly, some semi-weekly, some monthly. They now serve thousands of families every month in locations ranging from South Dallas to Arlington.
The volunteer arm is fully self-supporting, in that all of those who serve at each site are participants. Gutierrez explains, “The people who assist are willing to show up early and get things sorted and set up, because they get first choice of the produce.” As always, humility is the acme of the project, and this is a big part of the training as well: since the volunteers are participants, it is made clear that they are to treat their fellow recipients as equals. “We won’t allow people to be like, ‘oh, we’re the ones giving you the food, so we’re better than you.’ Because the volunteers are receiving contributions, and getting first pick of the produce is a perk, everyone’s in the same boat – and we usually have too many volunteers! There’s a waiting list of people willing to help.”
The process of “food rescue” goes beyond distribution. Participants in the programs are given valuable tips on preparation, storage, financially-responsible shopping…even composting. Self-support is always the goal.
While the organization may have started with Hispanic leanings, the participants and volunteers come from all over the globe, as one would expect when dealing with a community as culturally-varied as DFW. “Food insecurity can affect everyone,” Gutierrez says, “and it was humbling for me to find that even I had assumptions of what need looked like, and every week I see proof that it’s a challenge that transcends cultures.” But just as the challenges can be transcendent, so too can solutions, and participants work to find ways of overcoming language and ideological barriers to make Harvest Project work.
Sometimes these differences can provide educational opportunities. “In one area, we have a lot of participants who are refugees from Myanmar,” Gutierrez says, “and I was picking up the produce to bring to that mission, and I got all these banana leaves. I thought, ‘What is anyone going to do with a banana leaf?’ So we get out there, and all these refugees got so excited! I didn’t know that in Myanmar banana leaves are used like husks are used for tamales in Mexico. Not only did I learn something new about a culture, but also I now know how to use a banana leaf to make food in my home!”
The key to the success of Harvest Project Food Rescue is a clarity of purpose and humility. Provide produce and education for communities in DFW experiencing food insecurity one banana at a time – and with a smile.
ORCHARD At The OFFICE, the largest provider of fresh fruit delivery to offices in Texas, is proud to contribute to such an important organization and salutes the inspiring work of Ms. Gutierrez, who has been a member of the ORCHARD At The OFFICE team since 2017. We are grateful to the many others like her in every community, whose names so often go unmentioned.
Today, we’re playing 20 Questions with Kevin Long and Chris Buchanan of the Richardson-based office fruit delivery service ORCHARD At The OFFICE, who have served the Dallas/Fort Worth area since 2010.
Q: Describe your company in fifteen words or less.
BUCHANAN: We deliver fresh fruit to Metroplex offices.
LONG: That’s it. Seven words.
BUCHANAN: Do we win anything?
LONG (laughing): I don’t think it’s a competition.
Q: Where did the name “ORCHARD At The OFFICE” come from?
LONG: I wanted a name that told a story, that gave a clear mental image and conveyed a journey. Here, in this basket of fruit, you have an orchard…right here at your office! It’s worked well for us.
Q: Give us a Fun Fruit Fact we may not know.
BUCHANAN: If you took every fruit on the planet, laid them side by side, and attempted to name them all aloud, you’d irritate people. Even Harlan Pepper would tell you to stop naming fruits.
LONG: One thing I like to show people is how to peel a banana from the bottom, the way monkeys do.
BUCHANAN: And when you do it that way, you don’t get the phloem.
LONG: Right. That’s the technical name for the stringy matter inside a banana.
BUCHANAN: I should have made that my fact. (sighs) I had my chance, but it’s gone forever.
Q: Speaking of bananas, what’s this “bananigans” thing all about?
LONG: It’s really a state of mind, a reminder that health and happiness go together. Whether it’s the “banana smile” or juggling clementines, moments of silliness provide levity that add dimension to a workday.
Q: You describe yourself as a “local business”. What exactly does this mean to you?
BUCHANAN: Well, the company was founded right here in the Metroplex – Richardson, specifically. Our home office is here, our staff lives here, and our fruit is sourced from here. While it may be grown elsewhere – I’m certainly not aware of any pear orchards in Rowlett or Euless – the lifeblood of this business is Dallas. These are our friends and neighbors we’re serving.
Q: What’s the most popular fruit in Dallas?
BUCHANAN: Bananas are by far the favorite. We sell tons every week – and that’s not a figure of speech.
LONG: Yeah, bananas are the most popular, but whenever I’m in a conversation with someone, I’ll often ask them what their favorite fruit is. So many times, people say mangoes! I’m not sure why that is, because I don’t see nearly as many people actually eating a mango, but that’s what they say.
BUCHANAN: They could be lying.
LONG: Yeah, they may be lying.
Q: So what’s your favorite fruit?
BOTH (in unison): Mangoes.
Q: What are the smallest and largest offices you serve?
BUCHANAN: There’s one business with only three people, but they’re very dedicated to healthy living, so they go through our 16-piece Mini Office Basket every week. As the Metroplex is the home to so many large-scale operations, we’ve created options for everyone, such as our “Fortune 600 Special”. This helps us serve companies with over 1,500 employees.
Q: What do you do with any surplus fruit?
LONG: When we’re doing really well, there’s barely anything left over at the end of the week! When there is, we donate it primarily to two organizations: the Harvest Project, and the Samaritan Inn in McKinney.
Q: Tell us more about the Harvest Project.
BUCHANAN: Harvest Project is an amazing organization. It was started in 2014 by Danae Gutierrez, who has served on the DISD board and is truly an inspiring individual. It’s a community project that provides fresh produce to families in need at no cost. They’ll provide fruits and vegetables, give recipes and instructions where appropriate, even teach them to shop for bargains. Like Ms. Gutierrez, Harvest Project represents real, grass-roots action to promulgate positive change in Dallas.
Q: What do you suggest Dallas can do as a whole to stay more fit?
LONG: Eat more fruit, of course!
BUCHANAN: Yes. Beyond that, though, we don’t make nutritional suggestions. We leave the dietary recommendations to those far more qualified. Besides, there’s very little consensus and we try to stay out of the fray!
Q: Understood. That said, are there some more pragmatic tips you can suggest?
BUCHANAN: Some things are fairly straightforward. We did contribute a blog post to D Magazine awhile ago with some basic suggestions for how to stay healthy at the office, five minutes at a time.
Q: Along the same lines, how did y’all get involved with the Dallas Running Club?
LONG: That started in 2016 with one of our administrators, Leah Hinton. She’s friends with Erin and Sean Jett, who served on the DRC Board at the time. They were looking for a business willing to donate bananas to their races, and since we believe very strongly in the maintenance of a vital running community for Dallas, we’re happy to help! It’s a great partnership.
BUCHANAN: Yeah, the Dallas Running Club means a lot to us. My wife is an athlete who has logged more miles than I care to count and the whole history of the DRC, Tal Morrison, and White Rock Lake as a sort of “running sanctuary” are fascinating to me. It really feels like we’re part of something special.
Q: What are the trendy fruits right now?
LONG: Avocados are the biggest trending fruit right now. Last year, America spent more importing avocados than any other fruit, including bananas. That is an entirely new development, and our sales reflect the popularity of avocados.
BUCHANAN: Definitely. I’d also have to say that clementines, also known as “Halos” or “Cuties”, do extremely well. There’s actually several different varieties of citrus we conveniently call “clementines”, and they’re all delicious and have lots of mouth-watering appeal!
LONG: Chris handles our marketing, as you can tell.
Q: What’s the most unusual fruit you’ve ever sold?
LONG: Durian!
BUCHANAN: Oy vey. Here we go…
LONG: He hates durian, but I love it. Durian’s an Asian fruit that looks like a giant pod – about the size of jackfruit but even more spiky – and when you open it, the edible fruit almost has a banana pudding consistency.
BUCHANAN: And there all resemblance ends.
LONG: It does have this very complex, powerful aroma. I get why people don’t like it, but I find it fascinating. Eating durian is an event!
BUCHANAN: So’s a tsunami. All I’m saying is that there’s a reason it’s banned on Singapore Rapid Mass Transit. It’s exponential: it starts off smelling like a field of chives, then comes the sulfurous essence, then what can only be described as a “rotting” smell kicks in. Then it’s like they all compete with one another to see which can fill the room quicker. And that pretty much describes the flavor.
LONG: Hey, I’m not saying everyone will like them. More for me, that’s what I say!
Q: Talk about the “seven banana myth”.
BUCHANAN: OK, I learned about this from Karl Pilkington…and when I say “learned”, it was clearly some sort of nonsensical urban myth. The idea was something to the effect that if you ate more than six bananas in a day, you’d have a lethal potassium overdose. It’s been thoroughly debunked in a number of studies, of course, but like Twinkies or zombies, misinformation has no shelf life – it’s always staggering back from its grave to eat the brains of the living.
Q: From a delivery standpoint, what’s your favorite building in Dallas?
LONG: I’ve always liked delivering to the Comerica Bank Tower. The freight dock is efficient, the security staff is courteous and professional, and the entire building is very attractive and easy to get around.
Q: Are there things you’ve learned about Dallas as a result of delivering fruit here that you didn’t know before?
BUCHANAN: Well, I’ve certainly gotten to know all the local structures and the business that dwell within them. I used to go to Klyde Warren Park, for instance, and I’d look around and think “oh, there’s that cool new building with the blue glass, and there’s the one with the D Magazine logo” and so on. Now I’m thinking of the building names, and exactly which business is in there, and which ones are our customers and which ones will be.
Q: What kind of music could we expect to hear at ORCHARD At The OFFICE headquarters?
LONG: That totally depends on who’s in the office! You could hear everything from ambient to metal. I like to have music going to keep the brain’s alpha waves going. But every once in awhile, I’ll mix it up with some Tool or Van Halen.
BUCHANAN: I gravitate toward jazz fusion or any music that Outcry Theatre might employ in one of their amazing shows. I love the music of Tori Amos and Sigur Rós, and that sometimes creates problems as I find myself listening to it a bit too much and getting all emotional and weepy.
Q: Sell me fruit. Right now.
BUCHANAN: Our fruit really sells itself. Quite often, if we make people aware that there’s this office fruit delivery service in Dallas, that concept generates interest.
LONG: Everybody loves fresh fruit. “Would you like a banana?”
Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Buchanan and Kevin Long.
Chris and Kevin, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
The seed for ORCHARD At The OFFICE was planted in 2010, when our “Chief Banana” (that’s what it says on his business card), Kevin Long, was working as a Creative Director for an advertising firm and decided to bring fresh fruit into the office in lieu of the usual sugary snacks. The fruit was devoured instantly, and Long knew he was onto something. By October of that year, he was ready to convert the potential to kinetic, and ORCHARD At The OFFICE emerged.
In the years since growth has been exponential. For some time we’ve been the largest office fruit delivery service in North Texas, providing Metroplex businesses large and small with tons of bananas, Jazz apples, the ever-popular clementines, plums, grapes, berries… a whole variety of fruit flavors.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Trial and error is, of course, a necessity of growth. Nothing is truly a mistake if one learns from it, and if we did everything the exact same year after year, we’d surely stagnate and eventually wither away!
The biggest challenge we’ve faced – and I doubt it’s unique to us – has been the issue of training and documentation. When it’s just a couple of people running a business, very little is written down: everyone just “knows”. Once the business grows and new people are brought in, knowledge gaps become apparent. After I heard myself saying “Did you not know that? Oh, wait… how would you have known?” I realized we needed to make a concerted effort to put documentation together and create training procedures.
What are you most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others?
Critical to our success is our singleness of purpose: we provide fresh fruit to D/FW offices, pure and simple. Focusing on doing one thing exceptionally well allows us to stay on track. Now, there are plenty of people who could simply provide fruit to offices. The two things that have allowed us to thrive, even as competition has emerged, our dedication to premium quality and superior customer service.
“Premium quality” means that we’re willing to apply the extra time and dime to giving our friends-in-wellness the “best banana for the buck”: top-of-the-line fruit, hand-inspected, and always guaranteed. “Superior customer service” means, not just individual attention, but the goal of a 24-hour turnaround for any issue. No phone trees, no dismissing customer concerns under the guise of “company policy”. We care about our customers and their wishes, and we’re rather obsessive about exceeding their expectations.
We all need a brief respite during a busy workday to recharge, mentally and physically. With that in mind, here are some simple, practical suggestions for making the most of those office breaks:
ENJOY SOME FRESH FRUIT
Taking a few minutes to enjoy a banana or an apple not only satiates any oral fixation and keeps blood sugar and vitamin levels well-regulated, but it actually makes a person feel happier! Of course, it’s not easy to remember to bring fresh fruit with you to the office, so you might want to suggest to your HR department that they look office fruit delivery. It makes sense from a company standpoint, as healthy employees are more productive. And you get to enjoy your favorite fruits in the break room!
SIMPLE EXERCISE BREAK
A brief, positive expenditure of energy does wonders for the endorphin level. There are dozens of exercise routines that can be performed quickly and without the need for equipment. Here’s just one that can be done in five minutes or less:
TRY THESE TODAY
Marching in place. 60 seconds will accelerate the heart rate without causing the average person to break out into an inconvenient sweat
Calf-raises. Next, with your back straight, stand on tiptoe for 1-2 seconds, then lower your ankles again. 20-30 of these will take about 60 seconds, and it’ll increase your capacity to endure stilettos if that’s your fashion inclination.
Wall sits. The Cooper Clinic of Dallas reminds us this is an example of an isometric exercise, meaning we don’t move once we’re in position. You rest your back against the wall and slide slowly down until your knees are at a 90° angle. Hold this position 20 seconds if you’re a beginner, anywhere from 30-60 seconds if you’re more confident in your abilities.
Side bend Stretches. Stand tall with feet together and reach arms up overhead. Lower your right arm down the right side of your body and exhale as you reach the left arm over the head, bending body gently to the right. Inhale and repeat on the other side.
WALKING MEDITATION
Meditation is a simple practice that works for all kinds of people. Don’t think of it as an effort to eliminate all conscious thought from your mind, as this is impractical and would make you an ambulatory hazard. It’s more a reminder not to sweat the small stuff; to elevate perspective and reframe your day. Here’s a simple variation of walking meditation that you can step outside and do in just a few minutes:
As you begin your walking break, take notice of any sense-object: any sight, sound, smell or feeling that leaps out at you. It could, for instance, be the sound of a car’s engine revving.
Walk while taking your mind through the process of how that sense object came to be. Our automobile engine was borne of raw materials, mined from the earth, then shaped into a multitude of individual parts to be assembled into a vehicle, then transported, distributed, and sold, eventually to its current owner.
Consider your connection to the sense object. To the earth that provided the raw materials, the process of assembly, distribution, and consumption. The number of people working to a common purpose, each with their own unique vested interest in a positive outcome.
Now, as you complete your walk and return to your own job, you can reflect on how what you do fills a role in society as well. How many people are positively impacted to some degree by the work you do daily? With this outlook, you can all take pride in our daily work and imbue the seemingly mundane tasks with some semblance of meaning.
ONE STEP AT A TIME
Taken individually, these suggestions won’t revolutionize your life. However, they’re all components of creating a healthy break– enjoying each moment in the knowledge you are living well! If you’ve already got a nutrition plan and a fitness plan, these actions are supplemental. If you’re looking for a way to begin to take steps down the path of wellness, these suggestions provide a convenient way to get started. Live well!