Grand Granola Hits Shelves

If you’d like to taste your oats and not feel them, you owe it to yourself to check out Liberty Granola!, a new product just on the shelves at I.V. Food Co-op (6575 Seville Rd., Isla Vista, 968-1401) and Montecito Deli Pierre Lafond (516 San Ysidro Rd., 565-1502). Maria August, creator of the brand, is all about small-batch, organically made product, and you can taste it in every crunchy mouthful. August even found organic almonds—she refused to make granola till she could source some that wouldn’t price her product out of the market—from Baugher Ranch in Orland, California, to go with more local ingredients like San Marcos sage honey and pesticide-free Peacock Farm raisins. There are Liberty cookies on the way, too, from organic oatmeal chocolate chip to a special Nutty Button vegan option soon to hit the shelves. Even better, all this good food helps support good causes: A portion of the profits from the first weekend sales went to support the freedom movement in Tibet, and August promises, “The first $1,000 I raise will go to convert my car to run on used veggie oil.”