TUCSON, Ariz. — A click of your mouse can now bring organic items straight to your doorstep.

Matt’s Organics, a home delivery service that brings certified organic fruits and vegetables to homes across the Tucson area, is one of the local businesses merging the organic lifestyle with the online world.

"Our customers can do almost everything on our site," owner Kathryn Hawkes said. “The only two things they cannot do is payment information, because our site is not secure, and they cannot select their day of delivery."

Matt’s Organics delivers the produce three days a week with different areas of Tucson serviced Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The prices are $33-55 for each delivery.

"[People] would have to go to so many stores to get quality organic products that we deliver," Hawkes said. "Ours is not sitting around in a store. The farmer picks it, we get it and we pack it wearing gloves. Not a lot of people touch it. It’s not open for sneezes like at a grocery store."

The produce is an in-season mix of one third-fruits that currently includes apples, pears and tangerines. One-third is also cooking vegetables including carrots, cauliflower and green beans with another third salad fixings.

"We try to support the local farms as much as we can," Hawkes said. “There are not too many certified organics in Arizona except for a couple in Willcox so we mostly buy from California."

Customers can also use the Web site to indicate what type of produce they like and do not like, although the deliveries are not completely customizable because of Matt’s Organics small, five-member staff.

"They know that they are getting fruit but they don’t know exactly what kind of fruit is coming this week," Hawkes said. "It’s like Christmas. You really don’t know what’s in there until you open it."

Students living in University of Arizona dorms can also opt out of certain elements. "We have done a lot of university folks in the past and because of the cooking element we put the boxes a little differently," Hawkes said.

She purchased the business eight years ago while studying for her master’s degree. By Christmas, she hopes to also expand the gift section of the Web site so customers know they can have items like a basket of fresh fruit delivered, even if they are not a part of the current service.

"We will not be shipping our service but we will ship our fruit," Hawkes said. "We are also going to start offering a juice box with a juicer."

But until the changes to the Matt’s Organics Web site are made, organic lovers can shop for hundreds of certified organic products through Organic Kingdom, an online operation based in Orem, Utah. Owner Richard Webb started the Web site in 2001.

"I actually already started and had other Web site at the time called True Foods Market," said Webb. “I was talking to my brother-in-law about setting up a site for just organic stuff. He asked if it was going to be like an organic kingdom, and that’s what gave me the idea for the name."

The site does not sell fresh produce like Matt’s Organics. But the items for sale include butternut squash baby food, green split pea flour and jasmine bar soap.

"There are some things that people order a lot of," Webb said. "We sell organic riberry juice, sauerkraut juice and beet juice. Those are probably the more popular items."

With the items that company has sold since starting seven years ago, Organic Kingdom has served what Webb estimates is "tens of thousands of customers" since going online. The company adds items every month.

"You can click on new products and it will show you the newest products at Organic Kingdom," Webb said. He owns five other sites, including Manna Harvest and True Food Market, with two more health related Web sites in the works.

"The convenience of being able to order online is the number one reason the site is successful," Webb said. “The other reason is sometimes they can’t find what they want in a local health food store. If they don’t have it at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods or where ever, they’ll go online and we’ll have what they are looking for. I hear that all the time from customers."

Another reason Organic Kingdom is successful is because "we have fairly good prices," Webb said. But the site does calculate shipping costs by the weight of the order.

"We’ve shipped to 30 plus countries," Webb said. "Obviously there are some countries we won’t ship to like Nigeria and Ghana because there have been too many fraudulent orders. But we ship to most countries. We ship to Japan a lot, to the United Kingdom, to Australia and New Zealand. I would probably say 95-percent of our business is in the US though."

Shopping online for organic items can also lead shoppers to Taste the Earth, a site that sells organic sauces, spreads and vinegars not available in stores. "All of these certified organic products are made by friends of ours, who own small farms," said the owner’s daughter Rebecca Boss, a student at Iowa State.

The site also sells gift baskets starting at $25.99 for bottles of both red and white balsamic vinaigrette. Taste the Earth offers other gift baskets ranging to $399.99.

“My family purchases all organic foods, buys from the local farmer's market and belongs to a [community supported agriculture] that supplies us with organic produce during the summer and fall," Boss said.

But organic shoppers who do not have the time to shop around can find what they want online. A few simple clicks around one of the hundreds of organic product Web sites and everything from jarred acacia honey to fresh rainbow carrots can wind up on your doorstep.

"It’s the ease of ordering online that the customers like," Webb said.

While Organic Kingdom and Taste the Earth are primarily online business, they also offer e-newsletters to help customers continue their organic lifestyles, while learning about new deals and products. Matt’s Organics supplies recipes on its site.