Fair Trade Blog

The region we live in is blossoming as a center of fresh organic food. But we have so much of it in the summer, it’s hard to use it all up. From asparagus to strawberries, and everything in between, it’s nice problem to have.

Farmers markets are popping up everywhere. The newest is right in the park across the river from our house on Wednesday nights!  There’s nothing better than buying just-picked produce, but we can only eat so much!    

That’s why people have been canning and drying food for hundreds of years.  It also explains why there is such a growing need for kitchen space in the Kickapoo Valley.  With a local cottage industry to preserve and dry fruits and vegetables, we can enjoy local food through the winter while we provide more income for our farm families.

So, in association with our store Rhubarb, we will soon have a shiny new kitchen open to the community for canning and baking.  Our first tenant will be processing a gluten product for a large maker of vegetarian patties and hot dogs.  When he moves on to a larger space, we will open our kitchen to local entrepreneurs that want to make value-added products from the local bounty.

It’s been a difficult process, but we believe we are filling a need.  Having new and exciting handmade products from our kitchen is indeed a tasty prospect! 

Laying tile in the kitchen space.

Keep shopping your good values!

Last fall, things were looking dark for the Arghand Cooperative. The corrupt Afghan election and deteriorating security destroyed moral. Several members announced they wanted to leave. I worried that we would lose a wonderful product and beautiful connection to something that was going right in Aghanistan.

More importantly than that, I feared the members would loose the livelyhood they had built over the last several years.  You and I have played a small part in helping them build better lives. 

Miraculously, just the opposite has happened.  The latest information describes a cooperative that continues to grow and thrive.

• The solar electic system is providing power 24/7, allowing members to press seed for oil up to 4-5 hours per day.
• Two more men and two new women have joined the coop.
• A new business plan has been created.
• New products are coming soon including lip balm, body lotion, and face cream.

Finally, let me share this quote from a recent e-mail.  “so we have decided as a group to leave politics aside and thrust ourselves back into the work of tranforming the agricultural bounty of southern Afghanistan into luxurious soaps and skin care products.”

Keep shopping your good values!