Fair Trade Blog

I’ll bet a lot of you wonder what our name is all about. Fair Trade you understand, but “Driftless?” After living here for over five years, it’s sometimes easy to forget that the region in which I live is quite unique.

We have a stunning new poster that shares our distinctive area with photos and graphics by Rick LaMartina.  Most of each sale goes to the Crawford Stewardship Project,  a group focuses on preserving the natural integrity of the Driftless Region.

Some 10,000 years ago, retreating glaciers left behind silt, clay, gravel, and boulders which filled in the features they had covered. This fill is called “drift” and turned much of the Midwest into flat land and rolling hills. 

Our region of the Midwest proved to be an obstacle for the advancing ice, and the glaciers slid around this region.  Untouched by grinding layers of ice, our home was left with deep river valleys, majestic bluffs, rock outcroppings, springs, and caves. The Kickapoo River, which runs past our front yard, is thought to be one of the oldest rivers in the world. 

Not only is the craggy, distinguished face of the Driftless Region special, but the underlying rock turns out to be unique as well. Karst is a type of limestone bedrock that has been made permeable by the action of acidic rainwater.  Over thousands of years, the slow erosion of rain water has produced a complex network of channels, caves, tunnels, shafts, and other features.  Underground water circulates quickly in the Driftless rock — up to 300 feet per day compared to a few feet in other types of rock layers.

The porous nature of the region makes it fragile.  Pollutants and bacteria can migrate quickly into wells and springs, collecting in areas used for drinking water. 

That’s why more and more people are taking up the cause of preserving our unique environment.

Keep shopping your good values!