Fair Trade Blog

It’s really simple.  Jeff wanted to follow his Bliss.  Jeff Strand says he started Natural Communities Magazine out of the blue, but we think there was a bit of destiny involved as well.  Jeff’s publication is published and distributed right here in Wisconsin and we regularly advertise in its pages.

Take a look at any issue of Natural Communities and the first thing that strikes you is the stunning photography that Jeff weaves through his publication.  He says he had to quickly learn how to use a camera to produce the magazine.  Since Natural Communities focuses on holistic lifestyle issues and information, Jeff has spent lots of time wandering the ridges, coulees, and lakes looking for inspiring scenes.

Whether it’s the intricate symmetry of a single dandelion head or the long view of a lake, Jeff captures the quietest parts of nature.  The centeredness of his photographs draw you inside each scene he’s captured.

Jeff has been working with us on advertising since he started his magazine.  We’re glad we convinced him to show his photography in our shop.

Born in Duluth, Minn., Jeff spent five years working as an engineer before changing careers.  His girlfriend turned him onto organic foods, creating a sustainable earth, and getting in touch with nature and spirit. In the summer of 2006, he got the idea to start a locally produced magazine dedicated to holistic living.

With nothing but his courage and money borrowed from a relative, Jeff quit his job and started his publishing business.  He admits that he had zero experience in anything to do with publishing a magazine, including photography.  But after two years of building a successful magazine, Jeff is still wandering the woods taking photographs so he can give nature back to people through the pages he publishes.

You can visit Jeff’s magazine at naturalcommunitiesmag.com.

It’s not always easy to become greener,  but we all recognize that it’s important to reuse, recycle, and restore in our personal environs as well as our businesses.  That, of course, is easier said then done. 

Businesess, as I have discovered, can be a huge consumer of all kinds of things from paper products to electricity and water.  In the shipping industry, for example, nearly every finished good you can think of is transported in a cardboard box.  Empty cardboard boxes can pile up at an astonishing rate.  

We keep a good number of the boxes we receive from wholesalers and use them to pack up customer’s purchases or ship orders we receive over the internet.  And they come in handy to store merchandize and supplies.  We do our best not to contribute to our local landfill. 

Even one of our wholesalers helped me out last week.  Minga Fair Trade Imports is in constant need of boxes for shipping.  So, after a visit, they were kind enough to take some of our largest boxes and bubble wrap off my hands.  Our back room is a little tidier and I feel better about not throwing away more boxes and packing.  

Almost exactly two years ago, when we were getting ready to open the store, we needed fixtures on a shoestring budget.   Mostly out of necessity, but also out of a desire to tackle waste, we went dumpster diving across the street behind a clothing store that was closing.

Dumpster diving is hard, dirty work, but we snagged some real finds.  Though you probably could not tell just by wandering around our store, many of the fixtures we use were saved from the landfill.   A little cleaning, imagination, and some paint worked wonders. 

An old vanity topped with discarded shutters became a jewelry display, while an abandoned tie rack is now a beautiful scarf display.  With a little care and creativity, a stack of dusty relics became valued display pieces. 

It takes constant effort.  This year I found great printed shopping bags made from recycled paper, but it required some thought and research.   But I’m happy to know that our customers will walk out of our store just as green as they came in. 

Keep shopping your good values! 

Sometimes when new and exciting items arrive here, it feels just like the holidays. Filled with anticipation, we open boxes and pull out delightful treasures. Just like giddy kids, we can’t wait to see what’s new and share it with others.

It was almost like December here again recently with the arrivel of more Tropical Salvage furniture and other distinctive items.

We have been offering beautiful Tropical Salvage hardwood furniture here in the shop for nearly a year now. It never fails to start conversation with our new customers. Each piece is made from salvaged wood in Indonesia — either from demolished buildings, or logs that are literally mined from where they fell and were buried by mud flows or ash falls. Some of the recovered wood is ancient and reveals the beginnings of mineralization.

Our pieces range from a practical wine cabinet to carved wooden boxes perfect for tabletop storage. We have tables, sideboards, chairs, occasional tables, and coffee tables on display in our store. For the first time, we will soon begin offering some of these items online.

From the moment we opened our shop nearly two years ago, Haitian metalwork has been a popular item in our store. Tough steel from discarded oil drums is cut and hammered into distinctive designs. Our stunning Sun Wall Hangers are made from this metal and then painted in striking colors to bring out the highlights of the shaped and embossed surface.

We’ve also added wonderful greeting cards with a story that fits our mission perfectly. The women of Original Tea Bag Designs collect used tea bags, dry them, then paint them for their fascinating cards. The cooperative gives work to previously unemployed women living near Cape Town, South Africa. I couldn’t agree more with their motto. “When life gives you tea bags… make art.”

Look for exciting new items here at Driftless Fair Traders through the Fall and Holiday season. Fair Trade has never been a better choice.

Keep shopping your good values!

Have you ever held elephant poo in your hand?   Have you ever smelled Nepal?  Have you ever seen the colors of Ecuador, or slept with a Llama?  

We invite you to have these adventures and more.

Of course, we don’t really have elephant poo, but we do have wonderful cards and boxes from Thailand made of elephant poo for you to hold.  Yes, you heard me right.   The dung is first dried completely and then thoroughly rinsed.   The remaining fibrous material, from the plants elephants eat, is mixed with natural bonding agents and then formed into sheets to dry. 

And if you’ve never been to Nepal, you can still take home fragrant incense made from native ingredients growing in Nepalese valleys.  Glimpse the colors of Ecuador in our fine cotton blend fabrics, or take a Llama to bed with you.  We have Teddy Bears made with natural re-claimed Alpaca fur.  

So, you see, the adventures are endless and the connections with indigenous craftspeople are infinite.   Spend your summer having a little adventure.  Come to our store and travel the world!

Keep shopping your good values!

Is Fair Trade accountable?   Can you trust that when you buy from us, the product you recieve is Fair Trade?  The short answer is yes, though the big picture is more complicated.  

The items we carry come from all over the world and it would be impossible for me to track them all.  That’s why certification organizations like the Fair Trade Labeling Organizations International are so important.

FLO International certifies mostly agricultural producers and workers through 20 certification organizations that joined forces in 2004 to synchronize standards and represent under a single recognizable brand. 

You probably recognize this logo from quite a few Fair Trade products. If you want to view some other Fair Trade logos to look for, check out this Wikipedia entry.

We obtain products primarily through members of the Fair Trade Federation.  That group requires their members to go through an application process that focuses on their Fair Trade practices.  When we offer FTF member products like our colorful blouses from Minga Fair Trade Imports, we can channel that trust to you our customers. 

Unfortunately, there are occasional abuses. Workers may not be paid the standard wages, or products may be labeled as Fair Trade when they are not.  Some unscrupulous behavior is inevitable, but it is light years ahead of a system that generally embraces the bottom line over any other concern.  

Sometimes we decide that we can’t wait for, or don’t need, certification to partner with a cooperative.  We contacted Arghand Cooperative on the suggestion of a customer.  Though they are not certified by any organization, we felt we had to connect you to their wonderful soaps and oils so that this foothold of stability and economic progress in Afghanistan can endure. 

Trust, yet verify, someone once said.   Well, we’re doing both.   

Keep shopping your good values! 

We like to think of the Fair Trade movement as strong, healthy and on course for inevitible and continuing growth.  The reality is that it has more challenges than we might realize — perhaps more than ever before.

Progress in Fair Trade in perhaps most vulnerable in Africa.  Fair Trade has been established there for many decades, but now faces global forces unforeseen even a few years ago.   Many African economies have suffered negative economic growth bought on by a toxic convergence of civil unrest, rising oil prices, climate change, and now food shortages.    

The World Bank estimates that poverty has increased as much as 6 percent in some parts of the world due to the hike in oil prices in recent years.  African counties like Guinea, Guinea Bissau, and Senegal import 100 percent of their oil.  Their oil bills are a fraction of the amount they spend on public services and poverty reduction programs.

Lately, the growing spectre of food shortages is drawing attention away from economic development toward simple survival for millions of Africans.  The Africa Progress Panel, chaired by Kofi Annan, said recently that food shortages threaten to destroy years of economic progress and drive 100 million people into poverty. 

Civil unrest is hindering economic progress as well.  Tribal violence in Kenya threatened dozens of Fair Trade producers in that country earlier this year. Though stability is returning, it reminds us how many different ways in which Fair Trade networks can be damaged.  

The challenge of war and social strife certainly extends beyond Africa.   If you have been following the story of Arghand cooperative in Afghanistan, started by former NPR reporter Sarah Chayse,  you know that even after many years of struggle, the very existence of the cooperative is still threatened by the Taliban.    

Just this month Taliban forces escaped a prison in Kandahar province.  Last week, government forces launched an offensive against Taliban fighters in Arghandab where the cooperative is located.  As Sarah said this morning in an NPR interview, the cooperative is a “soap factory in a shooting gallery… 

Certainly these challenges are discouraging, but I believe there is opportunity in every circumstance. Many of the principles of Fair Trade — sustainability, equality, democracy, economic independence – can be applied to tribes, towns, provinces, and nations as well as individuals and cooperatives. 

What could make a teddy bear even better?   Make it out of Alpaca fur.  If you get your hands on one of our new bears, just try to put it down! 

White Alpaca fur makes them the softest, warmest bears you’ll ever hold.  Each one is hand made in Ecuador from naturally-grown Alpaca fur.  You can select a small or medium size online, but you have to come to the shop to see the large bears keeping watch in our store.   

If you ladies want to get noticed while out on the town, chose one of our elegant new cocktail rings made close by in Madison, Wis.  Each one features a crystal or faux pearl surrounded by an impressive band of shimmering silver beads.  The band stretches to fit any size finger making them easy to wear. 

Our new tagua heart necklaces are more casual for those informal summer gatherings or simply an everyday accent.  Ecuadorian tagua nut is carved into a heart shape with a swirl through the middle before it is dyed a deep chocolate brown.  It’s a great complement to our breezy, colorful blouses.  

Come back soon to see more fairly traded, distinctive, handmade merchandize from around the world.

Keep shopping your good values! 

I just ran across the term “passive consumption” this morning.  Being a wordsmith from way back, it struck me as the perfect term for how we as Americans do so much of our shopping.  How many times have you been on autopilot when buying — guided only by lowest price, or easy access?   I plead guilty!  

It’s so easy to forget how much power we have.  Americans consume more products than any other country in the world.  I would think we would want to drive that constant tidal wave of spending dollars toward the greater good rather than what is easiest or cheapest.  

Active consumption, of course, implies effort.  Exactly right!  You have to get off the beaten path, read labels, think about the choice you are making when you buy a loaf of bread or a pair of shoes.  

Fortunately, it’s getting easier to make more informed decisions without lots of research and leg work.  Green products and Fair Trade products are more available than ever before.  Chain stores like Whole Foods and  Starbucks are bringing thousands of organic, sustainable, and Fair Trade products to the market.  Local retailers, like us, are filling in the gaps and expanding the shopping consciousness.  

Finally, I’ll offer my one step challenge.   Sometimes we have to walk before we can run.   So, I challenge you to change just one item that you normally consume.   Change your coffee, look for the locally produced honey, or find that new blouse by shopping Fair Trade online.  

Change happens one step at a time, so let me know how it’s going.  Put yourself one step closer to becoming a truly “active” consumer.

Keep shopping your good values! 

The world celebrates fair trade today, May 10th.  More than ever, the world needs the solutions that Fair Trade offers.  Achieving and sustaining a clean environment is one of the benefits of Fair Trade. 

Ecology is this year’s theme.  It’s a natural focus that fits perfectly with the goals of all of us involved in Fair Trade.  From the web home of the World Fair Trade Day:

Fair Trade is a force for protecting the environment while promoting sustainable development. Fair Trade favours the sustainable use of natural resources and production methods that are not capital and oil intensive, favouring hand production and organic agriculture - to reduce the carbon footprint.

Events are happening all over the world, including right here in Viroqua, the town we call home.  Our friends at Kickapoo Coffee are participating in the World Fair Trade Day Coffee Break.  They hope this will be the largest coffee break the world has ever seen as millions sip a cup of Fair Trade brew to honor the accomplishments of the Fair Trade Coffee Industry.  

Fairly traded coffee is still the largest component of Fair Trade business around the world.   We sell our fair share of coffee here at Driftless Fair Traders, along with our teas and other gourmet items.

If you would like to know more about this special day, follow this link to World Fair Trade Day. 

Keep shopping your good values! 

What do you do when the world is getting you down and you can’t take anymore bad news?  For Enika Poehling, the answer was somersaults. 

Enika was in our shop a few days ago picking up fair trade gifts for a family with a newborn along with a couple of other items.    We chatted for quite awhile and, at one point, she related how she recently resolved the symptoms caused by contemplating the more frustrating problems of the world. 

After listening to a particularly horrendous news story about a government contractor using tar full of toxic waste to pave municipal streets, she had reached her breaking point.  “I was like this,” she said gritting her teeth and clenching her fists.  I’m sure you can relate. 

Someone had advised her to put her feet up to combat stress and muscle strain.   It occured to her to just continue the movement and roll all the way over.   After completing a series of somersaults, she said she was cured of the stress of the moment.  “I’m 59 and half and I’m doing somersaults,” she chuckled at me giddily. 

Sometimes the thing we need is silly, delightful, and a bit childish, like running through puddles or making snow angels.  On the other hand, there are lots of practical and powerful ways to combat the world’s problems. Perhaps buying fair trade artisan goods is like doing a somersault with your pocketbook. 

Thanks, Enika, for a great story. 

Keep shopping your good values! 

Kile