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!

If you are like I am, you want to support local business as much as possible.  We are blessed here with some wonderful locally-owned places to shop, but that leads to a dilemma.  Where do I spend my dollars?  

We have a co-op and a home-town grocery in our village.  There is a co-op in the town where we work as well as a little general store.  In summer there is the added choice of a farmers market.  I want them all to thrive, but my dollars are limited. 

In our little village of 654 souls, business survives on very little.  Every dollar counts.  If a small percentage take their money elsewhere, I could quickly lose some of my choices.  So, I want to spend my dollars more wisely. 

After thinking about this lately, my shopping decisions are admittedly random and have more to do with convenience than purpose.  Sometimes the hours don’t fit my schedule, sometimes it is not on the way to where I am going. 

It is up to me and you to make our local businesses sustainable.  We have to make intentional choices to accomplish that goal.  If we simply think a little more and plan ahead, we can all spend more dollars with our local merchants. 

Here are some ideas for you to think about.  

1. Go to your farmer’s market.   It doesn’t come any fresher, unless you pick it yourself.
2. Ask your local merchant to carry items that you want or need.  Trust me, we love to know what you want, rather than try to guess.
3. Spend dollars where you know they will come back to you.   If you sell your milk to the local cheese maker, shouldn’t you buy their cheese? 
4. Look for locally made products wherever you shop.  Sometimes even big boxes have locally made products.
5. Move your money to a neighborhood bank or credit union.  Most local financial institutions have competitive services and returns.  Focusing your money on local lending may not cost you a thing.  

What are your ideas about keeping your dollars local?

Keep shopping your good values!  

Pie and coffee are a great combination.   It’s easy to find a good cup brewed with beans from another country that were fairly traded, but the locally grown berries in your pie probably weren’t.  While the principles of fair trade are spreading throughout the developing world, it is ironic to realize they are largely not practiced right here in the US. 

My hat is off to the Local Fair Trade Network, based in Minneapolis, Minn., for trying to change that.  This grassroots effort, supported mostly by food co-ops in Minnesota and Wisconsin, is working to get fair trade practices adopted by growers of local produce. 

To that end, they have called for growers and retailers in the Midwest to take the pledge.  The pledge commits growers to practice principals including, respect for worker’s freedom of association and right to collective bargaining, providing adequate health and safety protections, and providing a living wage. 

Just a few local farms have taken the pledge, but I hope more will join in making fair trade principles part of their production process.  

Note:  Don’t miss Sarah Chayse on Bill Moyers Journal this Friday night on PBS.  Check your local listings, as they say…

Keep shopping your good values.

Kile