Fair Trade Blog

While a customer was in our store, she happened upon the perfect gift for a friend of hers.  Mother’s Day is, of course, for mother’s, but this customer’s friend has no children of her own.  She wanted to give her a gift anyway.  ”My friend is one of the most generous people I know,” she explained.  

They say that blood is thicker than water, but I think that kindness and generosity are thicker still.  There are many women without children who’ve taken to mothering.  One of the owners of the building our store calls home taught several generations of local kids, but never had any of her own.  Like my customer’s friend, she found other ways to nurture.  

The founder of our modern Mother’s Day – you may be surprised to learn – never had any children either.   Anna Javis took over her mother’s work in establishing a national day of celebration for moms by convincing her church to hold a special service for mothers once a year.  The practice quickly spread and moved Congress to pass a resolution in 1914 proclaiming the 2nd Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.  

So we should remember and honor the mothers in our lives, whether they bore us or not. 

Because she loves to sew, my customer’s friend is receiving a beautiful abalone thimble from Mexico.  We have all sorts of gifts a mother will love, but it’s not the only way to honor your mother.   A simple phone call, card, or visit can be just as lovely. 

Keep shopping your good values!  

Though spring is having a hard time arriving here in the upper Midwest, it’s definitely spring in our store.  We did a photo shoot to bring you our new spring and summer clothing.  I had great fun with our models Andrew and Rain along with our photographer Rebecca. 

It was a welcome bright spot on a cold, rainy day.  

Our new blouses are just the thing for those warm days now arriving.  Handmade embroidery on fantastic colors including reds, blues, greens, and yellows highlight our breezy new selection. 

We have new “pirate” shirts to bring out the scoundrel in the guys.  Our men’s short sleeve shirts come in traditional blue, white, and ivory.  

For your warm weather walk about, we have colorful shoulder bags for guys or gals that include roomy pockets and casual style.  Very comfortable!

Our jewelry selection now includes a wonderful single-bloosom necklace carved from Tagua nut.   The selection of colors will help you compliment any outfit.   We found out at our shoot that they go particularly well with our new blouses. 

Keep shopping your good values! 

Arghand Soap is once again available on our website and in our shop, so we eagerly await your order for this special product.  We have Amandine, Anisette, Elixir of Artemis, Mountain Herb, Pebbles, and my favorite, Pomegranate.  Dig in! 

We also have more Arghand bookmarks featuring colorful photos of  women working with pomegranantes.  A beautiful reminder of their handmade products.  We include one with each order.  

Arghand continues to move ahead.  The resumption of shipments is a step forward.  The cooperative is planning to get solar power installed so that they can continue working even when the local power fails.  We hope that project is completed soon so that the cooperative gains a little more independence from the situation that continues to swirl around them.

Meanwhile, spring has finally arrived in the northern tier.  So has a lot of spring and summer fashion. Look for new items on our website next week! 

Keep shopping your good values!  

Kile

Purchasing Fair Trade products is one way to help end poverty around the world. There are a whole host of other ways, including charitable donations, but the latest and hottest trend is giving micro loans to impoverished entrepreneurs.  It’s something I’m considering doing myself.  

Micro loans are not new, but since Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi banker, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his work through his Grameen Bank, the concept has achieved cache across the globe.  

Basically, micro loans are small amounts of money loaned to budding business people in impoverished parts of the world.  The amounts can range from the tens of dollars to a few hundred dollars.   The start ups can range from buying a cow for milking to purchasing a cell phone to provide communication services to a whole village.  

Micro loans have helped thousands build sustainable businesses and escape poverty.  The process is not without it’s critics, however.  

A recent New Yorker article points out that there is evidence that the micro loans are helping individuals stay out of poverty, but are not helping to build a middle class — a necessary step for entire countries like Bangladesh to emerge from poverty. 

This larger issue, say critics, is the so-called “missing middle.”  Credit has always been available to the wealthy, even in impoverished areas, and micro loans are allowing the poor to become self-employed in their own microbusinesses.  But credit is still scarce for middle class business people ready to build enterprises that employ others — business start-ups or expansions that require more than a few hundred dollars for a small factory, workshop, or storefront.  

Though its perhaps important to note this ”donut hole” of need, it seems to me to be a red herring.  Micro loans are designed to lift individuals out of poverty, not finance the next generation of employers.  Programs should be created to extend credit to larger enterprises that will create sustainable work for the poor.  Microfinance will not accomplish that goal.  

Kiva is one of the largest and best known non-profit orgs where you can make micro loans online.  Using their site, you can choose an entrepreneur and then help fund their loan request.  As with many other microfinance programs, Kiva does not collect interest on their loans for the investor, you simply get the principal back to reinvest or withdraw.  Another avenue is a direct donation to the Grameen Foundation which in turn provides micro loans. 

Some Fair Trade organizations offer micro loan programs as well.  A Greater Gift will provide your loan to their producing cooperatives to help them support their production, for example, by buying raw materials.  There are also micro loans programs that will generate a small return for your money.  

As with any investment there is risk involved,  so do your homework before you pull out your credit or debit card. 

Keep shopping your good values!

Kile

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

People are increasingly shopping with their principals as well as their pocketbooks in mind.  It’s not always easy to match your values with the places you shop or the things you buy.  We live in a fast paced and complex world.  It’s hard to keep up with what’s available and the busineses that provide them. 

There are tools that can help.   One great example, (one I use myself) is the Fair Trade Federation.   Not only does their website have current information about fair trade, but you can search for specific fair trade products under their “Find Products” heading on their homepage.

Want someone you can empathize with?  WalletMouth (Aptly named, don’t you think?), maintained by Bronwyn Ximm, documents her personal struggle to put her money where her mouth is.  The conversational way she presents information and tools she has tested herself makes this folksy site fun and valuable.  My favorite is her “Buycotts & Boycotts” section.

For a more interactive experience, check out dotherightthing.com.  Here you can help rate businesses on their social responsibility by submitting news articles about specific companies.  Visitors to the site rank the importance of the news and companies get a rating.   Currently, their top rated company is Seventh Generation, maker of green household products.  

In this political season the big issues are on everyone’s mind — global warming, the environment, social justice, and lately, race relations. We all get reminded more and more that our purchases count — they have an impact.  I want to know how you are making a difference with your pocketbook.  Drop us a comment on this post.

Of course, we are here to help you with new spring arrivals.  We look forward to seeing you in the shop and online. 

Keep shopping your good values!

Kile

So many inquiries about when we will once again have soaps from Arghand Cooperative in Afghanistan!   I believe our collective patience will be rewarded. 

Another delay has reared it’s ugly head.  We received word on March 4th that their most recent shipment had been delayed.  Apparently, the usual channel through the Canadian military had broken down, so the process for shipping out of the country had to be re-established.  On top of that, the Canadian post office apparently had an issue with the size of the shipment. 

Unfortunately, we have no other specifics.  We do know that it normally takes several weeks for the shipment to reach North America and then more time for Arghand to work through their back orders.  But we are hopeful we will have supply on the way in a few weeks. 

I hope you have bookmarked our homepage so you can keep up to date.

In the meantime, we will have some exciting new products to offer you online in April.  Spring brings us new jewelry, clothing, and accessories for you to browse. 

Keep shopping your good values!

Kile

You could say Sandi Funk is a little twisted when it comes to everyday household items.  Take silverware, for example.  Most are content to simply eat with it, but Sandi sees all kinds of characters and scenes in your typical table knife, spoon, or serving utensil. Her handcrafted Funkyware is whimsical, surprising, and, yes, a little off the wall. Each “personality” is a true work of art.  

Sandi’s work is on display in our shop this week as our featured artist for March.

Sandi is a local girl who milked cows and ran a grocery store right here in the Driftless region before she moved with her husband to central Florida.

It is rumored that the artistic bug bit Sandi while she was in college in DeKalb, Ill., at Northern Illinois University.  That was where she owned and ran a coffee house, Juicy John Pink’s, with her husband Mike.  They often had guest artists play or display their work in their java joint. 

Her work extends beyond Funkyware to her love of stain-glass work. Check out her beautiful sun catchers featured in our windows.  

Come in and check out Sandi’s work.

Keep shopping your good values!

Kile

In it’s hey day, the Hotel Fortney was a way stop for tobacco buyers, traveling salesman, bussiness men and any tired soul with the price of a room.  Today, the building houses the working poor, the disabled, the retired, and our store, Driftless Fair Traders.  You can see an historical painting of the old girl here.  

Craig Anderson, Kathi Irwin, and Beatrice Small bought the Viroqua, Wis., building in late 2005, and have been cleaning and renovating the building ever since.  Their mission for the resident space is to provide accomodations for low income people.  

We are pleased that Saint Mary Parish Social Concerns Committee plans to help meet the food needs of the residents. 

One Sunday a month, the committee hopes to arrange for a meal at the Fortney.   In addition, the committee hopes to work with other parish groups to bring excess food to the Fortney, such as from funerals or other parish gatherings.  It’s already happening.  Just this morning four women dropped off food from a parish breakfast.  

There are children and less capable individuals living in the hotel, so I will feel better knowing they are getting wholesome food on a regular basis.   

Keep shopping your good values.

Kile

Since Arghand Cooperative founder Sarah Chayes’ interview with Bill Moyers aired on Friday, Feb., 22, we have been inundated with orders and requests for Arghand soap.  Unfortunately, we have only a few pieces of soap left at this time.   Please call for availability.  608-630-1548.  

Intense, moving, and eye opening, Sarah Chayse’s appearance last night on Bill Moyer’s Journal could not have been more powerful.   (Bill Moyer’s Journal is rebroadcast on some stations, so check local listings.  You can watch the video here.)  

She expressed the ongoing struggle of the Afghan people from the point of view of someone who has lived in the country for some time now.  Her personal and journalistic perspectives on the war are enlightening to anyone who watches the interview.  

Six years now after the overthrow of the Taliban regime, she says security and opportunity for Afghans is slipping away.  It is no longer possible to drive the main highway from Kandahar to Kabul without threat from the Taliban. Poppy is resurgent as a crop and is so prolific it has become the currency of trade in some situations.  A billion dollars for infrastructure has only resulted in electricity for a few hours a day.  Conditions in which Arghand must produce soap and oils are difficult. 

Moyers asked her if she is still optimisitc, if she still has hope.  “I don’t think hope is relevant,” she said.  “I think determination is all that counts.”   She insists that we can’t let the world take up a new global war in which the East is locked with the West in endless struggle.

Her soap cooperative gives us an opportunity to share her determination.