Education And More has finally been approved for membership into the Fair Trade Federation!

We work very hard to help our women artisans in so many ways and we realize we work using Fair Trade principals and guidelines so it is fabulous that our application has been approved.

To learn more about the Fair Trade Federation please check out their website.  We also have many blog posts about Fair Trade so check out our tags on Fair Trade.

Fair Trade guidelines are the best methods to use in transacting business — but then how else would we form working relationships except that it be a blessing to the artisans, their families and communities!

The growing popularity of Malbec, New Zealand Pinot Noir, biodynamic viticulture, citizen wine blogging, waning influence of uber-critic Robert Parker, and $10 wines are just a few of the trends shaping the wine scene of tomorrow.

Another notable trend having an impact, although admittedly small right now, is the growing prominence of social responsibility within the wine industry with an emphasis on fair and equitable treatment of the folks on the very front of the wine life cycle.

One ‘relatively new’ form of social responsibility making it’s way in to the wine industry is Fair Trade.  For those unfamiliar with the concept, Fair Trade products support farmers in emerging/developing nations through ethical treatment, fair prices, environmental stewardship, and community development.  I’ve had Fair Trade coffee, sugar, and chocolate, but never Fair Trade wine, until a few weeks ago…

As I’m roaming around Sam’s Club one Saturday afternoon loading up on food samples, I noticed a huge yellow, star-shaped shelf taker in the wine section touting their ‘new’ Fair Trade wine (new to this area) -  Neu Direction Malbec.

Neu Direction Malbec benefits the local farmers of Viña de la Solidaridad (Vine of Solidarity), an association based on preserving the rich, cultural heritage of the contratista-landowner relationship.  Ten small vineyard owners and nine contratistas make up the association.  The contratistas lives on the land with their families and are paid a percentage of the grape harvest by the vineyard owners.  The association currently owns 200 acres of vineyards with about a third certified organic, with plans to convert more over the coming years.  ~ Organic Wine Trade website

Neu Direction is produced by Bodega Furlotti S.A., from Mendoza, Argentina.  This wine is certified Fair Trade based on standards established by TransFair, the only independent third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the US.  2008 was the first year of the TransFair certification program.

Neu Direction 2006 Malbec – As a general rule, I try to avoid spending my wine dollars at big box stores, especially at Sam’s Club, but at just $9.99 for this wine, I went for it.  Deep purple in the glass, this wine showed basic dark fruits, licorice and earth.  Mild tannins with flavors of a blueberry, blackberry, and plum pie baked in a wood burning oven.  An ‘ok’ Malbec, reasonably priced, with a great mission!

With just 4.3 million bottles of Fair Trade wine sold, this movement is clearly in its infancy, with a lot of room to grow.

Curious if others have had experience with Fair Trade wines.  If so, leave a comment with your thoughts or any recommendations.

___________________________

I was giddy to have the chance at reviewing a personalized necklace from Wow Imports.  Wow, is right it came to my door and was immediately opened to find a spectacular necklace.

WoW Imports has a great selection of personalized jewelry and there is still time to get their items in time for Christmas.  WoW Imports has rings, bracelets, cuff links, and necklaces.

I received the Vanessa necklace and it is very pretty.  It is great for dress up and great for jeans and tees.  It’s one of those versitile pieces that becomes your daily wear.  The quality of this necklace impressed me too.  This is a great gift to give those hard to shop for.  It shows  them know you picked this gift just for them.

When choosing a necklace here are some of the options you have.

• The name you want on the necklace.
• Chain Type
• Pendant Thickness
• Whether or not you want a Swarovski Crystal
• You can also let them know where you would like the Crystal placed
• Custom Ending

Wow Imports has much more than just jewelry.  They have African Fair Trade Bead and Wire Art and let me just say it’s beautiful.  Recycled Art and Tagua Nut Vegetable Ivory Carves are great gift gives too.

SAVE! Using witch5 for a 5% discount.

Win It:

WoW Imports has generously offered one Networking Witches reader a necklace of their own.

Mandatory Entry:

Go to the Wow Imports site and tell me what other item you love besides the name necklaces.

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Giveaway Ends 12/10/2009

Please Read Networking Witches Terms and Rules

Our Disclosure

I love business and commerce! It’s what I studied for my undergraduate degree and it’s in my blood and I love working with people to help them achieve their dreams.

I am also passionate about social justice. I absolutely love helping people because I know what it’s like to grow up or to live in a third world environment and I know what it is like to grow up in need.

God has given us so much in North America – we are an absolutely resource-blessed nation; because of that, I believe we are charged with the responsibility to bless others.

I want to challenge you business folks out there: Incorporate giving into your corporation!

What do I mean by this?

I know yearly, most federal governments provide tax credits for corporations that donate gifts and charity – but that is not what I am talking about. I am actually asking you to take a look at your company and ask yourself: can my company do something to help other people? Can I give back what I have gained financially?

• If you own a restaurant, can you provide cheap or free meals to the homeless?
• If you own a business, can you employ the homeless or working poor so that you can help them out of their situation?
• Do you encourage your employees to seek further education? Do you provide free education or free seminars for your employees?
• Does your company encourage your employees to go and help at the local homeless shelters?
• The list goes on and on and on…

For a more global approach: Do you give away free products to third world countries? (I am not talking about dumping products where they shouldn’t be going!)

TOMS Shoes is an amazing story of an entrepreneur who decided to create a business around the idea of social justice: for every pair of shoes sold by TOMS, a pair of shoes is donated to the poor in America or around the world. This is an entrepreneur who looked at a business model and said “I don’t have to make X amount of dollars – I can do this to help people!”

Some photographers that I follow on the blogosphere also do something similar by giving away their time and their talent to document what is going on around the world. Kenny Kim recently went with a team of photographers to Tanzania to document the relief and developmental work that Thirst Relief does in the area.

I recently challenged the students who are becoming engineers in my home church to use their studies for an eternal purpose. I challenged them to create bio-sand water filters that cost less than the current ones being made around the world. Currently it costs an average of $100 to make a bio-sand water filter… can we make them for $50? $40? $30?

Whatever you do for your work, ask yourself if you can incorporate giving into your corporation?

“Red Carpet”, ins Deutsche übersetzt “Roter Teppich” ist Event-Fotografie bei bestimmten, vorzugsweise von Promis besuchten Veranstaltungen. Charities, Filmpremieren, Bälle, Empfänge. Eben all das, wo die “Reichen und die Schönen” sich ein Stelldichein geben.

Stars & Sternchen, Showbiz, Film und TV, Material dazu nimmt die Regenbogenpresse ab, die Boulevardzeitungen, aber auch die Tagespresse. Es ist begehrt von Frauenzeitschriften, unterhaltenden Magazinen und auch als Einblendungen im TV. Durchaus also ein lukrativer Markt.

Marquess – © Foto Ralf Gosch / Pressebüro Roth

Nun bietet eine Microstock-Agentur (Shutterstock) ihren Fotografen an, sie für Red-Carpet-Events mit Presse-Status als Fotografen zu akkreditieren. Zielgruppe sind Hobby-Fotografen, die gerne an solchen Ereignissen teilnehmen und fotografieren würden.

Das hört sich erst mal interessant an, wird nun mancher denken. Tut es. Aber der Pferdefuß lauert: die Honorare sind Micro. Also wenig lukrativ. Den Medien wird im Gegenzug billiges Bildmaterial dafür angeboten. RF, micro, also beliebig oft verwendbar. Ohne Neu-Honorierung.

Für Microstock ist das der Versuch, in ein klassisches Segment der Pressefotografie mit großer Nachfrage vorzudringen. Nachdem bereits große Teile der klassischen Illustrationsfotografie auch in der Presse, in Rätselheften, Gartenzeitschriften, Programmzeitschriften u.v.m. von Microstocks bedient werden.

Microstock schickt sich an, ein neues Terrain zu betreten. Das Terrain von Action Press, von Teutopress, STAR-MEDIA oder Seeger Press und vielen anderen mehr, die Events covern und  ihr Bildmaterial rights managed vermarkten. Also mit MFM-üblicher Honorierung jeder einzelnen Verwendung.

Wer sich als Hobby-Fotograf auf dieses Angebot einläßt, geht zwar gedankenlos aber vorsätzlich professionellen Event-Fotografen und ihren Agenturen ans Portemonnaie und damit auch an die Existenzgrundlage!

Wer sich auch als Amateur für diese Art der Fotografie interessiert, dem sei ein anderer Weg empfohlen:

Die Bildagentur Bildmaschine vermarktet Event-Fotografie rights managed zu den üblichen Konditionen. Diese Agentur ist eingebunden in das APIS-Network, Europas größte Recherche-Plattform für Bildverwender und besitzt zu vielen Medien den direkten FTP-Zugang. Diese Agentur akkreditiert auch für Veranstaltungen. Und das Geschäftsmodell ist “fair trade”.

Verwandte Artikel:

1. Fotografen-Alltag, der ganz normale Wahnsinn 
2. Microstock, ein Rotes Tuch oder …. ?
3. Zum Thema Honorare
4. Gericht setzt Regeln für angemessene Honorare fest (externer Link, Dirk Beumer, Industrie- und Werbe-Fotograf)
5. Der Beitrag dazu bei Freelens (über FREELENS)
6. Zur Urteilsbegründung bei Mediafon.net (über Mediafon)
7. Ein weiteres Urteil zur redlichen und angemessenen Vergütung (externer Link, Blog Bildjournalisten des DJV)

Empfehlungen:

Hobbyfotografen, die ein ernsthaftes Interesse haben, sich professionelles Wissen anzueignen, denen seien u.a. die Workshops meines Freundes und Kollegen Rainer Jörger, Freier Bildjournalist aus Villingen-Schwenningen empfohlen. Informationen dazu auf seiner Website: http://www.joerger-media.de/

Und auch wir werden voraussichtlich auch im nächsten Jahr wieder unsere Seminare anbieten. Behalten Sie dazu dieses Blog im Auge.

Check out this amazing video that speaks so clearly about how we as a Church and a culture can do our part to Change the World.

Lets do our part in bringing people dignity, hope and purpose.

“De 5de editie van de GP van Hasselt was een heuse top-editie. De temperatuur piekte en er was een massa volk opgedaagd in het Kapermolenpark van Hasselt. Het duel Nijs – Albert, wat iedereen verwachtte, kwam er niet. Het werd een sprint tussen 4 jonge leeuwen en uiteindelijk ging Stybar met de eerste plaats lopen,” aldus Rob Beenders op zijn blog (zie links op de foto, onderaan artikel).

Ook de Wereldwinkel van Hasselt bedankt bij deze nogmaals de organisatoren, die fair trade stukje bij beetje meer integreren in hun organisatie.

Ondertussen liet Hans Van Kasteren – ook broodheer van Stybar en Bart Wellens – weten dat hij als organisator van de Superprestige Veldrijden in Zonhoven (7 februari) ook voor fairtradepakketten kiest!

Dàt is typisch voor het fenomeen fair trade, voor wie er maar geen kop of staart aan kan krijgen: inspireren en geïnspireerd worden.

Mama’s THANKSGIVING WEEKEND SALE
Those of you who have been clients for a while know that Mama Afrika doesn’t really believe in “sale prices”, “deep discounts” and “drastic reductions”… “Why not?” You ask yourself.

Well, the idea is simple: Mama Afrika doesn’t have sky high mark ups on products. She believes that the reason for selling fair trade African products is to feed African families; not become a billionaire and drive a fancy sports car.

So, we only mark our products up as much as is necessary to help the business branch out to include new cooperatives in new countries. As you’ve probably noticed: offering the best price possible is part of our plan. We know that if our prices are great; then so are sales. If we were able to discount items to 50% off a few times a year; then you would know that the rest of the year… we were charging you 50% too much! Easy to understand right?

Well, Mama’s making an exception this year. And she’d like you to know why: This economic crisis is tough for everyone. Its probably affected your family in some way too, directly or indirectly. Unfortunately, African families are having a really tough time too. The crisis has meant fewer sales locally and globally for them; thus less income for many who were making it day to day as it is.

So, this Friday through Monday only, Mama Afrika is discounting prices in the hope that it will encourage you to reach out and help these families make it. Many items will be sold at almost no mark-up. But, if that allows us to re-order products from our cooperatives, that is enough for now.

God has blessed us many times over the past 9 years and we are hoping that this gesture shows you how dedicated Mama is to the women she has grown so fond of.

And, this year Mama will be sending the 10% donation to help our cooperative members children celebrate Christmas this year. We will be donating toys, art supplies and sending donations to help those most in need make it through the holiday season.

Come by Mama’s Open Market this weekend after you have eaten your turkey, and given thanks for all that you have… and help us give our cooperative members reasons to be thankful too.

Best wishes for a happy, healthy and safe Thanksgiving. May it offer you the opportunity to be surrounded by your family and friends.

Blessings, from our family to yours,

Mama

I have a deadline tomorrow afternoon, so coffee has been my primary fuel the last days. Strong , dark roasted (fair trade) coffee with hot milk.  Simple and a yummy.  But, even if coffee and writing belongs together, neither coffee and paper nor coffee and computer keybords goes well together. So, to get the writing a little more exciting I put my glass of coffee close to the keyboard, forgot about it and knocked it over and ruined the laptop keyboard earlier today. Fortunately – I realized afterwards – the coffee didn’t reach the notebook with notes for the paper, which – since the notes were not written in bulletproof ink -  had been a real disaster. I guess I have to consider writing my study notes in Noodler’s bulletproof black even if I detest the nib creep and that it feels like it is flooding from the nib.Another bright thing is that I have begun to use my Sailor Sapporo again. I had forgotten what a great little  pen for note taking, margin notes etc that it is. It is very precise and even if it is small it is very comfortable to write with. A review of Sailor Sapporo can be found here and if you check the review index you’ll find more reviews of the Sapporo.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our Armeno Coffee fans!

To launch this season of good will, we feature one of our favorite certified Fair Trade coffees, the Armeno Fair Trade Yirgacheffe.

First, a few words about Fair Trade. You see the term so often, but do you really understand what it means? Fair Trade was developed to empower farming families across Latin America, Africa, and Asia to lift themselves out of poverty.  The Fair Trade certification indicates that the product you are purchasing has met rigorous standards for:

• Fair price
• Fair labor conditions
• Direct trade
• Democratic and transparent organizations
• Community development
• Environmental sustainability

Fair Trade Certification is currently available in the U.S. for coffee, tea and herbs, cocoa and chocolate, fresh fruit, sugar, rice, and vanilla.

TransFair USA, a non-profit organization, is the only independent, third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the U.S. Click here to learn more and visit their web site.

Fair Trade Yirgacheffe

Yirgacheffe is a truly wild coffee from the Yirgacheffe region of Ethiopia.  It is often picked by very small landholders or in the wild and then sold through a gathering co-op. This irregular coffee is processed and dried at numerous huts and homes and may be the farmer’s only cash crop. Often it possesses a lemony-citrus aftertaste with medium body.

Armeno Coffee Roasters’ Fair Trade Yirgacheffe is a primitive coffee from the birthplace of coffee!

Fair Trade Yirgacheffe is also included in our Fair Trade Sampler Pack, pictured below, which features Fair Trade coffees from around the world and makes a great Holiday Gift  that shares your love of great coffee and support of Fair Trade principles.

Armeno Coffee Roasters Fair Trade Sampler Pack

Enjoy!

Armeno Coffee Roasters

Despite the fact that I do not drink hot drinks (I’m not quite mature enough for that yet), I would love a nice, steamy cup of coffee right now, one of those ones from Starbucks with all trimmings that looks like some spectacular dessert. It may perk me up a little, I hear caffeine does that for you.Coffee is big business in the western world. All you have to do is stroll down the High Street to see my point. Queen Street in Cardiff has about 4 Starbucks alone and then there are the Cafe Nero’s and Costa Coffee making sure you are never short of choices of places to have a quick uplifting cup.

Globally more than 2 billion cups of coffee are drunk every day, that’s a lot of coffee beans.

Starbucks is the leading retailer, roaster and brand of speciality coffee in the world. It has an interesting history which you can read on their website but basically what started as a coffee chain in Seattle has become a global sensation, we even have them in Northern Ireland! Seriously though, the day Starbucks arrived on Northern Irish soil cries of joy could be heard, well throughout my school but I’m sure it was more widespread than that.

You can't turn a corner without coming across one

On their website you can find your nearest store and when I checked to see how many Starbucks there were in a 5 mile radius the answer was….10. Am I the only one who thinks that’s crazy? Starbucks is taking over.

The video below is the trailer for a documentary called Black Gold.

It’s easy to pick up your coffee on your way to work, on a break or while you’re shopping, hand over the money and not give a second thought to the process that actually allowed you to carry out this transaction. You buying a cup of coffee or even buying a bag of coffee from the supermarket is the end of a long and highly unequal chain.

Coffee growers toiling away so we can have our daily Starbucks

The full documentary, Black Gold, is well worth a watch and follows a man in Ethiopia who sells bags of coffee beans, grown by a large group of coffee farmers in his area, on to roasting companies. The place were all the big money in the coffee commodity chain is made. I would encourage people to watch it themselves just to get an idea of how many peoples lives depend on the coffee trade.

Ethiopia is the largest producer of coffee in Africa with over 15 million people depending on coffee for survival (and not in the way we depend on coffee to stay awake during the day). It provides 67% of Ethiopia’s export revenue.

The heavy workload for coffee workers on a daily basis

Jobs range from working on the farms collecting the beans to going through each bean in factories to ensure they are top quality to be sent on to the roasters. Woman who inspect and pick through the beans earn less than half a dollar a day for 8 hours work.

Profits from the coffee trade are unfairly distributed, farmers who grow the coffee in places like Ethiopia struggle to survive contrasted with the big coffee companies who rake in the money.

I’ll leave you with this quote I found on the Oxfam Education website.

“I’d like to tell people in your place that the drink they are enjoying is now the cause of all our problems. We grow the crop with our sweat and sell it for nothing.” Lawrence Seguya – Ugandan coffee farmer

Fair Trade coffee is a step in the right direction but more work needs to be done to help coffee farmers and squash the inequalities which exist in this commodity chain.

Go fair trade...the way forward?

I may reconsider letting the caffeine monkey win me over but if I do succumb, as many journalists do, I think I’ll opt for Fair Trade.

Cambria Cove, a catalog which features a “thoughtfully selected offering of unexpected delights from artisans, designers and visionary brands around the world,” now partners with Mercado Global to bring some our artisans’ unique designs to the global market. For the holiday season, Cambria Cove will feature Mercado Global’s beautiful Beaded Evening Bag.

Beaded Evening Bag by Mercado Global, as seen on Cambria Cove’s online catalog.

As Jewelry Production Coordinator, I oversaw the production of the bag from start to finish. Mercado Global worked with three of our partner cooperatives to create these high-quality bags for Cambria Cove: San Jorge la Laguna, Artesanas Mayas, and Artesanas Atitlán. All three cooperatives are located in communities on the banks of Lake Atitlán.

As a former member of one of Mercado Global’s jewelry cooperatives, I could relate to the artisans’ excitement about the work opportunity they got due to this order – Mercado Global paid them three times the average daily wage in their communities. The creation of each one of these bags requires a great deal of patience, skill, and time. Despite the amount of care that is required, however, the women are eager to have many more orders because they are motivated by the increased earnings they are receiving.

Jewelry artisan creates products for sales generated through Mercado Global.

Cambria Cove has also picked up our Fiesta Table Linens Collection. Each item in this gorgeous collection has a unique story. The table runner is derived from a unique scarf design created by artisans in the Chuacruz community. The inspiration for the napkins came from the fabric the women use to make scarves. The design for the napkin rings came from the bracelets the jewelry groups sell to tourists who visit Lake Atitlán year round.

Global Fiesta Stripe Table Runner by Mercado Global, as seen on Cambria Cove’s online catalog.

You can see all our products that Cambria Cove carries here. We are pleased that Cambria Cove has chosen to support socially-responsible consumerism and help us in our efforts to end poverty in Guatemala.

NOTE: This blog post was written in Spanish and translated by Harry Stevens.

It’s not even Thanksgiving yet but we know that some of you already have shopping on the brain. To find local and eco-friendly gifts for the holidays, consider stopping by the Downtown Holiday Market, which will be opening on December 4, 2009.

The market runs from noon to 8:00pm through December 23, 2009 and is produced by the Downtown DC Business Improvement District and Diverse Markets Management.

Here are some of the fair trade and eco-friendly items that will be on sale:

• Harun’s African Art (MD) – Handcrafted tableware and jewelry made of copper and brass alloys from South Africa; sales support upwards of 70 families of the Ndebele culture in the Lowveld of South Africa near Kruger National Park
• Figs & Ginger (NC) – Eco-friendly sterling jewelry
• Jenafusion (VA) – Handcrafted fashion accessories made from recycled, reclaimed, vintage, and new material. Products include hats, purses, scarves and wallets.
• The Devil Made Me Do It (MD) – One-of-a-kind clothing from 99% “upcycled” materials.
• The Red Persimmon (MD) – Fair trade and handmade gifts from India, Bali, Uganda, Mexico.  Items include clothing, linens, silk and cotton purses, ornaments, and accessories.
• Three Stone Steps (MD) – Eco-friendly and fair trade accessories imported from Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Haiti. Products include bags, wallets, silk scarves, and jewelry.

Some local food vendors of note will include:

• Guata-Java (MD) – Specialty fair trade, organic Guatemalan coffee.
• J. Chocolatier (DC) – Handmade luxury truffles and buttery caramels.
• Tea Co (VA) – Organic loose leaf teas and tea wares.
• Terre de Provence (MD) – Specialty olive oil.

Hace unas semana,  se llevo e cabo en la Oficinas de Fairtrade Foundation, Londres la Mesa Redonda Cacao Comercio Justo. Hasta Londres, viajó la secretaria ejecutiva de APPCACAO, Teonila Guerra, para discutir personalmente las tendencias de los precios del cacao en el sistema del comercio justo y cómo asegurar e incrementar este mercado en el mundo. A la mesa redonda también acudieron representante de diferentes organizaciones como CONOCADO, FEDECADE,  CAFB, TCGA, Barry Callebaut, Pronatec, Armajaro, La Siembra,  Twin, Cadbury, Divine y Verkade, entre otras. Escuche la entrevista a Teonila Guerra

]]> http://thekraftylady.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/www-thekraftylady-com-is-relaunched/ Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:15:42 +0000 Viki http://thekraftylady.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/www-thekraftylady-com-is-relaunched/

Thanks for bearing with me on the whole website issue. It’s taken me a while to deal with and to top it off I was really ill with flu for nearly a week – it’s my first day out of bed today! But well on the road to recovery (although still not recommending visitors right now…. ;-D )

Well, at the beginning of last week I finally managed to finish the new website! As well as being able to get to the new eBay Store where you’ll find the usual (and unusual) array of Fair Trade and ethical clothing, gifts, body jewellery… etc., I’ve even managed to fit a neat little members area, forum, games section, blog, links…………. so it’s pretty packed with some nifty features!

Now all it needs it some visitors and some members; of course I am relying on all of you for this so it would be absolutely fab if you could jib on over there in a moment of boredom and take a peeky! I know some of you already have….

I will be listing lots more in the eBay Store this week, too, so if you were getting worried that it was looking a bit low, (as indeed I was…) then rest assured it will be brimming with delightful goodies in time for the festive season that is bearing down upon us

All you need to do to take advantage of these fandabbydosy new things is to type one of the following URLs into your browser and you will be whisked away to a world of awesomeness (hopefully…. ;-D )!:

http://www.thekraftylady.com
http://www.thekraftylady.co.uk
http://www.thekraftylady.fr

So thanks once again to everyone for your continued support – I know this year has been a bit topsy turvy but hopefully we’re getting somewhere now and we’re making The Krafty Lady even better than before, but that’s only with many thanks to you lovely lot I don’t know what we’d do without you!

Have a fantastic week, keep popping by to see all the new items in the shop and don’t forget to sign up to the member’s area on the new website if you’ve got a bit of time spare!

Big love and hugs!
Viki
xxx

I don’t know about you, but once I find a company that stands for everything I believe in and offers amazing products, I like to brag about them.  I first heard about Larry’s beans through a good friend and one of the present owners of a coffee shop in Houghton, NY- Java101. They use Larry’s beans for their regular drip coffee and grind, tamp, and steam Larry’s Secret Espresso Blend for delicious lattes and cappuccinos.

Larry not only sells his beans wholesale to coffee shops around the nation, he also sells to household buyers and everyday consumers like myself.  There are lots of reasons I buy from Larry.  The three most basic reasons- all of their beans are fairly traded, organic, and they are an independent small business.  Larry was even a founding member of Cooperative Coffees (a group of independent coffee roasters who purchase beans directly from fair-trade co-ops).

Larry’s products are GREAT.  The beans are roasted to perfection, espresso rich and creamy, and there is a large variety of depth and flavor represented in the varying blends pleasing petty and powerful palates alike. They offer fun merchandise for purchasing including t-shirts, mugs, and ‘at-home barista supplies’.

.

Some more reasons to love Larry?

They have a ‘transparency policy’ in their coffee purchases which means that all documentation during the purchase of the bean is posted online.  You can track every single bag of beans back to the original farmer from which it was purchased and view the payments which took place during the change.

Larry also has a dedication to freshness.  The bag of beans you purchase online today are actually roasted after your purchase and then shipped as soon as finished.

Still not convinced?

Larry started this project called the Sustainability School- a website dedicated to teaching interested persons about local sustainability, alternative energy, globalization, water conservation, recycling, and all things fair-trade.  There are articles and links which provide lots of useful information for sustaining our world and improving our environment.

https://www.larrysbeans.com/sustainability-school/

Along with the school, Larry has done a lot to make his business as ‘green’ as possible.  They transformed their ‘Bean Plant’ by using solar and wind power, harvesting their own rainwater, and delivering all of their local products in a crazy cool bus which runs on recycled vegetable oil (pictured below in a scan from this magnet they sent me along with my most recent coffee order)

All this to say…

If you’re still hearing the ‘clank’ from your can of Chock-full-of-Nuts, or Folgers blend in your shopping cart, check out these articles and hop on the conscious caffeine wagon.

http://www.grinningplanet.com/2005/01-25/organic-coffee-shade-grown-fair-trade-coffee-article.htm

http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/coffee/

Go to: https://www.larrysbeans.com/

Hello, I am the beautiful Christmas frog! I do not appear in any christmas story and that makes me unique!
This is a beautiful christmas present.  It is one of the top gifts for 2009.  It is:

Unique
Original
Functional
Decorative
Fair Trade
Handmade
Natural
Useful

It is an excellent christmas present. To know more about this product and how it works, log on to micro-sensations .

This product can be used as a decorative pillow, a gift for kids, a soothing pillow, a bed warmer or as a nice gift and the more important thing, to have fun!

Alternative Apparel
Greg Alterman gründete 1996 das Label Alternative Apparel in L.A. um seine Vision vom perfekten T-Shirt umzusetzen. Für Ihn war “Das perfekte T-Shirt” gegen Kinderarbeit, gegen Rassismus, gegen Ausbeutung. Für eine bessere Welt, für Nachhaltigkeit, für erneuerbare Energien und sollte dabei noch richtig gut aussehen. Das ist der riesengroße unterschied auf den Markt. Alternative Apparel jetzt bei uns erhältlich im Freiraum Frankfurt. Komm vorbei und schau Dich um…

What a day it was! Yesterday I turned 32. It’s kind of the same as being 31, only with a rounder number (and quite possibly a rounder waist?). Wanna know what I got? I cleaned up good, yo!

Let’s start with this gem. It wasn’t actually a birthday gift, but it might as well be. Last week I won a contest at Crossway books and they sent me a brand new leather ESV Study Bible! It’s gorgeous. And I love reading it. Love, love, love the single column text, the really cool study notes and great illustrations. It’ll take a bit of time to get used to a format that’s different from my chain reference Bible, but that was NASB and this is ESV, and oh, I love it.

Then there was this. I married a man who does not cook. Does not generally step foot in the kitchen unless it’s to clean up a mess, make a sandwich, or well, let’s be fair, make coffee. I told him a week or two before my birthday that I only want 1 present. A homemade cake. Made by him. He laughed at me. Asked which bakery I’d like my cake to be ordered from. But I insisted, and he came through. Oh, how he came through. Look at how beautiful it is! Look how he decorated it! And oh, if you could taste it… But you can’t. Because I ate the whole thing. Well, I shared a little, but I would have eaten the whole thing. Holy smokes, my man can bake!

He had a little help. Only in my house we sometimes spell help as h-i-n-d-e-r!

Got milk?

And then I got this. I’ve been carrying a well loved Coach bag (a Christmas present from a while back) for a couple years. And the leather is wearing thin. And it’s starting to look a little raggedy. So my mom got me this. And check this out. My new Claire V. purse was made by women in Cambodia who have suffered the tragic consequences of genocide and land mines. And it’s silk. Silk damask, in fact. And oh-my-gosh-gorgeous!

And then I got this book, which is great. And this one too. It’s my 3rd copy of that one – I keep giving away my copy… And a few accessories for my iPod, err,  iPot, as Bean calls it. And best of all, my kids gave me some lovin.

We ended the day in my room with my iPod hooked up to my new iPod speaker (thanks, hubbs!) while me and my kids danced to Ingrid Michaelson, and finished that off with a few lively rounds of ring-around-the-rosie. Good times.

It was a great way to ring in 32.

With Christmas only a few weeks a way, it seemed like a good time to reflect on my sustainable living resolutions (see this post).

Thanks to my children’s school having a topic of ’seeds and plants’ this term, the vege patch is growing well (both in overall size and actual living plants!).  Part of our kitchen has been turned into a seed nursery – which does allow for easy monitoring and watering (which might otherwise be too haphazard for success).  Thanks to a spirit of curiosity, we’ve sprouted quite a variety of seeds.  I’ve just planted out some lentils, some unknown bean or pea seedlings and the baby tomatoes that grew from the seeds my son squirted onto his sweatshirt!  Waste not, want not!  We may actually grow some stuff from packets at some point, too.  I’m not sure what I’m going to do with all the apple and pear seedlings, but I guess I’ll think of something (bonsai, perhaps?).  Now we all have to do is to remember to harvest…

A sort-out in the airing cupboard found me some more sheets for the kids, so I’m off the hook for now.  It is truly amazing what you find buried in airing cupboards!  Well, what I found anyway.  No Saxon gold, though.  Which is probably just as well – given I live in New Zealand and the house wasn’t built until the 1970s.  Although we did find Assyrian wallpaper…

Not buying stuff unless I need it is actually going quite well, though mostly because I just don’t have spare money.  My op-shop habit is coming to the fore for finding interesting or adaptable clothes.  I’ve also discovered the delights of online auctions!   I’m afraid some of my money is still going to the sweatshops, mainly because I can’t afford expensive jeans and T-shirts.  Fortunately, my wardrobe is fairly well stocked, which means I’m working on replacement rather than expansion.  Any expansion is coming from second-hand or homemade things (though if I could afford to buy from Clockwork Couture that might change – for a little while).  I am going to have to spend some money on fabric and bits for my dance costumes, too – just to make my stash go the distance (those skirts are full!)

I did buy some beads, but I’m going to try and keep it to an annual thing.  Some stuff I just can’t buy made up – and I do enjoy stringing.

I haven’t really bought any yarn in recent months (okay, a couple of balls to pad out the kids blankets, but that’s it – although I had gone a little bit mad mid-winter, which I’m still knitting up).  I’m using up what I’ve already got – and planning what I want to save for.  One advantage of not having much money is that it does force you to prioritise and plan (whimper).

New resolutions:

• I’m determined to only place orders with overseas websites at most once a year per site.  We’ll see how that one goes.  Planning, saving and delayed gratification are not my strongest skills, but they’re not my weakest either, so…we’ll see.
• I’m trying to arrange to start doing some voluntary work next year – partly to gain work experience in areas I’m interested in and partly to give something back to my community.
• For Christmas, I’ve decided to do the vast bulk of my shopping at my local Trade Aid shop.  I bought a whole heap of jewellery for myself there earlier this year (blame the dancing!), so I will ’share the joy’.   I like giving presents, so while I like the idea of things like Oxfam Unwrapped, this year is going to be a Fair Trade Christmas, as much as possible.

Adriana Isabela Morales Quino is an artisan from the Artesanas Mayas cooperative in the small highland village of Panimatzalam. Her sewing group has worked with Mercado Global for the last two years, benefiting greatly from sales opportunities that we have been able to develop for them.

Adriana Isabela Morales Quino from the Artesanas Mayas cooperative

Yesterday, Adriana visited the office to write a letter to our supporters in the U.S. She dictated a letter to me expressing her appreciation for the opportunity Mercado Global sales have given her to earn enough to support her family and send her children to school. So, without further ado, here’s what Adriana says to everyone in the States:

Dear Mercado Global,

I want to tell you that Mercado Global, more than anything else, has been a great help. Before, we artisans had no work. There was no market for our crafts; we could find no one to sell to. Our cooperative, Artesanas Mayas, struggled a lot. Many people had no way to earn enough to provide for their families, and many children could not study in school.

Mercado Global came and gave us a way to sell our crafts. This has been a huge support for us and our families. Now, we have lots of orders. We like making the conference bags because it gives us work and money to support our families. It is important for women to support their children and husbands. Through Mercado Global, everything is getting better. All of the members of our cooperative are happier with each other, and we are very happy to help each other with the work.

We’ve received training from Mercado Global, too. Before, we knew how to use the sewing machines, but Mercado Global trained us to use them well. Because of the training, we are better sewers now and we are able to make more bags. We are very grateful for Mercado Global, and we are always available and interested in whatever project we can help with.

I am hopeful that we will continue to have orders from Mercado Global so that my children can keep studying and I can support my family as I have been. Thank you to everyone in the United States who has helped to give us the opportunity to work and earn an income. I would like to ask you to please continue to support our work however you are able to.

Sincerely,

Adriana

One final note. Adriana never had the chance to finish first grade, so I had to take dictation from her. Her children, however, have been encouraging her to get back in school. They’ve kept telling her that she’ll be able to finish a primary education if she works hard and believes in herself. Finally, they convinced her. Now that she has extra money through her work with Mercado Global, Adriana is taking classes on the weekend. Next time she wants to send a letter, she won’t have to dictate it. She’ll get to write it herself.

I’ve long been a great fan of scented smoke, be it joss sticks or “proper” grain incense, much to the chagrin of my mother who thought it must be something to do with hash…

I’m a bit of a geek when it comes to it. I don’t think I can count how many brands I have tried. The incense from Greater goods http://www.greatergoods.co.uk ticks all the right boxes for me. Beautful scents, not too smokey, long burning, reliably combustible and more important yet, fair trade. If you have a look at their website you will discover they do great things in the world of workers’ rights and so on, and  this adds extra sweetness to their incense. Many joss stick companies use children and the conditions are appalling.

For all this, you might expect a massive extra in the price range. Not so. They’re about the same price as any incense stick bought at your local bing-bong shop (s0 called because of the cacophany of windchimes usually hung outside!).

I had an article published this time last year on the use of aromatics in a sacred context in the magazine Sacred Hoop and I am in the slow process of writing a book of meditations using aromatics of all sorts, including incense. Incorporating scented smoke into your life, whether for prayer, relaxation or simply for pleasure and air freshening is a very rewarding experience and using incense from Greater Goods, it means it will also be rewarding for those who make it too.

It’s Thankspigging time, and I’m giving thanks for 4 things that made me smile this year. Oh, and I promise, no more puns.

1) I love Queen + I love the Muppets = I LOVE this video!          

2009 Fair Trade Calendar

2) This year I volunteered to help put together the first annual Fair Trade calendar. 100% of proceeds benefit the Fair Trade Federation and Fair Trade Resource Network, two great organizations working hard to promote Fair Trade and educate consumers about the importance of ethical shopping. Thousands of copies are now for sale nationwide.

The best part? Since I dedicated so much of my own time to this project, I felt justified in sneaking my favorite holiday in; National Pig Day March 1st. (It’s also my Mom’s birthday.)

3) Despite some pretty serious close calls this year, my dog Henry is alive at 15. Here he is resting comfortably on my homemade pig & cow quilt given to me by KCBS anchorwoman Rebecca Corral.

Henry rests comfortably on pig quilt.

4) I bought a certain someone his first piggy bank this year. Welcome to the world, Henry Shaw Gelbach!

Happy Thankspigging everyone!!!