The Good Shopping Guide

Now in its 5th edition this printed guide gives you information on a variety of background activities and ratings for businesses. It can be ordered from the Ethical Company Org and they are also responsible for the online version of same.

Called Gooshing it allows you to do searches by product category and presents results ranked by ethical score. It makes money by affiliate links to the online stores you can use to purchase your chosen item.

keith

Green (or at least less polluting) gadgets

It is very difficult to figure out the least worst when you are buying something in a category with no small businesses in the market. Such is the case with gadgets and phones – dominated at the consumer end by major brands, most of them global.

Greenpeace recently published an internet based guide showing their assessment of the major players based on their approach to toxic chemicals and waste.

The results in more detail can be seen on their site linked here. For the brands I use Motorola come close to last and Sony Ericsson are closer to the top. Palm are not included!

keith

Immaculate Cookies

Thanks to my brother Colin for a cookie tip from the US. He sampled and then bought some Immaculate Cookies and reckoned they would fit the bill here. They are 70% organic (that’s from Colins read of their packaging as it does not appear to be mentioned on their website) and work closely with American folk artists to develop the visual images for their packaging.

Their philosopy “bake well, work hard, be creative, have fun, and give back“

What more do you want from your cookies! You can see their list of stockists on their website here or purchase from them online. I would like to suggest to them that they include a zipcode search facility on that page – would make it a lot easier to find a local stockist.

keith

Mung beans and Fashion (don’t mix!)

For years it has been difficult to buy fairtraded fashion that is relevant to western consumers. I guess this is because of the inevitable conflicts between the core skills and craftmanship that are the mark of small producers in developing countries and the fickleness of the clothing sector in the developed one.

It is definitely easier now and there is a sufficently developed marketplace to (hopefully) sustain new entrants. Jane (no surname given) is the founder of ThinkFairTrade and she has a collection of 5 garments on her site. Together with a lot of information on the business, the suppliers and the background to her setting it up.

Commenting on her cloths as opposed to her business is outside of my core competencies so have a look and make up your own mind! I picked this up in the current issue of The Ecologist. And the mung bean reference is from her home page!

think! make stylish and desirable fairly traded clothes for women who have never been near a mung bean in their life

keith

Pants to Poverty

This is a “social enterprise” I guess – set up after the “Make Poverty History” blip last year (where Fairtrade coverage was all over the press). Not a shy bunch:

They only seem to have one size – and they are in the very early stages of the business/campaign. They have an informative website (linked here) where you can purchase online, they invite participation and I hope they continue to develop a business model that sustains the message

keith

Bread and the baking thereof

About 10 years ago I tried baking bread for a couple of weeks. I (or it) was terrible! More recently I have started to use bread mixes with the kids so that they can have some idea of what is involved.

On Saturday I came across an organic bread mix from an Irish company so I decided to give it a try.

Sowans are based in Cork, Ireland and do a range of organic mixes. This one is yeast free, it uses bread soda. It was €3.75 so you would not use it to save money – however it made good bread and could be handy if you cannot get organic bread where you live. Which we can’t.

Their website is not up yet (www.sowansorganic.ie). They do have an email address: info AT sowansorganic.ie

keith

The Good Life

I suspect the author of “An irish Craftworkers Good Life” just might be too young to have seen the TV series of the same name!

Rebecca Allen is a textile artist and for her the story of her love for her craft and her family is something she is happy to write about. I hope it works for her in the promotion of her business – it is great to see non-techies embracing this medium. Her blog is a good balance of home and work and uses a 3 column layout to show details of her work alongside her posts.
Here is the link to her blog: http://irishcraftworker.typepad.com/ 

keith

Single Estate – Snobbery or Good Practice?

It could be both I guess! In a number of foods – particularly chocolate and coffee – you can see references to the sourcing of the beans contained therein from a single supplier. This has a positive effect on the food chain:

• It can help develop a relationship between grower, manufacturer and consumer.
• The opposite is also true – the practice of blending beans means that they can be sourced from a number of different suppliers. This facilitates the obscuring of origin (great if a large company wants to get fuzzy about where its raw materials come from) and also encourages open market bidding as the beans become a commodity.
• With the Single Estate practice it is possible for the grower to get a fair or even premium price for their crop
• Finally the consumer gets exposed to the changes in the raw material and hopefully the finished product is a more interesting one for that

I was in the Temple Bar Food market in Dublin on Saturday and bought products from two retailers that are “single estate”. The first was coffee beans from Ariso Coffee – I have had many enjoyable conversations with the owner Michael Kelly over the selection of beans he has for sale. Freshly roasted, sometimes organic and mostly single estate. I bought a Guatemala coffee and am enjoying that! (Warning – slow Flash file when you click on their site link)

And on the opposite side of the square I came across a range of plain and milk chocolate single estate bars from Chez Emily. A new creation from them and as I was told – these are beans from a small harvest, when they are gone that is it for that particular range! The bar I bought was made from Tanzanian beans – a smooth plain chocolate with 68% beans.

keith

Red or White?

I have bought wine from Vendemia Wine in the past but it was not until last Friday morning that I heard one of the co-founders give a talk about their suppliers. Urs spoke about 4 different vineyards that their wines are sourced from – and it was a pleasure to hear his passion for the growers.

Buying goods from people who really care about what they are selling is always a treat. Urs and Helen sell online at http://www.vendemiawine.com/

UPDATE – Helen in Vendemia has started a blog here vendemiaorganicwines.blogspot.com (with some encouragement from me

keith

Craft Brewery

Way back when myself and Martina (my wife) lived in Telford, England we used to go to a small pub called the Coalbrookdale Arms. It had 9 pumps (from memory) and they were divided between 3 permanent beers in stock and 6 “guest” beers that were changed every single week. The regulars in that pub savoured their pints!

I remembered that pub today as I listened to a podcast from Steve Hindy in the Brooklyn Brewery craft brewery in New York. He loves what he does and tells a tale of ups and downs as himself and his co-founder struggled to get the business on its feet. He also talks about how the business connects strongly back into the community they are based in.

If you listen to podcasts then try this one.

http://www.venturevoice.com/2006/04/steve_hindy-brooklyn_brewery.html 

keith