Honest Talk about Shopping Local
There are valid reasons for shopping on line, and I'm betting that many of those who expressed gratitude do some on line shopping. If not, let's hear from those who never shop on line.
Some people are disabled, and although not in a wheel chair, are unable to walk around any where, much less a farmer's market, with products they can't afford on a low income. Try paying for rent and food out of a $700 mo. check. It's like a magic act where the food items aren't visible, because they aren't there! People on SSI can't get food stamps, so there goes that argument. I have one friend who gets $15 in food stamps because he gets about $900 SS income, an amount that puts him over the minimum income limit.
None of this voids your rant about Amazon. My sons used to send me Amazon gift cards, til I asked them not to. I'd rather just have money put into my PayPal account, although that's another outfit that people despise, along with EBay, Craigslist, Facebook, etc.
Boutique shops are not for everyone. Whole Foods/Community Market prices aren't for everyone. That's the beauty of Grocery Outlet, WalMart, Big Lots, and thrift stores. Some Waccos wouldn't be seen in these stores, which would mean that they were looking to save money. Do politically correct, conscious people equate to people with money to burn? Is our community the "Politically correct center of the universe"? Please, spare me. Tell me all the ways we are conscious, besides where we shop. Shopping is not actually a gage of consciousness. Awareness and compassion are much higher up the ladder.
How is our politically correct conscious community helping others less fortunate? How are you sharing your wealth this season? What are you giving back? What are you paying forward? Now that you have your glitzy tree adorned with expensive ornaments, and stacks of gifts underneath, your new expensive outfits ready to show off at the community parties, your refrigerators well stocked from Whole Foods and Community Markets gourmet delights, and maybe even a new car, a Prius or something even more politically correct? Take a good look at your "conscious" lifestyle. Are you feeling proud? Ready to party? Go for it! Don't give others a second thought. Spend, spend, spend. Grab all you can. It's the season, after all.
Some stores sell $10 bags of groceries that they say will provide 21 meals for low income families. Who can top this?
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Posted in reply to the post by Varda:
...Given that it’s the time of year when we all buy quite a bit of “stuff” it was horrifying (and demoralizing) to learn from an article in the Sonoma County Gazette that Sonoma County spends $120 million dollars every year with Amazon! Us! The politically correct center of the universe...
Re: What is new this Sunday at the Sebastopol Farmers Market?
The posting from the Sebastopol Farm Market and Shandi’s response rekindled a long-simmering fire of mine. I have thought for several years about what it means to Buy Local.
I started looking closely at products sold at all our beloved Sonoma County spots, and although just a random selection, and not a full study, what I found was disheartening.
We all know Shandi’s story about shrimp to be valid; when we argue how this could be economically feasible to ship pork, chicken, crab and salmon overseas, to have it plucked, deboned, de-shelled and repackaged, we just need to look at the labor costs. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists our average hourly wages paid to U.S. meat processors as $11. When compared to the reported hourly wage of roughly $1 in China… the argument falls apart.
In fact, it has made financial sense to have more and more labor done by non-US workers for decades now. I didn’t say economic sense. I said financial sense. That means there is more profit for the companies but not necessarily good at all for our U.S. economy.
So back to the stores where I peer at labels through my double Dr. Deans to read the fine print. In places like Costco, Luckys and Safeway, imports are just a given. But places like Whole Foods, Community Market and our gem in the north crown, Andy’s, are sources that we want to trust as selling local. I took an hour at Andy’s to peruse the selection of olive oils, and found good deals from Tunisia, Greece, Italy, Spain and Morocco. It is reported that 97% of olive oil comes from outside the U.S. The regulation enforcement that ensures the oil is not adulterated with other oils is hard to prove. Andy’s sells California olive oil, of course, but the price is much higher. The same situation exists in the pasta aisle, where much of this simple product (flour, water) was imported. Really. And we of course do know that bananas, peaches, tomatoes, grapes don’t grow in northern California during the freezing temperatures, so if we do buy them, even at Andy’s, they are from Mexico, Chile and places south of us.
Buy Local.
Does anyone REALLY know, then, what that means? I would want to see an actual definition.
I mean, who has the time to research every single thing he buys to eat? Let’s just try one item, OK? Just going online to Community Market in Santa Rosa, there is a picture of its proudly sold natural local items…. Among which is Kettle Brand chips. This company was started in the United Kingdom… wait, let’s just look at someone else’s history for a sec.
Diamond Foods started in 1912 as a California cooperative of walnut growers, but in 2005, became a publicly traded company, which ultimately bought Pop Secret popcorn, Harmony Foods, Kettle Brand (there you go), and tried to buy Pringles… but an accounting scandal caused that deal to go away, along with the Harmony brand, resulting in 100 full time workers in Indiana to lose their jobs. So much for helping the community.
Diamond Foods grows NO PRODUCE. It purchases it from national and international sources. So what is local about Kettle Potato Chips? A Stockton trucker made a living wage bringing the bags to Community Market… and Community Market gave a job to someone to sell them in Sonoma County. That’s as far as it goes for LOCAL.
So the post by Varda/Paula about supporting the Farm Market and local growers and producers is poignant and worth heeding. The market is the closest source we have of purely local foods, and it is a treat to go on a Sunday morning to buy the best of our stuff to eat. But even the Farmers Market can be looked at more closely.
In an effort to remain viable and draw the crowds it does, nonfood items are available at the market. Yet fewer than 23% of all crafters selling there this past year were from Sebastopol, with many out of town, out of county, out of state and yes, out of the country.
Amazon… yuk?
I DO buy online, for a lot of things. I figure, if I use my car, a waste of fuel and a burden on traffic and air quality, to run around looking for a vacuum cleaner hepa filter that is simply not sold in any of the ten places I looked, but is available from Target on-line, with free shipping, what is my obvious solution?
As much as Amazon and their like are maligned, they are the future of buying. Look at the numbers. We love our local bookstores, but with more books being published as unprinted epub files, the generations of readers coming up are going to be reading them on electronic devices. Book shelves might be what we burn in our wood stove next year.
I invite anyone who has done a study of GoLocal to present figures of just who is served, how much of the product is from the locale, how much labor is procured from the locale, and how much of the profit stays in the economy, of LOTS of products beside potato chips. Or at least get a discussion going. We who are proponents of supporting Local need to take our heads out of the sand and see the facts. We live (until Bernie takes the reigns) in a Capitalist system, and the only way to stay alive in that system is to play the game as much as is needed, while trying to keep one foot in the freshly plowed earth that is right in our back yard.
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Posted in reply to the post by Shandi:
There are valid reasons for shopping on line, and I'm betting that many of those who expressed gratitude do some on line shopping. If not, let's hear from those who never shop on line.
Re: What is new this Sunday at the Sebastopol Farmers Market?
have you not been to the farmers markets we're fortunate enough to support? We have a robust mission to support community food producers and had a wonderful crafts fair at our Seb Grange featuring local, (sometimes via recycled stuff as constituant parts) was quite local and fair trade.
Re: What is new this Sunday at the Sebastopol Farmers Market?
Chris, Glad to have been part of rekindling your fire! Thank you very much for sharing what things may look like at closer inspection. I think this will become a common part of buying. We have information and advice from experts in every area of life, but it is extra effort to embark on new learning by discovering the deeper truths that may refute whatever we've learned before.
Your willingness to explore new territory, first in your mind and then in research before sharing it here with your community is inspirational. It takes courage to be a front runner, or a dedication to a mission of finding the truth, as best we can.
Reality is shifting more and faster than ever. Our beliefs are being challenged. We are blown away almost daily by the uniqueness of individuals, and the way they choose to present themselves to the world,,,,yes. the entire planet is our potential audience. What is our message? What can we say that will resonate with every person?
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Posted in reply to the post by Chris Dec:
The posting from the Sebastopol Farm Market and Shandi’s response rekindled a long-simmering fire of mine....
