Yesterday I wrote about buying from small businesses, but failed to mention the 3/50 Project. I became aware of this idea a few months ago through the website of an independent baby store in my town. The idea is simple: Pick 3 local retail businesses that, should they disappear, would make you very sad. Commit in your head (there’s nothing official here, it’s just awareness) to spend $50 per month spread between these 3 or any others that you appreciate.
My 3 are:
Happy Bambino, because the alternative would be getting on a bus and going to Babies R Us for baby gifts, which is full of useless plastic crap.
Revolution Cycles, because it is owned by some guys who simply love bikes and don’t push anything on you…unlike some other bike shops that are more convenient.
Lakeside Fibers, because they’re nicer and more awesome than the other local yarn shop (and closer), and leaps and bounds more fulfilling than going to Jo-Ann’s. They have coffee.
What are your 3?
The Hubs and I went to a Fair Trade bazaar today (conveniently located right next to the indoor location for the local farmer’s market) and managed to find a few gifts for friends and family. Christmas shopping is always a delicate thing for me, since I’m on a constant quest to de-clutter. I tend to take my feelings about a beautiful-yet-useless trinket and assume that others would feel similarly. (This is where pictures would come in handy for today’s post, but I didn’t think to bring the camera.) I even though about not going to the sale because even though fair trade is important to me, it often tends to be trinkets. So how do you support the little guys and gals, both domestic and abroad, without filling your(or your giftee’s) house with gorgeous, pointless objects?
Consumables
Bath products and foods were abundant at this fair, and often you can find raw goods like shea butter to make your own, if you’re crafty like that. Coffee was everywhere, and chocolate made a fair showing as well. My favorite though was the oil. We saw olive oil (and associated products) from Palestine, and it made me wish we were shopping for ourselves. For local food, we found a number of gift-worthy things produced locally at the farmer’s market in the next room. Honey, salsa, pickles, spicy awesomeness in a jar, and meat sticks (if you’re into that sort of thing) from any animal you could think of to kill. Food gifts can be a good way to make sure that your gift is used, as long as people don’t save it “for a special occasion” for years. Except the meat sticks. Those things might be good to save for the apocalypse.
The ultimate food gift might just be a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) membership. As this post about Soul Food Farm makes clear, people can get very attached to their food and the people who create it. I’ve gotten attached to just the idea that I KNOW who grows my food. I can’t say I’ve bonded with that specific farm, but I’ll stick with CSAs in general just to have the chance to support a farm directly.
Wearables
Wool sweaters priced at $10 each made me wonder about the fair-tradeyness (and research has been done on the phenomenon of how people feel about cheap fair trade items), but there were scarves and hats galore from all over the world as well as, again, raw materials in the form of yarn. The mohair was tempting, but I have to remember that I’ll have access to yak when I get to Shangri-la.
Computers
What? Yeah, these weren’t at the fair trade bazaar. But if you’re reading this you have one, and guess what? It’s possible to support small business when you get a new one. My next computer, hopefully purchased next week, will be this little lady from Zareason. I’m just waiting for the pink case to be back in stock. It was an easy decision for me. I wanted Linux on a netbook, and I wanted support from humans. I’ve already had very pleasant interactions with two actual humans who 1. might be reading this, but don’t that keep you from believing me, and 2. I intend to stay in touch with. I was lucky to happen upon a link in the Ubuntu forums a month or so ago.
Services/Experiences
Ah, the clutter-free gift. A massage, a ride in a hot-air balloon, a free appointment with a cleaning lady — all gifts that support a local business and don’t gather any dust. They create feelings and memories. This is something I will keep in mind when I’m in China. In Shangri-la, many big companies have come in from the larger cities to get their “share” of the new tourism cash flow. Buses take the place of a donkey rental, restaurants take the place of food stalls, and the locals who have lived their whole life there are left out of the game. If I hire a guide, I will hire a local guide, and I will eat local food to the extent my unfortunate dietary restrictions allow.
Reaching Local and Fair Trade Perfection
Um, yeah, not there yet. And a story on NPR yesterday reminded me what a horrible person I am for wanting a Kindle to take with me to China. Local booksellers are all but gone, and even Borders is tanking as more people buy books on Amazon. But I read voraciously when I travel, and I’ve been in Asian bookstores before. One in Koronadal (South Cotabato, Mindanao, Philippines) had ONE book in English, which happened to be a novel I hadn’t yet read. I finished it in two days.
I try, I really do. And I want you to try too. But it will be an interesting and hilarious phenomenon when suddenly “Made in China” becomes a local product.
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