Whole Foods

Hi it's Caroline!
So, on my recent voyage to Whole Foods, I found a HUGE amount of fair trade products. Ice cream, cookies, chocolate, even Choco-Dream. It's exactly like Nutella, a chocolate- hazelnut spread. The only difference? Fair trade chocolate and hazelnuts. It tastes amazing on toast, or anything you would eat Nutella on.
In all, Whole Foods was a great place to find anything fair trade. Along with their food products, they also have fair-trade makeup, skin care, even pet products! When i went out, I easily found at least 2 bags of groceries, all fair-trade. For some things, I had to look for the fair trade symbol, but most things displayed the symbol right on the outside of the packaging. If you ever are in doubt in where to buy fair trade items, you can never go wrong with Whole Foods Market!

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/products/whole-trade-products.php?CID=&P=1

Just a link to a part of the Whole Foods website, dedicated to fair trade :)

wholefoodsmarket.com to see all the fair trade products

Farmers Market

Hi it's Ginger!!

So, the weather has been getting MUCH nicer here in NJ and last week as I was driving by the Galleria parking lot in Red Bank I noticed the farmers market.



Galleria Red Bank Farmers Market

2nd Bridge Avenue, Red Bank
Directions:	Parkway to Exit 109 to Red Bank
Phone:	(732) 530-7300 - Jimmy & Ed,  Fax: (732) 530-8713
Email:	sourlisinternational@gmail.com
Web site:	www.TheGalleriaRedBank.com
Open:	May 9th - Mid November, 2010,  Sundays, 9am - 2pm

Community Farmers Market:

Variety of fruits & vegetables

WIC and Senior FMNP vouchers accepted by some farmers Many of the stands in the farmers market are not fair trade certified (some of the stands are fair trade certified or use fair trade ingredients). Although many of the stands sell vegetables and fruits (depending on the time of year) or other things, all the money goes to to the farmers, which is the main cause of fair trade itself. Fair Trade is meant to give enough money to farmers, or factory workers for fair wages, along with safe working conditions, and avoids child labor. Even though some of the stands are not fair trade certified, instead of going to the store and buying fruits or vegetables that have the fair trade sticker on it, the farmers market cuts out the middle man altogether and the buyer is giving the money straight to the farmers themselves. There are farmers markets all over New Jersey if you don't live near Red Bank check out this website that shows lots of farmers markets in New Jersey. Just click on this link. http://www.state.nj.us/cgi-bin/agriculture/jerseyfresh/search.pl?type=urban&county1=monmouth I highly recommend farmers market because everything is fresh, hand made (not to mention everyones really nice). On a nice sunny day its always fun to get out and see who has a stand up this week. When you have some free time go out and try the farmers market! Hope you go to the farmers market! -Ginger

Fair Trade Town Crawl

Hey! Its Ginger!

Red Bank is having a Fair Trade awareness day on Saturday, May 14 · 11:00am - 4:00pm. Check it out! "Like" the Fair Trade Town Crawl on Facebook for more information!

Shop Fair Trade all over Red Bank and participate in tastings,
demonstrations or discounts. Enter to win raffles through-
out and a chance to win the Fair Trade GRAND PRIZE,
valued at over $150! The more you participate, the more
chances you have at winning the GRAND PRIZE.

HOW IT WORKS: Sign in at TEN THOUSAND VILLAGES and
pick up a map. Visit as many businesses as you choose. A
purchase or participation will give you an opportunity to
enter that business’ raffle. Visit all, learn more about
Fair Trade, make a day of it!

WINNERS: Will be announced at the end of the business
day. You need not be present at time of drawings.

PARTICIPATING BUSINESSES:

Good Karma Cafe
17 East Front Street
50% off Fair Trade Dessert of the day!

No Joe's Cafe
51 Broad Street
Fair Trade Coffee of the Day

P.S. Poppyseeds
54 English Plaza
10% off all Rising Tide Fair Trade Bags/Beach Totes

Red Ginger Home
48 Broad Street
Fair Trade Tea Tasting

Soapmarket
12 Monmouth Street
Fair Trade Sugar Scrub Sampling

Ten Thousand Villages
69 Broad Street
Fair Trade Breakfast Bake-Off

The Cheese Cave
14 Monmouth Street
Fair Trade Coffee "Cupping"

and MORE!

I scream for ice cream!

Hi it's Caroline!
So, with summer fast approaching, there is one big thing on most people's minds: ICE CREAM!!! What's the first thing you think of when those 2 words? Probably your favorite flavor, or ice cream shop. Not fair trade ice cream! But, as crazy as it sounds, I found it: ice cream, fair trade style. When I went to Whole Foods (a supermarket with a huge array of fair trade products) I was able to find an entire brand dedicated to fair trade ice cream!! The brand also carries chocolate flavored dessert bars, and pints of ice cream in varied flavors, most of them fair trade.
Ice cream: Luna and Larry's Coconut Bliss
Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert Bar
Soy, dairy, and gluten-free
Low glycemic, agave sweetened, vegan
Naked Coconut (plain coconut flavor)
It was pretty good, but since it's dairy-free, it has a VERY different texture. Not bad, but just different. Kind of a little bit creamier. Plus, it has real pieces of coconut, which make it extra sweet. Some people might not like sweet, but I'm not one of them. If you like coconut, you will love this! :)
http://coconutbliss.com/

Fair trade soap!!!!

Hi it's Caroline!

I have to say, if there's one thing that gets me REALLY excited, it would have to be soap. And yes, I said soap, as in the slimy lump that is sitting on the bottom of your  bathtub right now. Seriously, I really love it. :) In Red Bank, the next town over from Fair Haven, there's a shop called the Soap Market. Judging on my first sentence, you can guess my reaction to that store :) When Ginger and I went on our little fair trade adventure earlier this year, one of the stores listed as fair trade was Soap Market. When we finally got there, we found there were 2 kinds of fair trade soap in the store. So, I took one brand, and Ginger took the other. Of course, I've completely forgotten what brand of soap Ginger has, but I have mine!
My soap:
Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps
All-One Hemp Almond Pure-Castile Soap
This soap supports fair trade, organic agriculture, and a healthy environment.
My review:
The soap was very light and clean, plus it smelled really good, like sweet almonds. The only thing I didn't like was that the scent faded way too quickly, like after 3 minutes. Overall, I really liked this soap, plus it's 100% vegan, and packaged in recycled paper. :)
http://www.soapmarketonline.com/

Why I Care

Hey its Ginger!

Today I wanted to talk about how I learned about fair trade things, and why I care now.
I knew about fair trade for a long time because of Ten Thousand Villages in Red Bank where my sister volunteered and I spent a lot of time in. Even though this was a great source of information it never really hit me until I went.

on a social justice trip to Dominican Republic the summer of 2010. On this trip I went and visited a fair trade factory in Villa Altagracia that makes Alta Gracia clothing. There, a manager explained how these workers got fair wages, fair rules and a clean environment. The workers seemed happy and friendly toward us (they couldn't talk more than just a smile or wave because they were working). Alta Garcia, the fair trade clothing line, is affiliated with over 175 collages and universities.
After going to the factory I met with people who work in this Fair Trade factory that used to work in sweat shops. They described (through a translator) some of the things they used to go through every day to keep their job. They described violence in the factory, workers weren't allowed to take breaks (not even a bathroom break), no sick days, Pregnant women were fired.

and that's only the things I can remember.

So when I came back to the U.S.A. I felt like I had to do something. Even if it was just sharing experiences and knowledge. something.

At the end of the meeting with the workers, someone asked, "what can we do to help?" the answered, "talk. tell people about whats happening. Then try and influence people to buy things from fair trade consumers. Anything will help"

to learn more about Alta Gracia clothing line visit this website 
http://workersrights.org/verification/ 


-Ginger

Fair-Trade Clothing

Hi it's Caroline!

A few days ago, while I was reserching for my next blog, I decided to look up fair trade clothing. In the aspect of fair trade, clothes are probably one of the worst offenders. See, people will go and buy fair-trade coffee, or chocolate, but clothes? Yeah... no thanks. I see their point, thant a lot people are super-picky about the clothes they wear, or have an allergy to materials used in some clothes. I think that the real difference is that most clothing brands don't offer fair- trade clothing, and people aren't going out and looking for fair-trade clothing. I know we've all seen "made in China" printed on the tag of our shirts at least once, but does it make you think? About those workers in China, making the clothes you're wearing now? It's probabaly not fair-trade made clothing, so the workers probably don't have safe working conditions or even minimum-wage pay. Just so you can wear that nice shirt to school one day. People ask, "Why don't they just stop working there?" Like Ginger mentioned in one of her blogs, they can't, because there is literally no other work where they live. So maybe, if we buy from fair-trade companies, say Ten Thousand Villages, over non fair-trade companies, like Gap, or Target, we can convince these non fair-trade companies to incorperate some fair-trade items. I'm not saying you all have to stop shopping at stores that aren't fair-trade, since, let's face it, fair-trade companies don't make every single thing that we use daily, but just switching over small things, like coffee, a fair-trade shirt, maybe some skin care products, is what really makes a difference :)

  While I was reserching fair-trade clothing, I found the company Avatar Imports, an all fair-trade clothing company. This is probably one of my favorite things from there, thanks to the awesome owls on the front :)                       

http://www.avatarimports.net/