Local Stuff: The Bread Peddler

Earlier in June, I participated in a world wide event called Zero Plastic Week. This event was designed to create awareness around how much single use plastic we have coming at us every day (which doesn't really go away).

This event encouraged me to take my already fairly low plastic lifestyle to a whole new level, and I began looking for creative solutions to avoid single use plastic entirely.

A new world wide event, Plastic Free July begins tomorrow.  And I will be blogging about my participation in this challenge.  My challenges, my solutions, (and my failures--which I hope will be few).

Today I want to honor a local business that is also contributing to the solution.  In a town of many, many locally owned bakeries, this one stands out for me.  The Bread Peddler.  Organic bread, incredible food, inviting atmosphere.

I went there for the first time Saturday, clutching my green & white striped flour sack and hoping that they would put the bread right into it, instead of in another bag, whether plastic or paper.

They were super busy and crowded, but the line moved quickly, and the girl who helped me was friendly as she helped me choose two loaves of bread.  She reached for the bag I brought even before I had a chance to ask her if it would be alright.  I was so excited, and fell instantly in love with the place.

Today, I went back with my husband to try some of their food.  We thought we would beat the lunch crowd, but apparently, the place is always busy.  And as before, the line moved fast and efficiently.  We ordered amazing sandwiches, and more bread to take home, and then a slice of peach/pecan tart for desert and some chocolate corks (dark rich small chocolate cakes) with coffee.

We ate our food there, but Mike noticed that when people ordered their sandwiches to go, they would wrap them in paper and tie them with string.

I Love this place!

Thank you Bread Peddler for giving us plastic free options.  And for offering such healthy, delicious food choices.

Why Organic Foods?

Way back in 1994 (back in the days when I still watched TV) I saw a news magazine program, where 5 or 6 families with small children were documented grocery shopping. The camera crew filmed the parents lovingly filling up their shopping carts with fresh produce to feed to their families.  Then those foods were taken to a lab to be tested, and the cameras continued to film as the mothers and fathers received the news that the fresh foods which they thought were so healthy were covered in pesticides.  I remember one of the moms cried.  She was trying so hard to give her small child a healthy start in life.  Imagine her disappointment and frustration.

That program changed my life.  I began scrubbing everything with soap.  But it wasn't enough.  So then I began looking for organic produce, but it hadn't really caught on yet.  So I stopped eating produce.  As if that would actually protect me in a world gone mad for chemicals.

When I moved to Olympia, I became determined to grow my own food.  I started a back yard garden, and I was so happy, until I noticed my neighbor who had his garden on the other side of the fence was using chemicals and since he used a hose with a spray nozzle to water...well, you can imagine.  He was washing all his chemicals into my garden. I was too timid (back then; certainly not now) to ask him to find another way to water, or to stop using chemicals.

So I gave up that idea.  And I went back to trying to find organic produce.

We have a beautiful local food co-op in Olympia, and it's been around for a while, but in those days-every time I would check it out, the produce was in really bad shape, and I couldn't believe they would actually sell it.  Because even I could tell that there was no nutrients in food that looked that bad.  Eventually, the organic food industry caught on, and I began to see more of it.  And that happened just in time.  Because something else was happening.

I learned about Monsanto in 1999, I think it was.  A friend of mine educated me about GMOs.  She told me about soybeans being developed, and corn, and potatoes.  She told me about the science.  About how there was no way to know how it would affect our bodies.  And then she told me that the real danger was in developing food that could be patented.  That meant Monsanto and other biotech corporations could control the food supply.  I began to realize that there was more at stake than trying to reduce my pesticide consumption.

Olympia Food Co-op

I joined the food co-op shortly after that, determined only to buy organic from then on.  And I also began to shop at the last remaining locally owned grocery stores and to buy at the farmer's market.  I was determined to do this, because I could see that the large grocery chains were systematically driving the local business out, and that it was another way of controlling the food supply.  Which ultimately leads to fewer and fewer choices.

The more I educated myself, the more resolved I was to fight corporate food and biotech using my buying choices as a weapon.  

For many people who are still buying what is (inaccurately) referred to as conventional (because what's conventional about pesticides?)  the biggest resistance to buying organic seems to be the price.  

If you believe that the higher price tag on organic foods is because it's some kind of trendy boutique food eaten by suckers who are buying into a fad, please get to know your local organic food grower and you will find that nothing could be further from the truth.

Farming is hard work. And for small farms, it is expensive. Research the history of government subsidies in farming. Subsidies create a false price on food. That is why "conventional" foods bought at corporate grocery stores are sold cheaply.  In reality it costs more to produce food sustainably, because the government is not subsidizing those farmers.  We as consumers must support organic farming, if we wish to see it survive.

Also, ask your local farmer about government regulations and certification fees.  Then you will begin to see that this isn't a luxury item, but the authentic cost of growing food.

And let's remember that our farmers are part of our local community and they have bills to pay, and must support their families, just as the rest of us do.

There are more really good reasons to invest your food dollars in buying organic.  Think about your health.

Even if you eat almost 100% organic foods, you are still affected by the way foods are grown.  Pesticides are air born, and they get into the water.  Non sustainable growing methods create a stress on the land. Research why biodiversity is desirable for the environment.  Sustainable growing methods encourage biodiversity, creating healthy ecosystems, which we all benefit from...

These are just a few reasons why organic foods are the smart choice.

Olympia Farmer's Market
Olympia, WA.  USA

Food issues are a passion of mine and have been for a long time.

I am excited that more people are getting wise about their food.

Key words:

Local

Sustainable

Organic

Humane

Fair Trade

Support your local farm family.

Active Memories. What Are Your Triggers?

Memories come in all shapes and sizes right? Some are passive memories.  They are simply memories of experiences. Nothing more.

But some memories are active.  By active, I mean they have a button or trigger attached to them.  All it takes for you is to be reminded in some way and you are instantly reliving the memory as if it were happening in real time.  This can happen either consciously, so you're aware of it, or on a subconscious level, where you feel triggered by something or someone but you don't know why.

Either way your body is experiencing the same release of chemicals, the same stress, and the same reactions as it did with the initial experience.

Your body can hold trauma, emotions, experiences, and beliefs in your tissues.  If you are unable (for whatever reason) to process that experience , learn from it and let it go, then the energy of that emotion or perception can be stored in your body.  Maybe in an organ, or a muscle, or in the connective tissue, where it acts as a program that keeps running.  A program that influences your perception of life.

Here's an example of what I mean.  A woman was injured in a car accident which was not her fault.  Even after she recovered from her injuries, whenever she would speak of the incident, she would get tense and angry and relive the pain and stress of that situation all over again.  This went on until she had some BodyTalk done.  The trigger was deactivated and the memory became just another unpleasant experience that she rarely thought about.  She also stopped blaming the person who caused the accident and she was able to move on.

Sometimes we're not aware of memories that affect us like in the following example.  

In one session, I worked with a woman whose parents escaped a flood in a rowboat.  During which time the mother was pregnant with my client, who was born a very short time later.  Though she had no conscious memory of the event herself, she knew the story.  More importantly, when the charge was taken out of that subconscious memory, she found that she could now dive under the water when swimming.  Until her session, she hadn't liked having her face below the surface.  

That is how a memory we're not even aware of can affect perception and alter behavior.

We all have enough to deal with in life, without having to cope with old baggage.  Perhaps it's time to clear out and release some of the old stuff which keeps you stuck.  I can help you identify and release those old stories and defuse the trigger from those old experiences.

Tip For The Day-Produce Bags

To eliminate disposable plastic from my life, I am busy sewing cloth bags about the size of plastic bags you get at the grocery for produce.  I will be using them to buy items like flour, rice and other grains, coffee, nuts, etc. from the bulk bins at the Olympia Food Co-op.

My version:

Take remnants of fabric you have sitting around unused (cotton or linen is best), or cut up old sheets, or find fabric second hand, etc. (I decided against buying new fabric, unless I could find it at an affordable price, sustainably/ethically produced, fair trade, organic...)

Cut to size needed and sew into a bag.

Coat the inside with bees wax or leave as is.  Google how to do it.

That's my tip for the day.

Want to participate in Plastic Free July?  Lots of great ideas on their website or visit this event on facebook.

Assorted fabric remnants including vintage flour sacks from my Grandmother.

The Ocean Cleanup

You may have thought that I was finished with the environmental posts now that Zero Plastic Week is over...Yeah, I thought so too.  But being a "healer" and an "activist" go hand in hand, and it's who I have been for a long time.  Our planet, this One we call Earth, is a magnificent self regulating Being in her own right, as science is beginning to finally notice.  She will heal with or without us, but we might not be around to see it.  Reverence for our planet and other life forms is a reflection of the reverence we each feel for ourselves individually.  That's where the healing comes into it.  The more you begin to heal, and come into a balanced expression of life, the faster the Earth will come back into balance.  The more toxic stuff you clear from your own psyche/energy field/physical body, the easier it will be for planet Earth to deal with the toxins we have created for her.

Today's post features a young man's solutions to clean the world's oceans of plastic, enlisting the ocean currents.

It's call The Ocean Cleanup and it is the stellar idea of young Boyan Slat. Please visit his website to find out more.  http://www.theoceancleanup.com/

The feasibility study was done, and yielded good results. Now begins phase two: the pilot phase to reduce uncertainties and optimize design for actual implementation.  He is currently in the process of raising 2 million to fund this project, through crowd funding.  He has 88 days to go.  The organization is hosting it's own crowdfunding campaign, so 100% of your donation goes to the project.

We aim to raise two million USD in 100 days.  It will enable us to execute more pilot tests, study the durability of the system, developing and deploying permanent sampling equipment in the gyre, optimize out vertical distribution research and to further develop and build our team.

To hear the inspiration behind this idea, please watch Boyan Slat's TED Talk.




I won't post any gory pictures about what happens to marine life when they mistake plastic for food, and fill their bellies with it, because it isn't pretty.

But I will say that plastic isn't just an external environmental problem.  You are getting your share internally.  What happens to the chemical components of plastic when it begins to break down?  Think soda or water bottles, food containers, and the water supply.

"These chemicals act in a more convoluted and complicated way.  They interfere with our hormones, and they interfere with the endocrine system, which is the network of glands that orchestrate growth and development.  And there's some research showing that DEHP, this chemical that's in vinyl (used in IV bags), has this property.  It interferes with testosterone."  From the book Plastic: A Toxic Love Story by Susan Freinkel.

So that's the post for today...I think Boyan Slat has come up with a brilliant solution.  I think for the good of the planet, it deserves to be put into application.

Zero Plastic Week Last Day

I'm glad I participated in this week.  I'm also glad it's over.

I learned a lot about myself.  I learned that it takes a rare skill to live plastic free.  It takes commitment, discipline and organization.  Sometimes you even need a back up plan.

I'll be honest, I'm not sure I'm up to being 100% plastic free all the time.

But having said that, I will also say that I will keep trying to move toward that ideal lifestyle where I lessen my impact on the planet.  It is what I have always sought.  I have been aware of many environmental issues since I was about 9 or 10 years old.  That means I've been hearing about climate change and pollution for about 40 years.  I've been aware of the plastics problem for 25 years.  I've been eating organic foods for 15 years, and I'm moving to eating more and more locally grown/raised foods.

I have mentioned that I live in a community that makes it easier, and it's true.  Single use carry out bag ban goes into effect July 1st county wide.  That means plastic bags are prohibited.  Paper bags are not banned but must be made from at least 40% recycled material, and there will be a charge to consumers for these paper bags.  The goal is to get people to carry reusable shopping bags.

I think it will be interesting to see how the major grocery chains will implement this.  The grocery checkers never ask if you want paper or plastic, even though they have both available, and they begin automatically putting your groceries into a plastic bag even before you can tell them you've brought your own.  It's getting really close to the date when this bag ban goes into effect and I've seen no behavior modification at all.  

I may not find out how they do with it, because before this week, I was buying only 6 items from corporate grocery chains.  At the rate I'm eliminating plastic from my life, that alleviates the need to shop corporate at all.

I'm grateful to this community for the abundant options we have to shop locally.  I am able to buy directly from farms, or from farmer's markets and the local food co-op.  There are also some small local markets which specialize in locally produced foods.

Back to the topic of being plastic free...There is another event called Plastic Free July, if you're interested in participating.  And there is also Plastic Free Tuesday, every week.

Zero Plastic Week Day 6

Zero Plastic Week is a World Wide event to raise awareness through conscious effort to avoid adding any new plastic to our lives.  To avoid buying anything new made from or packaged in plastic.  This week is about finding creative solutions to avoid the use of plastic and to get people to think outside of their usual box.

Okay, so you've stopped buying plastic and you're doing your best to avoid consuming plastic and one day you bring in the mail and you have a credit card offer from American Express, and inside is a faux credit card (I guess in case you don't know what one looks like), and sure enough it's made of plastic.  And maybe you didn't respond, so you will continue to get these things until you find a way to stop it.

Or someone gives you a gift card made of plastic.  Or the grocery store wants you to have a membership card made of plastic.  Or your insurance card, driver's license, credit cards, etc., etc., etc.

Or have you seen this one?  Car dealer promo with disposable plastic key in large hard plastic package.  This is the kind of thing which really drives me nuts.

I did find solutions for some of these challenges.  For gift cards there is Earthworks who will recycle them, but not credit cards for obvious reasons.

Want to get American Express to stop pestering you with plastic?  Call the number to stop receiving offers, which by law should be listed on the offer.  It took me 3 phone calls, but they finally stopped coming.

Refuse membership cards when offered at the grocery...An awesome anti-plastic advocate like yourself is already shopping local at your co-op or farmer's market, right?

These are just a few simple things I've tried over the years to eliminate plastic coming to me from unexpected sources.

CDs and DVDs ?  I buy downloads.

There's a lot of plastic in our world.  I'm really proud of all the people world wide who are making the extra effort to live as plastic free as possible.  Great job everyone.  I know someday, this will make a difference.