Black Friday promotions are starting even earlier this year

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Black Friday promotions are starting even earlier this year, earlier even than they did last year and the years before. Thus, in timely fashion, I have decided to issue my “thought for the day” also early.

Black Friday is the Friday following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, often regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. In recent years, most major retailers have opened extremely early and offered promotional sales to kick off the holiday shopping season. This year this day falls on November 29, with November 28 being Thanksgiving.

So, therefore, before you line up, however, on Thursday night, as so many do in order to be first in line when the stores open, for those great sales - I am being sarcastic, yes - ask yourself this:

"How is buying things that are made in China at discounted prices going to help the economy of the country that I am concerned about, or should be concerned about?"

It does not and cannot. It only fills the pockets of the corporations that are having their stuff made in China, in Vietnam, in India, in Thailand, in the Philippines, and other low wage countries, with many instances in China prison (slave) labor being used even to make the goods that we all are forced to buy, as far too many things are no longer available as "Made in US" or "Made in England".

Instead go and buy local, on Saturday. Boycott Black Friday by not buying anything on that day and encourage others to do so too. Buy from local makers, craftspeople, and others and chose “Made in USA” or “Made in England” (or chose your country) over anything from the Far East. I know it is not easy but we can try and if we do then we can create a positive change in our country, especially by how we spend our money.

Another question you should ask yourself also is: “Do I need those things that are on sale anyway?” and more often than not the answer will be a firm “No!” if you are but honest with yourself.

Often, I am sure, if you will really think about it in the right way you will find that those goods are not a need and not even, maybe, a want and if you really look at things there are many of them that, with a little thought and skill you could even make yourself – from waste – rather than buying. It is better for your finances and good for the Planet.

As consumers our money is our weapon for change and if we put it into the hands of local makers and craftspeople and producers we can keep them in business and can send a message to the rest of the country and indeed the world that we will not put up with this system anymore and that we demand a change.

Every Dollar, Pound or Euro that does not flow into the pockets of the corporations but goes to a local business it a plus for the (local) economy and even more so if the goods are produced locally.

Let's put local back into economy and demand local products and produce.

© 2013

Is the High Street making a comeback?

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

We are being told by many that the High Street, or Main Street, as our American cousins call it, in its last throws. But is this really the case?

Despite behemoths like Starbucks and Amazon, the number of independent bookstores, coffee shops, and other businesses appear to be growing and this is a good thing indeed.

We all know that the likes of Wal-Mart, Target, the large supermarkets in the K such as Tesco, ASDA (part of Wal-Mart) and Sainsbury's, and especially Amazon are killing the smaller businesses on the High Street businesses but this is, thankfully, only partly true. Those retailing behemoths have devastated a lot of communities across the America and the UK, and they’re still growing. But the good news is that despite the big chains, also in the field of coffee shops and such, the small ones are still holding on and, in many cases, are increasing.

One surprising comeback to the High Street, in many places and countries, despite Amazon's impact, are the local independent bookstores and the more the merrier, I say. And the same must be the case for other shops too, whether greengrocers, hardware stores or what-have-you.

Even in the age of e-books and Amazon, independents are growing: For the last four years, their numbers and total sales have grown, despite the recession. In 2009 there were 1,651 independent bookstores in the United States. Today there are more than 1,900. And e-books, in my opinion, are not an answer for the great majority and neither will they do anything to save trees and the Planet. The opposite rather on both counts. But that is another discussion point and one that I have covered before more than once.

In order to keep revitalizing the High Street we all, as consumers, need to frequent it more and local authorities have to do their part by making the High Street more accessible in way of parking of cars and bicycles for is there is no way to leave the car or bike then people will not come to the High Street.

Shop owners too have to do their bit and that can also be the provision of bicycle parking, so to speak, and much more, in order to attract customers. Coffee shops must offer secure and free wi-fi for use by customers and other services too could come the equation such as, as the coffee shops of old, being a meeting hub for people as well as a center for alternative postal services.

Hardware stores also could offer services to customers, via “subcontractors”, such as sharpening of garden tools and others, giving other small businesses a link to the greater community while taking a small cut as a facilitation fee.

Bookstores aren’t the only retail sector where independents are expanding. Local coffee shops have grown faster than Starbucks. Bakers and specialty food stores are thriving. Independent pharmacies and pet, fabric, and stationery stores are growing too. At least in the United States.

How do they compete with the giants? One factor is the “buy local” ethic and in 2012 sales at independent businesses in cities with “buy local” campaigns grew 8.6 percent while those that did not have such campaigns grew 3.4 percent.

Independents are also capitalizing on their ability to win loyalty by hosting events, such as author talks at bookstores. And bookstore owners have learned to feature high margin items such as note-cards, toys, and chocolate.

There are many more things that local shops can do to get customers come through their doors and keeping the High Street alive and all it takes is some deep thought as to what additional services could be offered.

Independent bookstores could also help butting artists and craftspeople to find an outlet even though it might not be books and in addition to that the acceptance, or even the creation is not in existence already, of local currencies can also go a long way here.

What can we do, as consumers, besides shopping at their stores, to help our local retailers? We can't do much about the big boxes’ ability to get major discounts from suppliers and pummel the public with advertising. But we can protest when local governments give tax abatement and free land to the retail giants. Indiana, for example, gave Amazon $11 million to locate five warehouses in the state, and we must also campaign so that those large retailers actually pay the tax the owe and not let them get away with tax avoidance, as the UK government has allowed Amazon and others to do.

Another great way for local retailers to get custom come through their doors, and hopefully become loyal shoppers, is to, and this is an easy thing, offer free tap water for those that wish to refill their water bottles. It has been tried and it seems to work.

So don’t think that the High Street is down and out for the count. As the “buy local” ethic continues to gain momentum, as stores get creative in using their local advantage, and as online sales lose their tax advantage, the lights may again shine bright on the High Street. But, mush of it will be down to us, as consumers, as to whether the High Street will get up again to fight another day or not.

© 2013

Beanpoles and pea sticks

Beanpoles and pea sticks are the mainstay of coppicing operations

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Not much that there can be said about beanpoles and pea stick, you may think, but that is where the error could lie.

Most of those poles for your beans today are imported bamboo and that certainly is not a sustainable way and neither does it benefit the local economy.

For almost an eternity gardeners and growers relied for beanpoles and pea sticks on the local coppice worker and both benefited. This can be the way again if we are just prepared to look at it from the right angle.

Beanpoles and sticks are one of the most reliable type of coppice product and can be harvested on a very short rotation coppice. Wood for other uses requires many more years to mature and thus beanpoles and pea sticks can be a reliable source of income to the coppice worker if the user is prepared too change his or her ways and go back to the ways it used to be rather than taking imported bamboo.

While it is true that bamboo is a fast growing grass – it is not a tree by any imagination despite the fact it can grow to forest size – it also has a long shipping distance. But, true, bamboo canes as plant supports generally weigh in cheaper than do coppice product beanpoles and pea sticks. However, on the sustainability scale bamboo canes and poles do not score very high because of their transportation costs, by way of fuel usage and thus emissions.

Locally cut wood products are by far more sustainable than anything else and they support local people and also, as coppice management of woods is a good thing, in creating biodiversity in the local environment even if one does not lend an actual hand in such biodiversity management schemes.

No more than forty years ago one would hardly see any bamboo canes in use as plant supports in vegetable gardens, allotments and even with commercial vegetable growers. Today, however, it is almost all that we do see and it is very rare indeed to see any locally grown and sourced beanpoles and other plant supports in use, which is rather a shame.

Beanpoles and pea sticks are the mainstay of most coppicing operations, closely followed, but larger wood is required for this, lump wood charcoal, and it is for that reason alone that we should, wherever possible, buy locally grown, cut and sourced plant supports and ideally directly from the woodcutter. That way he or she gets the money all and no middlemen take any cut.

Support your local woodland worker by buying his products and at the same time you are supporting the environment, biodiversity and the local economy.

© 2013

Seven good reasons to buy local food

Better still to grow your own in your own garden, on an allotment or a community garden

by Michael Smith

If you have to buy and even if you grow you cannot grow everything then buy local.

Why buy local?

1. Locally grown food tastes better.

Food grown in your own community is usually picked within the past day or two. It's crisp, sweet, and loaded with flavor. Produce flown or trucked in from elsewhere, whether from Holland or Germany, Poland or Kenya, as often in the case of French Beans in the UK, is, quite understandably, much older.

Several studies have shown that the average distance food travels from farm to plate is 1,500 miles. In a week long delay from harvest to dinner plate, sugars turn to starches, plant cells shrink, and produce loses its vitality.

Buying and consuming locally grown food also means that you eat with the seasons, as we are meant to eat and work.

While it is extremely nice to have fresh green beans in the middle of winter or lettuce or this or that other vegetable, when we consider the distance that those will have travelled and then things are in a different perspective straight away.

2. Local produce is better for you.

Studies have shown that fresh produce loses nutrients quickly. Locally grown food, purchased soon after harvest, retains its nutrients.

Hence also the advice to grow your own if you at all can. That way the food miles are not miles but yards rather and you can literally go out and pick your dinner just minutes before preparing it.

3. Local food preserves genetic diversity.

In the modern industrial agricultural system, varieties are chosen for their ability to ripen simultaneously and withstand harvesting equipment; for a tough skin that can survive packing and shipping; and for an ability to have a long shelf life in the store. Only a handful of hybrid varieties of each fruit and vegetable meet those rigorous demands, so there is little genetic diversity in the plants grown.

Local farms, in contrast, grow a huge number of varieties to provide a long season of harvest, an array of eye-catching colors, and the best flavors. Many varieties are heirlooms, passed down from generation to generation, because they taste good.

These old varieties contain genetic material from hundreds or even thousands of years of human selection; they may someday provide the genes needed to create varieties that will thrive in a changing climate. Local food preserves genetic diversity.

If you grow your own you can, always, let some go to seed and have, that way, your own seed and seed bank.

4. Local food is GMO-free.

Although biotechnology companies have been trying to commercialize genetically modified fruits and vegetables, they are currently licensing them only to large factory-style farms. Local farmers don't have access to genetically modified seed, and most of them wouldn't use it even if they could. Costs more than likely would be one of the reasons and also they know that most of such plants will not produce viable seeds.

A June 2001 survey by ABC News showed that 93% of Americans want labels on genetically modified food – most in order so that they can avoid it. The same, so I understand, if true in the UK and elsewhere in the EU, such as Germany and the Netherlands.

If you are opposed to eating bio-engineered food, you can rest assured that locally grown produce from small farms was bred the old-fashioned way, as nature intended.

If you grow your own then you also know what's been sprayed on the crops if anything.

5. Local food preserves open space.

As the value of direct-marketed fruits and vegetables increases, selling farmland for development becomes less likely. You have probably enjoyed driving out into the country and appreciated the lush fields of crops, the meadows full of wildflowers, the picturesque barns and farms. That landscape will survive only as long as farms are financially viable. When you buy locally grown food, you are doing something proactive about preserving the agricultural landscape.

6. Local food supports a clean environment and benefits wildlife.

A well-managed family farm is a place where the resources of fertile soil and clean water are valued. Good stewards of the land grow cover crops to prevent erosion and replace nutrients used by their crops. Cover crops also capture carbon emissions and help combat global warming. According to some estimates, farmers who practice conservation tillage could sequester 12-14% of the carbon emitted by vehicles and industry. In addition, the habitat of a farm - the patchwork of fields, meadows, woods, ponds, and buildings - is the perfect environment for the many species of wildlife including owls, hawks, blue herons, bats, and rabbits, and foxes.

7. Local food is about the future.

By supporting local farmers today, you can help ensure that there will be farms in your community tomorrow so that future generations will have access to nourishing, flavorful, and abundant food.

© M Smith (Veshengro), January 2009
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