Ethical Shopping

A couple of weeks ago I was delighted to receive an email from the Pine Rivers Climate Action Network offering an ethical shopping tour of the Samford IGA. As I generally dislike grocery shopping and the never ending balancing act bewteen buying australian, trying to keep packaging down, avoiding companies with bad reputations etc, I jumped at the chance for someone to show me around my new grocery store.
Armed with "The Guide to Ethical Supermarket Shopping" we trawled the aisles and discovered all the australian companies that are now foreign owned, the Japanese company involved in funding the military opposition to the Aung San Soo Kyi and more happily the many local companies that this IGA are happy to stock. 

But what was most exciting was the discovery of a brand new store just opened that is dedicated to selling only locally grown and produced goods.  Fresh Local Provisions  (www.freshlocal.com.au)  is dedicated to buying fresh home grown produce from local people (I hope to soon be one of her suppliers) as well as basic products made in the area eg. goat milk soap, artisan bread, hopefully some of Stefano's timber products?  Luckily for me the owner and manager also lives on the same road that we are moving too so we had a great chat about water catchment and sewerage systems and other glamorous topics.  It is good tobe meeting people in the community before we even move in.

Next week Isabel and I are off the check out the local primary school - couldn't believe more coincidences; the receptionist also lives on our road, no its not the only road in the area, and used to go to New Farm State School (Isabel's current school) as a child!

Now if we can just sell the house.