Back from the Dead

It's been a crazy couple of months.

My last post was in May.  Since then we moved, had a baby, had our year anniversary, had my twenty-seventh birthday, started a business... Yikes.  I'll admit that (especially after the baby) I fell off the wagon while I was gone.  Who knows where the stuff I've been buying comes from?  But it's time for that lack of knowledge to come to an end.  More specifically, it's time to figure out where it comes from, then start buying only American once again.  I've been told that (especially with the baby) it'll be hard, but this is something I'm passionate about!  So I'm making my vow once again: for a whole year, I'll only buy products made in America.  I'm doing this for the economy; I'm doing it for the environment; I'm doing it for the knowledge that what I'm buying could not have been made in a sweatshop, or with slave labor, or contain substances that are blatantly harmful to human life.  (I'm looking at you China, and your pile of lead-painted toys!)

Wish me luck!

Getting the Courage

A big thanks to Jodi, the Bulk Foods Manager at the Lancaster Winco, for making this post possible.

We finally have flour and sugar again!

Shannon and I went shopping just the other day to pick up a couple very basic supplies (really, who runs out of flour and sugar AT THE SAME TIME?) and discovered that if you ask the Winco people where the bulk food comes from.... THEY CAN TELL YOU.

Yes, I realize how idiotic I sound right now.  It should be patently obvious that they'd be able to tell you.  The country of origin has to be marked somewhere on the packaging, right?  (Well, mostly.)  And if the packaging isn't right in your face, it has to be in the back, right?  (One would hope.)  And if the packaging is in the back, who better to read it for you than the people who work at the store and are allowed to go in the back?

Still, I'm a shy person, and it was hard for me to just go up and ask "Hi!  Where's your sugar from?!"

So in the end, I made Shannon do it.  He's much better at these things than me.

Turns out our flour comes from Idaho (thanks, Loren and Mindy!), and our sugar comes from sugar beets from Goergia.  Sweet!

We also went to the veggie store today during lunch to pick up some fruit.  I was excited about getting another pineapple, but the ones they have now are from Costa Rica.

Sad.  Days.

The mangos are also still from Mexico, the and the kiwis, grapes, and just about everything else was from Chile.  Lame!  In the end we grabbed some avocados (yay California!) and went to the checkout.  While we were there I took a deep breath and asked the man where their apples come from.  And you know what he said?  You know what he said?!  "Washington and Hood River!"  And I was super happy, because I wanted something other than avocados to come home with me.  And then he walked out from behind the counter and took us out to the apples and looked at every single kind they had and told me where each one came from, and then did the same thing for the pears, and then cut off a piece of Fuji apple for me to taste, and it was so good I grabbed four and added them to my avocaodos.  And while we were checking out we talked about the different kinds of apples, and where most apples come from, and he mentioned Argentina and New Zealand are starting to ship (so I'll have to watch out), and we packed everything into our little bag and I went away much happier than I would have if he wasn't so awesome.

So this just goes to show, boys and girls - ask and you shall receive! :D

The Meat.....

I love WhereIsMyMilkFrom.com so much, I wish that there was a corresponding site for every kind of food product.  I've been trying to track down similar sites, but to no avail.

Finally, I just gave up and decided to do a little research with some of the bigger companies.  I think it's pretty obvious that our local eggs came from down the road, our local pork is from just out of town....But what if it's not Saturday, so I can't get something I know was grown and raised within 20 miles?

I wrote to Foster Farms to see where their farms are.  Although I'm always a little leery about non-organic (or, in the case of fish, non-wild caught) meat, I know it's not always the easiest thing to find or cheapest to buy.  One bonus for Foster Farms: a cursory glance at their FAQ shows that any protein that goes into the feed comes from the US, which is a start.  We'll see what they have to say about everything else.

More on the pop

I still have no answer about whether Shasta pop is definitely made in America.  However, I thought I should point out that, after doing the math, we found that our Shasta + syrup idea is somewhat flawed from a price standpoint, coming in at about $1.68 per liter.  (I have no idea how I did the math wrong in the store.  WTF?)  However, Shannon validly pointed out that our version of pop has fewer, more pronounceable ingredients than standard pop, so we might just stick with it anyway.

In other news, I just started a page, called "Made In the US" in an effort to pull together products that I know are made in America.  Considering the plethora of bad sites out there, I'm hoping that this little page will be a beacon of hope of anyone else who's crazy enough to try buying products made only in one country in a global economy.

Begin the Experiment!

So Shannon (my husband) and I were walking through Wal-Mart today to get laundry bags. We picked up the kind that we like and headed to the register. As we were waiting in line, I remembered the old days when Wal-Mart was popular at least in part because they sold only items made in America. I checked the laundry bags. Made in China.

I've always been a little disappointed in Americans in that we're so willing to support another economy, and of late I've been even more disappointed because it's preventing us from supporting our own economy - and I don't think anyone would disagree with me that it could use the help. I thought how great it would be to buy only American...and then I thought how hard it would probably be. I mean really, is there anything that's made in America anymore? When I look at packaging, I actually find it surprising when I find something made in America, which is just sad. When our unemployment is through the roof, wouldn't it make more sense for us to be creating jobs in our economy instead of someone else's?

So I decided to try a little experiment: buying only American for a year. It's sort of along the lines of Living Plastic Free and I think a good idea, if probably a hard one to achieve.

I'm already beginning to wonder what I'm going to do about certain things. For example, food. I know that it's reasonably easy to get produce in the spring, summer, and fall from American sources, especially if you're buying locally. But what about the winter? And what about food that's not local? Living in Oregon there are plenty of tasties that grow here naturally, but certainly not all the tasites that exist. How will I know where the food comes from if it's not marked? Also, there are the things that aren't necessarily marked for where they're from. Case in point, my cereal. I buy the bulk granola from Winco for my cereal, but it's impossible to tell where it's from: were the ingredients in the granola grown in America, or just combined in America (if any of it's from America at all)? Where does that info come from?

So wish me luck. Just thinking about the challenges has my stomach flipping, but I've created a blog so I'm committed now! Wish me luck, because I have a feeling I'm going to need it.