My Fairtrade Fortnight: Review

So, my NZ Grown Fortnight wound up on Sunday night on the 22nd. Sorry I took awhile to get on and actually write about it, I was hoping to post a bit sooner but I wasn't feeling well and Blogspot was having issues.
So let's get right into it.

100% NZ Grown - Is it sustainable?

By the end of my two weeks it was clear that being 100% NZ Grown isn't sustainable for me. Being 100% NZ Grown isn't realistic.
It means that me and my partner can't go out to dinner, I can't accept any foods people offer me, I can't grab anything but fruit from shops when I'm out and about and hungry! ... Things which all drove me a little crazy.
Although on the plus side - if you can put up with those sacrifices - it does save you money.
The whole fortnight was made worse by the fact that I'm currently in another one of my phases where proteins make me feel nauseous. So I wasn't eating a lot of lentils, eggs or cheese.
I was pretty much living on oats and plain yoghurt, mandarins and roasted vegetables. This took a major toll on my protein intake and my iron.
Usually on average I get around 60-70g protein a day and 75% of my RDI for iron. 75% seems enough to keep me in the acceptable range for Iron levels when I get my blood tests. However since I haven't been able to eat proteins, my protein intake dropped down to an average of 50g and my iron intake was sitting around the 50% mark.
By the end of the 2 weeks I was feeling faint, tired and increasingly put off the idea of food all together due to feeling queasy most of the time. On Monday I even had to leave work early because I felt like I was going to faint. I got a blood test done later that day and turns out my iron levels have dropped quite a bit.
So maybe if I had been able to eat enough lentils, eggs and cheese, it might have been fine.
Certainly if I was a meat-eater I think it would be a hell of a lot easier as there is no protein, iron or b12 worries. So I would still recommend it to others, so long as they are able to maintain their protein levels.

What have you learnt from your NZ Grown Fortnight?

I have learnt to think more about where the products I'm buying are coming from. I have realised that there are some easy NZ Grown changes I can make. For instance, I can continue buying NZ Grown Organic flour from Huckleberry Farms and I can try to keep my foreign food intake down to the luxuries.
I have also actually learnt that most of the processed foods don't taste that good, I just eat them out of habit. On my last night, I was fantasizing about all the foods I could eat the next day. I thought they would taste even better after not having them for 2 weeks. Unfortunately it turned out to be the opposite.
Shop bread is bland and lacks the flavour of home-made bread. Even the salt and vinegar potato chips I had bored me. Processed foods are so bland compared to fruit and vegetables. It's so unsatisfying!

So what are some long term changes you will make?

I plan to buy what I can from New Zealand. For instance, I will stick with the NZ Grown Organic Flour. But for the items that we don't grow here, I will be trying to find Certified Fair-trade and Organic options. If I can't get these products in the supermarket, there is always the Trade Aid store which sells some of your common "Luxury" products such as Organic FT Sugar, Coffee, Tea and Cacao products such as Cocoa powder (Baking), Drinking Chocolate, Chocolate - in multiple flavours, and even nuts, dried fruits and spices.
On Tuesday I got this little bundle!

(Sourced from Trade Aid)

I got it all for just over $25 and it is all organic and fair trade. There is Organic FT Drinking Chocolate, Organic FT Cane Sugar, Organic FT Instant Coffee and Organic FT Mocha Chocolate (which is the freaking tastiest mocha chocolate I have ever had with creamy milk chocolate and the smoothest of smooth mocha fillings). And yes, that is a bowl of Kumara in the background. Fresh from my Garden, thank you very much!
I haven't tried the coffee yet but the drinking chocolate was nice. It is quite simply organic FT Cocoa powder and powdered organic FT sugar. So no nasty binders, fillers, colours, flavours or numbers you can't even identify.
It is nice and smooth, not too bitter like plain cocoa. I made it with 1 tsp Drinking Chocolate and 2 tsp sugar, but I think next time I'd use 2 tsp Drinking Chocolate because it was quite mild.

So, basically I plan to continue getting my main foods from New Zealand. I want to continue making my own bread and such with NZ Grown Flour. And maybe once I get some plain white wheat flour, I'll even try making my own pasta (A future blog post, perhaps?). I will also continue making my own toasted oats for cereal in the morning, although I might start adding some Fair-trade Organic dried fruits and seeds for the added nutrition.



Why is Fair Trade and Organic products important, in your opinion?

 I believe that buying Fair-trade is just that, fair! And I don't know about you, but my mother taught me that we should be fair. In our society we don't even think about where products come from any more. When we look at an item, we don't think about the people who farmed it and what country they live in. We look at the price tag and that's about it. Occasionally we might look at the nutrition of the product, but that's as far as we usually go. This is something even I have been guilty to, and it is something I'm wanting to change about myself. Trying to buy organic is just another part of being fair.
Not all farmers can afford the protective clothing required to keep them safe from the chemicals they use, which results in them getting sick, or even dying. By buying Fair-trade and Organic, I am encouraging fair wages for all the millions of hard working farmers all over the world and improving their health through not supporting the use of chemicals.
And gees, don't even get me started on the environmental benefits and the health benefits that I myself will get from not buying products dosed in chemicals.


What advice would you give to anyone wanting to try an NZ Grown Fortnight?

Be prepared. Prepare, prepare, prepare. If you're working, you might not have the time during the work weak to make things like bread, so make sure you sort out some staples before you start.
Make up some bread and keep enough out to last you a few days and freeze the rest. Organic bread grows mould a lot faster due to the lack of chemicals, so don't waste bread by having too much out at once.
Also toast up some muesli before you start your fortnight so you have breakfasts sorted.
If you eat meat, perhaps you could even do a roast and have fill containers with 1 portion and freeze so that daily you have a portion of protein for when you're at work. They could be used in sandwiches or just eaten with vegetables.
You could do the same thing with lentils or lentil patties, fellow vegetarians. That was really something I should have done.
One thing I did find good during the week if I was desperate for something filling but was out of bread was this... scone/bread hybrid. I could make them up and bake them in about 30 minutes and they went well with soup.
I pretty much just got about half a cup of warm water, chucked in some honey and yeast and milk.
Then got a cup or two of flour and rubbed in about 50g butter, then added 1/2 cup grated cheese. I'd put in as much of the yeast mixture I needed to turn the flour into a dough, form them into little balls and then pop them in the oven for 20 minutes.
They we were really tasty.
Why not just make scones? Well, the baking powder/soda both said they were just packaged in New Zealand. The Yeast didn't actually say anything about where it was made or even packaged, but I think we grow our own yeast... don't we? I'm not sure. It was the 1 of 2 things I knew I wouldn't be able to go the week without. Yeast and the added salt in cheeses which I couldn't say where it came from. They were both items I accepted because I knew I'd need the nutrition from the things they were both in.


So there you go, not entirely sustainable but still an eye opening week which has encouraged me to make some good changes in my life!
Why not give it a go? It is fun and entertaining and opens your eyes to where products really come from! If the whole 2 weeks sounds too much for you, why not try a 24 or 48 hour challenge?
Or, you could really challenge yourself and do a whole month!
Well, I hope you are all having a good day and if you have any comments, questions or suggestions, please leave them below!


Quote of the day:

"Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible."
– St. Francis of Assisi

Etiko Sneakers: It's only fair

Organic or Fairtrade footwear might not be something we think about, and if we do, it probably resembles wooden sandals made out of Bamboo or a cotton slipper. You don't think of anything modern or anything young people would want to wear. But! Alas! I have found "normal" footwear that is sustainable, fairtrade and organic.
Etiko is a company in Australia that sells Fairtrade Footwear, T-Shirts, Underwear and Sports Balls. The T-Shirts and underwear are made from Organic Cotton, and some of the footwear even uses Organic Cotton to make the canvas.
They have sneakers - Both low-cuts and high-tops - and Alpargatas.
For more information on the brand and their projects click here.
For stockists in New Zealand, please click Here and select New Zealand.

If you are hesitant of buying shoes online, they do have stockists in New Zealand. The easiest one for me to get to was The Cruely Free Shop on Karangahape Road, here in Auckland, so I got a lift from the SO while he was going to his next job and went to check them out. My current work shoes have fallen apart (Quite literally) so it was time to buy a new pair of shoes!
Being restricted to black only, my options were cut back to the simple low-cut or high-cut sneakers... made easier by the fact that they only had high-tops at the moment. So, High-tops it was and here they are!

Etiko High-Top Sneakers, RRP - 90AUD from Etiko.com.au ($150 NZD At the Cruelty Free Shop)

So what are they made of?
The soles are made from latex which is farmed sustainable at farms that are FSC Certified (Which means the rubber is made from tapped trees, not chemicals), the canvas and laces are made from organic cotton and dyed using PCP and AZO free dyes. They are 100% vegan and even come in a funky box that is made from 100% consumer waste!

To some, spending $150 on shoes might seem too much. But considering my sweat-shop-produced, unsustainable Nike Sneakers cost $199.99... $150 is worth it. It's all in how you look at it.
In choosing to pay a little more, I'm giving people in factories a fair wage, I'm promoting products produced with less chemicals and I'm promoting sustainability.
It's all about what you want to get from your shopping experience, which is up for you to decide.
We all have a choice where we spend our money and what kind of behaviour from companies that we would like to promote.

I'm looking forward to showing these babies off for the next couple of weeks at work and to friends and trying to spread the idea that organic and fairtrade doesn't always mean Hippy Slippers when it comes to footwear!

An NZ Grown Shopping List : The cost and the sacrifices of eating only NZ Grown

I - like most people - thought that eating NZ Grown would be expensive. A fair expectation, considering I am buying more dairy (All of which -excluding the butter- is organic), organic NZ grown flours and organic NZ grown/made pasta, but so far I have been pleasantly surprised that I am actually saving money.
So how am I saving money? I am still buying enough food to support my body and I'm buying more expensive products.
Well, it turns out by not being able to buy junk food (Shop bread, crumpets, potato chips, chocolate, take-out, V energy drinks and fizzy drinks, ice creams, sugar loaded juices), I'm saving a lot of money.
And in the great scheme of things, these foods are small sacrifices. By stripping these items from my diet for 2 weeks, I am giving myself a clean slate to work with. At the end of the 2 weeks, I have a fresh start where I can then choose what items I let back into my diet, and which items I don't. I can make adjustments to more ethical products and make changes where possible.
So if I wasn't allowed to buy junk food or foreign products, what was I buying?

I did my first shop for some NZ Grown products in preparation for my NZ Grown Fortnight on 2/5/2011 which was 6 days before I started my challenge, which means some of what I brought would have been consumed before I started my fortnight of NZ Grown, but here is the list of NZ Grown products I brought:

2/5/2011 Shopping List (at Pak'n'Save)

Harraways Rolled Oats 1.5kg - $4.29
Pams split yellow peas 500g   - $1.39
Pams split green peas  500g    - $1.39
Pams Lentils                  500g    - $2.91
Coulston Hill Eggs, 6pk (Free range)- $2.99
Mrs Rogers Organic Salt 335g- $4.25
Organic Hass Avocados         - $2.99
Broccoli 2@ $1.25                     - $2.50
Cabbage half                             - $0.99
Button Mushrooms                 - $2.55
Pumpkin 2@ $2.49                    - $4.98
1kg pk Capsicums                    - $3.99
Potatoes (Washed), .825kg     - $2.06
Carrots 1.16kg                           - $1.73
Pams Onion Alfalfa Sprouts   - $1.75
Tomatoes 0.630kg                     - $4.41
Budget Butter, 2@ $4.19          - $8.38
Nature Lea Organic milk 2@3.45 - $6.90
Long Bush Feta                        - $3.29
Household Extras - (Toilet paper, cleaning products, baking papers, etc) - $3.88

Total - $67.62

I then went to Huckleberry Farms on Saturday, 7/5/2011, day before I started my challenge, to get some flour and pasta.

NZ Bio Grains Organic Whole meal spelt flour - $13.20
Pasta D'or Organic Rye Pasta - $6.10

Total - $19.30

Then on the 9/5/2011 I grabbed a couple of things while at the supermarket when the SO was doing his food shopping.

Pams Honey 500g - $4.79
2@1.49 Broccoli - $2.98
Celery - $1.99
Onions 1kg - $2.99
Household products - $5.41

Total - $18.16

I know, I do a lot of bitsy shops scattered throughout the week. I find this is better since I buy a lot of vegetables and if I buy them all at once they all just go off after a few days.

So all my little shops comes to a total of  - $105.08
A shocking $35-55 cheaper than my usual fortnightly shopping, and then I would probably usually spend another $30+ on takeaways and junk food while I'm at work.
This shopping covered me for nearly a fortnight from the 2nd until the 15th since I did the first shop a little early! And some of these items I still have for the following fortnight such as the split peas, lentils, oats, flour, pasta, salt, butter and some vegetables.

Now the 15/5/2011 was my next staple shop, however it was mostly just a top-up on fresh veg and dairy products.

100% Kiwi NZ Extra Virgin Olive Oil 500ml - $11.99 (Finally found some and it was sitting right there amongst all the other olive oils, I don't know how I haven't noticed it before!)
Mandarins - $3.99
Leek - $1.49
Brussel Sprouts 400g - $1.89
Potatoes (washed) 2.61kg - $ 6.51
Carrots 1.245kg - $2.36
Mushrooms 0.169kg -$2.02
Biofarm acidophilus 1L Yogurt - $5.49
Naturalea Organic milk 1Lt - $3.45
Household Extras - $9.29

Total - $48.48

So, as if I need to say it, I have been eating a lot of vegetables.
I've been roasting them, boiling them, making vegetable stir-fries with them... it's been your common vegetable masacare in my house the last 2 weeks.
So there you have the numbers side of things... The simple costs of living NZ Grown. I'm buying organic dairy and grains, organic salt... the only thing I'm not really buying organic is Vegetables. I would love to be able to buy organic vegetables but unfortunately since I buy so many vegetables, I don't think I would be able to afford it. This lifestyle change for me isn't meant to be a stress/guilt scenario where I feel some obsessive need to buy everything organic, but rather making realistic changes where I can.
I might not be able to only eat NZ Grown for the rest of my life, but after my NZ Grown fortnight I plan to continue buying NZ organic flour and making my own bread, buying NZ olive oil and NZ Salt.
I will continue to try not to eat many foods from overseas and if I do, that they are fairtrade and organic. Particularly when it comes to buying sugar, cacao products, coffee and bananas.
This first week has already opened my eyes to so much! I walk through supermarkets now and whenever I look at an item I imagine all the products that go into making it and start listing off the countries where they might come from in my head.

So changing to NZ Grown grains, salt and olive oil and making sure that the majority of the chocolate, coffee, sugar and bananas I eat are organic/fairtrade are realistic changes for me. These are things that I can change without too much stress. For me these are realistic changes.
So as you are finishing reading this blog, take a moment to think about the products that are in your pantry/fridge.
Where did they come from?
Who made them?
Do I Need this item if it has come from unethical sources?
Take a look at the food you are buying and see if there is 1 product you can realistically change to a fairtrade and/or organic product instead.

I hope all the numbers weren't too boring and I promise my next post will be a little more interesting/exciting!
If you have an questions, comments or suggestions, please post them below and I'll answer them as soon as I can.

"Why fast fashion is slow death for the planet" - by Lucy Siegle

This afternoon I just want to post a quick blog about some articles by a woman called Lucy Siegle that I have been reading. She is a writer for The Observer in the UK and has a column about how to live a fairtrade eco lifestyle.
I found her "Fast fashion death for planet" article and found that it also really just confirmed why I need to make a change in my shopping attitude. It brought to my attention how retailers also manipulate their audience, and how I need to retrain myself to not be sucked in by the mentality of "new is better and more is best".
In the article Lucy Siegle brings up some questions we should all be asking ourselves when we are out shopping, such as:

• Who made this?
• Where did it come from?
• How long will it's "life span" be?

Her articles really made me think, and that is why I wanted to share them with you.
I am just like all the other young girls out there. I love clothes and I love shoes - Oh how I adore shoes...
I happen to have a bookcase covered in shoes that I never wear. What shoes do I wear? I wear my work shoes and my sneakers and 1 pear of boots which I have continued to squeeze life out of despite the fact that the heals are wobbly, the vinyl is pealing off and the soul is starting to come away from the rest of the boot. I do this will all shoes I like, and the rest simply remain unused sitting on the lonely bookcase collecting dust.
My most recent edition is a pair of black, very steep peep toe high heals - which I still haven't worn since buying them because I am too worried about getting them wet (they're kind of a fake suede) and also don't want the blisters. But still, in the shop, even while I knew I would probably only wear them a handful of times in their "Life span" I just HAD to have them. And this behaviour is far from limited to myself. This behaviour is what every young and old girl exhibits.
So as I go on my journey, to finding a more environmentally friendly, fair and realistic lifestyle, I need to let go of this attitude.
I need to buy only the things I will wear for their whole entire life span. Now that my boots are beginning to leak, I am keeping an eye out for a replacement, but I refuse to buy another pair of boots that I don't "love" because otherwise, they will just end up another pair of sad dusty boots on my bookcase... Like the other 2 pairs I currently don't like and don't wear, yet brought years ago.
By saving money from not buying items that was only really purchased for emotional and psychological reasons, I also will then be able to save to buy items that I need, enjoy, love, and will wear for their whole entire life span. Items that I may pay more for, in order to make sure they are ethical environmentally and socially, but items that I will ultimately wear. We on average only wear 20% of our wardrobe 80% of the time. If I could reduce my wardrobe to items I really only wear by buying items I know I will wear, I can save money and not encourage the mass production of clothing that goes on today.

By making better decisions while shopping I can better my impact on the world, environmentally and socially.
Our money has a lot of power over other people, and we need to learn again how to direct this power in ways that will make positive changes in the world.

Happy conscious-shopping, everybody.

NZ Grown bread & NZ Grown pumpkin soup - I'm about to be in NZ Grown Heaven

There is something pleasantly comforting about the smell of bread baking in the oven and pumpkin soup cooking on the stove. It brings an air of happiness, trawling up happy childhood memories along with it.
Nothing beats it in winter! Not to mention it also happens to be cheap as dirt - the only way it can ever possibly be referred to dirt by the way - and simple make.
The only down side is this soup lacks a bit on the protein side, so perhaps it's not the best thing to live off of in the winter. However, Pumpkin does happen to be a fantastic sources of Vitamin A, with an average of 245% (or 12230 IU in other words) of your daily needs met with just 1 cup of mashed pumpkin - and we all love the benefits of vitamin A, such as being able to maintain healthy eyesight.

Now although the soup is quick and easy, and can be prepared and cooked within about an hour... the bread cannot. And that is why I recommend you start this labour of love in the morning.
Making bread should not be about how quickly you can do it. This is a sure way to fail. Making home-made bread should be looked at as a process... A process that you leave and come back to... a lot.
But don't fear, your day of hard work will be well rewarded as there is nothing in the whole entire world that I prefer the taste to, than home-made bread, fresh out of the oven, with about half a cup of butter smothered all over it. The day you make home-made bread is not a day you should be thinking about silly things like calories, weight, scales or that pair of jeans in the back of your closet.

So how do we make this marvel of man kind? Lets start with the bread, it is of course what you'll be making first!
The recipe is for Wholemeal bread and it is from the Edmonds cookbook, however I just used Spelt flour instead of the wholemeal/wheat flour since that's what I got from Huckleberry Farms. You could undoubtedly just use wholemeal flour if you don't like the taste of Spelt flour. Spelt flour has a nutty taste and is quite different to wheat flour, but it has the added benefit of containing more protein that wheat flour, with about 4g of protein more per cup. It also contains less calories, which means you can add more butter onto your slice of warm steaming bread at the end!


Spelt Bread Recipe

1 cup warm water
3/4 cup warm milk
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon yeast
6 cups Spelt flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
50g butter

(I halved this recipe and made 1 loaf, this recipe is for 2 loaves)
Although there are a few more ingredients than the usual bread I'm used to making, it was still pretty easy.
Warm the milk, water and honey (I recommend putting them into a microwave proof jug and microwaving them for a minute)  together until lukewarm. Pop in your yeast and wait around 10 minutes or until it froths up.
I've heard a baker say that the liquids don't need to be warm ,it just makes it faster... but I've never tried doing it with cold fluids. But I guess just keep in mind that if your liquid is a bit colder, it might take longer for the yeast to "prove".
Right, so you have your yeast ready!
Now sift the flour into a second bowl and mix in the salt and 50g butter with your fingers. Crumble it all together until it resembles breadcrumbs, then add the yeast mixture.
Knead with your hands into a rough ball and then tip out onto a floured surface.
If it's a bit sticky, just keep kneading flour into it until it turns smooth and doesn't stick to your fingers.

Kneading and leaving the bread to prove are the most important things when it comes to making bread.
Make sure you keep on kneading the bread until it becomes smooth and elastic. It will become quite dense and heavy, but that's okay. After it has risen it will be lighter again.
At this point you're supposed to brush it with oil to stop it from drying out, but I don't have any NZ olive oil yet so I just melted a teaspoon of butter in my hands and massaged it over the bread.
Now, I let it sit on the bench and left it for a couple of hours, the most easy part of making bread. I did a bit of cleaning and then went out to my Body Balance class (yoga/tai chi/pilates/hippy-stretches), came home and it had grown quite well. You want it to at least double in size. Once it has doubled in size (the time it takes will depend on how warm your house is, so put it somewhere warm. People suggest hot water cupboards, mine however is stuffed full of blankets!) , take it out of the bowl and knead again. Probably for a minimum of 10 minutes. Get into the zone and get a rythym going with your hands and listen to some music, it helps. Look out your kitchen window, what can you see? A bird? A veggie patch? Your neighbours? What are they doing?

(Leaving the bread to rise in a loaf tin.)

Right after about 10-15 minutes have passed, try to stop spying on your neighbours and pop the bread into a bread loaf tin.
Alternatively you could just form it into a ball and pop it on a baking tray.  I hate bread not coming out of loaf tins so I was a tad naughty and lined it with baking paper. I know, not very eco friendly. Baking paper is my best friend, just can't stand to part with it yet.
Now you get to mimic that "30 seconds spray and walk away" guy and leave the bread again. Only you better make it a couple hours, not just 30 seconds. Once the bread has risen to the top of the loaf tin (I settled for 1/2 an inch below it), pop it in the oven for 40 minutes at 200c and sit back and enjoy the smells waft through your home!
After 40 minutes, give it a tap and if it sounds hollow, take it out. Lift it out of the loaf tin and wrap the loaf with a tea towel. My tip would be to then pop it into a plastic bag as it helps keep in the steam which in turn helps kept the crust a bit softer. The tea towel will keep it from going soggy however.

Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin soup was never just pumpkin in my house hold. I mentioned my disgust when my sister made pumpkin soup without potato and carrots and she thought I was mental. My mother then admitted she only put those extra vegetables in to bulk it up. But that will always be the way that I like to have it!
The measurements don't need to be precise, it's more of a matter of how you like it and how much of what you have in the cupboard.

1/2 crown pumpkin
4 medium onions
2 carrots
1 large potato or 2 medium potatoes
1 tsp salt

Peal and chop all the vegetables then chuck them into a pot and pour in just enough water to cover the vegetables.
Pop in the salt and cover with a lid and boil for an hour or so.
When all the veggies are well cooked, chuck into a blender or puree with a stick blender (Ahh, stick blender, where would I be without thee?). Because there may be too much fluid, it's a good idea to strain off about half the liquid in the pot before you start to puree it, then add it back in as you need it to get the thickness you desire!
And there you have it... Definitely not difficult. Definitely not expensive and all with NZ Grown produce found right in your supermarket!


Mmm, now fill up that bowl or soup cup, smother that hot bread with all the butter you can dream of and sit back and enjoy!
God knows you deserve it after all that hard work!

Organic Tights - Ambra's Organic Cotton Range

 Now, some people might not see the point of buying Organic cotton, or may not see the point in paying a bit more to get organic cotton tights, so here's some information about cotton and why we should buy organic!

Cotton covers 2.5% of the worlds cultivated land, yet uses up 16% of the worlds insecticides. Cotton uses more insecticides than any other major single crop.
But not only does it harm the planet, by polluting the air and waterways and decreasing biodiversity, it harms the people who have to farm it. Making a change to Organic Cotton products is not just about the environmental benefits, but about the health benefits for the thousands of farmers who grow it. Changing to organic cotton is a matter of human ethics. For more information on why we should all make an ethical change to Organic Cotton, please watch this video.

Now, lets get back to something a bit more positive as dwelling on negatives for too long isn't so healthy for our happiness! Organic products are becoming more widely available, and here is one that I found, brought and now want to show off to you all! I found something brilliant at Farmers. Farmers sell an 100% Organic Cotton Tight. It is made by the brand Ambra. The brand has a range of Organic Cotton products, including underwear and camisoles.
It's great to see brands bringing out organic products, and it's great to see big companies making them more available.

(Left: Ambra 100% Organic Cotton Cable Rib Tight. Right: Ambra 100% Organic Cotton Rib Tight. Available at Farmers, RRP $28.99)

The tights are made from 100% Organic Cotton and elastane. They are allergyn free and free from chemicals, pesticides and are dyed with mild dyes. They are a soft matte opaque with an 100 Denier appearance.
The care instructions are pretty simple, the packet says you can wash them in a washbag on a gentle machine wash, or you can hand wash them.
I brought these two yesterday and I tried a pair on this morning and they were very comfortable, the cotton is very nice and soft.
I particularly like the Cable Rib because of the slight pattern (Shown above), which I think makes it just a little more interesting.
They sell for $28.99 (NZD), which personally I think is a good price considering it's organic and some non-organic tights sell for that price. It also makes them a lot cheaper than buying a pair of the organic pant tights. I plan on wearing these tights with Organic Fair-trade tunic/dresses from Kowtow a lot this winter!
Also being a product sold at Farmers, they go on sale. So if you can get in when they have a 30% sale on Hosiery (trust me, they do it a lot), you can get them for $20.29! only 29cents more than a pair of pant tights and yet these ones are organic!

So, this to me was a no-brainer. I brought them, plan on wearing them a lot, and I will most likely end up buying more!

I have already made my decision to make a conscious effort to buy organic and fair-trade cotton wherever and whenever available, and I hope you will too.
I hope you all have a great day and if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please post them below.

An Ethical Food Change

I used to be one of those people who would sit and watch all the horrible things happening in the world on TV and feel unable to do anything about it. I used to get depressed about it and thought there was nothing I could do, that I could not control all these people and stop them from hurting each other.
Then I realised that I could control something, I could control how I behave in this life and I can control what I choose to support. I could continue buying clothing from unethical sources. I could continue buying products from farmers who only get paid 1Euro a day. OR I could make a difference.

For 2 weeks from the 8th of May to the 22nd of May I will be eating only New Zealand Grown.
As we have standards here in New Zealand, I know that the farmers will be getting paid fairy.
After the 2 weeks, I will continue to make sure all my staples come from New Zealand and it is only the "Treat foods" that I am getting from elsewhere in the world.
Such as chocolate, dried spices, nuts, dried fruits and sugar - Making sure all are from Organic Fairtrade sources.
I want to start buying organic wherever possible now.

So, what New Zealand Grown Products are there?

I have actually found that there is quite a bit grown in New Zealand!
Harraways grow there oats in New Zealand, so I made a toasted oat cereal for my breakfasts.
It is very simply 5 cups of Harraway Oats, 100g butter and 1/2 cup honey. Melt the butter and the honey together, toss through the oats, then roast the oats in a roasting dish at 200 degrees for 10 minutes, tossing every 2 minutes to keep them from burning. It is very tasty and it's nice and crunchy! It's as good as store brought muesli.
There is also an organic Rye pasta that is grown/made in New Zealand by Pasta D'Oro which is available at Huckleberry Farms in Auckland.
I'm hoping I can also get an NZ grown flour from Huckleberry Farms as well but I didn't ask in the email so I'll see if they have it when I get to go in on Saturday.
Once I can get flour I'll be sorted for making my own bread.
I'm also a vegetarian so I was a bit worried about finding protein sources! However Pams Split yellow and green peas are grown in New Zealand and so are their red lentils!
I eat a lot of their red lentils so I was very pleased to find out it was grown in New Zealand!
And obviously I have an abundance of dairy products, being a dairy country.
I will be cooking with butter until I can find where to buy NZ Olive Oil, I know we grow/make it, I just have to find where to buy it - If you know where I can get it, leave a comment below!
I also got some Organic New Zealand Salt from the supermarket, the brand is called Mrs Rogers.

An interesting fact, buying New Zealand grown actually saved me money... I'm guessing because I didn't buy any junk food! No more salt and vinegar chips, doritos, chocolate, ice cream...All things my body would be better off without though.

Anyway! I will blog again after I have been to Huckleberry Farms and I'll do a bit of a review on the pasta and let you know if it's any good. I'll also show off any other cool NZ Grown products I might find there! 

Any questions, comments or suggestions, please post below!

The Introduction

The Introduction

Hi there, welcome to my blog!
This is just going to be a little introduction as to what my blogs will be about, what there purpose is, why I think my little life change is important and why I want to recommend people join me in my attempt to go Fairtrade and Organic. So lets start by answering some questions...
 
1. What is an Executive Hippy?

An Executive Hippy is someone who has an intense desire to change her world to a more ethical and kind system, but who refrains from extremist acts such as chaining herself to trees.
An Executive Hippy is someone who wants to create a world of acceptance and understanding by being a figure of example, instead of screaming their opinions and points of views onto deaf ears.
An Executive Hippy is most definitely not someone who sits in parks wearing Kaftans and smoking Marijuana complaining about "The System".
"Executive Hippy" is basically just a term I came up with (While watching Eddie Izzard - if you like him, you might know what joke of his I'm referring to) to try and explain the kind of person I want to continue to learn to become - and it will forever be something I need to continue to learn to be.
It is a state of mind. A state of mind where you can maintain understanding and compassion for both your fellow human and living creatures in general. It is a state of mind where racism and sexism doesn't exist.
But it is also a realistic kind of mind. It is a grounded state of mind.
An Executive Hippy understands that the most powerful thing she can do, and the only person she can control, is herself.
An executive Hippy understands that she can't force people into believing the same things as her, all she can do is change herself.

2. So... What will these blogs be about then?

These blogs will be kind of a "How to" to living an Executive Hippy life.
 It will be a "How To" style blog where I will share companies that I have found while hunting through Google, that provide good Fairtrade and organic products. Be it clothing, food, shoes, body care products...So that eventually it will be a good source for information, all in one spot, to save you time.

And that about explains it... if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, post them below!