Sustainability Festival 2009

Gosh, has it really been two years since the Need-a-Bag? Project first launched at the Sustainability Festival at the 441 farmers market? The first year we had a table (once again I'll link to the awful debacle of DG and I stealing the Slow Food Gainesville table), the next year we didn't,
but this year we had a table again!

This year's festival was on October 24, and I decided to do a little photo gallery of our presence at the festival this year.

The first picture is of DG and her mom setting up the table -- DG had gotten a huge number of bags for the thing. DG made a sign thanking our many, many anonymous donors -- we're still having a thank you brunch, but it will probably happen after the holidays!

DJ (short for "Dude Junior" and not to be mistaken for "DG") came along to help and did a fine job carting bags over to the fence to hang them for the shoppers. He has been a good helper over the past year, and next year he'll probably come more often, as he managed to make some friends with some of the farmer's kids who were there. They ended up on the stage with the nice lady (whose name escapes me at the moment) who was entertaining the festival attendees. There was a fellow who was walking around in a pair of camo overeralls and flip flops and pretty much nothing else -- we guessed he was also going "commando." I don't know why I'm including this photo other than to say that hippie culture in Gainesville is not dead.

It was busy but not as busy if it had been on the weekend when the farmers start bringing in the fall harvests -- it was still pretty lively, and people from Gainesville Regional Utilities and Florida Organic Growers were there (I'll have to post on FOG soon because they are doing awesome work bringing low-cost raised beds gardens to low-income residents).

Need-a-Bag Project Update 11.28.09 -- Happy Thanksgiving Edition!

Note: The Need-a-Bag? project was created to promote sustainable bagging at the Hwy 441 Alachua County Farmer's Market each Saturday morning. We supply reusable tote bags reclaimed from thrift stores and garage sales. The Need-a-Bag? project also utilizes old tank tops as tote bags by sewing up the bottoms (these are called t-totes). We invite you to read the other posts on the project by clicking the "Need-a-Bag? Project" label at the bottom of this post.

It was a great Thanksgiving at the various Need-a-Bag? Project enclaves, but that doesn't mean the project takes a break! No sir, we were there bright and early this morning -- with no bags, but there were still quite a number left-over from the Sustainability Festival oh, so long ago. Dang, that reminds me, I have to post about that festival, even through it's been over a month. I have been so lame about posting, but I want to give a shout-out to Layla, our Slovenia correspondent at the AE, as she comments on sustainability behind the iron curtain -- wait, does Slovenia have an iron curtain? Don't ask me, I read The Gainesville Sun (haha, a little in-joke for the olds reading this)! Anyway, she left some great comments on my latest rant about the Krishna Lunch cards, and I hope she will not be deterred from continued commenting because of my complete lameness on not posting more regularly, especially since she's one of probably five people who read this blog without being strong-armed (you know who you are).

Anyway, a little update on our labeling activities with the Need-a-Bag? project: We have started NOT labeling some of the bags. That's right, these bags have fallen from the wide-sweeping scope of our bag procurements -- left by great, noble, anonymous (probably Jean) donors, that look clean, smell clean, and just deserve to be left hanging. Okay, we're honestly too lazy to collect them and wash them, but from now on, be warned: Bags that do not have the Need-a-Bag? Project label with verbiage and url for this blog are outside of our jurisdiction. So, you will see bags, as in the photo on the right, that have no labels and ones that do. The bags with no labels are not sanctioned by the Need-a-Bag? project, as in, they have not been washed and dried by our hands to ensure the cleanest possible tote for your shopping needs. That does not mean the unlabeled ones are not safe to use, as they have passed a cursory inspection (looking, sniffing, see above), but the Need-a-Bag? project will not be held liable for any lurking dust bunnies or hair balls we did not detect. This ends the legal mumbo-jumbo.

The only thing I've been stocking up on are pecans, which are easy to freeze and use in recipes as needed. I have so many bags right now, however, I might need to make a pecan pie, or try making one of DG's fabulous pecan, no flour, crusts. Take that, carbs!

New Krishna Lunch Card

I've got a vegetarian bone to pick with the Krishnas who serve lunch on the University of Florida Plaza of the Americas. I have recounted my various positive and negative encounters with the Gainesville Krishnas in the past, but this one's got my karma-ridden blood up. Am I ready to throw down with the Krishna clan? Maybe.

I was all excited when I got to grad school because I was sooo close now to having Krishna lunches; at my old job at the law library it was too far away to even consider a leisurely Krishna lunch on the plaza. Now all my daily journeys take me within spitting distance of the Krishna lunch. So, the other day I decided to get a 30-dollar lunch card. As you can see from the above photograph, the top card is my old lunch card, with one precious lunch left. But look at the bottom, new card! They cut out the 10th lunch! Now I only have 9 lunches for my hard-earned 30-dollar donation! Okay, they jacked the price up to 4-dollars for the individual lunches so that makes my savings....lets me get the calculator here....so I'm only saving about 67-cents per meal, so my total savings is...6-dollars? Really? Hmm, maybe it's not so bad, after all.

October update on Charlie's Soap

So, I bought this humongous barrel of Charlie's Soap, and I'm about 2/3 of the way through, now. I'll probably use it all up in a year, so I think the 100 and something-odd dollars I paid for it (with free shipping) was well worth it. I started using fragrance oils to add a little scent to the clothes, and have not had any ill effects on the clothes. It also allows me to get rid of fragrance oils I bought for home-made bath products that I ended up not liking, so right now I'm using "Apple Jack and Orange Peel." While I didn't like it in soaps or lotions, it is working just fine as a laundry scent enhancer.

Plastic Bag Reduction Act of 2009

I was at the Super Walmart by my house (yes, I know) getting a ton of play-doh for an activity for the technical communications class I'm teaching this semester, and as I was leaving I stopped by the greeter to show her my receipt, which I've gotten into the habit of doing when I bring reusable shopping bags. I've gotten stopped at the door because the bags are opaque so I guess they feel hinky about letting me leave if they can't see the contents. After looking at my receipt the woman admired my bag -- it was from Ward's Supermarket. Ward's has probably the biggest reusable polyprop bags in town; they cost something like 2.49US but they are HUGE.

After telling her where she could get the bags, she asked, "What do you think about the 5-cent charge for plastic bags?" I was nonplussed, as this was the first I had heard about it. I asked her, "In Gainesville?" and she replied, "Everywhere, starting January 1st, 2010."

I didn't say whether or not I liked the idea (which I did, natch) but I said, "well, in Dublin they've been doing that for a few years, now, and they cost 9-cents there, so 5-cents is a pretty good deal." I walked out, thinking "how come I didn't know about this?"

So, as soon as I got home I started investigating. This is not law, yet. It's something Senator Jim Moran of Virginia proposed in April of this year, called the Plastic Bag Reduction Act of 2009. As of right now, H.R. 2091, as it is affectionately known, is still in committee.

Here's the summary:

4/23/2009--Introduced.
Plastic Bag Reduction Act of 2009 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require retailers to pay an excise tax on single-use carryout bags. Allows refunds of such tax for retailers who have a program for recycling such bags. Establishes in the Treasury the Single-Use Carryout Bag Trust Fund to hold tax revenues generated by this Act. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to make payments from such Trust Fund into the land and water conservation fund provided for in the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965. Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on the effectiveness of this Act in reducing the use of single-use carryout bags.

All I can say is, YAY!!!!!1!1

Need-a-Bag Project Update 09.26.09: So, so alone...

Note: The Need-a-Bag? project was created to promote sustainable bagging at the Hwy 441 Alachua County Farmer's Market each Saturday morning. We supply reusable tote bags reclaimed from thrift stores and garage sales. The Need-a-Bag? project also utilizes old tank tops as tote bags by sewing up the bottoms (these are called t-totes). We invite you to read the other posts on the project by clicking the "Need-a-Bag? Project" label at the bottom of this post.

Wish I had taken the camera to the market -- it is so barren of farmers that it isn't even funny. I decided to purchase some eggplants, sweet potatoes, and red potatoes. I'm starting to cook more again, but I'm still a little shy about making huge produce investments.

DG went to the market on her own last week and was ashamed at the paucity of tote bags we had -- that is, in part, because I had taken a bunch of the bags home to be washed. So, we had more bags this week, and Jean had once again lavished us with tote bags, probably for pennies on the dollar. I think because it has been so slow at the market, this will be the time of year we start stockpiling.

Oh, and guess what? The Need-a-Bag? project is coming up on its SECOND anniversary. That's right -- the project will be two years old on October 27th! It seems just like yesterday we were skanking the table for Slow Food Gainesville through a serious misunderstanding with Jared the market manager. Ah, memories.