Looking for Tips on Clothing Connections

Even though the goal of this project was not to necessarily change my buying habits, but simply to make better (far better) informed purchases, a few months in I'm realizing how naive it was to think that making these connections was as as easy as wanting it. I've switched to almost exclusively locally grown produce and hardly any meat (because I cook for myself all the time now, and I basically just don't know how to cook meat). I buy all of my toiletries from the Coop, which means I have no need for corner bodegas and delis (with the exception of an occasional six-pack of Brooklyn Lager) or drug stores (with the exception of medicines, I'm not naive enough to think big pharma is going to welcome me into their factories and I can't wait a year for health care). And any new furniture or stuff for my apartment I build or reuse things I already have. Which I guess goes the same for clothing...

I started this project in early spring, when jeans and boots were fine everyday. It's now the apex of summer and I'm still wearing the boots. It's not okay. I've been chopping up old pants (including, yes, a pair of old jeans) to make a new crop of shorts for myself, but I haven't been so handy with "making" new shoes. And speaking of pants, between switching to a virtually vegetarian organic diet (and simultaneously taking up bicycling and swimming at the local Y) I've lost 15 pounds and none of my clothes fit me anymore.

I am looking for any tips or suggestions anyone might have for making connections within shoe/sneaker companies or clothing companies where I might buy myself a few new pairs of jeans (and maybe shorts!).

New England Visits: The Farmers

The greatest “winging it” aspect of the trip was the plan to visit a farm or farms that supply produce to the Park Slope Food Coop. After experiencing reluctance (or outright refusal) to welcome visitors, the Coop wasn’t comfortable suggesting any of their farms. But they do list their suppliers on their website and with some creative internet stalking, I was able to track down the address of about a half dozen farms that were in southern Vermont and along the Hudson River Valley in New York. We crossed our fingers and started driving.

Our first attempt was the Harlow Brother’s Organic Produce Farm and Farmstand in Westminster, VT. We would learn later that the key was the farmstand, where they were at least set up to receive the public in some capacity. With some friendly greetings, we were introduced to Abby who, without much hesitation, offered us coffee and sat with us to chat. She admitted that she wasn’t psyched to hear that there were “two guys visiting from New York who wanted to talk to someone about the farm”, but when she saw we had no agenda or pretension she warmly and enthusiastically took us out on to the farm in her dusty pickup (with a screwdriver in the ignition). Abby was about our age, and had been a Vermont farm girl all her life. In fact, she and the other farm workers all live on or right near the farm’s land. The work eventually took it’s toll and she ruptured three discs in her back a few years ago and realized a career change was necessary. She just finished nursing school at a nearby college and will soon split her time between the farm and a local hospital. It seems unfortunate, as farming is clearly her passion.

She showed us the freshly planted herbs, giant heads of cabbage and yellow squash, rows of developing corn, and a field of flowers that they grow to maintain their cut-flower business catering primarily to the local wedding industry. Abby also explained to us Vermont’s exchange partnership with Jamaica. Ten Jamaican men come to live and work on their farm for the summer and fall months every year, and then return to their families in the winter. The program stipulates the men’s wages, which actually meant wages across the farm were raised when they began involvement with the program.

She then offered us a dip in their water hole, which was pretty idyllic, before sending us on our way with a bag of bright greens and soil-covered beets straight from the ground.

It was an extremely lucky first stop, as the other farms we dropped by were actually people’s homes and I didn’t have the gall to walk up and knock on their front door. As Joe said, the mission is to forge a connection with people, not piss them off.

Farming is the Future, Man

My typical shift at the coop is Sunday afternoons, usually working the coolers in the basement sending up crates of produce, cases of juice and boxes upon boxes of dry goods. This morning I had the opportunity to do the opposite: help fill those coolers back up.

When I told Allen Zimmerman, the Coop's produce buyer, that I was interested in meeting some of their farmers and delivery people, he suggested I come in early one morning when the folks from Hepworth Farms would be bringing by a shipment. Not only was I amazed by the quantity and variety coming off the truck, my sleep-busting efforts were well rewarded by Jay: an ex-LA recording artist and neo-farm loving truck driver extraordinaire.

He was a riot. Jay is from El Salvador by way of LA, who now lives in Upstate New York and works on Amy and Gerry Hepworth's Farm with his wife and daughter. He's as excited by juicing wheat grass or onions and apple juice ("gotta make it sweet"), as he is by the huge bundles of dark kale he carries ("this would be two bundles anywhere else, man, they love the Park Slope Coop. But it's bitter, man, anything good for you tastes bad, you know, but you juice it with apple juice to make it sweet"), to their program for kids in Harlem in which they set up a roof-top garden, teach them to grow tomatoes and other produce, and check in on them regularly ("kids love it man, you know, but they expect me to be in overalls"). Get people talking about something they're into and they don't stop. I heard about his mint and thyme plants, how to grow parlsey, that they donate extra crop to a church in New Jersey, that you can fool bees into pollinating apple trees nearly year round, and about his restaurants in LA and Florida.

Growing up in the self-sustaining agriculture community of El Salvador, he was taught that fruits and vegetables grew anywhere. He grandfather would tell him to plant a mango seed anywhere and in a couple weeks come back and there'd be a tree there. Though farming in the States is commerce-driven, and vegetables are planted in neat little rows not wherever you might feel like it, he maintains a desire for his daughter to know where food comes from. "Money comes and goes, but if you know how to farm, how to grow food, you're all set. You'll be good."

Updating the site

For those who are following by rss feed, I've added a new section relating to the project, The Register, and updated recent blog coverage in the News Roll.

Coming soon: Brownstone Beans brewer Harold Butler, and an early morning shift at the Food Coop to meet the delivery men and farmers.

Thanks for your support of this project!

Local Produce, Local Buyer

Today was a tremendous day for 'the project'. I was contacted a few weeks ago by Allen Zimmerman, Produce Buyer for the Park Slope Food Coop, who had first seen my blog on a Google Alert for the Coop, and then again on some recent press. He generously invited me in this afternoon and walked me through some basic 101s of his job. A particular thanks to Allen for his patience with my amateur 'journalism'!

Allen has lived in Brooklyn for 50+ years and has been involved with the Coop since the very first days when he became friends with Joe Holtz - the Coop's first employee - who convinced him to come on board in his current role in 1988. From the early years of buying mainly grains in bulk from Huntspoint (a drive-in farmers' market in the Bronx still active today), the produce section alone has grown to one which requires 220 decisions per day figuring out where everything will come from. From the start, the Coop complied with what was assumed to be certain law, C.O.O.L. (Country of Origin Labeling). Even now, all produce is labeled with its origin, as specifically as possible. Sometimes that means the individual farm, sometimes it means "USA" if it comes from multiple sources, but Allen always knows where it's from, even when dealing with national wholesale vendors.

A story Allen is particularly proud of is the Coop's fifteen year involvement with Amy Hepworth and her farm in Milton, NY. They have a particularly trusting relationship, as the Coop had been buying from her when she was originally part of a farmers collective and then took her on as one of their primary apple and organic vegetable sources. The closeness is apparent when Allen shows me the handwritten invoices that often come blank. The two entities have relied on each other for so long it is like dealing with family. (Check out a great article about their shared history in The Scotland Sunday Herald)

In the next week or so, I'll swap shifts at the Coop so I can go in early early morning when the deliveries come in and help unload the trucks. If we time it right, I hope to make it in on a day when Amy is delivering her regular shipment. Allen is a tremendous resource and I look forward to ongoing connections with him.

More to come on this afternoon's surprise visit from Nicaragua!

Mother's Day on "The Program"

Despite a lack of recent posts, the project does continue and slowly becomes part of the daily routine. Lunches from Body & Soul, shopping at the Coop and the Farmers Markets, and lots of Brooklyn Lager and Makers Mark, of course.

My parents were in town for a Mother's Day visit and I did my best to keep them in line with the project guidelines (or "the program" as my mother adorably calls it -- does she think I'm twelve-stepping? I guess there are similarities....). Apparently Lucali, the local pizza phenomenon that I started to get to know, has had insane press recently so when we went at 8:30 on Friday night in the pouring rain there was a three hour wait. For the sake of my "no starving, no alienation" provisos, I accepted a "gift" from my parents and went to a restaurant, Crave, across the street. Aside from that blip however, I got them to make breakfast at home, took them on a whirlwind Saturday afternoon excursion to the Park Slope Food Coop to shop for dinner and made a huge stir-fry and salad, and then got my friends together to take mom to Counter for Mother's Day brunch this morning, which everyone loved. With some careful planning, and patience, my mission to know where all my purchases come from is proving possible.

We also checked out BklynDesigns on Saturday morning, an annual furniture and craft fair showcasing local designers. I took some serious notes should I decide I need to upgrade anything this year as there was some beautiful work made right here in my borough.

Coming up this week: I'm meeting with Allen Zimmerman, Produce Buyer for the Park Slope Food Coop, and Harold Butler, founder of Brownstone Beans. Plans for a June roadtrip to Tom's of Maine's factory and Seventh Generation's headquarters in Vermont are also in the works as well.

Daily Decisions

I've been asked how much this project is affecting my every day life. Are there things I used to buy that now I don't? Is this easy or hard? Have I cheated yet?

The honest answer is that I'm finding it affects everything. Generally, I haven't sacrificed anything major (a cup of coffee while out and about, using hair product since I've run out) but it has changed how I buy things, and I've definitely started making substitutions. I make coffee at home everyday, with coffee from the Co-op. I buy lunch for the week from Scott at the Body & Soul booth at the farmer's market and keep it in the refrigerator at work. Last weekend I had friends over to my apartment for both brunch and a pot-luck dinner to avoid carelessly eating out while still maintaining a social life. I drink only beer from Brooklyn Brewery. It is constantly on my mind; add in dozens of emails and phone calls to make arrangements to visit manufacturing plants and local entrepreneurs, and it's almost a full time effort.

I've made an exception once: our friends in a band (shout out to Kind Monitor) threw a birthday party for my boyfriend at MonkeyTown in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I had no opportunity to eat before I arrived and knew we'd be out drinking afterwards, and it was 9pm on a Friday night–not a time to try to get in to meet the chef at a busy venue. So I allowed an exception (rather than trying to rationalize) and enjoyed the burger. With a Brooklyn Lager.

The Issue With Food | Overcoming a complicated relationship with eating

This was never supposed to be about food. Or so I thought. It never occurred to me that 90% of what I purchase is food. Morning coffee, lunches, afternoon snacks, happy-hours, dinners out, groceries, weekend breakfasts, all of it comes from somewhere and I had no concept of how many times a week I opened my wallet to exchange cash for sustenance.

There's a complicated element to the issues raised by food in regards to this "new religion" I've been accused of having, in that there's a question as to what constitutes "production", and what constitutes a "commercial item". If I have to visit the farm where every item on my plate comes from, I will go hungry and malnourished very quickly: something I promised myself I wouldn't let happen. That doesn't mean I'm off the hook completely though, and can go willy-nilly through Wendy's and Key Foods (a comparatively sub par grocery chain here in NY). My new philosophy on food and how it fits into the experiment is this: all groceries are to come from the Park Slope Food Coop, where I am and know others who are part of the chain of bringing the goods to market, and I have the opportunity to discover where everything hails from and visit as many (over time) as I can -- or a Greenmarket environment where I'm purchasing directly from the farms. Dining out is a bit more sketchy as it's pretty clearly a purchase of manufactured goods and I have limited access to every kitchen in NYC. I can, however, investigate which chefs procure raw goods direct from local farmers and Greenmarkets. I can learn more about local independent restaurateurs, become a regular and get to know them, meeting with them and learning about their businesses and seeing where the food is prepared.

I came to this realization last night when the possibilities for dinner where to either make my boyfriend buy a box of pasta and cook it for me (he can't afford to buy me "gifts" for dinner whenever it gets sticky, and God only knows where that boxed pasta came from anyway) or to eat at a local restaurant. We opted for Bonita, a Mexican spot in Fort Green, where we learned that they buy all of their meat and produce from New York State farms, and seasonally offer specials such as King Fish, which is a local game fish. Bonita is one of three owned and operated together, and they routinely will "purchase a cow" at a regional farm together and split it amongst the restaurants, ensuring meat is fresh and as un-processed as possible. I'm sure there will be more discussions as to how food fits in to the project, but for the moment, this seems sustainable.

Habitual Spending

I've never really been a big shopper, and over the past few years I've become more and more conscious of what I buy and where I buy it from. However, walking through the city the past couple days I've been acutely aware of my urges to buy something! I've been bringing lunch in to work, and coffee some mornings (all left over from before the start of the project or from the Union Sq Greenmarket and Park Slope Coop) but when I go out of the office to take a break or walk home after work, I am magnetically drawn into the shops and coffee houses I used to frequent. I almost feel guilty for not patronizing them. It's really been quite an awakening to my old habits.

Fun With Communism | We're all in this together at the Park Slope Food Coop

Finally a real sense of making some progress! Tonight I attended an orientation session at the Park Slope Food Coop, a membership cooperative grocery store focusing on local and organic meat, grains, and produce, as well as community and social responsibility. With over 13,000 "volunteer" members, the Coop boasts $27 million in annual sales. The broccoli bin gets refilled every 30 minutes on any given Saturday.

Orientation was led by Julie, a massage therapist by day, and Coop member for 7 years. Fellow orientees hailed from as nearby as Park Slope to as far as Queens, the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and Trinidad (okay, she's a student in NY). In all, there were 20 new members tonight -- typical for a session, of which there are 4 a week. That's 320 new members a month. Impressive from an organization that started when 5 guys who decided to buy a bag of rice together and split it in 1972, and incorporated a year later. Currently, members enjoy low prices (all items are marked up only 21% above cost) for their commitment of 2 hours and 45 minutes per month, and provide 75% of the labor needed to run the shop.

I'm honored to be a part of it, and look forward to meeting fellow members, learning where the produce and other products come from, and stocking those shelves.

UPDATE 3.20: I used my new member privileges to buy much-needed soap and toothpaste along with some fresh produce and eggs last night. I'm still embarrassed by how good it felt to actually buy something.

Going the Distance | Physical and emotional lengths

Challenges to complete immersion and strict adherence to its principles come in many forms.

I discovered last night that Seventh Generation, which I thought was a "local" company and was relying on for many household necessities, is actually located in Burlington, VT. Six hours away. A new strategy is to take a long weekend to drive up to their factories, then cut over to Tom's of Maine before coming back to New York. In the meantime, my own personal involvement in the distribution chain by joining the Park Slope Coop will need to suffice.

Most people I've discussed this project with are extremely supportive and I love the conversations it starts ("there are 14 Breweries in New York State"; "if you support Burt's Bees and then they get bought by Clorox, do you stop patronizing them?"). But starting this during my birthday week is frustrating friends when I suggest pot-luck: "Don’t get me wrong I respect what you are doing but it is totally crazy to try and do that with a group of people... you can do what you want, just hard to pull off when you have external factors in play like friends."