I bring a large canvas bag to store all my purchases in, but I found it frustrating that I didn't have anything to put my individual purchases in. For example, every time I bought oranges, I would have to get a plastic bag from the farmer and fill it with my choices for weighing. I felt pretty bad about going to the trouble of going to the Farmers' Market and hurting the environment by using plastic bags.
Which brings me to the Goodwill. In addition to making more environmentally correct food choices, I'm also trying to consume less. When I do need to buy something, I have been checking the Goodwill and other second-hand stores to see if I can buy gently-used items. On a recent trip I found some funky, 1970s style curtains. Orange and brown. The hot colors for kitchens in the 1970s, but not really hip for today's decor. As I held those curtains in my hands, I knew they would be a perfect solution for my produce bag issue. I snapped them up and hurried home to my sewing machine.
I was able to get 6 drawstring bags from one panel. I think the bags are perfect to fill with produce and pretty whimsical too. The weight of the cloth probably adds an ounce or two to the fruit's weight, but since that's money going to my local farmers, I don't really mind. I feel like this is a truly "green" project since I recycled the material and saved a landfill from the both the old curtains and plastic bags. I'm thinking Barbara Kingsolver would be proud!
I'm looking into making some from netting or organza next for my grocery store trips. I know the cashiers at the big supermarkets need to be able to see the stickers on the produce in order to ring them up.
I am keeping a few of the bags for myself, but have also listed some in my shop. If you want to look really hip and save the environment, be sure to pop over and pick-up one or two.
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*Material Disclosure:
I am an affiliate with Amazon books and will receive a commission if you make a purchase via the book link above.
I am the owner of the Etsy shop link and will make a profit from purchases made via the shop link above.
All other brand mentions are my opinion and I have no material connection.
6 comments:
The fabric from the curtain looks like it's in great condition. I've been reading a bit about this too recently. About how certain people won't buy food that's travelled more than a certain distance. In our case that means we would never be able to eat mangos, bananas and pineapples from the tropics or cherries and stone fruit from the south and extreme scenarios like yesterday when I brought blueberries from Tasmania. Check a map that's a fair distance. I would hate that and hate for my children to miss out on those delicious fruits. It's hard sometimes that you have to weigh up one of your values against another one of your values. In this case my decisions probably a selfish one. But good on you from buying directly from the farmers. It has the added bonus that they get better renumeration for their produce - I know here the supermarkets take a very large slab of what you pay for fruit and veg.
Yea!! We are so lucky that our whole town of Grass Valley is really geared toward eating locally, so all the stores carry as much local as possible. Grains are harder here, but we are allergic to wheat anyway! I feel ok about buying a few items that aren't local if most of what we eat is! Your bags are cute1 You inspire me to get those smaller ones made, too. Kathi
I have to say that along these same lines, several years ago I had a conversation with someone about plums. I was fortunate to grow up in a rural area where we had lots of fruits and veggies just growing in the backyard. When I lived in Tupelo they opened a farmer's market while I lived there and I was discussing how happy I was to find somewhere I could buy plums because I can't eat the ones from the grocery store because they have no flavor. Then I was asked what they were supposed to taste like...I had to go buy that man some "real" plums. It made me sad to meet a grownup that had never had a plum right off a tree so fresh and juicy LOL. TFS your bags are CUTE!!
Love the bags and Love Goodwill...my daughter and I shop Goodwill often and many times find brand new with tag on items plus many vintage items.
Eating local is a wonderful idea; however, I too love to eat fruits that come from far away places. I do try to eat in season and locally as much as possible and either use a cloth bag or paper.
Those bags are gorgeous!
This is a tiny bit off-topic, but I love the way you did your Material Disclosure at the end of your post. Very straightforward, and helpful for readers to know. I'd love to see more bloggers adopt this method!
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is one of my favorite books. Love the idea of getting materials at Goodwill - the bags are great!
Cindy
www.sidetrackedartist.blogspot.com
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