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Made in Michigan: Fair Trade & Organic Gift Sampler

FROM THE GLEN ARBOR SUN

Several Michigan businesses with a socially and environmentally friendly focus have joined together to offer consumers an organic and fair trade gift sampler produced here in Michigan. Grocer's Daughter, By the Light of Day, Higher Grounds Trading Co., and Food For Thought, along with Leelanau Trading Co. and Third Coast Design have developed a sampler pack of handcrafted gourmet goodies!

The Northwoods Sampler will include:

Fair Trade Chocolate and Caramels from Grocer's Daughter in Glen Arbor/Empire,

Fair Trade and Organic Tea from By the Light of Day in Traverse City,

Fair Trade, Organic, and Shade Grown Coffee from Higher Grounds Trading Co. in Lake Leelanau,

Gourmet Organic Preserves from fruit grown locally by Food for Thought in Honor,

Hand-printed Wine tags printed on an antique printing press, using soy-based inks, on all-natural papers by Third Coast Design in Empire.

With a focus on fair trade and organics, the Northwoods Sampler aims to offer consumers a nice locally produced gift that is easy on the environment and benefits the farmers who produced the goods.

Fair trade directly links small-scale farmers with consumer markets while paying a livable wage and ensuring safe and healthy conditions for workers in the developing world. Without Fair Trade, farmers are often caught in a cycle of poverty and debt. With little or no income between harvest months, farmers many times have to sell their next crop in advance to middlemen who paid far below the harvest's value. The middlemen would then sell to the large corporations and pocket the profits.

Organic agriculture protects the health of people and the planet by reducing the overall exposure to toxic chemicals from synthetic pesticides that can end up in the ground, air, water and food supply, and that are associated with health consequences, from asthma to cancer. Because organic agriculture doesn't use toxic and persistent pesticides, choosing organic products is an easy way to help protect yourself.

Each company involved in the project agrees that paying farmers a fair wage and preserving our environment through organic agriculture and using recycled materials is an easy way to preserve our natural environment. As Jody Treter, of Higher Grounds Trading Co., stated "The Northwoods Sampler is a local gift inspired by the rolling dunes of Benzie and Leelanau County, the sparkling waters of the lakes and rivers near the Sleeping Bear Dune National Lakeshore and mother nature's abundance here in 'Up North' Michigan."

The Northwood Sampler is available by calling Food for Thought at (231) 326-5444 or from the Food for Thought web site.

Posted/updated Nov 17, 2005
by Absolute Michigan Staff