Saturday afternoon I rushed out to the Canberra Environment Center to get a glimpse of their markets before they started to pack up. Material Pleasures is based on recycling and reusing so the markets were a great opportunity to see other Canberra businesses that are environmentally minded.
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| Buppo & Wren |
Buppo and Wren have some beautiful accessories for the home all made from recycled coffee bags and natural fibers such as jute, hemp and cotton. The stuffing or filler in the pillows is made from recycled plastic bottles with a 45x45cm pillow insert saving about 25 bottles from going to landfill.
They will be at the Handmade markets this weekend, 17th and 18th of Dec at the National Convention Center. www.buppoandwren.com
Monique was in her element surrounded by like minded, eco friendly stall holders and green conscience shoppers . Her pure beeswax candles are certified organic and the wax comes from the oldest bee sanctuary in the world, right here in Australia. I had no idea how many nasties can be found in candles from by-products of the meat packing industry to carcinogens, and lead ! To find out more go to organicbee.com.au.
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| Gardners Ground Organic Wine gardnersground.com.au |
Herb and Jenny from the small town of Canowindra NSW showcased their organic wine. They purchased the 25 hectares their vines are now growing on 10 years ago, which was certified organic with no chemical exposure since 1996.
No artificial fertilizers are used on their all organic crops which produce fruit higher in antioxidants. Herb and Jenny are focusing on 'no added preservative' wine for future and have already produced an award winning 'no added preservative' Shiraz.
What is organic? Admittedly all the terminoligy can get rather confusing.
The word organic actually means living, but in these terms relates more to the sustainable way the product is produced.
How does it really affect us and why does it matter?
When you buy organic it means you are supporting a way of life that doesn't involve hazardous chemicals or pesticides. High levels of pesticide residue are poisonous and their is speculation that constant ingestion of lower levels of pesticide can cause cancer. Dr Theo Colborn found that some pesticides , even in tiny amounts can affect a developing child's intelligence (1).
Studies on people with high exposure to pesticides such as farmers, manufacturers and crop dusters have proven high rates of a range of cancers (2).
I was struggling to get a word in with the lovely lady at Raw Capers, her customers were so passionate and couldn't resist buying one of every thing they sampled! They had an awesome array of nibbles from chocolate drops to kale crackers (perfect for Christmas!).
We have all heard that chocolate is good for us or that it makes us happy and this is because of the cacao bean. In South America raw cacao has been used medicinally through out history with its high sources of magnesium, chromium , anti-oxidants and mood elevators such as serotonin. The Raw Organic Food Co brings you the benefits in an organic, higher quality form than that of the grocery store generics.
Raw Capers stocks in a range of outlets, for more information email rawcapers@gmail.com
(1) New Internationalist, interview with Dr Theo Colborn, WWF Global Toxics Initiative, May 2000, 17
(2) National Cancer Institute, 2007 Cancer Trends Report
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