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ProductsConsume less! Consume wisely! Consume locally! And Love Lots More! Bulk baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), borax (sodium borate), washing soda (sodium carbonate), hydrogen peroxide (natural bleach), soap flakes (vegan soap flakes from Eureka Soaps, Alberta and animal based flakes by Gateway Chemicals in Winnipeg), and 25% concentrated vinegar (can be used as a non-toxic recipe to kill weeds such as dandelions and Canadian Thistle as well as a versatile household cleaning product). Nature Clean™ and BioVert™ - available in both packaged and bulk. PACKAGED - Ecover™, Earth Friendly™, BioVert, Nature Clean, and CitraSolv™ - toilet bowl cleaner, window and glass cleaner, furniture polish, all purpose cleaner, fruit & veggie wash, bleach (hydrogen peroxide), fabric softener, laundry powder, laundry liquid, dishwasher powder, dishwasher liquid, and cream cleanser. Personal Care: Natura 100% organic cotton Swabs; disposible facial tissues; and facial wipes - cosmetic cleansing pads. Desert Essence: Green Apple & Ginger Shampoo; Green Apple & Ginger Conditioner; Italian Red Grape Shampoo; Italian Red Grape Conditioner; Bulgarian Lavender Hand & Body Lotion; Coconut Hand & Body Lotion; Spicy Citrus Hand & Body Lotion: Jojoba Oil Lip Rescue; Fennel Tea Tree Oil Toothpaste; Ginger Tea Tree Oil Toothpaate; Mint Tea Tree Oil Toothpaste; Wintergreen Tea Tree Oil and Neem Toothpaste. The majority of our personal care products are animal free (no animal ingredients and not tested on animals). We are still labelling the shelves of the products that are vegan. Usually a quick read of the ingredient listing will give you, the customer, an idea whether the product meets your requirements. Caveat Emptor when it comes to purchasing “organic “ personal care products they are not as organic as we are lead to believe – most of our personal care products that say they are organic consist mostly of organic floral water (hydrosol). Please visit the Organic Consumer Association website to read more about this practice. Why do I have some of these products in my store? Simple – I offer healthier alternatives to the conventional products out there. I also use it to educate the consumer. When something else comes along that is ‘better’ I will start stocking that product line. A word about reusable toothbrushes. When most toothbrushes come to the end of their useful life they are chucked in the garbage or maybe recycled. The only thing that has really worn on the toothbrush is the brush head. There are several companies that have developed toothbrushes that allow you just to replace this worn part. You click it out and click in a new head thus saving about 3 - 4 handles worth of plastic a year and not only would you have avoided all this garbage but you would have paid for the initial cost of the handle. We carry toothbrushes with replaceable heads from: Fuchs; Terradent; Fun Brushes; Monte Bianco (these are no longer available from our supplier); Radius and Smile Brite. Toothpastes are supplied by: Vicco; Desert Essence; Green Beaver; EcoDent™, NewCo; Nature's Gate; Dabur (Neem, Clove, and Basil); Peelu; Hakkem. I tend to favour the products that do not have fluoride or Sodium Laureth Sulphate (Sodium Lauryl Sulphate) in them. Most people use some type of deodorant and we offer a wide variety of deodorants (some without propylenes and all without aluminum) from: Earthwise; Earth Science Liken; Nip & Yarrow; Green Beaver; Avalon Organics. We also carry the deodorant stone (similar to the Thai Deodorant stone) which is a very economical deodorant with minimal packaging. It seems everyone loves choosing from a large variety of lip balms. We carry lip balms from: Burt's Bees; Alba TerraTint (with SPF 18); Dr. Bronner's and Sun Dog's Magic Organic Lip Balm; Prairie Dawn (made in Edmonton); Luminus Lips; Alba Botanica Organic (with SPF 18); Merry Hempsters (Organic, Hemp oil and Vegan varieties); Eureka Soaps; Desert Essence Jojoba Oil Lip Rescue; and Badger Balm. Just in case your lips need something more we have Lip Shimmers, Lip Gloss, and Lipsticks from Burt's Bees. Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate - sulfate if you spell it the American way) for aching muscles or a relaxing soak is available in bulk and packaged quantities. I am surprised by how many people use this product. It is a great product to use to enjoy a hot relaxing and healing bath. My son loves to soak his feet in a bowl of Epsom slats and hot water after we come home from skating or skiing. Locally made natural 'Love Lube' (personal and sex lubricant - flavoured or unscented) by Nip & Yarrow complimenting our offering of the O'My and Sylk brands of lubricants. Menstrual Products - the Keeper™ (the Keeper is a reusable menstrual cup that is made out of natural rubber - very popular); Mooncup - a silicone version made by the Keeper people; Natracare™ (disposable menstrual products made out of organic cotton in their tampons and non-chlorine bleached materials in their pads); Many Moons™ (reusable cotton menstrual pads); Urban Amor (by Blood sisters - reusable cotton menstrual pads); Luna Pads™ (reusable cotton menstrual pads): chlorine free menstrual products from Seventh Generation; and Goddess Moon pads. Many of the reusable cloth pads are available in organic as well as conventional cotton. The Keeper is a great product for travelling - especially to areas of the world where menstrual products may be difficult to obtain. The Keeper comes in two sizes: 'A' for AFTER vaginal childbirth and "B' for BEFORE vaginal childbirth. Insect Repellent (Alternatives to DEET) - Cactus Juice; Summer Survivor (Bite Blocker); Buzz Away; Zero Bite; Pennyroyal (by Eureka); Neem & Catnip Oil; Nip & Yarrow; and Out of the Woods (formerly Matter Bug Dope). Many of the products are rated child safe (friendly) by the manufacturer. Gifts: Co-operative games from Family Pastimes (Harvest Time; Princess; Grump; Max; Beautiful Place; Bus Depot; Community; Secret Door; etc). Cooperative games are great to help children understand that great things can be accomplished through cooperation and that we don't always have to be competitive. Family Pastimes is a small family Canadian based business. Co-operative games avoids a winner takes all strategy and conclusion. It also avoids the 'loser' and 'winner' mentality. Make Poverty History and Wage Peace bracelets. As of September 2005 we generated $344 for Edmonton Coalition Against War & Racism (ECAWAR) with the Wage Peace bracelets and $300.50 for Make Poverty History. Soccer (size #4, #5 and Match) and other sport balls (volleyball, beach volleyball, and ruby) that are made under certified Fair Trade conditions (each ball has a TransFair Certified label). by Dri-Line (Alberta made - Snug-to-fit, diaper liners); Mother-ease (Ontario made - All in one, One Size fits all, Sandy's, Rikki, Air Flow, diaper liners); Bummis (Quebec made - Snap, Aplix and Velcro - Whisper, Super Whisper, Original) and Kushies - Kooshies (Ontario Made - Classic, Basic, and Ultra). There are enough disposables items in our society so I am pleased to offer these non-disposable options. Most of our cloth diaper products are Canadian made. We now carry the organic diapers and liners from Mother-ease. We are constantly told that we are the only place that people have been able to purchase metal diaper safety pins - just like the old days. We have recently started to stock the Snappi diaper fastener. This has proved to be very popular. To help people manage washing diapers we now offer diaper soaking pails. We can only sell Mother-ease or Kushies in person and not over the Internet. If you wish to purchase these over the Internet you can click on the above links and deal directly with them. Pool pants and sun hats by Gabby's. Baby Trekker and First Journey baby carriers - check out their wearing instructions at http://www.babytrekker.com/. Aristocrats wool diaper covers. "Flushies" are flushable paper diaper liners that cut down on the scrapping of feces off into the toilet bowl and rinsing. These can also be reused by washing them (usually in the delicate wash bag). Cotton nursing pads - some styles come with a waterproof membrane to protect clothing. Baby gift packages from Burt's Bees and Weleda. Baby care products like diaper ointments, talc free dusting powder, creams, shampoo, soap, balms, wet wipe solution, boob lube, special products for nipple care ('Boob Lube' and ' Nipple Salve') and lotions. Many of them with child friendly calendula in them. EcoBaby organic jump suits, receiving blankets and shirts. New Bamboo Diapers - Bamboozles and Organic Caboose prefolds. Soft and absorbent. Kidalog organic fitted and flat diapers. Baby slings by Peapod Baby Wraps Cuddly Wraps and Maya Wrap. We just started to carry a new organic lines from Natracare (the same people that make the organic menstrual products), Druide, and Avalon Organis for your baby. Glass nursing bottles complete with an offering of natural latex and silicone nipples. These products come from Evenflo. Great books to get your child off to an excellent start in life: The Lorax; The Butter Battle Book; The Family Book; Our Community Garden; The Giving Tree; Hey, Little Ant; Wump World; Spinning Tales, Weaving Hope. Clothing and Bedding: American Apparel we haven't carried these for quite some time now since I do not agree with some of the things I have been hearing about this company and their 'boss'. We also carry socks and tights by Clean Clothes - Maggie's Organic. These are made by a Nicaraguan women's co-operative called Maquiladora Mujeres. Some of the more popular printed t-shirts we have are: International Terrorist (with a graphic of George W. Bush on the front); Peace (in English, Hebrew and Arabic); We Aren't Blocking Traffic. We are Traffic; Noam Chomsky; Alternative Energy, the Answer is Blowing in the Wind; Stop Global Warming, Go there by Bike; Childhood is a journey, not a race. Organic cotton bandannas, scarves, napkins, cosmetic cotton squares, face cloths, and handkerchiefs from Canadian manufacturer Hankettes. Paper Products: Earth's General Store promotes the use of reusable products over disposable options but there are times when people wish to use a disposable product for certain applications or events. In following our mandate to offer environmentally better options we are pleased to offer disposable plates and bowls made from bagasse (fibre residue left over from the manufacturing of sugar from sugar cane). These products are 100% biodegradable (can be composted since they do not have the plastic or wax film applied to most "paper" plates), 100% recyclable (can be put into all recycling systems), made from a renewable resources (sugar cane grows more fibre per year than trees do), microwave and freezer safe, leak and cut resistant, oil resistant, impermeable and non-toxic and is 100% wood fibre free. For more information about this product you can visit Stalk Market at www.stalkmarket.net. Please note that when we received these products we found out that they were made in China. I am still trying to balance this quandary. Postcards from Global Aware, Syracuse Cultural Workers, and Adbusters. Greeting cards (solstice, seasonal and occasion) by Syracuse Cultural Workers, We'Moon, New Internationalist and a variety of handmade cards made by local artisans. Calendars 2007: Oh yeah! The Organic Fair Trade Advent Calendar - a December treat for sure. We start to get calendars into the store at the end of October though we have already received the Syracuse Cultural Workers Peae Calendar for 2007 - it looks as exceptional as in all the past years. Books: The list of the books we carry would be too long so I will just mention some: Subjects: vegetarian and vegan cook books; education; animal free cooking; composting; straw bale, cob, earth, earthbag, Earthship, rammed earth, earth sheltered, log, stone, stackwall, cordwood, natural building books; food security; Genetically Modified Organism (GMO, Biotech, biotechnology); organic gardening; biointensive gardening; permaculture; solar; wind, biodiesel, hydroelectric - renewable energy; plastering; grey water systems; sex education; Fair Trade; slavery; Just labour; environmental and social issues; sustainability; biodiesel; teacher resources; sprawl; urban planning; smart growth; food preservation (drying, canning, freezing, root cellaring, etc); self-sufficiency and self-reliant living; ecovillage; green choices; lifestyle; community; voluntary simplicity; globalization; anti-war; pro-peace; green design; roof gardens; green roofs; rainwater collection; end of oil; menstruation; coming of age; peak oil production…. I believe we have the largest selection (retail store) of alternative building and energy books in Canada. Selected publishers: New Society; Chelsea Green; Centre for Appropriate Technologies; Real Goods; Storey; No-Nonsense Guides; New Press; Zed; New Press; Verso; AK Press and Seven Stories are just some of the publishers we focus on. Authors include: Noam Chomsky; Bill Mollison; Masanobu Fukuoka; John Jeavons; John Robbins; Vandana Shiva; Derek Jensen; Linda McQuaig; Wendell Berry; Howard Zinn; David Suzuki; Jeremy Rifkin; Michael Moore; etc. Titles (selected): In the Garden of Vegan; How it all Vegan; From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank; Vegan Taste of East Africa; Vegan Taste of North Africa; Vegan Taste of Thailand; Vegan Taste of Eastern Europe; Vegan Taste of Greece; Vegan Taste of France; Vegan World Fusion Cuisine; Wild Fermentation; Raw Gourmet; Dining in the Raw; Vegan with a Vengeance; Vegetarian World Fusion; 500 Greatest Ever Vegetarian Recipes; Cooking with Kurma; How to Shit in the Woods; Japanese Vegetarian Cooking; World Vegetarian Classics; Grub; Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian; Complete Vegetarian Cookbook; The Best Vegetarian Recipes; One Straw Revolution; Che; Biomimicry; NatureScape Alberta; Cradle to Cradle; Deal With It!; Dare to Repair; More Straw Bale Building; Clean House, Clean Planet; Biopiracy; Fast Food Nation; Build with Bales; Permaculture: A Design Manual; Encyclopaedia of Healing; Chasing the Sun; Worms Eat My Garbage; The Earth Care Manual; Basics of Permaculture (Mars); Permaculture Garden (Bell); Permaculture Way (Bell); Dragonslippers: This is What an Abusive Relationship Looks Like; Metal of Dishonour (about Depleted Uranium); Permaculture Plants (Nugent); Ecovillage Living; CoHousing Handbook; Green Remodelling; Let it Rot!; Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide; Darfur: A Short History of a Long War; RAW: The Uncook Book; Humanure #2; Incredibly Delicious; Crank’s cookbooks; Moosewood Cookbooks; Vegan Planet; the Complete Book of Raw Food; One Straw Revolution; Lorax; Butter Battle Book; BioDiesel (Pahl); Biodiesel Power (Estill); Biodiesel: Basics and Beyond (Kemp); European Dream; Dark Ages Ahead; Book of Masonry Stove; Build Your Own Earth Oven; the Yurt Handbook; Long Emergency; Cooking with the Sun; An Anarchist Cookbook – Recipes for Disaster by Crimethinc; Earth Bag Building; Sacred Balance; Rebar; Killing Hope; That Take Ovaries; Slaves to Fashion; Little Earth Book; Fuelling The Future; Complete Idiot's Guide to Solar Power for Your Home; Nature of Design; Building with Earth; Have Fries Will Travel; The Green House; Practical Photovoltaics; Earthship Volumes 1, 2 an 3; Earth Construction; Septic Systems; Rainwater Collection for the Mechanically Challenged; Rainwater Harvesting (Volumes 1, 2 and soon #3); Sick House Survival Guide; Timber Framer's Workshop; Sticks, Stones, Mud Homes; Off the Grid; Bird Flu: What to Do; The End of the Line: How Overfishing is Changing the World and What We Eat; Bleeding Afghanistan; Good Green Homes; EcoNest; Green Remodelling; Thatch & Thatching; Building with Straw; Solar Water Heating; Girls will be Boys; Silent Spring; Home Work; Shelter; Radical Simplicity; Solviva; Passive Solar House; Photovoltaics – Design and Installation; Crossing the Rubicon; End of Oil; Crude; Bicycle Repair Manual; Building a Straw Bale House: The Red Feather Construction Handbook; Direct Action; You Grow Girl!; Organic Gardening; Weather Makers; Roberta’s Rules of Order; Solar Living Source Book (Real Goods); La Dolce Vegan; the Long Emergency; Microhydro; Building a Greywater System; Home House Project; When the Rivers Run Dry; Home Energy Diet; Please Don't Feed the Bears: A Vegan Cookbook by Abjorn Intonsus; Heat by George Monbiot; The Last Generation by Fred Pearce; Bitter Chocolate by Carol Off; Vegan Lunch Box (www.veganlunchbox.com); The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilization by Eugene Linden; Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World; Vegan World Fusion Cuisine; Voluptuous Vegan; Eastern Vegetarian Cooking; Vegetarian World Food; 500 Great-ever Vegetarian Recipes. – plus over 500 other titles. Magazines: Posters: Videos, DVD and CDs: We have recently received copies of The Abortion Diaries (http://www.theabortiondiaries.com) and Dreams Die Hard (www.freetheslaves.net) for sale (as well as copies in the library for people to borrow). If you get a chance, drop by the store and borrow the documentary - 'Stolen Childhoods'.I am sure once you have watched it you will understand why it is important that we privilege few that inhabit the "Have World" need to support social justice throughout the world. It is totally wrong that children are forced to take on the lives that are forced upon them as depicted in this documentary. It reinforces why Fair Trade Certified is an important practice to me. We offer CDs (compact discs) featuring: Noam Chomsky; Howard Zinn; Jello Biafra; Michael Moore; and several others. shoes, Sandals and Sneakers: Gardening, general household items and Composting: Worms (red wrigglers) and vermiculture (worm) composting supplies (mostly used for people without access to an outdoor composter - apartment and condo dwellers or people that wish to make a fine soil fertilizer); Organic Green alfalfa based fertilizer; local organic seeds and Great States, American Lawn, and Scott Reel non-polluting push lawnmowers. Worm composting produces worm castings which make an excellent fertilizer for your indoor plants or outdoor garden. We also have an excellent selection of books on worm and outdoor composting which compliment our offering of organic gardening and agriculture books. I believe that we are the only retail store in Alberta that offers worms for composting. Alberta Education has incorporated a waste awareness module in their grade 4 curriculum. Each September we get many Grade 4 teachers coming into the store to purchase worms and kits. To help them in their education efforts we lend out the "Wormania" and "Worm Bin Creatures" videos and have worm-composting information supplied to us from the City of Edmonton. We want children going through this programme to understand that each and everyone contributes to the waste stream but there are components of this stream that we can easily recycle in our own home (or backyard if doing an outdoor composting system). Diatomaceous earth (DE) that is used as a physical natural pesticide especially for cockroaches, ants, slugs and snails. It can even be used as a natural non-toxic method to de-worm animals (pets). Our concentrated vinegar (25%) acts as an effective natural herbicide (dandelions, Canadian Thistle, small saplings, etc). EcoSafe biodegradable garbage bags (kitchen and yard wastes). I strongly suggest that most of you compost all your organic wastes instead of sending them off to a landfill. Composting is one of the "greenest" actions you can do and it is such a easy activity. Expandable mesh produce bags - as seen on Oprah (April 20th, 2007 - her Earth Day Special). These are a great reusable product for putting in all your fresh fruits and vegetables. Waspinator - a deterrent device that works like a wasp scarecrow. No toxic chemicals! Free compost, grasscycling, and recycling information from the City of Edmonton. We also have resources for teachers (waste reduction and worm composting is part of the Grade 4 curriculum). Coffee; Tea; Chocolate; Hot Chocolate; Cocoa; Sugar and snacks: cln Earth's General Store became Fair Trade certified as a coffee roaster in June 2006. This takes us to the next level of providing certified Fair Trade and Organic coffee in the Edmonton area. We are FIRST and ONLY Edmonton coffee roaster that uses ONLY 100% Certified Fair Trade green coffee beans that are also certified Organic! Yeah for us! Not only will people enjoy freshly roasted coffee with a sense of justice they will also be enjoying a cup of coffee that tastes GREAT! Recently we have started to wholesale our freshly roasted coffee to cafes and as a fundraiser (in schools). So if you like our coffee and think your local cafe or restaurant would be interested in using our coffee. Roasted Certified Organic and Fair Trade coffee from Just Us! and Kicking Horse (please note we ONLY carry their certified organic Fair Trade coffee and teas). We offer Organic Fair Trade Certified sugar from two suppliers - Just US! and Cocoa Camino. We presently carry a Malawian sugar from Wholesome Sweeteners (makers of Sucanat sugar) which is certified Fair Trade but oddly enough is not organic. I will stop carrying this as soon as we deplete our stock. Ambriel chocolates; Green & Black – Maya Gold only since this is the only one that is both certified organic and Fair Trade (PS - this company is now owned by the Cadbury Schweppes corporation in May 2005; Rapunzel (please note that Rapunzel products are not TransFair Certified), (only their chocolate bars that are Certified Organic Fair Trade) and La Siembra Cocoa Camino. We also carry some products from Dagoba: bars (Conacado); ChocoDrops (large baking chips); cocoa powder; and hot chocolate. I have heard some wonderful compliments of the chocolate bars this company produces but unfortunately only a few of their items are Fair Trade Certified. I assume that in time this will change. We ONLY carry their products that are Fair Trade Certified and Certified Organic. Their Hot Chocolates look great (Authentic, Xocolatl, and Unsweetened) and are very popular. The Xocolatl has traditional ingredients like chillies and cinnamon - interesting! We stopped offering Endangered Species Chocolates since they are no longer Fair Trade Certified. They have decided to do a non-audited process called "ethically traded". I cannot support this. Zazubean - Ego (Dark Chocolate with Matcha & Goji Berries), Luna(tic) (Dark Chocolate with Mint & Cocoa Nibs, Nakid (Dark Chocolate & Cocoa Nibs), Zing (Dark Chocolate with Espresso Chunks); Cocoa Camino has added to their offering of chocolate bars - Los Intendos line - Chili & Spice Dark Chocolate (71% Cocoa), Cranberries & Almonds Dark Chocolate (71% Cocoa), Matcha & Green Tea Dark Chocolate (71% Cocoa), Panama Extra Dark Chocolate (85% Cocoa); Equita - Bittersweet Chocolate (70% Cocoa), Candied Orange Peel Dark Chocolate (57% Cocoa), Milk Chocolate (34% Cocoa), Just Us! has started to make their own chocolate and is now packaging it for retail sale. We have received our initial shipment of Chocolate Covered Almonds, Milk Almond Bar, Dark Almond Bar, Bittersweet Bliss, Golden Crunch, and Midnight Mint. Just US! has also produced some Freeze Dried Instant Coffee and yes - everything is Fair Trade Certified and Organic. Many of the chocolates we offer are vegan and lactose intolerant friendly. Our chocolates are organic and therefore they are GMO free (many chocolates contain soy lecithin that are derived from GMO sources). We offer the Fresh Roast green coffee bean roasters; the Toddy Cold Coffee brewer; and grinders for grinding your coffee beans at home. We offer teas from Two Hills Teas (Dazhang Mountain Tea, Earl Grey, Ceylon Superior, English Breakfast) and Choice Tea (Chai Spice, Dragon Well Chai, Green Tea with essence of Peach ,Black Tea, Earl Grey, Mango Ceylon, English Breakfast, and Irish Breakfast), Kicking Horse (Peppermint Herbal, Earl Grey, Indian Chai), Numi Monkey King Jasmine Green Tea, and Four O'Clock Teas (Green Tea Chai, Rooibos Chai, and Black Tea Chai). Please note we ONLY carry the Certified Organic Fair Trade teas from these companies since they also offer non-organic and non-Fair Trade products. Caveat emptor regarding the term organic and fair trade! Several companies are throwing these terms about without the backing of what makes these terms good for the environment, the people producing the products, and society. There should always be a certifying organisations to back up these claims. I see the personal care company Lush is selling a product that they call "Fair Trade" but it is just a term without any justification for its use. As far as I am concerned this is misleading the public (lying) and does a great disservice to the term and the people offering real Fair Trade products. Watch out for the term fairly traded as well. Of course the term organic has been inappropriately used for many years. The term organic from a purely technically aspect just means that it contains carbon atoms in it - such as petroleum (gasoline, plastics, etc.) and all living matter. When the term organic is used to describe a growing and processed it is assumed by the consumer that it is actually adheres to some form of criteria. This is not always the case. There is nothing to stop a person using this term in a manner that misleads the consumer (either intentionally or through ignorance - more likely the former). Only when you purchase certified organic (or from a producer that you can trust and support like from a farmer's market vendor) can you ensure that the product actually meets a standard that is peer and socially accepted. We have recently been Certified as a Fair Trade roaster of coffee beans by TransFair Canada - Yeah! We only purchase certified Organic and Fair Trade green coffee beans. It will be a while before I get around to having the facilities certified organic. People have responded very favourably to the excellent quality of the roasts we are offering - fresh roasted beans do add a dimension that people just aren't used to and they like it. The Colombian Dark roast and the Peruvian/Indonesian medium roast blend have received much praise and rave reviews. Eric's (roastmaster) latest creations are the Bi-Continental blend (Ethiopian Yirgacheffee and Indonesian Sumatran), Mexican Dark, PP475 (Peruvian Penachi and Peruvian La Florida roasted to 475F - really dark) and the Medium roast Ethiopian Yirgacheffee. Earth’s General Store is roasting the green beans using a model YM-10 roaster from Ambex. Our roast master is Eric Filpula whose love of coffee is (well I think he is an addict but most coffee drinkers tend to be) and who is in pursuit of the ultimate cup of coffee. Our Certified Organic Fair Trade green coffee bean selection will vary but we presently carry green beans from Mexico (Cafe Femeninio), Nicaragua (Matagalpa), Peru (Penachi), Colombia, Ethiopian (Yirgacheffee, Harrar and Sidamo) and Indonesian Sumatran (Takengon). A Swiss Water Process (SWP) decaffeinated green bean is available (Peruvian Penachi). We recently added Ethiopian Yirgacheffee beans to our offering and our roastmaster has done a batch on a medium roast which has been received very favourably by our customers. Several of our Fair Trade Certified coffees are also produced through Cafe Feminino. You can find out more information about this programme at www.cafefemeninofoundation.org. We offer Rebar, Pure bars (Raw, organic and vegan - real yummy), and organic Bumble Bars (gluten-free) for those that are in need of a healthy snack and licorice from Panda. We offer a variety of coffee filters: reusable cloth; reusable metal; French press (sometimes called a tea or Bodum press) and disposable unbleached paper filters. Many people are becoming concerned about the 'migrates' or leeching of chemicals from plastic containers into their beverages - most notably water bottles. Earth's General Store is now stocking 304 grade stainless steel beverage/water bottles manufactured by Klean Kanteen. Last year we introduced to the Canadian market Laptop Lunches, bento style containers. They come in a variety of systems and have proved to be very popular with parents looking for a product to help them inprove the appearance and efficincy of packing a [healthy] meal for their children. Several people are using the system for themselves. We have had people from Ontario to Victoria order the product from us. It helps when your store is the only outlet in Canada. The Vegan Lunch Box cookbook has also proved to be very popular and several people purchase the book with a Laptop Lunch system. I am always surprised by the number of people that come into the store that visit author Jennifer McCann's website or blog. Lighting; Water and Energy Efficiency - CONSERVATION: We are offering solar ovens that allow people to cook their food using just the energy of the sun. I cooked several meals in the summer of 2005 in one of these solar ovens: beans; potatoes; carrots; rice; and even bread. I am quite excited about getting stock in of the book Cooking with the Sun and the new book from New Society - 'Solar Food Dryer'. Toilets consume, or rather waste the most amount of water and therefore money, in the house. We offer the toilet dam that will silently allow a person to save between 15 to 25% of the water that they are needlessly flushing down the toilet. This product is very simple and will quietly pay for itself in about 2 months - based on a family of four. Great return on investment. In fact, legally I doubt there are very few other ways to get this kind of return on investment. We offer the windup (crank) and solar powered products from FreePlay (radios and flashlights). We just got in a shipment of the latest products from FreePlay for the holiday season. Some of the new flashlights now have LED (Light Emitting Diodes) instead of the Xenon bulbs that they have been using. Some of the new radios offer a Weather Band frequency. Many people like to have a filter on their showerheads to reduce their exposure to chlorine. We carry a filter that fits on the pipe coming out of the wall and then your showerhead (hopefully it is a good water efficient type) is attached to the filter housing. The filter medium is KDF-55. The filter cartridge is replaceable and should last about 1 year in normal use (2 showers a day - to me this would be very high use).
SAVE WATER, SAVE ENERGY, SAVE MONEY
Buttons, pins, jewellery & Stickers: Please visit www.whitepoppy.org.uk or www.ppu.org.uk for more information about this campaign of peace. Hundreds of buttons and stickers (large for cars and book binders and small ones for bicycles; coffee mugs; etc) that challenge our paradigm. Some of the subjects covered by our stickers and buttons are: anti-violence; pro thinking; anti-dogma; pro rights; gender equality; anti war; peace; justice; honour; thought provoking; great quotes; organic lifestyle; vegetarianism; family; parent equality; sexism. Some of our most popular stickers and stickers are: Kill Your Television; Subvert the Dominate Paradigm; One More Bicycle; One Less Car; Tofu - the Other White Meat; A Little Anarchy goes a Long Way; Sprawl Marts Suck the Life Out of Your Town; I Love My Bike; Rebel with a Cause; Join the Army, Travel to exotic distant lands, meet exciting people and kill them; Fukenkarz. Diversity and pride rainbow jewellery, buttons, and stickers for our gay, homosexual, bisexual and lesbian customers. And we carry the Darwin Fish plaques; stickers; buttons and magnets. Some of the new ones from this series include: Science, Fish & Chips, Reality Bites, and Evolve. Some of our most popular sew on and iron on patches are: "Put the fun between your legs" (with a bicycle graphic); "I love Tofu"; "Om"; "Peace symbol". Tickets: Through out the year we are ticket outlet for a wide variety of events - music, speaking engagements, film festivals, etc. Earth’s General Store produces an e-newsletter every so often and an Activist Agenda every week that lists events in the Edmonton, AB area. If you would like to receive these please email me at egs@interbaun.com. You can click Activist Agenda at the top of this webpage for the latest version if you want to access this through the web [thanks to Conrad]. I try to update the on-line version of the Activist Agenda on a daily basis so that it is current and relevant. To help facilitate people recycling batteries (alkaline, rechargeables - Nickel Cadmium, Nickel Metal Hydride, Lithium, etc) we have a collection and storage area. When the buckets become full we take them to the local EcoStation where they are sent away and the toxic components of the batteries are recovered for reuse or proper disposal. We also offer Nickel Metal Hydrides (NiMH) batteries and chargers for purchase. In the fall of 2006 the City of Edmonton has decided that they will not accept batteries that we collect and divert towards them. I don't know whether I have the energy to challenge them on this and to take it to the provincial level (they fund the collection of alkaline batteries). Earth's General Store has worked over the years with Ecology Systems Information Society (ESIS) to develop a Activist Toolkit to fill a need in our community. The toolkit consists of: megaphones; walkie-talkies; marshall vests; cups; mugs; plates; cutlery; glasses; coffee making equipment; coffee thermoses; and sign making supplies. We also do a lot of media work for a wide variety of organisations. The store helps a variety of organisations by being a ticket outlet for their fundraising events (Earth's General Store allows people to charge or use their debit card for these tickets and typically we charge 50 cents extra when a customer uses on of these charge options). Also, in cooperation with ESIS a fairly extensive video, DVD and book library has been developed. We have available copies of a variety of subjects and titles: Iraq for Sale; Global Gardener (Permaculture with Bill Mollison); Java Jive (National Film Board - NFB on the coffee trade and Fair Trade); Fed Up! (GMO - Biotech); Wal-Mart: The High Price of Low Cost; Is Wal-Mart Good for America? (a PBS Frontline production); A Crisis of Faith; Future of Food (food security and GMO - Biotech); End of Suburbia (end of oil and urban planning); Affluenza (Consumerism); The Abortion Diaries; Escape from Affluenza (Consumerism); Culture Jammer's (Adbuster video adverts); Building with Straw; Hormone Copy Cats; Damaged Care (about the corrupted HMO health care system in the USA); Return of the Scorcher (bicycle transportation); Reclaim the Streets; Slavery; Manufacturing Consent (Chomsky); Fahrenheit 9/11 (Michael Moore's documentary); Peaceable Kingdom (Animal Welfare); Stolen Childhoods (children in slavery throughout the world); The Next Industrial Revolution (industrial ecology); Wormania; True cost of Food (by Sierra Club); Green Building (five hours of really excellent information); Comprehensive Guide to Building with Straw Bale; Building with Awareness; plus over 30 other videos-DVDs. In conjunction with Vegetarians of Alberta we house their library of books, cookbooks, cassettes, videos and DVDs. Membership for VOA is available at the store. Earth's General Store also contributes money on a monthly basis to the following non-profit organisations:
Over the years Earth's General Store has been involved with or had a presence at many events:
Our LocationPlease come visit us at: 10832-Whyte Avenue (upstairs)
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