The following article appeared in the Fall 2005 edition of the Open Harvest newsletter. I'm reproducing it here because I've actually been informally been attempting a similar thing for myself the past several months. Also, I like the points she makes about not getting discouraged if you can't keep to it 100%. Just keep trying, don't give up.

A Local Experiment
by Krista Dittman

Super deals at Walmart? Super Comba Rebates at Shopko? Last summer my family chose to just say, "No!" We did a month-long experiment that changed the way we act as consumers forever. The experiment was very simple: we wanted to try making all of our purchases from locally-owned businesses. As difficult as it seemed at first, this experiment actually turned out to be incredibly liberating. One CAN survive without the big name chain stores. It IS possible to pass up the alluring and seductive items featured in the color-high-gloss ads that arrive in the mailbox or newspaper. Except for making emergency photo copies in a time-sensitive situation, we made it through the entire month making all of our purchases from locally-owned businesses.

This experiment was actually another step in a process that started nine years ago. It started slowly at first. Shortly after getting married, we signed up as CSA garden members with Equinox CSA (now Common Good Farm). At first it seemed hard to appreciate bok choy, fennel, or turnips, but it was the beginning of our first family hobby: eating locally. It also began to expand the definition of "comfort food" to go beyond things with chocolate in them. It's become comforting to just sit together at the table and know that the carrots and kohlrabi come from Common Good Farm or the salad greens from ShadowBrook Farm. After we began to farm, it is comforting to know the egg salad is made from eggs laid by our own hens and the glass of milk or hamburger from our own cows.

It's also liberating to know that we are supporting small, local business people who are environmentally responsible and care for the earth that produces our food. I realize now that the weekly box of vegetables has changed my life. It was the beginning of becoming an empowered consumer who has learned that all of us can make ethical choices that impact more than our dinner plates.

In an article that appeared recently in Creamline by Vicki Dunaway, the power and responsibility each one of us has when we vote with our dollars was clearly articulated. As a small business owner, she questioned the fairness of spending her customers' dollars at places like Walmart and Sam's Club when her customers trust her to provide a high-quality, locally-produced cheese. She admits to sometimes paying more to do business locally, but realizes it's not that much because she is also choosing to value the work of others and to support their efforts. As a local business owner, it's refreshing to know that people trust us and are willing to make the extra effort to shop at locally-owned businesses. The conclusion Vicki Dunaway reached, with which I concur, is that it's all about CHOICE and voting our values with our dollars.

I challenge you to try a similar experiment and experience the results. Many of you already shop at Open Harvest and support local farmers. If you don't, start now -- try buying all of your vegetables from local farmers for a week. Start small, and make one change at a time. Consider skipping Starbuck's for a week and patronize a local coffee shop instead. Give yourself time to make this challenge a habit, then challenge yourself further: avoid shopping at chain stores for a week or two, then try to make it a month. The possibilities are endless. Don't get discouraged if you find you have to make an exception, just try again. Experience how the choices you make as a consumer can change your life and the world.

Personally, I find this approach -- focusing on positive stuff, and emphasizing what we CAN do -- much more satisfying than sitting around talking about how the country's going to hell and throwing our arms in the air.

So here's my current challenge: Finding a new (or used) pair of shoes. The ones I've been wearing have been getting increasingly ragged. I've looked at the Family Thrift Center down on 17th and O (or thereabouts) and the Goodwill store for used ones (both good places to find most clothes), but they didn't have any that where anywhere near big enough to fit my feet.

I know I could just go to Target and get something that was made in a sweatshop, and maybe that's what I'll end up doing, but I'd rather not. I'd prefer A) locally owned business (i.e. no big chains), B) not directly supporting wretched third world factory conditions (so even if a retailer is local, a brand like Nike is out, at least if buying new; buying them used wouldn't be so bad, because at least then the money isn't directly financing continuing oppression). Also, shoes are one item I must try on to make sure they're comfortable, so Internet ordering won't work in this case.

Searching Google Maps for "shoe store" in Lincoln Nebraska yields nothing but a bunch of chain retailers. Ideas, anybody?