first day of shopping...

i sounded like such a dork today!

started off quite normal - took my re-usable shopping bags to the larchmont farmer's market... also brought some plastic supermarket bags to re-use and keep the items separated in my big bag...

so some vendors don't use pesticide - but are not "certified-organic"... hmmm.... i asked a few people what the difference was... one guy explained to me that they need to go a certain number of years from the time they last used pesticides to be "certified"... and i did see some Fuji Apples that were listed as transitional. the sales girl there told me that the tree needed one more year w/o pesticides to be organic... okay... sounds good i guess...

here's the tally:
radishes - 50 cents/bunch... at whole foods they are $1.29 but certified organic. Trader joe's doesn't sell radishes... i'm on a budget - so i went for the pesticide free farmer's market produce.

broccoli - $1.50/bunch... vs. whole foods $1.75/pound crowns only - or $2.25 for the crown & stem. Trader Joe's has the pre-washed bagged broccoli for about $2.00 - but it's not organic...

asparagus - $2.00 bunch... forgot how much it was at whole foods and tj's... but they looked especially fresh.

for the above 3 items, the sales people were too quick on the draw and i ended up getting bags from them... there goes that good intention out the window.

strawberries - $2/basket or $5/3-pack. I live alone so i got one basket since i'd rather not throw anything away. used my own bag - woot! grown in oxnard, and pesticide-free... local and on their way to being organic... until i'm frightened into thinking otherwise, this is good enough for me.

eggs - $3/dozen. i've never bought eggs from anywhere else than the market. these were from free range chickens that feed on seeds and grain and other misc greens. some of the shells were still dirty (like out of the coop dirty)... and were lain (layed?) yesterday. and they were all uneven in size!!! strange indeed. haven't cracked into any yet - but i'll see how they taste. they came in a styrofoam container... perhaps i'll bring it back next time to re-use? no extra bag needed...

pommelos - 2 for $1.00... certified organic... like a grapefruit but not...

fuji apples - $2.00/lb. for the small apples. i got them from Lim's Orchards - they have always been good from there... and it's certified organic (vs. the other transitional ones i saw).

ok - enough for the farmer's market...

now for the dorky stuff:

walked into Larchmont Beauty Supply - i need a new face moisturizer... i can't quite bring myself to using the organic all natural stuff yet... i'm transitioning... but i went for products made in the U.S.!

the owner of the store first recommended something from fresh - but that's made in France... so i asked for something from the U.S. because i wanted to buy something with less of a "Carbon Footprint" - wow - i heard myself saying that and i wanted to slap myself... so lame sounding... but- i got the words out there and said i'm doing this blog so i must make my effort and track it.

They recommended Kinerase - but it was $104... hell no! instead i went for Dermalogica... it's UK based but there's a whole distribution plant near LAX and it was unclear whether it was made in the U.S. with UK owners or made in the UK with U.S. distributors... the price was much kinder to my coin purse - so there it was...

also needed a new Blush... i went for the Trucco brand - it was what i used before and it's U.S. made... again - not quite ready for the natural organic stuff... used my own shopping bag!

then i wanted to get a new Betta fish - my old fish - aka fishy-fishy, aka mikey became fertilizer last week after a 3.5 year stint... and i missed having a fish. I also cracked the glass bowl while cleaning it out, so i needed a new bowl.

petco - the glass bowls were US made and the plastic ones were made in China... no contest there! i like the glass bowls better. found the right fish - and i was off to the checkout stand. used my own bag again.

so in all - I drove 3 miles round trip, parked twice - saved 6 plastic bags (only 2 were added to my mix for future re-use). and spent a lot of money that i just don't really have to spend... but at least did it somewhat wisely (except the fish bowl/fish thing - that was frivolous).

and spoke to 3 people about my intentions to do my best to save the environment... didn't give out my blog address yet... except to 2 of my friends who came over and had tea and cocktails with me...