Eat Local!

To continue in the spirit of Earth Day last week, this is an idea whose time has come: Eat Local. (Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say come again. I don't think that this concept would seem very revolutionary to our great-grandparents.)

A take-out eatery has just opened in Seattle, Washington, USA. Eat Local is Pro-local agriculture, Pro-local business, Environmentally Friendly, and Sustainable. It's got it all. What a fabulous idea!

I'm pretty sure that I don't have the entrepreneurial food-service expertise to try such an undertaking myself, but that doesn't mean I'm just waiting on the curb for "Eat Local" to open up a shop near me. There is a flood of interest in local produce (safer, less cost/pollution to move to market, supporting local economy, etc.) so finding additional resources and information is easy as locally-baked pie.

The pet food poisoning has focused a lot of attention on the safety issues that imported food can represent: other countries don't necessarily have the same regulations that you might be used to and there is also the opportunity for terrorist interception and tampering. Very little food is being inspected right now, for example, that is entering the USA.

Another aspect of the produce industry that is coming to light: Organic is not the same thing as Local. While this may seem obvious on the surface, consider that:

1. Organic in that other country may be defined differently than in your own


2. If the distributer isn't labeling Country-of-Origin on the canned or processed good; how do you know


3. If you are buying organic to be environmentally sensitive, if it comes from China and you live in the USA, it's consumed a lot of fuel and energy to come here.

Everyone is starting to jump into the Local bandwagon, at least here in the US, and while sometimes this type of behavior is a bad thing, I don't believe this to be the case in this instance. Local governments and states are starting to encourage local businesses and farms, Corporations like Whole Foods are starting to reach out to local businesses and support fledgling farms, Local groups and blogs are writing about the trials and triumphs of eating local, and
Special events are being planned to highlight local produce and grow the market.

All of this attention gives the average Nitpicky Consumer a lot of good options.

I just did a few quick web searches for "local farmers markets northern virginia united states" and within minutes I had links to all sorts of local markets, including the oldest continuing market at the same site in the united states: Alexandria Farmers Market. I plan on checking it out in a few weeks, and I'll report back!

Read the Fine, Green Print

Earth Day was April 22nd. In honor of this, the Nitpicky Consumer is taking the time to ponder environmental issues. Unlike the Media Machine (as I'll call the collective world media), I'd like to take a step back from the hype. There are very few resources available that provide a thoughtful comparison of environmental alternatives from A-Z, i.e. throughout the whole life-cycle of the product or service.

• Is it created using 'green' methods? Using recycled materials? What does it take to produce its core components, in terms of energy and resources?
• How maintainable is the product? i.e. How soon will it need to be replaced?
• Once the product does need to be replaced, can it be recycled or must it be trashed? If it can be recycled, how easy is it for the 'average consumer' to understand and do?

Easy Example of the Machine in action, hyping the good side of a new idea while completely ignoring the potential pitfalls:
Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs), also known as Compact Fluorescent Lamps.

Go to any major media resource online, and it will be easy as pie to find articles about the amazing energy-saving properties of CFLs and how great it would be to stop using halogens and other designer lights. And of course anything as fabulous as this needs to be mandated, so there is a lot of recent attention on governments trying to figure out how to force everyone to switch, either by raising taxes on traditional incandescents or even making incandescent bulbs illegal. The CFL benefits are easy to list.

But I couldn't find much info on the downsides: i.e. the things that you might not think about right away. My neighbors rightfully pointed out to me that you can't use a dimmer/rheostat with compact fluorescent lights. Well, you CAN, but it costs several hundred dollars so most average consumers won't be making this switch. And quite frankly, dimmers save energy, too. We only use our kitchen table light, dimmed quite low, as an addition to candles. I imagine our dimmed light is not using much more energy than a CFL would in that same fixture (though I can't yet test this as I haven't gotten a hold of one of the nifty gizmos that let's you track such things).

By looking past the main-stream media, you can find more general info about how the CFLs are manufactured, how they actually work, and their life-cycle.

Now, better informed, you have a clue into the downside of CFLs: what happens when they break or wear out. Now you've definitely left the Media Machine behind, and you're reading text-heavy government documents. An EPA fact sheet on CFLs and an Energy Star FAQ on proper disposal of Compact Fluorescent Lights shed some light on this facet of CFLs, which probably won't get full Media Machine attention for several years:

• Compact Fluorescent Lights, just like any fluorescent light, contain mercury. There is currently no substitute for this mercury. Each one contains about as much as the tip of a ballpoint pen.
  
• If you break a CFL you should NOT touch any part of it with your bare hands. Unfortunately, as some of them look from the outside like regular incandescents, I am quite certain that not everyone is going to realize this.
• And most important of all, old/used CFLs should NOT be disposed of in the trash.
  

Well then ... what do you do with them when they break or wear out? As the helpful FAQs explain, you can call various numbers and visit various websites or call your local government to find the closest disposal location. I went to earth911.org (the site recommended by energystar.gov), and was thrilled to find out that the closest disposal site to me is -- wait for it -- 46 miles away.

At this point, if you're like most average consumers (especially in America), you'll simply toss it into the garbage bin and hope it doesn't cause too much of an issue. But once we have a million of these, broken and leaking mercury in our landfills, or being incinerated into the air we breath, I suspect we're going to have an issue.

Am I against CFLs? Certainly Not. I am starting to switch to them myself.

Do I think that there should be legislation requiring them? Certainly Not. Let's allow people to make their own decisions, although government may need to become involved in disposal.

It seems to me that a good balance for a home at this point would be to have a 50-50 mix of CFLs and Incandescents (on a rheostat). And it wouldn't hurt to have one neighbor who volunteers to drive the 46 miles to dispose of everyone's old fluourescents, once every 5 years or so.

Secret Mystery Shopping (Shhhhhhh)

After working for six years at The Disney Store, and being thus subjected to 72 monthly reports from the "Guest Shopper," I have always desired to be on the other side of that fence (where I have no doubt the grass is greener).

Called a variety of names -- Guest Shoppers, Secret Shoppers, Mystery Shoppers, etc. -- these are the people who literally shop for a living. They get paid to visit retail locations and write about their customer experience. Seems like a good fit for the Nitpicky Consumer, eh?

The catch is that there are a lot of scam operations claiming to be mystery shopping companies. In these instances, they just want to gather your personal info so that they can spam you with "exciting offers" ... or worse.

I hadn't spent the time to research the topic yet, but had mentioned it in passing, and my friend Janna pointed me to the Get Rich Slowly post on Money-Making Hobbies: Mystery Shopping and Belly Dancing. In addition to letting us know that the average belly-dancing outfit costs $300, the blog more importantly gives some great links to the Mystery Shopping Providers Association and to the Volition Mystery Shopping site.

I plan on checking out these resources in the next few weeks, and I'll report back on what I find. If anyone has any experience with mystery shopping or with these resources, feel free to comment and share!

Green Cleaners go Mainstream

The Washington Post had a great article today on How 'Green' Cleaners Measure Up. Of course, any one of us could go out and buy armfuls of cleaning products in order to compare them, but isn't it more fun to let someone else do it and read about the results? Even better, they included a link to a general editorial on the green movement and its impact on cleaning products (Green is Cleaning Up) that THEN linked to the web page of a local cleaning service in the DC area (The Green Mop) and THAT is where the real treasure is. The owner of the Green Mop, Mia Gallina, has posted all sorts of 'recipes' for simple cleaning solutions that are non-toxic and environmentally friendly. Good stuff. My shower has a permanent mold problem, and I'm going to try her vinegar solution!

Blog Etiquette, eh?

My dear friend Carolina, who has blogged a great deal more than I have, informs me that some exciting new Rules of Blogging Conduct have started to circulate, apparently after some tech blogging that turned nasty ended up with death threats being tossed out onto some comments.

After scanning these bold, new rules, I am reminded of All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. i.e. Play nice, be courteous, etc. In other words, act like civilized human beings. This seems like common sense, and hardly worth jotting down into a code, but the New York Time's Brad Stone hit the nail on the head when he noted: "Since the Web offers the option of anonymity with no accountability, online conversations are often more prone to decay into ugliness than those in other media."

A point upon which I don't really see a need to "debate" is the idea that blog comments should never be deleted, because as soon as they are written, they are part of living history. Whatever. If someone decides to disagree with one of my posts with a simple "You're wrong, you dumb b****" then I will most certainly delete it; and I will not feel that history is being cheated by this edit. If, however, the comment is followed by some well-researched rebuttal, bring it on. I welcome it. That's what being Nitpicky is all about; getting all the facts and then making an informed decision.

Tax Day! Whee!

So today is Tax Day here in the United States: The last day to file your federal income taxes. I did mine about two weeks ago, and nearly had a nervous breakdown as I did so. This happens to me every year, and it is almost always due to some stock disaster. This year, it was finding out that a bunch of my international stock had been sold due to some merger, and I hadn't gotten any notice about it other than pulling up my tax form and LO AND BEHOLD I have taken a lose. But how do you take a lose without ... UGH, MY STOCK HAS BEEN SOLD!

My horrific experiences in the stock market could fill up a whole novel, so I won't go too far into it. Let's just say I've been a very Dumb Consumer in choosing stocks.

But I will say that this is a good time of year to step back and look at your entire financial situation:

• Look at your income and your expenditures ... do you feel on track for the coming year?
• How's your retirement withholding? Are you doing the Max that the current year will allow? If not, try to increase it
• Check your stocks and funds. Any big upturns or horrific downfalls? Take this time to adjust
  
• Check your credit reports; take advantage of the once-a-year free report
  
• Make sure you are doing all you can to prevent Identify Theft
  

Nutrition Facts II: The Potato Chip Story

So, I haven't completely figured out yet what determines whether or not a food product needs the official "Nutrition Facts" label on it. However, I can talk about the importance of paying close attention to said label when it does exist.

Let's use a bag of deli potato chips as an example to illustrate two key points:
1) Always read the Nutrition Facts label; never assume what may or may not be in it
2) Always be sure you understand the serving size

Route 11 Potato Chips will be my example, today. They are a tasty brand of potato chips, typically sold in small bags at deli counters.

So ... my friend and I went over to Perfect Pita to get a sandwich and some chips. I grabbed a bag of Salt & Vinegar chips, but she noted that she was trying to eat less salt, so instead snatched up a bag of Garlic & Herb. On the surface, doesn't it seem like the one with more salt would be the one with salt in the name? Au Contraire.

Lesson #1: Read the Nutrition Facts.
A serving of S&V has 95 mg of sodium; a serving of G&H has 220 mg. Yes, over twice as much sodium. Wow.

Lesson #2: Serving Size sometimes seems sneaky.
Even though these chip bags are sold at delis and lunch counters, each bag is two servings. So if she had eaten the whole bag of Garlic & Herb chips, as most lunchers are apt to do, she'd get 440 mg of salt out of her daily recommended intake of 2000 mg ... just from one bag of chips.

The Moral of the Potato Chip Story:
Sometimes, it is worthwhile to slowdown and take a second look at the Facts, so you can make an informed decision.

Got Wine?

My husband and I love wine (especially when it is under $10 a bottle)

We started out just after college, going to wine festivals. The Mt. Vernon Wine Festival, held in the spring and the fall each year in Virginia, is one of our favorites. Then we started to visit area stores to compare wines and try some varieties: Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Daily Planet, and Costco all have decent wines to offer at good prices in the northern Virginia area. Then we moved up to actually visiting some of the wineries. We've been to about 20 Virginia wineries, and even attended three special events/dinners. I believe that many states are mobilizing to create one-stop websites with festival and tour information; Virginia certainly has a nice program that has helped us to find many fine wineries by using the grape-cluster signs that have been scattered across the state.

Now, we're dipping our toe into the industry and actually starting to help out. For the wine enthusiasts reading this, listen up. There are some nice opportunities out there.

First, many of the wineries need local help at the wine festivals. I believe that just about every state in the USA has wine and food festivals going on, so the opportunity is there. Just yesterday, I helped our favorite Virginia winery, Rockbridge, pour at Great Grapes, Reston.
This was an absolute blast, and in exchange for helping out all day, I got some bottles of wine. You can't beat that deal! (And, as it rained all day, I can tell you that pouring under the tent is a lot better than being an attendee waiting in line outside the tent.)

Second, many of the smaller wineries/vineyards need help during those few critical days of picking each season. Often, they'll "pay" in grapes, wine, or first-pick on used barrels (which are relatively hot commodities, as they are soooo coooool.) I know that Willowcroft Farm Vineyards operates in this way, and probably others.

I know that many people tend to turn up their noses at non-Californian American wine, but if you are looking for some hidden treasures, and a chance to be more than just a customer, I recommend checking out some smaller, local wineries. If you want to go a little bit more mainstream, you really can't go wrong with some of the bigger ones, either. As my friend Maki once said, "I've never had a bad Shiraz"

The Joys of Remodeling

We have postponed the remodeling of our kitchen and master bathroom for five years now. Apparently, there are people out there who actually enjoy such efforts. I believe that they most likely fall into one of the following categories:

1) Filthy Rich
2) Certifiably Insane
3) Bored

I believe that more people are like me: they make the decision to remodel because there is no other decision. When your shower can't be used and your floor is sagging and your counter has a hole in it ... it's time to let your fingers do the walking.

I find myself shocked at the challenge it has been just to find a contractor to do the work. You'd think that there would be more businesses out there interested in taking money to do a task to a certain specification of Quality, but you'd be surprised ...

Nutrition Facts

A co-worker of mine just came back from his vacation in Texas, with the obligatory snack-food gift for the office kitchen. As I gazed upon the ingredient list for the pecans he had brought from The Oliver Pecan Company of San Saba, Texas, it struck me that there was no "Nutrition Facts" label on this package. (I am currently on a "How much sodium is in this?" phase.) I went to my desk and compared the Oliver container to the can of Mama Mellace's Chipotle Cashews that I had bought from Costco, and confirmed that there was a Nutional Facts label on the Mama's can.
So, why did Mama include a Nutrition Facts label, but Oliver did not?

I looked around my kitchen this evening, and noticed several other instances of the same thing:
My jar of Strawberry Rhubarb preserves, from Willowcroft Vineyard, has only a simple ingredient list while my St. Dalfour Black Cherry fruit spread from the grocery story has the full Nutrional Label.

I tried to look up some official information on Nutrition Labels, but wasn't able to find too much. I suspect it has something to do with selling directly vs. selling via a retailer. Perhaps my friends over at the Food Marketing Institute can shed some light on this ... stay tuned.

Pet Food Recall (a.k.a. Wheat from WHERE?)

Throughout this horrific pet food contamination issue and subsequent recall (the one that you'd need to be sealed away in a cave to have not heard about here in the USA), there has been one burning question in my mind that hasn't gotten very much press:

WHY is the USA *importing* Wheat???

Aren't we the 'breadbasket' of the world? Don't we have the capacity to feed the entire world, if we needed to? In this age of international terrorism tensions, with such emphasis here in the USA on 'Homeland Security,' why are we importing food products that we have the capacity to grow ourselves? How prevalent is this and where is the food coming from?

Apparently, I am not the only one asking this, and the USA's National Association of Wheat Growers has an answer to all of these questions.

NOTE: While researching this post, I also found a few interesting articles on the topic of America's Breadbasket and the pitfalls of overfarming and genetics: one an easy read and one a more scientific/difficult read. Both are about 10 years old, but still topical. In the last decade Organic farming has certainly gotten a huge boost, and that is changing the horizon, already.

Good Neighbor = Green Lawn???

The dark side of fastidiousness reared its ugly head today, in a new ad campaign from Lawn Doctor (a nationwide USA lawn service). It is an atrocious, insulting, condescending, obnoxious ad campaign based on the idea that if your lawn isn't bright green, weed-free, and being cared for by Lawn Doctor, you are a bad neighbor

In the radio ad that I heard while driving this morning, the situation is this:

- A homeowner receives a visit from her ARC**

- They gently chastise her for having weeds in her lawn and she is heartily ashamed of her grievous deed

- They inform her that they have taken it upon themselves to schedule a visit by Lawn Doctor and she is delighted!

- They then trot off to the house next door to do something with the "ugly sectional" on the porch.

And then, if you go to the Lawn Doctor website, at least currently, you'll also see a big ad that says "How to be a Good Neighbor" and the answer (of course) is to refer your other neighbors to Lawn Doctor!

Mere words can barely describe how I'd feel about my neighbors if they sent a Lawn Doctor representative to my house, but I can tell you that "Good Neighbor" would not be among these words. Personally, I think I'm a better neighbor by NOT treating my lawn because I'd rather have neighbors who host crab-bakes rather than show off their weed-free lawns. [If you're not following this logic, the concept is that too many nutrients are flooding our bays and clouding up the water with algae blooms, thus killing off the grasses that bay crabs need to survive. Lawn services play a role in this; not as big a role as agriculture, but one could argue that we need corn more than we need weed-free lawns. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation and others can tell you all about this.]

Please note: It's ok to be Nitpicky as long as you respect the right of others to NOT be so. What is that saying ... " An it harm none, do as you will"? Here in the United States -- the self-proclaimed champions of personal freedom and liberty -- you'd think we'd be more conscious of this. But we really aren't. A lot of people don't "get" the concept that freedom means allowing people to do what they want, even if you yourself don't agree with their choices. When you start imposing your opinions on everyone else, you can no longer call it freedom

So, bottomline, I'm infuriated by Lawn Doctor's advertisement. But it's a free country, so they can make the ad that they want. But woe to my neighbor who shows up with a green brochure in her hand ...

** Footnote: I loath Architectural Review Committees (ARCs). They are typically filled with people who epitomize the dark-side of Nitpicky. They want things a certain way and join the ARC to impose their subjective opinions on others in the community in order to create their own personal version of a Stepford Utopia. I currently live within a community that sports both a Home Owners Association and an ARC and it has been a real learning experience. I will NEVER buy another home that falls within the jurisdiction of an ARC. I'd say more, but I'm sure that I'll have an opportunity soon. We typically have at least one run-in with our ARC each year that narrowly misses litigation.

BTW: If you are on an ARC and are saying "Wait! I'm not like that", then I invite you to take a look at the notices you are sending out. If you haven't sent any notices in the past year, or the notice was something like "Hi, two of your windows are broken and your roof is caving in; could you please fix this?", then you are correct to say that you are not the type of ARC I am talking about. But if your notices are something to the effect of "You have 14 days to powerwash your driveway because we measured a millimeter of dirt on it, plus 3 of your bricks are mildewed and must be clean, and the stone gargoyle statue in your back yard is visible through the fence and does not blend well with the harmonious nature of our colonial-style community," then you ARE the what I am talking about.

It's time to get Nitpicky ...

The dictionary definition of "nitpicky" is overly critical, esp. on trivial matters. I am not particularly fond of this definition and its negative connotations. While some of us do tend to get bogged down in "ministrivia," I would counter that in this age we need to be a bit more discriminating in order to counter the lackadaisical attitude that seems to be sweeping over the retail and service industries, at least from my perspective here in mid-Atlantic USA.

I'm sure many of you have heard the saying "Good, Fast, Cheap: Pick Two" My general complaint with the world today is that far too often the only choice seems to be "Fast and Cheap." And in fact, we seem to be faced increasingly with new, worse combinations like "Fast and Expensive" or even better "Slow and Expensive." Notice I didn't say "Good" at all. The concept of quality is a vanishing breed; one that I am hoping to help cultivate in my own small way. This blog will reward those who provide Quality and punish those who provide crap (to use a technical, industry term).

Quality (with a capital "Q") isn't just about a good product or service. It's about good packaging, that is easily understood and that doesn't take a blowtorch and crowbar to open. It's about all the parts being there, with good instructions on how to assemble them. It's about longevity; does it stop working in a year or in 10 years? If it breaks, can it be fixed or has the industry stopped supporting it, forcing you to add to the ever-growing piles of human waste all over the Earth. Has it been created using sustainable resources or clean technologies? Has it been created locally, thus supporting local economies and reducing the energy cost of transportation? Has it been created thoughtfully, with you in mind?

I am a firm advocate of long-term excellence, and that is what this blog is all about. It's easy to go out and find "Fast and Cheap" or any of its little cousins, but the Nitpicky Consumer is on a Crusade for Quality.