We’re busy putting things out on the shelves as the holiday season gets in to full swing.

We’ve always had a good selection of finger puppets, but we’ve just unpacked two adorable sets from the the Bridge of Hope Fair Trade Project in Peru.

One is Noah’s Ark: Ten darling hand-knit finger puppets representing Noah’s family and animals fit inside a zippered cotton ark pouch.

The other is an Amazon theme, with eight hand-knit rainforest finger puppets that come in an embroidered bag. Includes a monkey, sloth, anteater, macau, caiman, jaguar, turtle and snake.

The Bridge of Hope Fair Trade Project grew out of the efforts of a network of Peruvian organizations called Joining Hands Against Poverty who are committed to addressing the root causes of poverty in Peru.  Working with women who had no stable income and communities where gifted artisans lived in extreme poverty, they saw the need to create opportunities so that the women and artisans could benefit economically and socially from their work.  The Bridge of Hope project was launched to respond to that need.

Bridge of Hope works with 24 artisan organizations in poor neighborhoods of Lima as well as rural areas of Peru. They assist people living in extreme poverty to form groups that can develop sustainable businesses using the values of Fair Trade. The goal is to help them become independent, successful exporting association of artisans through assistance in the areas of product development, business skills, and export procedures. The work of Bridge of Hope has benefited many artisan groups, and the increased economic security has contributed to the empowerment of women in their homes and communities.

When we settle in to our comfy armchairs to watch something like the soccer World Cup, it’s all too easy to miss what’s going on behind the scenes.

Check out this article for some disturbing food for thought:

http://www.newint.org/columns/currents/2009/11/01/street-people/

We’ve blogged about our Tonga baskets before; they are similar in pattern to Binga baskets from Zimbabwe, but much deeper and more robust.

Since we’ve struggled to source Binga baskets for the past year, we’ve moved more towards the Tonga baskets, though they too are prety hard to come by.

So it’s great to get a fresh batch in, though they are unlikely to be around for long! Full details can be found in our online store.

Here’s what the largest one looks like:

Join members of First Friday Art Walk for a fun, free, family-friendly holiday-themed event, 1-5 p.m. Nov. 21 in the Downtown Arts District. If you’ve never experienced Art Walk, this is your chance to find out what all the excitement’s about!Center City Saturday features live art demonstrations, giveaways, holiday open houses, kids’ crafts, holiday refreshments, raffles and more. Start out with lunch at one of our incredible downtown restaurants, spend the day visiting Art Walk galleries, then head to Jordan Valley Park for the Festival of Lights Kickoff and Lighting of the Mayor’s Christmas Tree, followed by Fireworks at Hammons Field.
Here are the highlights:
· Bodhi Salon and Spa, 431 S. Jefferson, Ste. 106, presents its Holiday Open House! Enjoy holiday cookies and 20 percent off all gift certificates. For each gift certificate purchased, the client will be entered in a raffle for a Bodhi gift basket valued at over $300. Kids can enjoy face & body painting, hair styles and polish, while mom or dad indulges in a complimentary chair massage. Plus, don’t miss Motley Achromatic, a show of photography by Ike Wever, Bodhi’s featured artist for November.
· Fitzwilly’s Gifts & Antiques, 308 South Ave., features the Art of Hailey Patten through November and will have free holiday coloring pages for kids to take home.
· Fresh Gallery, located at the southwest corner of Campbell and Walnut, will hold its holiday open house during Center City Saturday. Enjoy live painting demonstrations and view the art of Featured Artists Angel Nahon and Ann Marie Rausch, plus works by 20 other regional artists.
· Global Fayre, 324 S Campbell, features handcrafted, fairly traded art objects, clothing and more from around the world. Each child who stops by between 1 and 5 p.m. Nov. 21 will receive a free, handcrafted bobblehead animal from Mexico. Offer good while supplies last!
· Good Girl Art Gallery, 325 E. Walnut St., Ste. 101, invites visitors to enjoy holiday refreshments, personalized Christmas ornaments and the work of Artist Kristin Sholtis in her show, Rustworthy, Tales in Assemblage …
· Park Central Branch Library will host a free Holiday Movie Marathon on the big screen.
· Randy Bacon Photography and Figment Art Gallery in the Monarch Art Factory, 600 W. College St., presents two special events: Enjoy free refreshments and see the CASA Kid’s Display, featuring original artwork by local children, which was used to create this year’s CASA greeting cards, and Woodblock Paintings by Charles Lederer in celebration of 100 Years of Casper’s Chili, founded by Charles’ father Casper.
· Springfield Hot Glass Studio, 314 S. Campbell Ave., a working hot glass studio/gallery with facilities for furnace, torch and kiln work, presents live glassblowing demonstrations by glass master Terry Bloodworth and crew.
· Springfield Pottery, 416 S. Campbell Ave., presents a special Holiday Ornament miniMake. Come play in the clay between 1 and 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21. For a small fee of $10, you will be guided through the miniMake project, and Springfield Pottery will have it fired and ready to pick up in 14 days. Please allow 20 to 30 minutes to complete your miniMake project!

We’re excited to play a (small) part in the second visit of “World Vision Experience: AIDS” to Springfield.

The exhibition opened today at Remingtons, on Republic Road, Springfield, and will continue until next Sunday.

The aim of the exhibition is to raise awareness of the plight of children in Africa, and to encourage people to sponsor children in Africa. Global Fayre is delighted to contribute to the sponsorship pack; sponsors are entitled to a 25% in-store discount and will also know that every time they make a purchase at the store in 2010, 5% of their spend will go directly to World Vision.

Find out more about World Vision Experience: AIDS here.

Find out more about Global Fayre here.

We just took delivery of some more beautiful creations from Ben.

Ben started weaving at the age of 28, in 2002. His previous job was as a bricklayer and he often had to leave his family for long periods of time to go to work on construction projects. He started weaving to earn an income and found that he thoroughly enjoyed it, experimenting with new designs, stitches and color combinations; he creates fascinating works of art. His designs and colors are inspired from patterns he sees in things around him … it could be something as simple as a newspaper ad or a piece of clothing that gives him an idea.

We first showed his work earlier this year and the reaction was great, so we knew that we should get some more pieces in as soon as we got the chance.

Here’s three of them (of course, they are available in our online store as well as at our location in downtown Springfield):

Zulu Telephone Wire Basket by Ben Makhanya, Master Weaver

Zulu Telephone Wire Basket by Ben Makhanya, Master Weaver

Zulu Telephone Wire Basket by Ben Makhanya, Master Weaver

We just took delivery of some copies of this excellent guide. Here’s what Dr Jones has to say about the guide on his website (www.betterworldshopper.com):

“The only comprehensive guide for socially and environmentally responsible consumers available, this book ranks every product on the shelf from A to F so you can quickly tell the “good guys” from the “bad guys” — turning your grocery list into a powerful tool to change the world. Representing over 15 years of distilled research, data is organized into the most common product categories including coffee, energy bars, computers, gasoline, clothing, banks, cars, water and more.

Also included is a summary of the essential information about particular product categories, profiles of the best and worst companies, practical buying tips and the most useful online resources available. Whether you believe in environmental sustainability, human rights, animal protection, community involvement or social justice, you’ll want this book.

Small enough [4"x6"] to fit in a back pocket or small purse and organized in a shopping-friendly format, The Better World Shopping Guide will help you change the world as you shop! For just 10 bucks, how can you NOT get one?”

the better world shopping guide is available now in our store in downtown Springfield, Missouri or online at www.globalfayre.com.

On scanning through, it’s great to see some of our suppliers mentioned, although in truth most of the producer groups that we buy from are too small to get a mention:

Chocolate – an “A+” goes to Equal Exchange and Divine amongst others, with an “A” going to Shaman.

Coffee – the only “A+” to Thanksgiving Coffee and an “A” to Equal Exchange

Olives and Pickles – the only “A+” goes to Canaan

Nuts - the only “A+” goes to Equal Exchange

Tea – an “A+” for Equal Exchange

One new discovery for us this summer has been shea butter. We’d had several products before that used shea, but we had not had pure shea butter before.

We stock 4 lines of shea butter – unscented, vanilla, rosemary and lavender. The scent is derived from essential oils; except for this it is 100% Natural Unrefined Shea Butter. Packaged in calabash gourd with raffia tie close. Purely natural! No chemicals. No preservatives. No color additives. You can buy these 4 shea butters in our online store.

We get the shea butter (the collection is called Slippery Slope Shea Butter) from our friends at Global Mamas; the producer is Ele Agbe Company Limited.

In 1996, Ms. Comfort Akorfa Adjahoe founded Ele Agbe Company Limited with the hopes of providing both quality handmade goods and a decent, supportive employment opportunity for many Ghanaians. While the company also trades jewelry, beads, and home décor items, it also produces the 100% shea body butter and shea soaps that form the core of Global Mamas Trunk Scrub and Slippery Slope product lines.

Through its partnership with Global Mamas, Comfort’s business is able to broaden its access to international markets, increase production, and further its positive effect on the lives of over 50 Ghanaians between operations in Teshie-Nungua and shea butter production Northern Ghana. Producers of Trunk Scrub and Slippery Slope receive a living wage, thorough training, medical coverage, equal treatment in the workplace, and meals during the workday. Comfort also provides training programs for under-educated youth in Accra.

Ele Agbe means ‘God is alive’ in the language of the Ewe people of Ghana’s Volta Region.

You can read more “wiki’ information about shea butter here.

Being a Fair Trade retailer, most of our products come from producer groups in developing countries.

However, we do support a couple of domestic projects; Soup of Success is one of these. Here’s how SOS describes itself:

3-mix cookie basket

The Soup Of Success Job & Life Skills Training Program is a not-for-profit, faith- and community-based program comprised of five main facets. Support Groups, Educational Modules, Career counselling, Mentoring & Hands-On job skills training in a small gourmet food business are all combined into an intensive five month program designed to assist local women who are dealing with difficult life situations to move forward and make positive changes in their life and career.

SOS is designed specifically for women who are struggling to get off of, or avoid having to go onto, public assistance. The participants in this program all have the desire and motivation to improve their situations and strive toward self-sufficiency.  They want to better their lives and that of their children.

SOS is based in Elkhart, IN, and with it’s parent group, Chruch Community Services assists more than 16,000 families each year.

Global Fayre has stocked SOS products (which are DELICIOUS by the way!) ever since we first started at a Farmers Market in Springfield, MO in the Spring of 2007. Their story, of empowering women to develop the skills they need for self-sufficiency, really resonates with our customers. It is also very in synch with the stories of the many producer groups that we purchase from. This is not about ‘just’ giving, it’s not about charity – it’s about helping people help themselves.

Our customers really appreciate that giving someone a gift of a cookie mix is a double gift; a gift to the recipient, of course, but a life-changing gift to the women who signed the cookie mix at SOS.

We just took delivery of a new Olive Oil from our friends at Canaan.

Estate Olive Blend is Fair Trade certified, central harvest, organic, cold-pressed and extra virgin; Canaan describes it as fresh, rounded and fruity.

Estate Olive Blend oil is from the remarkable olives of “Bayyada”, a hill of ancient tress that includes the Canaan orchard and those of surrounding farmers in the Palestine fair trade program. To retain their full-bodied characteristics, Bayyada olives are cultivated with extreme care and pressed in small batches the day they are picked.

About Canaan:

Canaan Fair Trade is committed to sustainable farming practices. They work directly with rural communities in Palestine to bring their traditional products to the international community.  Canaan guarantees a fair price to farmers and producers even when markets are low. A fair price or ‘living wage’ allows producers to cover the cost of harvest and tree maintenance while providing food, shelter, education, and medical care for their families. Canaan also requires that farm workers be paid one-third of the crop in good seasons and one-half of the crop in bad seasons.

It’s on the shelves in our store in downtown Springfield, and just about to be listed in our online store at www.globalfayre.com.

Here’s a sneak peak!

Estate Olive Blend from Canaan, now at Global Fayre