Another update from the OE Show. In a couple of weeks take a look at Anvil Knitwear’s web site. They have taken the history of their T Shirts and developed lesson plans and information for children that can be directly traced to the shirt. This is similar to what our local textile hero TS Designs is doing and some other companies as well. Anvil is now the 6th largest purchaser of organic and transitional cotton in the USA and is now committed to buy USA organic product before buying offshore. They are also Oeko-Tex certified for much of their product line, which is great for my business.

Out here in the Northwest, everything is becoming about sustainability, local production, human powered transport, and alternative energy. The taxi we rode in from the airport was NG powered. Having never lived in an urban environment, it is a nice change from our home at patio nirvana in Elon, but we will be glad to get home on Saturday.

There were about 300 people at this conference from all around the world representing the organic fibers industry and many of the major brands. I wore my company shops shirt one day and got many questions about what we were doing and how it was going. If we can get this money raised and get to work on the store, perhaps we will have a nice vibrant scene in downtown B’ton, but I doubt we will throw salmon around like they do at the Pike market.

I am writing you from the OE meeting (Organic Exchange) where the organization is moving beyond organic into sustainable textiles: locally produced, recycled fibers and fabrics, new LCA-based uses for apparel materials is the same message you just gave in this piece.

We need to engage so many facets of our local agricultural and conventional producers. Our market can do this and not one of the big food chains can even get close. Here in downtown Seattle, the message for slow food and local food is ingrained into this community. Pike market simply rocks. I am in apple heaven
Sam Moore

The truth here is that we are making good steady progress in a terrible economy and as a board we must be very prudent and conservative while holding to our mission. I wish we could find a white knight that would invest the needed funds and we could open the store tomorrow, but building a coop is a one brick (investor) project at a time. It look like the fund raising is going well and we will keep at it until we reach our goals.

“Please- not a couple of times a week. How about 2 or 3 times a month. And just plain old e-mail will do. I don’t twitter, I don’t blog and I don’t want to do facebook. My life is full enough without all that. Plain old e-mail, and only what’s important – not just a lot a gab to fill up space.”

Participation on twitter and facebook are of course 100% optional. We plan to send out email updates no more than once a week. So that is probably the perfect way for you to get your information about the coop.

In regard to the blog, you might surprise yourself and find it interesting. And while you are not a blogger, you might be a blog reader and not even know it. There is a common mystery around the term blog. A blog is just a website. But it is a special kind of website created by a person or group who is passionate about a subject and wants to tell the world about it. Entries typically appear in reverse chronological order so you always see the latest information right on top. The website allows users to reflect, share opinions, and discuss various topics in the form of an online journal while readers may comment on posts.

The great thing is, you can visit the blog only when you are interested in reading about whats going on at the coop. That might be never. Or it might be once a quarter, once a month, once a week. It completely up to you.

We very much appreciate your taking the time to give us feedback on how you want to receive information from us.

- Sarah Cook

I absolutely agree with you about the facebook event. We are not the organizers of the event, so I did not want to overstep our boundaries by creating an event page for their event. I’m not 100% sure of the proper etiquette surrounding creating a facebook event page for someone else’s event. What do you think? Does anyone have anything to say about this? – Sarah Cook

I think that the event at Elon University should be made into a Facebook event. There are a lot of students here who might be interested in attending, but won’t necessarily check out the Facebook group or this blog to see the event. If it is made into a Facebook event and people are invited, this more direct way of advertising might be effective.

Just a thought! Thanks for all of your hard work!