Last Saturday we had a great event here in Logomo for the promotion of a “Sustainable and local shopping” in Turku. More than 20 interested and attentive people came to listen the experiences and work of the local businesses we invited.
Unfortunately not all our guests could join the event: winter is at the door and flu is already starting to force us to change our plans!! So representants of Leipomo Gryn couldn’t join because of a bad cold. Anyway I still recommend you to pass by Forum Kortteli, have a coffee and croissant (both absolutely “luomu”) and ask if for that day they might have baked “Emmer”: the bread made with the ancient (older than 200 years) and local (from Naantali area) wheat flour, the bread with the same taste of our grandparents’ bread, the bread of life.
GBut our program was anyway rich and intensive. We started inviting the “StepEurope gardening project” representants to introduce the last summer project and explain the main goals and aims of our experience. Growing our own food was a concrete example of sustainable lifestyle and our way to get closer with the nature.
The Reko groups were mentioned as well as a real and practical opportunity of supporting local products and farms and at the same time avoid the over packaged industrial and unhealthy food that you can get from a regular supermarket. I will add here the links for the 4 Reko facebook groups you can find in the Turku area. Have a look at the partners and all the offers they have every week!
REKO Turku (in Länsikeskus), REKO Turku – Åbo “Täl pual jokke” (in Huittamo), REKO Turku Puutori, uusia tuulia (in Puutori), REKO Kaarina – S:t Karins (in Kaarina).
Shams Falafel was one of our guests and it was thoughtful and powerful to hear their story, their purpose and their aim as a business. Their ethical values about the food, they are 100% organic and vegan, are a reflection of their company’s values, not directly aimed on making money and growing, but rather on giving the opportunity of a real and worthy job to the asylum seekers: the magic makers of Falafel of the Sun (Shams means sun in Arabic). It was touching for me hearing that thanks to the income from the work in Shams Falafel, one of the worker will be able to achieve the family reunion from his country of origin.
In addition to this wonderful story we could taste a huge amount of their amazing falafel and hummus, that they brought for us. They are definitely the Falafel of the Sun!!! Thank you!!!
Lastly, Vihreä Ilo, the company of Virpi Hirvensalo, took the stage and told us her experience as a blogger and DIY-cosmetic workshop instructor.She is an amazing and super active woman and mum, with a deep interest and knowledge on herbs and a strong willing of applying this knowledge to her practical life. For this reason she started to study plants, their using in beauty and healthy and how to make cosmetic products from exclusively natural ingredients. Well, you cannot buy any products from her (not yet!) but you can “buy” the know-how for starting to making those prodicts yourself! And your life will really turn more sustainable: stopping to buy cosmetics full of chemicals and preservatives, wrapped in unsustainable and unnecessary packages, produced by multinational corporations that don’t have in their priorities environment, healthy of the consumers and benefits for the workers employed.
Dulcis in fundo, she gifted, as examples of what she teaches, bath salt balls and lip balm. Everything rigorously organic, sustainable and self-made!
If you are interesting on trying one of her workshop, StepEurope will invite Virpi for DIY scrubs and salt baths workshop the 30.10.2018. Welcome!!
So, already in our small Turku we have quite many options for making our life more sustainable also through our shopping choices.
“Buying is a moral act” said a person much more wiser than me, it means that also through purchasing any kind of goods we will inevitably produce consequences: let’s do that those consequences will be positive and admirable for the planet, the whole humanity and the next generation.
Lisa – Work-try out