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Considering Organic: What I Learned at a Bloggers Brunch

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The cool place tags at our table. The event was held at Wrays Organic and the food was awesome!

At the beginning of this week, I really didn’t know much about organic food. I mean, I knew that it existed, I knew I had friends who preferred to buy organic when they could, I knew it was there in the shops. But I’d always kind of shrugged it off as something that would be nice to do, but it wasn’t essential or anything.

Then, on Tuesday, I attended the Bloggers Brunch organised by Blogs and PR and Birds of Prey PR on behalf of Sunraysia Juice. We were there to learn more about Sunraysia’s new Organic Juices, and to learn a little more about organic food and farming – and to have some great coffee and food! We were lucky enough to have Rob Bauer from Bauer’s Organic Farm attending to tell us more about organic food and farming – and this is where my eyes were really opened.

Rob has been involved in farming pretty much his whole life and he is one of the pioneers in organic farming in Australia. He moved to organic farming in the early 1980s after becoming uncomfortable with selling produce which had been sprayed with chemicals, and the effect that those chemicals might be having on the people exposed to them. Instead of using chemicals, he turned back to a way of farming which had been working for hundreds of years before chemicals were introduced – working with the soil and nature to produce the best possible result.

It dawned on me pretty quick that there were a lot of benefits of moving across to organic food, especially as Squirm will be eating solids in a few months. The chemicals which are used on non organic crops are pretty scary, and I would really like to move away from them as much as possible. But the biggest problem for me, and one of the reasons I’d always dismissed organic food as too hard, was there was no organic food shops in my area and I thought organic food would be too hard to find.

That’s where companies like Sunraysia come in. Sunraysia have been involved in juices for a long time, and felt that it was a natural progression into organic juices. They’ve created a juice which has nothing added – no artificial colours or flavours, no chemical pesticides, no genetic modification and no added sugars or preservatives – and nothing taken away from the fruit. It’s ‘lunch box sized’ in a foil pouch and – importantly – is being sold in major supermarkets – making it easier for people like me to find it.

Since Squirm isn’t old enough to be drinking juice yet, Mr Pilot and I took on the task of taste testing the juice. It comes in four flavours – orange, tropical, apple, and apple and blackcurrant and both of us have been really enjoying the strong flavours present in the juice, as well as how easy it was to eat. I also threw a couple in the freezer, which was brilliant in yesterday’s heat. The foil pack is much easier to open when frozen then the old poppers were!

I think one of the biggest mental barriers for me, when it came to organic food, was that I was thinking you could only buy it in the ‘special’ aisle, and that would be a bit of a pain. However, I visited my local Woolies yesterday and found that a lot of the organic products are in the same area as the other products – it just takes a few more seconds to look for them, rather than reaching for the familiar. Sunraysia Organic Juices are the same – they’re in the same aisle as other juices and ‘poppers’ and easy to throw into the shopping trolley to try out.

So, all in all, I had a wonderful time at the Bloggers Brunch, and I definitely learned a lot more about organic food. I think it’s a subject I’m going to take the time to research more about – which you can do by joining the Bud Organic Club – and which I’ll probably write more about in the future.

 

Do you buy organic food? Where do you get it from?

 

A couple of the juices. Mr Pilot is particularly fond of the Tropical

I was a guest at the Bloggers Brunch and received some Sunraysia Organic Juice to try, but my opinions are entirely my own.

On Getting a Refund – And Other Reasons To Shop Elsewhere

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Would you eat these? We couldn’t

The sausages were inedible. Within minutes of putting them under the heat, my husband noticed that there was a lot of fat in them. Then one of them burst, spraying oil across the kitchen. Mr Pilot started collecting the oil in a measuring cup, getting about half a cup out of six sausages.

He hadn’t intended to buy them in the first place. He’d gone to Coles looking for a barbecue chicken, but they didn’t have any of those. We’d had a bad experience with sausages a while ago, and had avoided them since. But surely we wouldn’t be so unlucky to have the same experience again. After all, these were the expensive sausages.

But, suddenly, there we were on a Sunday night, our dinner massively reduced to some salad and a small portion of creamy pasta. And as a breastfeeding mother, you can bet that I was annoyed to have such a small meal on my plate. As Mr Pilot retrieved the receipt, I tweeted about our problem, getting a response from Coles that they’d be happy to refund. No problem, I thought. Last time this had happened, it had been quickly resolved with an apology, a refund and a small discount voucher to make up for the inconvenience.

This time, I stood for ages waiting for someone to serve me at the service desk. It used to be that there were always two people nearby because the service desk was between a regular register and the express register. Often the express register attendant would see to the service desk between customers. But the express registers have been closed, self serve registers put in another spot, and now there’s only one person in the area.

When I was finally served, I was treated with suspicion. It was like I was there to make trouble. Phone calls had to be made. Then the money was refunded. No apology, no voucher. And to make matters worse, I know the woman who was serving – her child attends the school I was working at. But she was obviously stressed, trying to do two jobs at the same time. And I left feeling like I’d been let down by Coles for a second time.

There was a time when Coles was the only place I’d do my shopping. Woolworths brought in self-checkout (though they kept express lanes), cut down their check out staff, and made it so I couldn’t use my debit card without incurring a charge. At my local Coles, there was usually lots of check outs available, a great express service, friendly staff who were interested in helping me and I could use my debit card. It was an easy choice and I’d go out of my way to shop there.

But then things started to change. The deli suddenly had problems offering the range they used to have. The self-serve checkouts went in and the express lanes went out. Mr Pilot mentioned that we primarily shopped at that Coles because of the great service and was assured that they’d actually put on more staff. Which might have been true for a week or two, but definitely isn’t evident anymore, with only one or two registers open apart from the self serve. Plus one of the self-serve machines couldn’t take $2 coins. Then the debit card restriction was lifted at Woolworths. Then there was the sausage incident.

Suddenly Woolworths looks just as good as Coles. In fact, sometimes it even looked better, with more registers open and an express lane option still available. The staff were friendly and the range was similar to Coles. (Something not available at any of the local independent groceries, unfortunately). So, while I’m not boycotting Coles, I’m not going out of my way to visit them. I no longer feel the compulsion to walk to the other end of the shopping centre to do my grocery shopping. If I’m near Woolworths, that’s where I’ll shop.

It’s not too difficult to keep me happy as a shopper. I like the conversations you can have when you shop, so I like being able to go through a checkout. I like that they (mostly) know how to pack bags better than me, and they don’t have a squirmy or screaming baby, so can pay more attention to it. I like the products I want to buy to be available and in good condition. And when they’re not, I like to get an apology. Without these things, my loyalty is lost, and I will look for other places to shop.

Has a shop ever lost your loyalty?

Fat from the sausages

Squirm’s First Christmas: Sorting the Presents

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Squirm will be four and a half months old for his first Christmas. This mean that he won’t have a lot of understanding of what’s going on. Nevertheless, though some parts of this Christmas will be more for us than him, there are some traditions that we want to put in place from the beginning. One of these is to do with presents.

You may have seen some people talking about presents for children with “Something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read”. This is similar to our ideas. No doubt, Squirm will get plenty of lovely presents this year, but we don’t necessarily want to add to that pile – we don’t want to live in a glut of toys (we don’t have the room for that) and we want Squirm to grow up understanding that Christmas is about more than presents.

Our presents will be slightly different though. We’ll give a toy (something he wants), an outfit (hopefully made by me), a book (from Santa) and a donation in his name. (We’ll choose a different one each year. This year we’ll give to the hospital where he was born and spent time in special care)

Of course, with that sorted, it was time to think about toys. We knew we wanted

  • something that’ll last
  • a preference to natural materials
  • something that’ll allow him to use his brain
  • something which can be used in more than one way

With that sorted, it was time to do some searching online

 

Greek Alphabet Blocks from Honeybee Toys

These are gorgeous. I love the colours, and the Greek alphabet makes me laugh because I studied Ancient Greek language at university. Problem is, this is more like a present for me, than for Squirm. Maybe if I stick it on my list . . .?

 

 

Soopsori Rattle Blocks from Tree Frog Toys

 

These are gorgeous and meet any possibly criteria when it comes to being environmentally friendly. The only problem is, Squirm has lots of rattles already, and probably doesn’t need any more, even if they’re as lovely as these.

 

 

Im Toy Tutti Tunes from Hello Charlie

 

Now this looks like a heap of fun. Of course, my sister has already promised (threatened) to buy some instruments for Squirm, and I wouldn’t want to steal her thunder.

 

Of course, I finally found the perfect present. What is it? Well, you’ll just have to wait until Christmas to find out 🙂

What present traditions did you have as a kid? What present traditions does your family have now?

My Growing Obsession With T2

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It started with an upset stomach.

My coffee had failed me. It was no longer giving me the pleasant buzz I so needed. Instead it was leaving me feeling heavy and uncomfortable. I had to find an alternative.

I never intended to enter the shop. I was only in the city for a little while and I had two clear tasks to fulfil – visit Kikki K and visit the ABC shop. But on my way from one to the other, the T2 store stood out.

The staff were in the middle of rearranging the store, but still I was immediately served. When I mentioned that I was looking for a low or no caffeine alternative, they took their time to show me different things and to explain anything I didn’t know. I left with a low caffeine tea and a couple of samples.

I found myself in the city a few days later and received the same awesome service and some awesome tea.

Then I found T2 online. And an offer for free delivery was made. So I bought more tea. And a tin. And some cool label magnets.

When the box arrived, I was amazed. It was beautifully wrapped, wrapped with such care that I had to check if I’d paid for special wrapping. It turned out that I hadn’t paid extra – this was just a care that is so often missing in our shopping.

Look mum! A parcel as big as me!

Beautiful wrapping inside!

And then a box which held everything – which was wrapped in tissue paper inside!

As for the tea. Well, I love Red Earl Grey which is a Rooibos – a South Aftrican brew which isn’t actually tea at all. I tend to drink it in the late afternoon or evening because it doesn’t have any caffeine at all and won’t affect my sleep. I’m also in love with the Brisbane Breakfast tea which actually has a mango taste to it (!) and the  Fruitalicious tisanes is brilliant warm and I look forward to trying it as an iced tea.

To seal how impressed I was – a day after my parcel arrived I received an email checking that everything had arrived ok. Not asking me to do anything, just letting me know that if there was any problems, to let them know and they’d fix it. This is how internet shopping does customer service well, and it’s something some of the bigger ‘real’ stores would do well to learn from.

My lovely tea!

(Note: This is not a sponsored post. I’m just really this obsessed)

A Subversive Reader Guide to Ikea

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So, last week I decided to head down to Logan to visit Ikea and to visit another library in my library tour. While there, I realised with my extensive hours of shopping there, I could write the definitive Subversive Reader Guide to Ikea*

Tip #1 – When dressing for Ikea, wear the baby

If you’re intending to visit Ikea accompanied only by a little one who cannot walk (or who cannot walk for long) you’ve got three options. 1. Bring a regular sized pram or stroller and accept that you won’t be able to buy very much. 2. Bring a pram the size of a small 4WD and accept that you won’t be able to fit it in some parts of the shop. 3. Wear your baby and have your hands free to push a trolly or whatever else you need.

I wasn’t the only one to feel this way – I saw three soft structured carriers and two other ring slings in the time I was there!

Tip #2 – Join the Ikea Family

The Ikea Family offers free tea and coffee Monday to Friday. That’s worth spending 5 minutes joining up at one of the numerous booths around the place. There’s also other deals and specials available

Tip #3 – Have a vague idea of what you’re going to Ikea for

Are you going to buy cushions or to buy furniture or just to look? Have a vague idea or who knows what you’ll come home with! Though, no matter how good your plan is, you’ll probably come home with something you didn’t go for (Unless you’re Mr Pilot. He once went to Ikea, selected and bought the furniture he wanted and got out in under an hour)

Tip #4 – Don’t join the opening rush

Since the cafe opens in Ikea before the shop itself, there’s lots of people hanging anxiously around the entrance. I’m not sure why, but some of them take on the opening like it’s the Boxing Day sales. I found that hanging back 15-30 minutes meant there were less people all peering at the same small spaces at the same time

Tip #5 – Stay for the food

By the time I made it around the upper floor of Ikea, Squirm was gearing up for a feed. So, I got myself some food (I recommend the mousse) and my free coffee and made my way to one of the quieter corners of the dining area. Squirm and I enjoyed a quiet feed and I enjoyed the free wi-fi!

So, what did I end up with? Cushions, lamps, toys, organising things and a few good ideas. An excellent day out 🙂

My Ikea Haul

What are your tips for surviving Ikea or other big shops?

*Note this is not definitive. And I reserve the right to review this advice at all times. While eating cake. Also, I did not receive any kind of payment or good for these tips. I’m definitely not that big! Though if Ikea is interested . . . 🙂

Heading to Ikea

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Today Squirm and I are heading down the highway to visit Ikea. It’s the first time I’ve headed down there this year, which means it’s the first time I’ve ever gone with a baby 🙂 This trip is mostly about looking at ideas and getting a few small things – and Mr Pilot says I’m not allowed to get anything that won’t fit into the boot of the car!

There’s a lot I enjoy about going to Ikea, but this will only be the second time that I go there on my own (since Squirm is too young to give his opinion). I’ve gone with family, friends and Mr Pilot (the only person I know who can go in and out of Ikea in an hour – it took us longer to put the table we bought together), but going on your own is always a different experience. On your own you can take your time to dream over certain sections, and quickly pass by the sections which hold less interest. You’re not held by anyone elses wishes 🙂

So, what will I specifically be looking for today? I want to get lamps for the bedroom and I’m looking for some wall decoration. I want to spend a bit of time looking at textiles as well as some storage ideas.

I promise that I’ll update you on my progress when I return!