Wendy Barnes

I recognized today that I usually avoid the bulk bins due to perceiving them as an inconvenience! I chose this action because I know I always want to shop bulk & hardly ever do. Taking the time to find the little pencil, write it down, possible confusion at checkout and freshness for nuts have been my barriers. At Luckys today I was so impressed with how much faster & easier it is- they have a scale right there that prints the label- the other stores I have used bulk do not & I never 'feel like it.' Now I know there is no barrier for me not to at least at Luckys!

We are currently on a road trip up to Smoky Mtns (yay!) and when deciding where to stop for lunch while on the hwy, we chose a local restaurant instead of fast food- felt great to skip disposables and enjoy a clean lunch! Well worth the 10 min detour...

I am learning as a business owner in the sustainability arena that not everyone is my customer and that is OK. As I fine tune my message to my customer, the conscious consumer, I am able to better serve by having a deeper understanding of what they want, need and expect from me. I went from a public position in my last job where I needed to be careful about expressing my personal opinions and now am developing my own voice. I am proud to use it to better communicate my personal values and to grow as an entrepreneur with a pure heart and integrity for what I believe in. Social media is an effective tool for sharing by example to my customers and inspiring thoughtful action. Time to write my next blog post!

It's amazing how easy it is to explain to young people- I just gave my daughter grapes and explained the difference between prepackaged and fresh. I do that all the time but not usually as I hand her the snack. She immediately started naming other fruits that fit- apples, etc. I feel like the minute it took to take the time and give a short lesson coupled with the action could make a world of difference for her. We also talked about how the grapes came in a plastic bag but at least they were bulk and could serve multiple snacks from one package. Will make an effort together now to look for grapes in places that avoid the plastic bag altogether.