The Power of Two, Maybe Three ...

The other day, Teenage Daughter and I had a lovely outing to the Central Market because we wanted to check out Wilson's Organics. It originally started as a stall in the market, then it moved into a small shop on Gouger St. Now it's on Market St, off of Gouger St, and has expanded even further. That tells me there is certainly a demand for organic products.

We had fun wandering around and looking at all the products that are available in an organic range. Most of them I've never seen at the supermarket. Then we ate lunch at the cafe there. We both had a tempeh wrap, overflowing with fresh veggies which we washed down with freshly juiced pears. As we sat eating I noticed that they had a steady stream of customers coming in and buying things.

Today it was back to the mainstream supermarket for me. I take no prisoners these days. I know by heart which brands are okay and which aren't. It's very rare that I have to use the Ethical Consumer Guide App on my phone. As I politely reached in front of an elderly woman studying various milks to grab soy milk for my boys, the woman asked me if I knew which brands were Australian. Did I know which brands were Australian??? You've asked the right person!

I talked her through all the brands of milk and then she and I had a general discussion about company ownership. She was savvy and had done some homework. I reached in my bag to find my paper copy of The Ethical Consumer Guide but, alas, it was in my other handbag. I did, however, tell her about it and she was adamant that she was going to google it and get hold of one. We said our farewells and then continued to shop. Each time we passed each other, we smiled the secret smile of belonging to the same club.

It felt lovely to know that someone else in the shop was as passionate as me about company ownership. There were two of us today; maybe more that I don't know about. Singer Arlo Guthrie in his song, "Alice's Restaurant" sings tongue-in-cheek that if three people do something it's an organisation. So, if there had been one more person shopping like the woman and me, it would have been an organisation. And if fifty people a day did it, it would be a conspiracy - to paraphrase Arlo!

Cheers!