Today I arrived at the store and the next door neighbours were taking down our signs on the big post in the northwest corner of the parking lot. They are getting ready to put up a new sign that would have their salon listed on it and a smaller portion of the sign would have our name on it.

Now all I have to do is design a new sign – unfortunately a much smaller sign since the hair salon has dibs on the large portion of the sign.

Things are changing… stay tuned!

- Posted June 5th, 2011

So the warm weather is still a little spotty but it does show up a bit more regular like nowadays and people start spending time outdoors and camping. This means cooking on a fire pit (though please don’t use a fire pit if there is high level of forest fires or there is a fire ban) or BBQ. Of course this rite of passage of a Canadian summer is not only for meat and fish eater because vegetarians also really enjoy this season and the barbecued food.

Roasted corn, fire seared soft vegetables, baked potatoes/yams/sweet potatoes, marinated portabella mushrooms, veggie burgers/tempeh/hot dogs are just some of the foods for the vegetarian/vegan to enjoy.

Well Earth’s General Store has all of these items plus vegetarian/vegan cookbooks that deal specifically with these types of foods and the related other items needed – burger/hotdog buns (local and organic and some frozen organic from out west), mustard, ketchup, relish, mayonnaise (eggs, soy or vegan), and fresh organic onions (even soy bacon bits for topping your baked potato).

Of course our organic buns can be used for people’s meat options (I trust you would choose organic meat).

This winter I have been picking up coffee grounds from the cafe across the avenue to add to my compost and garden beds. Now I have lots of empty pails and buckets (over 30) of various sizes.

If any one is interested in these please come and take them away. Good for gardening, cleaning, etc around the home and yard.

Not only did we save over 100 pounds of coffee grounds going to the landfill we are responsibly putting these quite functional pails back out for reuse before they are eventually recycled or sent into the waste stream.

The pails/buckets are just outside the exit door of the store

Whoops – you are too late. A mother just came by and her son is doing a project that uses these buckets. It is called Global Buckets. Pretty cool. It also looks like the son will be setting up a booth at the store next weekend to sell these as a fundraiser so keep your eyes and ears open.

Thanks.

- Posted June 5th, 2011

The Edmonton Journal did a story about dandelions last week since the dandelion is no longer considered a noxious weed.  The City of Edmonton will not be forcing people to rid their lawns/yards of this plant.

At Earth’s General Store we have been offering fresh organic dandelion leaves since the beginning of the year. I am sure the sales will now start to drop off since people can easily obtain their own from many places in the city.

When they did the story they dropped by and took a photograph and I asked Raydel (a store staff) to be the person in the photograph. Raydel is from Cuba and is married to one of our former staff (Katie Peterson). Raydel’s Photograph from the Edmonton Journal.

Today a fellow came into the store to purchase a one litre bottle of 35% hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) and we got chatting about the uses of this product. He wanted to try it out after doing some reading on the internet (he was a scientist and wanted to see if he could use it for what was ailing himself and his wife).

He talked about a couple of sites on the internet that he read and liked and offered to email the links to me so I could post them on this blog. Well he was very true to his offer and a short time later I received the information. One site was Hydrogen Peroxide - Curse or Cure? and he also suggested the book: “The One-Minute Cure: The Secret to Healing Virtually All Diseases”.

A customer suggested that we add this product line to add to our plastic free living products – stainless steel, glass, wood/bamboo, and cloth reusable items. I did a little research and decided that I would bring this in to try it out.

Abeego is a beeswax impregnated cloth that you can use to wrap sandwiches, cover bowls (instead of cling raps), and snack packs. They can be a useful product in people’s attempt to remove as much plastic as possible from their lives.

Drop by to check the product out. We offer the same pricing as the Abeego website but without the shipping costs and you can pick it up right away.

Many people that are vegans or lactose intolerant can’t eat the ‘standard’ chocolate/candy bars out there like – Snickers, Milky Way, Three Musketeers, and Almond Joy (though personally I have not heard of this last one). Go Max Go – a company in the USA decided to make very similar version and from what I can tell from all the people that have asked me to bring these in that they fit the bill very well.

I am quite surprised but there were several tickets still left after the giveaway on Friday (see earlier post). So if you would like one of these free double guest pass to this screening please drop by and pick one up.

Earth’s General Store and Vegans and Vegetarians of  Alberta are the local distributors of free promotional tickets to the advanced screening of this documentary on June 6th, 2011 at 7pm at the Princess Theatre.

Forks Over Knives will be on general release on June 10th so if you miss out on the promotional screening then please attend the regular screening after June 10th at the Princess Theatre.

At this time of year we get many calls and queries about where to purchase Lady bugs (Ladybird Beetles to control aphids and such in their gardens) and other predatory insects. We don’t carry these insects and I am unsure whether any greenhouse/gardening supply place in Edmonton have them on hand.

In the mid 1990s several outlets carried them since there was quite a high demand for them but most will now just order them in for customers. What I have seen are display racks with a card with a picture of the predatory insect (including some information). You would then decide which insect you would like and take the card to the check out counter, pay for the insects, and then mail in the card to the supplier with your address. They will then send you the insects directly to your home with appropriate instructions.

So it seems that people quite like the 3500 and 3900 models of the Excalibur Dehydrators and so we have increased the number of these models with this latest shipment.

We now offer the 2400, 2500, 2900, 3500 and 3900 models as part of our inventory as well as the 3526T and 3926T (with 26 hour timers).

These are the complete models we have in stock complete with the specifications, pricing, and added items (you get some sheets with the purchase of your Excalibur dehydrator).