Links to Our Favorite Sites

Here are some of our favorite sites.

• Consumer Information -- lists sites that can help you become a better-informed shopper.
• Products -- lists companies whose products we've tried and really like.

We only list links to sites we're excited about.

Consumer Information

• American Independent Business Alliance -- A nonprofit organization, AMIBA helps communities launch and operate alliances of independently owned businesses. Members of AMIBA believe that buying from local, independent businesses can keep communities vital and vibrant.
• Austin Independent Business Alliance -- A nonprofit organization, AIBA supports local businesses. AIBA pioneered the concept of independent business alliances.
• BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) -- Helps locally owned, independent businesses transform their cities and towns into vibrant communities. In these "living economies," economic power remains in the city or town and citizens -- not far-off national or international corporations -- shape their own destinies.
• Cornucopia Institute -- Partners with consumers and local farmers to support family farms that grow and produce genuine organic food. The tools Cornucopia uses are research, advocacy, and economic development.

  This site is a great place to go if you want to find information about about healthy food. We found their Dairy Report and Scorecard evaluating various brands of organic dairy products especially helpful. We also found it revealing about what brands pass themselves off as "organic."

• Slow Food® USA -- The American chapter of the Slow Food movement, which promotes local foods and healthy eating over fast foods. Among other things, Slow Food USA preserves heirloom varieties of American fruits and vegetables; educates people about fast foods and industrial agriculture; and promotes local farmers, artisans, and cuisines. Slow Food originated in Italy in response to McDonald's opening a fast-food site at the Spanish Steps in Rome.
• The 3/50 Project -- Dedicated to saving locally owned businesses by emphasizing their vital relationship to the towns and cities in which they are located. The 3/50 Project also emphazises the vital interrrelationship between the the stores to the citizens who shop in them.
• The Meatrix -- Opposes factory farming by using cartoon spoofs of the three The Matric movies: The Meatrix, The Meatrix II: Revolting, and The Meatrix 1 1/2. Follow Moovius, Neo, and Trinity as they expose the horrors of industrial farms. The cartoons won a whole bunch of awards. If you don't speak English, you can watch the cartoons in overe 30 otherlanguages, including Italian, Polish, Tibetan, and Swahili. Also learn how to live sustainably and how you can support local farms. The Meatrix is a great web site.

Products

• Blue Smoke Coffee -- Our good friend Kevin roasts this coffee to perfection, one pound at a time. It's the best coffee we've ever tasted, and we drink it exclusively. Kevin's coffee is 100% organic, Fair Trade, and shade grown.

  Kevin's turned down an offer from Whole Foods to buy his coffee because he wants to keep his business small and local and maintain the coffee's high quality. If you can't find Blue Smoke Coffee at your local, independently owned grocery store, you can buy it online at Kevin's web site. Try some Blue Smoke coffee. We're sure you'll like it as much as we do.

• Merrick Pet Foods -- Merrick is a local, family-owned company in Amarillo, Texas that's been making dog food for 20 years. They get all their ingredients from the U.S. (except for the lamb, which comes from Australia). They also process all the food on-site. So they know what goes into their food and where it came from. They also guarantee their food. Merrick makes cat food as well.

  Our dogs, Faith and Mac, go crazy over Merrick's canned food. We use it as toppers on their dry food. It was Merrick's food that finally persuaded Faith to leave the living room.

  By the way, Merrick sells only to independently owned pet shops -- not to chain pet stores like Petsmart or PETCO. If you can't buy Merrick's products at your locally pet shop, you can buy them online.