Monday Morning News Review

Whole Paycheck
First, HUGE HUGE PROPS TO Team ARFE-SmartWool members Kristoffer Nielsen and Erin Nielsen for winning this past weekend's Frigid Infliction race in, uh, frigid Bolton Valley, Vermont! A race report is forthcoming.
Second, your Miss Midwesterly has been dying to talk to you about this little thing called Whole Foods for the longest time now. Hailing as she does from Southern California, where Wild Oats and Trader Joe's was king, and having seen the travesty that is Whole Foods Columbus Circle in her favorite hamlet of New York, and now, having moved to the hinterlands of the mid-west, where "organic" is the new buzzword, well, she's seen that Whole Foods chain go through a lot.


Last year, we know of one race director whose races were sponsored in part by Whole Foods, and this year, we've heard more of the same. We're hearing a lot of this this because, as we move forward with the Green Racing movement, race directors are asking which retailers and sponsors we'd prefer to work with.
The truth is, I've not, since I first "met" Whole Foods back in the early 90s, bought into the Whole Foods trend. It is, so far as I've seen, farther away from its organic roots than it's ever been. The prices are sky-high. They ship in grapes from Chile; oranges from god-knows-where; the hemp-clothing boutique boasts hemp clothing made in Romania...is it really good for the earth if you have to spend a ton of jet fuel to get it from there to here? Its parking lots are rife with Land Rovers, Saabs, and--oh, god, the sharp sting of irony--H3s, and this is just something that the Missus won't stand for. It seems more interested in catering to trends than in providing good quality food at a decent price.
The Times carried an exploratory article recently on just how far Whole Foods has strayed from its roots of providing good, organic produce at decent prices.
For now, Jim and I are staying away from Whole Foods and shopping at our local Sunflower Market. It features local community-based produce. We like that. We're also joining a community-based farm co-op this summer for our produce.
What do you think of Whole Foods? Do you shop there? If not, where do you shop, and how does green fit into your lifestyle? We're curious--do tell.
In other, somewhat related news, in a mad search for a new pair of blue jeans, the Missus went from Nordstrom's to Macy's to Gap. She tried on Chip and Pepper, Diesel, DKNY, Seven for all Mankind, and Rock and Republic. Guess where she finally found the ones that fit?
Wal-Mart. Right next to the new bamboo-fiber clothing line they've been carrying.
Weirrrrrd.
Oh, and P.S.: Sprocket was ill this weekend with a terrible case of the runs. He didn't do the week-enderly roundup of links. But he's sorry, and he'll make it up to you next week. Bark, bark!