Hempzine | February 2007 | Issue #8 - AN OCCASION OF CONSIDERATION

---

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Enter to win a 'Lanaknits' Hemp Blend Wrist Warmer Kit

Draw will be on Sat. February 10th
Enter the draw at the Craigflower store (422 Craigflower Rd, 250.412.0880)

Our New Website is Launched

Check it out here. Shop Online.

Tickets on Sale at Nelson Store

Winter Blues Boogie
$15 per person
Sat. Feb 3 2007
9pm-1am
No minors
Band: Dr. Fun & the Night Crawlers
Memorial Hall, Silverton

New Manager at our Craiflower Store

Drop in and say 'Hi' to Erin, our new manager at the Craigflower location.
to contact her by email: erin@hempandcompany.com

Lorna has moved to our downtown location in Victoria, her email is the same: lorna@hempandcompany.com

FoodRoots Sustainable Feast

Saturday February 3, 6:00 pm
Victoria, BC

Garry Oak Room - Fairfield Community Centre
1335 Thurlow
www.foodroots.ca

Tickets $25 available at:
• Vic West Farmers Market
• HEMP AND COMPANY
• SHIFT NATURAL FASHION

Vegan in Victoria?

The Victoria Vegan
www.thevictoriavegan.com
A new publication from Friends of Animals

Ethical Purchasing Forum

February 23 & 24, 2007
Victoria, BC
http://www.ethicalpurchasing.bcics.org/

Also check out: http://www.brilliantearth.com/ for ethical, conflict free jewelry

Networking - Greendrinks

Green Drinks Victoria will Host a Youth & Teen Green Drinks from 3:30-5:00pm. On Tuesday Feb.13th.
This event has been designated an alcohol-free event. Free sodas will be available courtesy of our sponsor

In advance of regular Green Drinks at 5:00pm, Tuesday February 13th, 2007
Victoria, BC

5-7pm - Queen Mother Cafe
407 Swift Street

Sierra Club Open House

Victoria, BC
Suite 302, 733 Johnson St
Friday February 2
4-7 p.m.

---

ART CONTINUING

Cathryn Tremaine - Victoria | H&C - Craigflower Store

Photographs by
CATHRYN TREMAINE
Victoria, BC
through to the end of February
at H & C
422 Craigflower Rd. (250) 412-0880

Chad Thompson - Nelson | H&C Nelson Store (continuing throughout February)

Native Art - fishing scenery

Drawing pride and inspiration from his native ancestry, the artist hopes to enlighten people to the beauty and sophistication of First Nations culture and tradition.
Chad feels he is influenced constantly by his surroundings; Mother Earth is his greatest teacher.
Medium: He uses acrylic paint but also indulges in antler, stone, and is a wood sculptor.
Also, jewelry design, artifact reproduction and replicas, hide painting leather work, fine wood working and carpentry.
All picture frames are crafted by the artist.

---

ARTICLES

Hemp and Company is proud to carry Nomads and Efforts brands clothing. They are responsible companies who have generously provided information about their manufacturing processes in the spirit of full disclosure and transparency. We feel we have benefited from this information and we would like to pass it onto you, our valued and loyal customer.

Manufacturing Information - Efforts

by Robert Greenwald, Efforts Industries Inc.

"While most of our woven clothing production is done locally in Toronto, our knit production is out of China. The partners at Efforts Industries Inc. have personally been, on two separate occasions, to view the facility on behalf of clientele with concerns similar to yours. It is privately owned and employs close to 200 skilled local residents.

We are impressed with the working conditions(better than most in Toronto and Montreal) and the employees' attitude, so much so that we have applied with the Fair Trade Committee for a fair trade certificate. At this time, however, they would require $15,000 to send a team over from Madrid. We are also paying a fair wage for the manufacture of our goods, which is the best way to help.

Some food for thought: The majority of all the Made in Canada clothing that people are seeking requires two main ingredients-fabric and labour.. Just about any Made in Canada clothing that contains any cotton uses cotton from a cotton producing country such as China, India, Korea, or Pakistan. Almost all sewing in Canada is done by people born anywhere in the world except Canada. Running away from a third world nation to try to improve their standard of living will, in no way, solve our concerns for fair trade. The answer is to pay them more- to pay them a fair and decent wage for their effort no matter what country they live in.

The biggest problem, in general, lies with our North American consumer who under no circumstances wants to pay these people a decent dollar for their finished goods. There is very little future in the domestic clothing industry in Canada , yet we still produce in Toronto, Canada and, as long as we have a domestic labour pool, we will continue to produce domestically our woven goods of hemp such as various styles of drrawstring pants, shorts, skirts, Capri pants, etc."

Manufacturing Information - Nomads Hemp Wear

"We have been getting some important concerns from our friends and our customers since we moved our sewing production to China. We are very pleased to realize just how much our clientele is conscious and caring. We took your concerns seriously and underwent a trip to the factory that is producing our products. Here you will find some information and pictures on how our products are made."

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

---

Connecting to Community

by Jessica Leavens

My term as manager at Hemp and Company in Vic West ended in early fall, coinciding with a move away from the neighbourhood in October. Since then, I have been in a state of loss about my community. What is community? Is it different than just a neighbourhood, a city or a physical place?

I lived in Vic West for three years and worked at the Spiral Café and Hemp and Company. I always loved the feeling of Vic West, the small, local emphasis, the changes and exchanges that were made, the food security, pocket market and both the intimate and anonymous nature of existence in the neighbourhood. Over time, I became more connected to the region, the land and the people by working at these two stores. It was a privilege to work in places that allowed me to meet the people in my neighbourhood. I learned more about the issues that they faced daily and I am grateful for the opportunity to build my understanding about what our community needed to become, both locally and globally, what most of us wanted it to be: Healthy, vibrant, connected, and sustainable.

While working in a retail store and a coffee shop may not be everyone’s idea of creating and understanding community, my experience has been that these are key sites of community building and investment. Working at the Spiral Cafe (that “neighbourhood living room”) and Hemp and Company (our eco-conscious, community-oriented hemp store) gave me the opportunity to be part of an idea about community that is changing and growing with clear intent. These two ‘stores’, for me, are more than just places to eat, drink, and buy, these two stores, and the others in that block, are places where community is felt and nurtured.

As manager of Hemp and Company I wanted to build on that shared sense of community and offer products and events that were based on the values of health, vibrancy, connectedness, and sustainable practice. Part of the ethic of Hemp and Company is to educate and provide information about environmental and social justice issues associated with hemp and to support the interests and talents of local community members. We did this through a hemp knitting workshop, a newsletter, having an AIDS flag-making space for a national movement, and creating an open and friendly space where we can discuss moral dilemmas and ethical decisions. Hemp and Company truly allowed me to explore, learn about, and “live my ethics.”

A speaker I listened to the other day said, “community needs to be built, nurtured, and sustained.” I came back to Vic West recently and I could feel and see this commitment to community and my contribution to it. It is a gift to realize that my actions, whether it is buying a shirt made with sustainable materials, a recycled toy, or a fair-trade coffee, affects the people in a community in a noticeable way.

Vic West is a neighbourhood of physical space within a city, but what makes it a community beyond the physical space? For me, it is in the sense of caring and commitment to creative spaces and ideas. I remember the sun streaming through the Spiral Café window, the casual conversation, the good smell of hemp soap wafting down the street and the beautiful cob bench in Banfield Park. Memories like that fuel my desire to give back to the place and people that nurtured me for three years. Vic West has become something more for me, that is, a caring community regardless of where I am.

Three months ago, when I first moved to my new neighbourhood, a poster landed on my door. It had a beautiful hand-drawn picture of an arbutus tree and a big sun. It read, “South Jubilee Visions Project Survey” and asked all kinds of questions about the community that I would like to see here. I didn’t answer it at first because I was still mourning the loss of my ‘Vic West.’ Perhaps now I am ready to integrate what I learned from Vic West and the people ‘there’ into my new physical space and work to become involved in this new community ‘here.’ Perhaps we can connect our communities in healthy, vibrant, and sustainable ways that will lead to real social change and shared understanding. Let’s keep in touch and thanks for everything!

---

Featured Products
Hemp and Company (Craigflower Store)

GET TO KNOW HEMP KIT $29.95 - This kit consists of 100% hemp and hemp blend yarns, bamboo knitting kneedles, patterns for a washcloth and scarf, all in a hemp/cotton bag

COOL HEMP CAPELET KNITTING KIT $49.95 - This knitting kit comes with the pattern and the yarn, the yarn is 100% hemp and is the colour sprout.

---

LOOK - OTHER HEMP NEWS

Eco-Funding Deal Reached for Canadian Rainforest
22 January 2007
ENN

Nice Day for a Green Wedding
December 2006
UTNE

A Lighthearted Look At Biofuels Through Time
04 December 2006
GRIST

Real Men Do Change Diapers
04 December 2006
REUTERS

Blueprint for the Future
October 2006
UTNE

A Toast to Dissent
August 2006
UTNE

Not Too Sexy For The Earth
February 2006
UTNE

Everybody Must Get Hemp
04 October 2004
GRIST

National Briefing | Plains: North Dakota: License For Hemp
16 January 2007
NEW YORK TIMES:

A state legislator turned in an application to the State Agriculture Department to become the nation's first licensed industrial hemp farmer. Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson said the legislator, David Monson, a Republican representative, provided fingerprints with his application, which will be used for a background check. Last month, the State Agriculture Department finished its work on rules that farmers may use to grow industrial hemp, a cousin of marijuana that does not have hallucinogenic properties. The plant is used to make products including paper and rope. Some law enforcement officials fear that industrial hemp may shield illicit marijuana, but supporters of hemp say the concern is unfounded.

---

LISTEN

Bill Finley talks at UVIC

Listen to this 7 minute section of a lecture at UVIC given by Bill Finley on the history of hemp.

MP3

---

Sale
'til February 10th
(Hemp and Company - Victoria, Nelson)

Look for other in-store specials at your favourite H&C Location!

All sale items are subject to availability. Feel free to call our toll free number for size and colour availablity:
1-866-633-4367 (NELSON STORE) | 1-866-383-4367 (VICTORIA STORE)

---

reg. $99.95

reg. 99.95

reg. $79.95

reg. $49.95

reg. $49.95

---

HEMP RECIPES

HEMP CARROT CASHEW PATE

2 cups ground cashews or shelled sunflower seeds
6 cups carrots, cooked and chopped in food processor
1 medium onion diced and sauteed in 3 T veg. oil
1 stalk celery, finely chopped and sauteed
1/2 cup wh. flour
2 T. hempseed oil
1/4 cup hempseeds
oregano, safe, marjoram, savory, salt and pepper to taste

Mix together in a bowl
and turn into a loaf pan lined with parchment paper

Bake in a 350 preheated oven 45-50 min.

SHIFT NATURAL FASHION

Sale at Shift
lots of your favourite Shift items are reduced - up to 75% off

See in store for details - visit website here

Sale Items

MEN'S HEMP HOODIES SATORI $59.99	BAMBOO HOODIES FROM SATORI (MEN'S & WOMEN'S) $69.99
WOMEN'S BAMBOO CARGO SKIRTS FROM SATORI $59.99	ALL HERBIVORE PRODUCTS 20% OFF T-shirts only $22
ALL BAGS, BELTS AND HATS 20% OFF	SATORI MENS' T-SHIRTS AND LONGSLEEVES $26 each or two for $50
NO SWEAT HEMP SNEAKERS $58.00	MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON Amitaba Tibetan Chupa Skirt $69.99
MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON Brooke Top $49.99

Sale! February 2007

Also:
• Selected men's pants 40% off
• Glass Wave handblown glass pendants all 20% off -- made on Mayne Island!
• Women's side zip terry hoodies, reg $84.95 now $49.99 (at both shift/H&C)

Shifting Fernwood: What's happening in the hood!

The new year has been busy but exciting, with lots of projects and community programs beginning to kick into full gear. And Shift is no exception; we've got some new things starting to roll as well! Here's what we did in January:

• We got our zine rack up and running and holding zines. There are only a handful of submissions at the moment, including some poetry chapbooks, and a small variety of other booklets. The call is out for any local authors or artists that want to distribute their work to stop on by and check out our consignment terms. We hope to continue to promote "zine culture" by offering a local hub for zine activity and education. We can only put the rack out there though; now it's up to you zinesters to start submitting some of your work! Stop by Shift and pick up a copy of the free "Shifting Zines" flyer (available soon) that explains a little bit more about the rack space.

• We had a major sale, and lucky for you it's going on until February 10th. A wide variety of hemp, bamboo and organic cotton t-shirts are going on sale to help us make some room for the new spring and summer stock that's coming soon. If you had something in mind from one of our stores, now's your chance to get in on some of the savings!

•We got our gift card program up and running. Whether you're looking for a gift for that perfect but fussy person, or you just want to support a local eco-friendly business, the gift card is a great investment. The cards are re-usable and reloadable and carry no expiration date, which means it's really easy if you want to take your balance around to any one of our four Victoria locations (Shift: Johnson and Gladstone / Hemp and Co : Johnson and Craigflower).

•And as for what's coming next? Well as the New Year becomes a little bit less new, you can expect lots of exciting changes to our stores as well. Our website is now entering into production, and you'll also start to notice certain aesthetic changes to the shopping experience at Shift. As always, stop in to see what's new! (And bring your zines!)