Scary Holidays!
From the editor….
Stephanie Kelley
Another Halloween has come and gone. This year, the scariest thing about this date for me was trying to find treats that weren’t toxic little packages of GMO ingredients!
In the past, like most other people, I’d buy those bags of miniature candy bars to hand out to any trick or treaters that came to my door. And then I’d eat any leftovers and promise myself I’d clean up my diet again as soon as all the candy was gone….
But, since I’ve started my own personal protest against and boycott of GMO foods and the evil corporations that use chocolate harvested by child slaves in Africa, I sure wasn’t going to be buying any bags of Kit Kats this year!
Most of the commercial chocolate that is available in our stores is manufactured by the Nestle Corporation, too…a giant megalithic company that has been going toe to toe with Monsanto Corporation to be the most evil company on the planet, as Nestle continues to buy up water sources around the world in their ongoing efforts to privatize water in order to sell it at a profit!
Man o man, if it’s not one thing it’s another……
I started thinking about this whole issue….how the candy that is sold is full of chemicals and toxins, and chocolate is provided by slave labour…. but these little packages of deadly time bombs are preferable to homemade treats for Halloween, or heaven forbid….the dreaded fresh apples that might be booby trapped by some psycho with razor blades and pins! And, now that I think about it, regular commercial apples themselves are completely loaded with pesticides and fungicides.
A sorry state of affairs, for sure. Plus, no kid would likely be impressed by my carob health fudge or carob and coconut cookies!
Ah, well….the whole issue became moot anyway as I didn’t get any trick or treaters this year, nor did my neighbours.
As their home is being flood proofed, and my home is being readied for the big move up the hill, our shared driveway is all torn up and our houses just don’t look all that inviting at the moment!
This Halloween I was delighted to see that a number of local people posted pictures on Facebook of their kids all dressed up in nifty and creative home made costumes. These costumes were funny and showed real flair…. this brought back more memories as I thought about the Halloweens of my childhood, and how we used to raid the attic to put together crazy outfits, or we would beg our mother to let us cut holes in sheets to become ghosts.
So much more inventive than simply putting on a store bought outfit to become the super hero du jour!
Unfortunately, those cheap but colourful outfits are made in China by slave labour, too.
Every holiday season, our stores get flooded with inexpensive plastic decorations that are made in China or Third World countries by literal slave labour.
I just recently read a story about a woman who had bought some of those fake headstones made from styrofoam to decorate her lawn with for Halloween. When she opened the package, she found a note hidden inside the headstone.
Like a message in a bottle, it was a desperate letter from an enslaved worker in China, begging whoever found the note to recognize and tell others what was going on in the factories that make this kind of stuff.
As long as we westerners provide a market for these goods, people will be enslaved to make them. Christmas lights that only cost a few bucks over here are costing people their lives overseas.
True, old fashioned holidays are what we need to bring back…with home made treats and hand made gifts!
There are many creative local crafters and bakers in these parts that make wonderful items to give as gifts.
The local animal shelter will have a craft and raffle table set up all during the week of November 4-8 at the Perth-Andover branch of Scotiabank. Stop in to buy a ticket on a chance to win this year’s Fur Tree or buy some home made cookies to support the SPCA!
Be sure to stop in at the Perth-Andover Arts & Crafts Centre to check out all the terrific gifts available there, too. They will be hosting an open house all day on Saturday, November 23rd from 11 am until 9 pm, too.
The Guardian Drug Store in Plaster Rock will be hosting their annual Pre-Christmas Shopping Party on Thursday, November 14th from 10 am-8 pm. Stop in for free hot cider and donuts.
Support our home towns and shop local this holiday season!
