The 5 times I failed at being a locavore

Though I constantly live in fear of letting myself and my followers down I still have not actually cheated on the locavore front. You may be able to say I have bended the rules to my benefit a few times though, and these would be the examples of such times:

Our last Granville Island's

• Netflix- Thought I cancelled my Netflix subscription Aug 31st, a friend has recently given me her log in information so I can still enjoy the goodness of limitless streaming goodness. Why this is allowed is because I am not personally contributing financially to the company and instead piggy backing on someone else's devious purchasing. 
• Granville Island- Angela and I were enjoying what we thought was a delicious pint of local Granville Island beer when someone mentioned that the company had been taken over by foreign mega company Molson in 2009...a quick google search later we decided we had had our last pint for the year. This happens to us sometimes but we often do a bit of research when we make purchases to ensure that we are still contributing local economy. With all the fact checking though, there is still room for error and this is one of the cases of learning through experience. 
• Diva Cup- I needed to purchase a new Diva Cup (it's a lady product), which are unfortunately not made in BC. They are however made in Canada  unlike and other option available to me and I purchased mine from an independently owned pharmacy in town. This one was a tough decision for me but a necessary thing every woman must go though and I hope I have made the best available choice. 
• Deep Fried Pickles- I have had deep fried pickles twice this year at the Thirsty Moose Pub because they are sooo good. I would have kept ordering them but have since found out they were not prepared on site but come pre battered which is a violation of the rules. 
• Halloween decorations- As the co-chair for the University Farmers Market I was tasked with helping find decorations for our halloween themed market this week. As we strolled the aisle's of the dollar store in search of spooky delights, I felt like I was cheating but ultimately I was not making the purchase and it was through work. It is hard when it comes down to making our own decorations as supplies would still need to be purchased but I feel like with more planning and foresight we can work on using more recycled and hand made items for future events. 

Now I know I have listed these as failures, but I do not really think of them as that. Instead I realize that these are apart of the learning experience that this challenge is shaping up to be. I have learned more about what is local in my area and limitations to a locavore lifestyle in practice then I ever could have in theory, so all in all, I am succeeding. And through these times I hope that by sharing these efforts will encourage more people think about the choices they make each day...or so i'd like to think.

Heres to making mistakes!

Melanie

"The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing." -Henry Ford