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Gift giving not only provides us the opportunity to give back to those we love, but also the chance to make a difference with our dollars.

At All Together Now PA, we believe in building strong local economies. One way to do that is to buy from locally owned businesses who source from local suppliers to make their products.  

If you are going to spend money, please consider supporting businesses like the ones listed below (just a few of our favorites), whose owners are not faraway corporations, but neighbors in our own communities who need our support now more than ever.

And don’t forget to also support your local restaurants, museums, and theaters with gift card purchases too!

Click on each image below to purchase the item.

_{*minority owned businesses}

House + Home:

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For the Foodie

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Jewelry, Clothing + Accessories

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More clothing & accessories…

Amazulu

Cultured Couture Vintage

D’lyanu

Damari Savile

Dolly’s Boutique

Fashion De Viv

Minnow Lane

Idol Light

Janell Wysock

Jinxed

Little Bags Big Impact

Moon + Arrow

Steel Pony

Style by Blain

T Tribe

Tesoro

The Resource Exchange

The Sable Collective

Wayward Collection

Wild Mantle

Xavi Row Bespoke

More house & home…

Cuttalossa

FD Gifts

Get Lit Candles

Jig Bee

Rays Reusables

Terra Luna Herbals

More wellness & body care…

Duafe Holistic Hair Care

Flourishing Beauty + Wellness

Freedom Apothacary

Hand in Hand Soaps

Indie Shelf

Marsh + Mane

Vellum St. Soap Co.

Happy & healthy holidays

to everyone in the All Together Now PA community!

Everyday, each of us wakes up and picks out an outfit to wear for the day. From our underwear to our jacket, we identify with the clothes we choose to put on our bodies; they make us feel comfortable and give us a sense of individuality. While some of us put a lot of thought into our outfits, we rarely think about the origin of the fabric itself and the many steps it goes through before it becomes our clothing.

When it comes to natural fibers, one must remember that it all starts from a little seed or animal, a living thing which must be tended to and cared for by it’s farmer to enable it to grow, be harvested, and eventually turned into usable fiber. This fiber is then cleaned, spun into yarn, woven or knitted into a textile, then dyed, cut, and finally sewn into a garment, all before it makes its way into our closets. 

All Together Now PA’s Clothing and Textiles Coalition is working to build local supply chains that connect fiber farming with the reemerging hemp and flax industries. This mission has led us to partner with the Pennsylvania Flax Project, a collaboration between Kitchen Garden Textiles and Kneehigh Farm, on our upcoming Flax Field Dinner.  Just like ATN-PA, the PA Flax Project is committed to uniting urban and rural communities to build local self-reliance in fiber and textiles, creating greater prosperity for our farmers and local makers.

Why is flax important?

Flax is the plant used to make linen, a beautiful textile that, like hemp, is long lasting, breathable, antimicrobial, absorbent, extremely durable and has a rich history in the state of Pennsylvania. Flax grows easily in the PA region and does not require any harmful pesticides. Not only is it a fast crop for farmers to grow (less than 3 months), it also remediates the soil by removing lead. Because of this, flax fiber serves as a great case study for a fully local supply chain for textiles in PA.

How does The Flax Project help to create a local supply chain?

The PA Flax Project is working to revive the textile industry in Pennsylvania. Flax production has the ability to recreate our once vibrant textile economy and bring back localization to our clothing. While linen is no longer manufactured locally, we do have a wide variety of yarn mills and weavers all around the state of Pennsylvania, which we aim to bring together and unite in our shared mission of creating a fully local supply chain for this sustainable textile. 

Click here to reserve your seat for our Flax Field Dinner on July 11th, a fundraising event supporting the Pennsylvania Flax Project.

Written by Rachel Mednick Higgins, edited by Leslie Davidson

Philly’s legendary restaurateur/entrepreneur/community activist proposes a timely solution for our (repairable) political divide

This article is written by Judy Wicks, founder of All Together Now PA and was recently posted in The Philadelphia Citizen.

DO SOMETHING

Support All Together Now PA

The 2020 election has left us a deeply divided nation. But politics did not cause this rural-urban division, and the wound will not be healed by political debates over which party will take better care of us. I believe we must learn to care for each other.

But corporate globalization put an end to thriving local economies. Local supply chains were severed, breaking the interdependent relationships that had bound regions and people together. Workers lost their jobs to faraway sweatshops, and prosperous main streets of rural towns, once community gathering centers, became distant memories, replaced by malls of corporate chains and soulless big box stores.

Related from The Philadelphia Citizen: In It Together Local activist and entrepreneur Judy Wicks’ newest project aims to unite and strengthen our state’s regional economies. It could be just what we all need in this time of climate—and coronavirus—crisis.

I’m inspired by a time not so long ago when rural and urban communities co-created regional economies built on mutual trust and respect. Community wealth was built through strong rural-urban partnerships that supplied basic needs to the region. Farmers and factory workers took pride in producing the goods needed by their communities. Bustling main streets in our rural towns and urban centers, where the butcher, the baker and the cabinetmaker were friends and neighbors, gave our towns character and unique identity.

At the same time, family farmers in the midwestern heartland and elsewhere, who once fed their regions with a diversity of healthy farm products, have been replaced by machines tending vast plantations of monocrops, destined for distant markets. Wildlife habitat has disappeared. Bucolic countryside with grazing cows and red barns has given way to cages in windowless animal factories, which emit noxious fumes and fouled water, while institutionalizing animal cruelty. Chemical pesticides and fertilizers have exhausted the land and greatly limited the soil’s capacity to produce nutritious food and sequester carbon.

I see this severe economic disruption at the root of the political divide that is tearing the U.S. apart. Is it possible to understand that “Make American Great Again” is not simply a fearful response to the decline of white male supremacy, but also a cry of pain over the loss of something else, something that was beautiful—a way of life that gave meaning, self-worth, and a sense of belonging?

I believe we can address this loss, and at the same time end economic inequality and environmental degradation, by working together to build local economies that care for us all, and nature, too.

Is it possible to understand that “Make American Great Again” is not simply a fearful response to the decline of white male supremacy, but also a cry of pain over the loss of something else, something that was beautiful—a way of life that gave meaning, self-worth, and a sense of belonging?

I believe that the meeting place of the political right and left is community self-reliance. Local economies can merge the right’s emphasis on individual self-reliance with the left’s focus on collective endeavors. By building economies independent of corporate control, we can uphold the cherished American value of independence.

DO MORE

Stay in the loop

Production of basic needs—food, fiber, and fuel—provides an opportunity for many new businesses. We can turn local farm products into staples for our kitchens, textiles into clothing, fiber into building materials, and even use industrial hemp, a plant recently released from an 80-year ban, as a substitute for plastic.

In our transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, large scale production will again be sourced from rural areas, offering many opportunities for rural landowners and the creation of meaningful jobs.

We will engage local government and philanthropic communities, in both urban and rural settings, to proactively ensure that business ownership is spread broadly and equitably, uplifting communities that were denied prosperity in the old economy.

Cooperative ownership can play a big role in both rural production and processing and in urban manufacturing and distribution.

In these inclusive economies, our young people will envision ways to contribute their unique talents and skills, not as cogs in the wheel, not as serfs in corporations or on plantations, but as co-creators of an economy that has meaning and a secure future.

Local economies can merge the right’s emphasis on individual self-reliance with the left’s focus on collective endeavors.

Restoring self-reliant regional economies is not nostalgia for a time long gone; it’s about our very survival in the 21st century. Not only does local production reduce the carbons of long-distance shipping, but it also decreases our dependence on global supply chains easily disrupted by chaotic weather and social upheaval. What we do today to build resilient regional economies may determine the survival of future generations.

Building local economies creates a place for diverse communities to come together around shared goals, fostering trust and respect, as well as happiness. It’s a place where we can overcome individualism and once again feel the power of collective action.

We can celebrate a reunited America where each of us—farmer, entrepreneur, worker, student, artist, investor, and conscious consumer—can find a meaningful role in creating a just, restorative and caring economy.

A place we all, every one of us, can belong.

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Judy Wicks is an author, activist and entrepreneur who founded Philadelphia’s iconic White Dog Cafe in 1983. She is founder of Fair Food Philly, the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia, the nationwide (BALLE) Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, and All Together Now Pennsylvania, working to unite urban and rural communities in rebuilding regional economies.

Header photo by Aaron Blanco Tejedor / Unsplash

Deciding what to do about holiday gifts is difficult at a time when we know we need to cut back on buying things we don’t need. The most sustainable option is to give experiences (like gift cards to your favorite local restaurant or membership to a museum) or products that do not create waste.

But another way to look at gift-giving is to see how your dollars can support the small businesses that employ local people and keep our communities strong.

If you are going to spend money, please spend it with small local businesses whose owners are not faraway corporations, but neighbors in our own communities who need our support this year more than ever.

Give a gift that gives twice!

The featured businesses below are members of All Together Now PA and/or our affiliated organization the Circle of Aunts & Uncles. Also included is a longer list of local small businesses that we think are worth checking out. Many of these companies manufacture their goods in Pennsylvania. Some are Black-owned, most are women-owned, and all are locally owned.

Clothing & Accessories: Featured

More clothing & accessories…

Amazulu

Cultured Couture Vintage

D’lyanu

Damari Savile

Dolly’s Boutique

Fashion De Viv

Minnow Lane

Idol Light

Janell Wysock

Jinxed

Little Bags Big Impact

Little Moon + Arrow

Made by LAD

Steel Pony

Style by Blain

T Tribe

Tesoro

The Resource Exchange

The Sable Collective

Wayward Collection

Wild Mantle

Xavi Row Bespoke

House & Home: Featured

More house & home…

Cuttalossa

FD Gifts

Get Lit Candles

Jig Bee

Rays Reusables

Terra Luna Herbals

Wellness & Body Care

More wellness & body care…

Duafe Holistic Hair Care

Flourishing Beauty + Wellness

Freedom Apothacary

Hand in Hand Soaps

Indie Shelf

Marsh + Mane

Vellum St. Soap Co.

Happy & healthy holidays

to everyone in the All Together Now PA community!

Hooray for our resilient regional food system! The pandemic has exposed the failure of our centralized industrial food system. Shelves in chain stores stand empty while mega-farms plow under mono-crops and pour milk down the drain. In contrast, our regional food system keeps growing stronger. Working together, rural farmers and urban eaters have found ways to connect directly, utilizing practices that promote organic, pesticide-free produce and humane treatment of farm animals, while building local supply chains that will have a lasting impact on our region’s capacity to feed ourselves and our communities. The following recent stories demonstrate how our farmers and local food entrepreneurs have adapted during the pandemic for the benefit of all of us.

When the Riverwards Produce Market (pictured above), in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia, was unable to purchase flour from their national supplier due to shortages, owner Vince Finazzo turned to the Pennsylvania Grain Coalition, a project of All Together Now PA, led by Local Food coordinator, Katherine Rapin.

Through the coalition, Vince connected to Small Valley Milling located near Halifax, PA. Owned and operated by the Steigman family, the mill processes heritage grains grown on their organic family farm and neighboring farms. Vince drove 35 miles to the mill to pick up 2,500 pounds of organic flour, which is now available in his grocery store Riverwards Produce Market (left) for his Philly customers who are doing more home baking during the pandemic.

Another exciting development happening through the Pennsylvania Grain Coalition is the launch of the PA Pantry Box, which is a selection of freshly-milled flours, quick-cooking grains, dried beans, and cooking oil sourced from local growers. Instructions to sign up can be found via the All Together Now Local Food Guide: 

Farmers, too, have shown resilience. When restaurants were forced to close during the pandemic, Green Meadow Farm lost most of its customers. With a greenhouse full of produce, chickens laying eggs, and the first rhubarb of spring poking up from the ground, the Brendle family needed to find a new market. They began making food boxes of their farm products (and those of their Amish neighbors) for individual households. Using social media to spread the word, they connected directly to customers and are now taking orders online and by phone for food boxes containing fresh greens, pasture-raised meats and eggs, cheese, butter, and other groceries, which can be picked up on the farm or at three urban locations. Some of the Brendle’s restaurant clients, who have remained open for take-out business, serve as distribution points for these food boxes.

Industrial Animal Agriculture Endangers Us All! It’s not surprising that industrial slaughterhouses, where workers stand shoulder to shoulder in stressful conditions, have become hotspots for Covid-19. Driven by a desire to maximize profits, industrial slaughterhouses process up to 20,000 animals a day on fast-moving conveyor belts, showing no reverence for the lives of the animals nor respect for the largely immigrant workforce. After thousands of workers became ill, spreading the disease to their communities and resulting in numerous deaths, the plants were forced to close by local health authorities. In this centralized industrial system, monopolized by a handful of large corporations, the closure of a single slaughterhouse affects the entire country and has caused a logjam in the system. With no place to go, millions of healthy pigs are being euthanized and discarded, while grocery stores and food banks experience meat shortages.

Not only do industrial animal factories cause untold suffering to farm animals, but the concentration of manure pollutes our air and water and the animal products we eat contain antibiotics and hormones. On top of all that, industrial animal agriculture is a major contributor to climate change. Studies show that animal agriculture produces anywhere from 18% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, as reported by the UN, to an astonishing 51% according to the World Watch Institute, which takes into account deforestation in such places as the Amazon in order to graze animals for the global meat industry.  Whether for health, morality, or climate change reasons, it’s important that we greatly reduce our consumption of animal products, and when we do eat meat, poultry, dairy, and eggs, to consume only that which is raised sustainably and humanely on family farms.  

Meanwhile, local butchers like Heather Thomason, who owns Primal Supply Meat in Philadelphia, are operating at full capacity. When restaurants were forced to close, Heather pivoted to an online business with deliveries made directly to residents. Unlike the industrial system, where animals are cruelly raised in cramped factories, Heather sources her meat and poultry from local diversified farms where animals enjoy plenty of sunshine and fresh air in pasture-based systems and are processed at small, family-owned slaughterhouses, which handle animals one at a time.  

The failure of the industrial food system to demonstrate resilience has debunked the theory that only a centralized system of large corporate farms with their chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and cruel animal factories can feed the world. On the contrary, as the pandemic reveals (and numerous studies from the UN and elsewhere confirm), it is a decentralized network of regional economies made up of diversified, organic family farms, which act as true stewards of the land and farm animals, that has the capacity to feed the world.  By working together and supporting the growth of local farms, and the food enterprises who buy from them, we build regional self-reliance to reduce carbons, enjoy a healthy diet, and protect our environment and ourselves. 

All Together Now: Let’s source our food locally!

P.S. To better understand the issue of animal agriculture and climate, we recommend

The book: We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins with Breakfastby Jonathan Safran Foer

The article: The End of Meat is Here New York Times Opinion by Jonathan Safran Foer, May 22, 2020

I started All Together Now PA because I’m deeply concerned about climate change and know that the only way to address the challenge is to find ways to work together.

I’malso troubled by the division between rural and urban communities, amplified by our national politics.  It didn’t used to be this way.  There was a time not so long ago when rural and urban communities co-created regional economies built on mutual respect and trust. Farms and cities were connected by local supply chains that provided regional self-reliance in basic needs.

Corporate globalization changed all that. Local supply chains were severed, ending the interdependent urban-rural relationships that once bound regions together and provided good jobs in both farming and manufacturing.  Like communities around the globe, we have become largely dependent on carbon-intensive corporate-controlled global supply chains to deliver what we need to survive – food, clothing, building materials and energy.  Severe weather and social upheaval caused by climate change will soon disrupt global supply chains, making our communities vulnerable.

The mission of All Together Now PA is to unite our urban and rural communities to build sustainable regional economies that will mitigate carbons and prepare for the climate crisis by producing our basic needs locally. Local production will also increase community wealth, with the opportunity to build more inclusive, just and sustainable regional economies.

The survival of future generations will depend on what
we do today to build self-reliant regional economies.

Though I have been working in the local economy space for over 20 years, I am acting now with greater urgency. The survival of future generations will depend on what we do today to build self-reliant regional economies that produce our basic needs close to home. Local economies not only reduce the carbons of long-distance shipping, but also increase community resilience in a changing and unpredictable world.

Building regional economies is also an opportunity to address rising inequality and the growing power of large corporations, which are extracting wealth from our communities. Through local production of basic needs – food, fiber and fuel – we can move economic power from distant corporations to our local farms, businesses and communities.

All Together Now PA has six priorities for our regional economies:

Local Food
Industrial Hemp
Plant Medicine
Renewable Energy
Zero Waste
Local Culture & Tourism

In each of these areas, All Together Now PA is developing projects that will support local ownership and strengthen local supply chains to increase the supply of local products, and at the same time increase the demand through education and special events. When we identify a gap in the local supply chain, we work to catalyze a cooperatively owned social enterprise to fill that gap and provide opportunities for marginalized communities. 

Most of us want to do our part in addressing the climate crisis, but the problem is so immense that it’s hard to know how we can make a difference. But even though our single acts may seem insignificant, collectively our everyday decisions shape the world we live in. When we work together, we can bring change. And we can have fun doing it!

Please go to our website AllTogetherNowPA.org and sign up for our mailing list. We’ll be sending newsletters to show all the ways we can address climate change, and make Pennsylvania a model of how citizens can work together to build restorative, inclusive, and caring economies that will support future Pennsylvanians.