
How do we achieve this?
1. Sourcing locally. We moved to a farm to be able to grow much of what we use- with zero waste from cultivation, harvest, processing, and medicine making. This means no plastic packaging (getting bulk herbs from a distributor) and no fossil fuel use (the delivery truck). We are so excited to create zero waste products this year!
2. Re-use. All of the packing supplies that we use in your shipments (biodegradable peanuts, wrapping paper, and yes- sometimes bubble wrap or other plastic items) are reused. We capture these, reuse them and encourage you to do the same. We also reuse the 5 gallon buckets that suppliers send and larger boxes become shipments for wholesale accounts.

It is much more sustainable to sequester that carbon through ecobricking- taking a plastic or non-recyclable vessel and stuffing it to the gills with softer plastic packaging. Even with deliberately making choices to avoid plastic, we still end up with a lot. So we create these "ecobricks" and will be using them to make walls for root cellars, livestock pens, and sheds on the farm. These "bricks", along with cob, are going to be the walls in our new farm structures.

5. Shipping "carbon neutral". While this is only a band-aid to our fossil fuel addiction, we do pay more to have carbon neutral shipping. UPS, our only shipper (because they are union and fairer labor practices) has their carbon neutral shipping plan supervised and approved by Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS) and Natural Capital Partners. Read more here.