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Being "green" is not a walk in the park - but every small step counts. We are not a large multi-national business that can make an overnight difference but even small family businesses like ours have their part to play.
We have discovered that it is easy to acquire low cost goods. What is not easy is finding local, like-minded suppliers who can provide a good product at a competitive price. In these cost-pressured times it is even more of a challenge with consumers, quite naturally, wondering if they can buy a product cheaper elsewhere or if they are paying for principles.
We understand this and can promise that our prices have not suffered for our ideals. We guarantee that our products are no more expensive than they would have been had we abandoned our principles. What it does mean is that we have to sell a lot more of them (this is the part where you come in!!!)
We don't claim to be perfect. We will continue to monitor and review our practices but in the meantime we have set out for you some of the main ways we have tried to keep our business as sustantainable and environmentally friendly as possible.
So, why aren't we organic?
The organic conundrum. This was a tricky one. Our market research revealed that organic certification was not considered very important. Customers were concerned above all about price, freshness and unnecessary packaging as well as good customer service. There is no doubt that if we were to become organically certified we would have to increase our prices - the cost of organic certification is not insignificant for a small business such as ours. Whilst we would love to be certified it is not a priority although it is something we will consider for the future. For now we can still adhere to many organic practices without this having an adverse affect on our overheads.
Cultivation
Our fresh herbs are grown seasonally and as naturally as possible. They are not forced with excessive heat or light. We encourage biodiversity so that we have as many natural predators as possible for those pesky pests. We also use biological controls and natural pest control products. We do not use any harmful pesticides. We wouldn't want to eat herbs covered in chemicals and wouldn't expect you to either.
Compost
We use compost which has been manufactured from sustainable ingredients, based on a naturally derived peat. This allows us to use highly nutritious peat compost knowing that the diminishing peat moors have been left untouched.
Packaging
Our fresh herb packaging boxes are specially made for us. They are not made locally but we order in bulk so that we only need to place one order a year. We have gone further afield for these to a company which manufactures boxes from recycled card (which itself can be recycled). The boxes are printed with water based inks which do not have an adverse impact on the environment.
Our herbal gift items are sold "loose" - with the exception of our Lavender Plus Gift Pack. These products are wrapped in a clear biodegradable film which looks like cellophane but definitely isn't.
We do not label all of our herbal gift products in-house but we do the majority of the labelling on our Standard Range. Our labels come from FSC well managed forests and use water-based adhesive. They are chlorine free and fully recyclable.
Herbal gift products are despatched in traditional jiffy bags which contain recycled paper and are themselves fully recyclable.
Pots, Jars and Bottles
The fresh herb pots are plastic and can be recycled. If you are local you are quite welcome to return these to us for re-use. We can be found at local farmers' markets (Click here for details). Unfortunately we can only accept returns of our own standard sized plant pots.
Our Standard Range toiletries come in glass jars which can be recycled. We can also accept returns of empty jars at farmers' markets as our supplier is very local and will accept these for recycling.
Other containers, such as those for our bubble bath and body lotion, are recyclable plastic bottles.
Suppliers
Our horticultural suppliers are not local but, as with our packaging, we are able to buy in bulk and place only one or two orders a year. We can only keep our overheads down by being careful about the consumables we use.
Our herbal gift suppliers are local companies who specialise in hand made toiletries. We are based in Cambridgeshire as is our Standard Range supplier. More information about this range can be found in our FAQs. Our other supplier is just over the border in neighbouring Norfolk.
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Herb Seed Collections
Culinary herb plants