I am not a big fan of shopping, especially at Christmas. I find it stressful trying to buy ethically, as I don’t want to buy anything that has led to damage of the environment or poor animal welfare, exploited anyone involved in the supply chain, or comes with a large carbon footprint. I have a limited budget and I want to know that I am spending my money wisely. And if I am buying a gift, I want to ensure that it is something that will be enjoyed and not lead to unwanted clutter in the recipient’s house.
These are the issues that inspired Gathered and Grown – we wanted to be able to offer delicious, healthy, herbal teas, packaged sustainably, with low food miles and a minimal carbon footprint. It is why we only use ingredients that we grow ourselves, take measures to protect our soil and go to great lengths to make our farm wildlife-friendly. And, if we ever need employees other than myself and Ben, they will be paid fairly and treated with respect.
Of course, we are not perfect. Sometimes, we make mistakes - we order what we think are eco-friendly supplies, only to find that they come wrapped in single-use plastic. Sometimes we have to make compromises, for example the black landscape fabric we use as a temporary mulch to kill off the weeds enables us to be no-dig, but it can shed little bits of plastic onto the ground. In the future we would like to be in a position where we are producing all of our own compost, so we don’t need to buy bagged seed compost or have green-waste compost delivered and when our diesel car comes to the end of its life, we would like to replace it with an electric one (although, of course, evs themselves also involve compromises).
We live and learn and do our best, whilst always looking for ways that we can do better. But, I hope that buying herbal teas from Gathered and Grown and supporting our small, family-run, ethical business is an enjoyable experience for our customers. We definitely appreciate the support! Personally, I will be trying to avoid the consumer guilt this Christmas by returning the favour and buying from other local farmers and makers, with similar ethics to my own, whenever I can.