Natural and sustainable - a little bit more about the concept of My Nordic Garden
The past week was full of natural, sustainable and organic decision making for our company, so I changed my original blog post plan and dived into this heartfelt wish of mine.
My heart beats for Mother Nature and everything nature since forever. With studying biology and geography I nurtured this passion and I'm still enrolled to study environmental science in a distant learning program. This is surely one of the reasons why My Nordic Garden goes the greener way and we do it with commitment.
Our world needs more consciousness about what we do, what we eat and how we consume in general. We need to adjust our decisions to the future of this precious planet. It is a tricky thing to do, for sure. It needs engagement, time for research and we need to question the way we live our lives. It's convenient and easy just to continue as we always did, because it's familiar and very often it's the cheaper choice to make.
Choosing a different - a greener - way needs commitment. You need to be brave to swim against the current. But you know what? It's actually fun and you, yes YOU who's reading this right now, you are already on your way. Be proud of yourself that you are searching for a more sustainable way to live. Every little bit makes a difference. Every time you go for the more expensive but environmentally friendly choice you do the right thing. Be proud of your commitment and don't stop going this way!
We are in this mission to green up our environment with re-establishing kitchen gardens together. Every garden counts, every balcony with a vegetable planter counts. So let's start growing green together!
You might expect some tips on sowing seeds around this time of year, I know (it will come, promise!!). But today I'd like to show you some different kind of seeds. Seeds that will hopefully contribute to change our major way of consuming. Seeds that hopefully grow into more consciousness for the nature around us and the resources we use on a daily basis.
As a brand new start-up My Nordic Garden has the chance to build it's sustainability concept from the very start. It is oftentimes not the easier way. Very often it also means to choose the more expensive alternative. But knowing it's the right thing to do - we do it! The cheaper price we'd pay now would turn into a much higher price for future generations. So we take this chance to start as green as we can to run our business. In fact we try to make things better and protect our living space for the future!
Now let's get to the facts. What does My Nordic Garden do to be sustainable?
1. We use locally sourced untreated cedar boards to build our raised beds. Our trial using rough cut boards went so well, that we'd love to use them as often as possible. Less trimming of the boards means less waste and less energy usage. Eric even looks into the usage of the end cut boards (the 'leftover' round end pieces of the board cutting process - since a tree is round after all..). We dream about turning them into beautiful log cabin style raised beds and planters. Wouldn't that be a great style for Canadian gardens?
2. Locally sourced organic compost and soil. For our special soil mixture we aim for the best organic compost and other components we can find locally. Our special soil mixture is part of a whole kitchen garden installation and basis to a healthy growth of your plants. You don't want any plastic pieces in your soil, right?! Spring is coming soon and our first turnkey kitchen garden installations are getting prepared!
3. Have you ever tried to order business cards or anything else printed and you were looking for a sustainable product? There are many companies who sell business cards the common way, but not so many who do it the sustainable way. After quite some research we found a Canadian company that produces sustainable printing products using recycled materials and plant based inks. It is just a little more pricey and so worth it. We received our order by the end of last week and are so so happy about the result. Beautiful! Look for yourself :-)
4. My Nordic Garden and Gaia Organic Seeds started their cooperation! We feel very honored to work together with the experienced Gaia Organic Seeds, based in Ottawa. Gaia is specialized in heirloom and locally well adapted seeds. Everything is certified organic. This way we can guarantee best quality organic seeds to our clients. Early in the year set-up kitchen gardens will even get the chance to receive their plants from Gaia. They are still working on their new seed catalogue, which will go online every day now. So have a look at our special offer with Gaia for this year (Plants+Seeds+Consultation)!
Every little bit matters and every decision for the greener alternative is extremely valuable.
So get growing and Happy Gardening!