Here at the bakery, building a sustainable business has always been at the forefront of our minds and means a lot to us personally.
I wanted to share with you a few of the ways we are aiming to lower our carbon footprint. This is in the hope that we can all do our little bit and together this will make a much bigger difference.
A bag of flour now holds a totally different meaning to me. I used to pick a 1.5kg bag off the shelf at the supermarket, but now lifting a bag of our 16kg flour takes on a little more strength! We have been really lucky to find a local flour mill who are able to supply us with all of the different types of flour used to make our products. This mill is located in Essex, which is one of the finest wheat growing regions in the UK. As a result 70% of the wheat is locally sourced (within 30 miles of the mill.) So when your tasting our bread and biscuits you can know a large percentage of the wheat has been grown all around us. We are hoping to soon release a 'special' using our own ground grain for those of you who would be interested to help taste test flour that has taken one more step out of the production line.
Packaging is a key way that we see in enabling us to be sustainable and therefore we are determined to only use recyclable packaging. Please do help us to do this by re using your bread, biscuit and granola bags at home and recycling them once they are finished with. We are trialing a few different packaging options so as always we would love to hear your feedback. Contact us through the website or on delivery and we would be so pleased to know what you think. For us it needs to be practical as well as sustainable. One day a big goal is to see one of you walking down the streets of Saffron Walden, holding a reusable Loaf Tin bag. It really is the little things that keep me entertained and striving for the future.
Another little environmentally friendly initiative came about when I decided that I could easily spend all day walking around Wendens Ambo making deliveries. As wonderful as this was I realised I wasn't leaving much time for baking but was determined not to get in the car unless totally necessary. So after a root around in the garden shed at my childhood home in Strethall I came back home with the bike I used to ride as a child. It has been mentioned a few times about my slightly limited growth in the height department! After finding a perfect basket I now jump with joy at the possibility of delivering fresh bread on a bike. The basket filled with bags of baguettes and more. Do watch out for a crazy baker on a bike!
To end blog number three I want to leave you with one of my favourite quotes that I think helps to put sustainability and our responsibility today into perspective.
"The best time to plant a tree was always 20 years ago, but the second best time is today."
Comentarios