And we're back! Life got away from us these past few weeks as we have been elbow deep (literally!) in seed starting. But "Sustainable Sunday"—or Tuesday—is a labor of love that we don't want to let fall to the wayside, so here we are... late, but HERE. If you are new to our blog/updates, we are a flower farm that aims to focus on sustainability beyond flowers. How can we each make the lives we lead just a bit gentler on our earth? Each week you will find a simple tip that you can hopefully implement into your own life.
This week, CATALOGUES! The gift that just doesn't stop giving. You know the story, you order one tough-to-find item online as a gift for a friend or your kiddo and suddenly your snail-mailbox is inundated with catalogues that you have no real interest in.
We ordered a large platform swing for our kiddos for Christmas—a gift that may have been just as much for us as it was for them— and now we are on "the list." The company has fun and unique products and I can definitely see us ordering an item from them again in the future, but we don't need a print catalogue to do so. The company's website is just as good, if not better, since it allows the viewer to filter their search and find exactly what they are looking for.
Each year for the holidays we send gift baskets to a few loved ones out of state... food is always a great gift in my book! I went to our mailbox around Thanksgiving last year and found three catalogues from the same company and two of the catalogues were identical! So much waste. For me it made me think twice about ordering from them and this is where we need to use or voices and our buying power to support the companies that share our ideals.
I am by no means saying that you should never use or enjoy a paper printed catalogue. When it is seed ordering season on the farm I live for the day that our tangible catalogues begin to arrive. I brew myself a cup of coffee or pour myself a glass of wine (depends on what kinds of day it's been!), grab my highlighters and start earmarking pages. I'm a visual, hands on type of person, so when I'm ordering a large amount of product, my brain needs to sort through my list physically. I often snip these images out to create a seasonal map of what I will be growing, which helps me insure there aren't any gaps in what I plan to grow. It's a great way to give a second life to what has been printed. In short, if there are catalogues that you truly enjoy there is no shame in that. It's the ones that you will likely never utilize that really need to be done away with.
So here's your action item for this week: when these unwanted catalogues show up in your mailbox, take a moment to cancel them. Almost all have a 1-800 number on the back and an automated system that will allow you to cancel without even talking to a human. I called these two this morning, it took me less than 10 minutes and I was happy to know my action would save a tree or two in the future.
Cheers!
Krista
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