Avoiding Plastic

Plastics are harmful to human health and the environment. Micro- and nanoplastics are found in the air, in our water, and in our food. Our food is packaged in plastic, and the chemicals used in the plastic matrix end up migrating into the food, even at room temperature. Of the more than 15,000 chemical additives that are known to be used with plastics, more than a quarter are known to be chemicals of concern. Yet as the years go by, we notice more plastic placed around our food, not less.

We are committed to a plastic-minimal operation, with a long-term goal of eliminating plastics completely. We do this for the health of all beings on our land, for ourselves, and for you.

Plastic-Free Customer Experience

We will provide compostable packaging materials whenever possible. Most produce can be delivered in paper bags, wrapped in paper sheets, or as bunches tied with compostable twine. Plants can be provided in compostable pots, or as seedlings in “soil blocks” that do not rely on any pot. We will not use any plastic bags or containers to store or provide food to you.

When compostable materials will not be sufficient, we use glass. We add a glass deposit to the price to encourage return and reuse of glassware. This deposit funds the purchase of new glassware when we need to restock.

Plastic to be phased out

• Some plants are still grown for part of their lives in plastic pots. We will be sourcing compostable plant pots and moving these pots out of the rotation.
• Our mushroom growing operation still relies on single-use plastics in some areas, such as petri dishes and syringes. We are using our current supplies and transitioning to glassware for these items.
• Soil and amendments are often provided in plastic bags. We are transitioning to bulk deliveries when amendments are needed.

Plastic that cannot currently be phased out

• Our garden hoses are plastic, as most hoses are. We source our hoses from Water Right, which reduces the number of harmful chemicals in the hoses and uses food-grade polyurethane. We periodically trial metal hoses, but these have been surprisingly unreliable and leaky.
• Drip irrigation systems rely on plastic. We cover as much of the tubing as possible to remove solar degradation and leaching from the equation.
• Some of our glassware is sealed with corks, others with metal lids. However, bottlecaps used for many items are still plastic, and dropper bottles typically use plastic to provide suction (though glass is what contacts the liquid). We deem this acceptable since the cap of the bottle has minimal with the contents (don’t store the bottle upside down or on its side!)
• While more of our mushroom growing takes place in a plastic-free way, many mushrooms are grown in reusable food-grade HDPE plastic containers.