Sustainability and care for our planet is very important. Saying anything else workingwith flowers, would be hypocrisy.
Unfortunately a lot of businesses working with herbs these days either do not care, do not have the energy, or have a hard time finding the right contacts and right affordable structures to provide a product sustainably. We have chosen to spend a lot of time researching sustainable growing, in order to know what we are looking for when contacting various suppliers. These are the following questions regarded when establishing a collaboration with Blue Lotus Suppliers.
- Is there a strategy for maintaining the local natural ecosystem around the cultivation of the flowers? Are the growers aware of how the cultivation impacts the natural ecosystem?
- How many different species are grown in one Hectar where the flowers grow? Or is it a mono-culture where they are growing? Respecting the diversity of the ecosystem is very important.
- Are the flowers Organic or even Biodynamic? According to what standards? Is there a certificate of this? To us it is important that the herbals we source are organic according to European and American standards.
- Are fertilizers or pesticides used? If yes, what kind? And how often? We don’t want the herbals we provide to have any toxic chemicals in the growing process.
- Are there any certificates of inspection for fair working conditions? Can we visit the farm? Or do you have documentation of what the daily work looks like? It is important to know that a third party has made inspections, and given approval without bias, that the working conditions are fair.
And after having been in touch with 30+ growers we finally found someone that lived up to the standards we wished for, in order to be able to say that the flowers are sourced sustainably. This process is time consuming, and oftentimes confusing due to language barriers and cultural differences. But we see it as part of our work to ensure sustainable products. If we don’t have a planet that does well, we don’t have anything.
Let’s take care of mother earth together and let's treat the many gifts that are
sprouting in abundance from the soil as sacred.