14 November 2020
It feels a little strange to be up this early on a weekend and not be covered in a layer of stone-milled flour already! The past two weekends have been an amazing experience. We consider ourselves privileged to get to deliver bread, straight out of the oven, still warm to our market customers. Of course, the breads barely needed Herbie the Herbinator's oven crisping last Sunday, with the intense heat wave that hit Pretoria. Despite the wind the previous week at the Kloofsig market, and the heat at the Vegan Food Fair last weekend, we had really super days, getting to chat to our customers in real life. We are so appreciative of those of you who followed our social media and then came to see us at the market. At times, it can feel like the world is all about plastic-packaged fast food. Then we meet like-minded people and we have renewed inspiration to do what we do best: bring you a great product without being detrimental to the environment.
Last weekend, we had a pigeon visitor outside the Rooted Herbivores bakery at my folks' house. Puffy, as he became affectionately known, came for the bread crumbs and didn't seem to want to leave. Otherwise apparently healthy, he didn't seem to be able to fly. At the advice of my bird-lady friend Vicky (seriously, everyone needs a Vicky in their lives), we provided a cardboard box shelter for the night and hoped he'd be well-rested enough to take flight the next day. Puffy had become accustomed to the cushy life, with access to fresh bird seed, a dripping hosepipe for fresh water, shade from the sun and doting humans to check on him. However, the threat of Pilchard, the resident cat, having a sudden hunger pang when the human backs were turned, was a bit too risky, so Puffy had to be relocated to a bird rescuer, who kindly took him in and will be investigating his flightlessness (it can only be partly due to his desire to live the pampered life amongst the Rooted Herbivores staff). A similar scene played out at our house when our labrador cross husky, Ponchos, was merely trying to inhale a baby sparrow who had fallen between a rock and the wall, with the parents desperately shrieking and dive-bombing the oblivious canine ball of fluff in a futile attempt to save their offspring. Luckily Ponchos is easily distracted, and the baby was safely removed.
Realising that not everyone has the privilege of access to a garden, creates a responsibility for me to create a habitat for urban wildlife. As human population grows, and carbon emissions continue to rise, despite the terrifying science pointing to catastrophic consequences and knock-on effects, should the global temperature rise any more, we have to realise that sustainability is no longer enough. It's not enough to sustain our current trends of consumption, pollution and destruction. We need to look at ways to regenerate. We need to add value to the earth's resources, not merely sustain ourselves, but regenerate, reclaim wild spaces, so that the next generation has a chance. For this reason, we're changing our logo from Rooted Herbivores - Sustainable Living, to Rooted Herbivores - Regenerative Living. We want to provide goods that are produced in a way that adds to soil, which is after all, a finite resource. We want to make use of suppliers who don't use pesticides. We want to not only conserve our tiny immediate environment, but also to enrich it. We want to commit to irrigating with rainwater as far as possible, avoid using pesticides, growing companion crops and promoting garden diversity. We want to create habitat for urban wildlife, and grow more food right here that doesn't need to be transported in refrigerated trucks for kilometres. It's a long-term goal, but we have to start somewhere. We hope that every newsletter will bring a new update on how we're moving closer to that goal.
These past few weeks have been a haze of tea tree and aloe fumes from the burn gel I've been applying, after Herbie's numerous attempts to brand my hands and arms, as I learn the art of retrieving breads safely from the oven. I haven't been the only busy bee in our family venture. Apart from the usual crocheting of face scrubbies and jam and rusk baking by Mombles (Celia) and a budding tomato and Pepperdew crop needing tending in the garden by Dad (Sven), our younger team members Hannah and Josh have been in the thick of exam writing and Arienne has been counting the sleepies until Father Christmas comes. Marijke has been wrangling the admin beast like a pro, while balancing the ever-changing travel policies as each country tries to mitigate Covid-19 infections. Should you also hear the ocean calling and feel like a local or international dose of vitamin sea, be sure to contact Marijke (https://www.travelcounsellors.co.za/marijke.davel) for personalised service and a human to call if plans need to change (As 2020 has taught us, this is frequently the case!). Kirsty has been conjuring up some amazing social media posts to share what we do best: getting our delicious products to our eco-conscious customers. Kirsty has also been busily at work with a website revamp, which we are psyched to be revealing in the coming weeks! This will include our new logo text and a fresh new look to display our awesome goodies.
With Christmas around the corner, we're busily putting together gift packages. Our face scrubbies, water bottles, seed packages and other items make for fabulous stocking fillers, should you prefer to compile your own gift package. The mad scramble for teacher gifts can also be avoided this year, as we've put together options to fit every budget, and we've included the cost of delivery, to save you the hassle of driving around to pick up spoils for your kiddo's daily superhero. Be sure to watch our social media for updates!
This morning I'll be swapping stoneground flour for a fine coating of castor sugar, to bring egg-free meringues to our list of gift offerings. While those are drying out in Herbie's warm interior, a baby butternut plant is crying out for some trellising and cabbages are awaiting harvest to hopefully be bringing some sauerkraut in the near future! Byron will be delivering a stash of par-cooked frozen bread to the Green Thumb nursery in Benoni. This means you'll be able to purchase our frozen sourdough breads to bake at home and bask in the glory of finishing off a crisp, warm sourdough to be gobbled up at any time. If you're in the area, you won't be disappointed at the offerings in the store, nursery and restaurant, complete with a play area for the kiddos.
Meringues are calling! Until we chat again,
Claire
Regenerator
Urban wildlife lover
Oven wrangler