Earth Day is a day to take stock on how we’re doing to measure up on our core value of sustainability.

We take great pride in the fact that by doing all of our production and fulfillment in house in our Catskill, NY facility, we substantially cut back on our carbon footprint by avoiding extra shipping between co-packers and fulfillment centers.

And as we hope you know, we strive to source all of our ingredients based on as many as possible of these criteria:

• Organically grown
• Regeneratively grown
• Locally owned

 

What do these actually mean, and why are they important to us, and to Mama Earth? 

Organically Grown

If you’ve looked closely at our labels, you’ll see that just about *all* of our ingredients are certified organic. That means they’re grown using natural fertilizers, compost, and biological pest control methods to maintain soil fertility and manage pests, and without synthetic inputs like pesticides, fertilizers, and GMOs. Organic farming emphasizes soil health and biodiversity through practices like crop rotations, polycultures, and habitat preservation, supporting ecosystem resilience and aligning with principles of sustainability and environmental stewardship.

Organic certifications  like USDA Organic and EU Organic ensure that these practices are adhered to, but are extraordinarily expensive for farmers to obtain, so it’s out of reach for some of the smaller, family-owned farms that we prefer to source from. Case in point, we source our horseradish from a no-spray family-owned farm that adheres to organic principles, but just doesn’t have the certification.

And then there’s honey. As beekeepers we know that by nature, honeybees travel a five mile radius from their hives on the regular. So the only way to get certified organic honey is to source it from beekeepers whose bees pollinate big commercial farms that do have organic certification. Most of those farms are monocropped, meaning they lack the natural variety of pollination that makes wildflower honey so robust in both taste and wellness benefits. And those are not the kinds of farms we have in the Northeast, so limiting ourselves to organic would rule out just about all of the honey that comes from our area.

 

Regenerative Farming

Particularly close to our hearts, regenerative farming focuses on producing food in a way that restores and revitalizes the ecosystem, going beyond sustainability by actively working to improve soil health, biodiversity, and water retention. Practices such as minimal tillage, crop rotation, cover cropping, and holistic grazing are integral to regenerative farming, and we use them in our own small farm where we produce many of the ingredients we use for our new product development.

The key principles of regenerative farming include:

• Soil Health: Regenerative farmers prioritize soil health through practices like composting, mulching, and diverse crop rotations. Healthy soil promotes nutrient-rich produce and sequesters carbon, mitigating climate change.
• Biodiversity: By fostering diverse plant and animal species on the farm, regenerative practices enhance natural pest control, pollination, and overall ecosystem resilience.
• Water Management: Techniques like rainwater harvesting, contour plowing, and agroforestry help conserve water and prevent soil erosion, benefiting both the farm and surrounding areas.

Certifications such as Regenerative Organic Certification (ROC) and Demeter Biodynamic Certification recognize farms that meet stringent regenerative standards. These certifications assess soil health, biodiversity, water management, and social fairness, providing consumers with assurance of sustainable practices.

 

Family Owned

This means that we prioritize sourcing from small and medium-sized owned farms that are independently – rather than globally or nationally – owned and operated. In practice this means that they are able to prioritize their sustainability values over their bottom lines – and invest in the particular practices of organic and regenerative farming, whether they obtain the certifications or not. And by sourcing from family-owned farms as close to us as possible, we’re able to further cut back on our carbon footprint.

 

Have questions or comments? We'd love to hear from you! Please reach out here.