Do you sell organic flowers?
We are keeping our flowers in our field for pollinators for now, but we will keep you posted when we start selling wild flower bouquets again!
How sustainable are you?
We've been told so many times, "Organic, what do you mean? All plants grow out of the soil, that's organic matter!" or "How does what you do differ from any other local farmer?"
Click on the diagram below to find out more about our farming practices!
Why are you using corn plastic?
We believe in making choices that we feel good about. Right now, the cellophane slips you see on our produce is made from eucalyptus plants, and the trays and boxes are made from corn. We chose to use plant-based plastics over petrol-based plastic because of the obvious environmental implications (Did you know regular plastic bags take 1000-2000+ years to decompose? Let's not even mention styrofoam, and the unpickable muck it leaves in our Barrier Reef!), but also because we didn't want our vegetables to have that awful plastic taste (+ applicable health effects) that often leaches in. We didn't choose to use sugar-based plastics because they don't hold up well in the Belizean heat. We wanted an option that was water resistant, heat hardy and great for storing in refrigeration if needed.
How should I recycle my corn plastic packaging?
As you know, we have transitioned to 100% biodegradable packaging made from corn plastic. Belize is not yet equipped with industrial composting units and because it is a different material than regular petrol-based plastic, it cannot yet be recycled in standard facilities. Knowing this, you can throw out your eucalyptus plastic wrapper and corn plastic tray in the bin, or in your compost. It will take longer than 90 days to decompose because it isn't in an industrial composter, but it is still much faster than the 1000-2000+ years it takes regular plastic to degrade. Pick off the stickers before throwing the eucalyptus plastic slip/corn tray/corn box into your compost (the ink on the labels is not 100% natural, something we would love to transition to when we have the capacity to). You can also reuse your corn plastic box to hold that pesto sauce you made with our basil, right? You will notice after several uses, however, that the edges of the box will begin to degrade because of its exposure to water (Yes, it really does compost!).
Right now the packaging we have chosen is the healthiest and most environmentally sound option we could find, but we are always looking to improve ourselves and are open to any suggestions you have! Send us your ideas!
Why do some of my vegetables have a white watermark residue on them?
We guarantee that we do not use pesticides, herbicides, fungicides or chemical fertilizers when growing our produce! When you see what looks like white watermarks on your tomatoes or peppers, it's actually the calcium from water that happened to spray on the fruit when we were watering the plants. The reason our water is so high in minerals is because we use pure well water that is pumped directly to our farm from a natural aquifer!
What are these strange looking vegetables? Why heirloom?
Much like our philosophy on growing, we consider heirloom vegetable varieties (yes, the original guys!) to be important in saving the regional ecosystem and in keeping history alive.
Many of the heirloom or indigenous varieties we have chosen to grow originate in the Yucatán. This means they were meant to grow here and they love it here! Not only does this help us with pest and disease control, as they are naturally acclimatized, but it also means the people of this great land sustained themselves on these beautiful plants once too! Eat Belize, BE Belize!