Earth Day, Every Day

This week we celebrate Earth Day and hope to use it as a catalyst for conversation about our daily practices and what we can be doing to make this world a little greener. Before we get started, we wanted to tell you about how we'll be celebrating Earth Day this year!

One of the biggest ways we can combat the effects of climate change is through planting trees! "Trees help clean the air we breathe, filter the water we drink, and provide habitat to over 80% of the world's terrestrial biodiversity. Forests provide jobs to over 1.6 billion people, absorb harmful carbon from the atmosphere, and are key ingredients in 25% of all medicines." On 4.22.21 for every plant you purchase, either online or at the Jenks Building, one tree will be planted! That means we will be donating $1 from every plant purchase to One Tree Planted, a non-profit organization focused on global reforestation. We hope you'll join us in this cause and perhaps get a little tree of your own to take home!

OUR PRACTICES

At Flourish Plant Mkt., we care deeply about the world we live in and protecting its natural resources. We've taken measures in order to reduce our environmental impact both locally and globally and wanted to discuss those with you today. As a new business, we know this is a learning process and there will always be room for improvement. We encourage our community to make suggestions in order to challenge us so that we may enhance these practices.

Reduced Paper Waste- We think it's important to set you up for success and include care instructions for each plant. Initially that meant printing out paper tags and using twine to attach each care tag to the plant. In addition, we used a logo sticker on each pot. Not only was this laborious but this was more paper than we wanted to be using, there had to be a better way! We are pleased to announce that we figured out a way to eliminate the paper tag and twine by using simple technology and a modified logo sticker. Going forward, we will be transitioning all of our plants to our new QR coded stickers. To see the care instructions for each plant, simply scan the QR code using your phone and voila, you are sent directly to the care instructions for your new plant!

Re-Use Plastic Nursery Pots- What happens to you nursery pot after you purchase your plant? Some people will keep their plant in the nursery pot and place that within a cache (decorative) pot. Sweet! What are your options if you don't want to go that route? One option is to recycle your nursery pot just as you would other plastics. The problem with this is that not all recyclable material that is sent to recycling centers gets recycled. If a facility doesn't have the infrastructure, it goes to the landfill or is sent to the incinerator. That's garbage! So what can we do? The best way to cut down on plastic waste is to reduce/reuse! That's why we've created a nursery pot re-use program! When you are finished using your pot, simply return it when you buy your next plant! We will happily pick them up upon delivery or you can drop them off on Saturdays between 12pm-2pm at the Jenks Building. We will then wash and sterilize the pots and reuse them with our nursery plants.

Recycle & Compost Cardboard from Packages- As a business, we get lots of deliveries and shipments in. So what can we do? At Flourish Plant Mkt. we compost what we can or recycle the boxes/packing material. We like to use cardboard in our community garden to suppress weeds in walkways and in our vermicomposter (worm composting) bin! What doesn't get composted gets recycled.

Locally-Made Soil Derived From Local Food Scraps- We've proudly partnered with Cleveland-based Tilth Soil to bring you some of the best potting soil around! We sell House Potting Soil both online and at the Jenks Building. House is a well draining potting soil for indoor plants comprised of living compost, Canadian Peat Moss, coconut fiber or wood fiber, perlite, sharp sand, bone char, blood Meal, kelp meal, gypsum, glacial rock dust, and paramagnetic basalt. Each bag purchased helps support the compost efforts of Rust Belt Riders and diverts food from local landfills.

Buy Locally-Made Products- We like to support other local businesses whenever we can. Not only does that help to keep artists and makers in business, it keeps the money in the local or US economy and reduces the environmental impact of overseas shipping. We currently carry pottery from local artist Kathie Jandrey of Visions and Vessels, plant-themed shirts, masks and stickers from Variegate Design in Cleveland, potting soil from Tilth, and local macrame from Finch and Ferns! We are currently working with various other artists to bring their beautiful work to our shop and can't wait to share that with you soon! If you know of any local or national artists that you think we should carry, please let us know!

Sustainable Pottery- In addition to our lines of handmade pottery, we will soon carry a line of sustainably made pottery and accessories made from recycled materials and agricultural byproducts. More on this to come!

What are some of the ways you help make the environment a little "greener"? Tell us in the comments below or make a suggestion you think we could initiate ourselves.