Blog | Bumbleroot | Food that tells a story

Happy Earth Day from all of us at Bumbleroot!

Over the past year, we’ve come across a few facts that shocked us.

Did you know:

- The agriculture sector uses 70% of our earth’s accessible freshwater?

- One-third of greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture?

- Food packaging accounts for about one-third of municipal waste in the United States?

The design of our food system greatly impacts the health of our earth and our bodies. And there are thousands of ways we can do better. Water use can be reduced by fixing leaky irrigation systems and growing environment-appropriate plants. Synthetic fertilizer can be replaced with organic fertilizer, compost, or manure. Farmers can cut pesticide use by creating habitats that support beneficial insects (those that eat the bad ones). Food packaging can be redesigned to produce less waste.

Luckily, we get to vote for the food system we want three times a day – or for some of us who really like to eat…many more! We can choose to eat more veggies and fruits (which for the most part, use less water and energy than other food choices), eat at restaurants that source local or sustainably grown food, choose organic at the grocery store, or join a CSA to support local organic agriculture.

At Bumbleroot, we’re working to provide you with more ways to choose a way of eating and living that is healthier for you and the world. In July, we’ll be launching our first product – a tasty drink mix with all organic ingredients. Coconut water loaded with electrolytes and Baobab, an African superfruit, jam-packed with antixidants (10X more than Acai or Goji berries) are combined with organic fruits and herbs to provide a delicious, nutritious drink.

We pack the drink powder in pocket-sized packaging that can go anywhere you go and can be added into your reusable water bottle or glass. No more plastic bottles to throw away or to get lost under the seat of your car. We source from farmers using sustainable farming and harvesting practices – ensuring that our drinks are good for you and the planet.

Best of all, we will reinvest in these farming communities by giving back a percentage of our proceeds so that they can continue to grow healthy, sustainable food.

We can’t wait for you to try these drinks and to let us know what you think. Meanwhile, we want to continue a dialogue with you about the choices you make to live a healthy life that supports a healthy planet. How do you vote with your food?

- Sara

Sources:

Clay, J. (2004) World Agriculture and the Environment: A Commodity-by-Commodity Guide to Impacts and Practices Island Press via WWF

Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)

GreenDustries.com

At Bumbleroot, we’ve been building a product we love. It’s a beverage brimming with energizing electrolytes courtesy of coconut water, just one of its delicious and nutritious ingredients. Better yet, our new drink boasts baobab fruit, the African superfood that’s jam-packed with oodles of great things like antioxidants, vitamin C, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. And that means our drinks are, too.

We’re excited that our drinks are so delicious. We’re even more excited that they’re good for you and Mother Earth, too. Did you know that two million plastic bottles are discarded every five minutes in the United States alone? We didn’t either. But when we saw this gut-wrenching statistic, we vowed our product would not to be part of the problem. Instead of plastic bottles, our brilliant beverages are in powder form so that the packaging is as minimal as possible. The pocket-sized packaging means it’s also easy to keep on hand — or in pocket, purse, backpack, briefcase, diaper bag, sports bag, sports bra, passport cover… You get the idea.

But at Bumbleroot we’ve been building more than products — we’ve been building a company we love, too. A company that represents the things we care about: top-notch nutrition, sustainable agriculture, fair prices for farmers, and, of course, scrumptious snacks.

Each day we ask ourselves: Is there a better way to do the things we do? Is there a more nutritious ingredient? Is there packaging available that’s even better for the environment? Are our suppliers being paid fairly?

We’ve been chewing over these questions, and in so doing we’ve realized that there’s a lot of improvements to be made in the way food products are made and food companies are run. We’re not perfect, but we’re working hard to get close. Our goal is to create a company that we can be proud of so that you can, too.

As we continue foraging our path, Bumbleroot wants to include you, our customers, in this dialogue. And that’s what this blog is for. It’s meant to be a way in which to seed, sprout, cultivate, and grow awesome ideas. We’ll be hearing from experts on agricultural development, packaging, the environment, nutrition, and many other issues that influence this business. And we’ll be sharing stories about Bumbleroot’s ingredients, as well as the men and women who grow and harvest these unique foods.

So pull up a chair and join the discussion!

-Sara