Working late and packing Sixies last night, I took this picture for you:

When you receive a finished product in it's cute little package, you can't really know all the waste that happened along the way.

These little pop-outs are a good example. They make the box way cuter! And you can see the glaze color of the pot inside without having to open it.

Of course, little bits of extra stuff add up.

This is just a quick shot from a few minutes of packing.

Because we only use paper packaging with non-toxic inks, fortunately these cast-offs can be both recycled and composted. It's not a landfill problem building up little by little.

These scraps in particular (and really all corrugated cardboard without plastic tapes and labels) are especially appealing to worm-bin worms.

I learned this from my friend Gretchen who used to come by and pick up our cardboard scraps for her worms, until she gave us our own bin (with worms!) that we use to compost all our cardboard scraps onsite. (The bigger boxes go to paper recycling)

It's a very short disposal chain: All our pop-outs and little bits become the "bedding" in our bin, to which we also add worm-friendly scraps from work lunches (like apple cores) and materials from the garden.

I wish I could say I was an excellent worm composter. I'm not really, but the worms are so accommodating. They go through material so fast, and leave behind truly lovely compost that makes our seedlings and houseplants here at the shop so so happy, even with my somewhat neglectful composting style.

Unfortunately, most waste is not so easily processed.

As someone who handles (literally) the detritus from manufacturing and packing, I'm uncomfortably aware of all the waste this time of year. How much waste happened before the product even got to you? And how much of the holiday joy will end up in a landfill in January?

For me, the emotions of sparkly excitement and holiday love are inextricably linked with the guilt and sadness of overflowing trash cans in January.

I've always personally and professionally been focused on physical waste. There's a whole other component though, which I'm just learning about: Persuasive consumption.

Persuasive consumption is when brands use all sorts of psychological tricks to generate an urgency to BUY NOW! One of the biggest ones is to slowly raise prices through the summer so that they can drop 70% off in November. Brands make deals so appealing that you can't resist, even if it's not something you were shopping for.

In some ways I feel like a bit of a sucker. We don't raise prices artificially through the year to make the sales feel better. They're actually just sales, an opportunity for you to get the thing you've been eyeing for a little less.

(Though we haven't raised prices on most products at all in a few years, and we'll need to do so soon as our costs have been steadily rising.)

Because these methods are usually so opaque, I was really interested in this detailed report about which brands do and don't offer Black Friday sales, and what's going on behind the scenes. If you like to peel back the onion on commerce and consumer behavior, I think you'll appreciate the article!

Along with lots of interesting data, it gets to the heart of my ambivalence about this season.

How are you approaching the holidays? How are you affected (or not) by the marketing pressure?

Are you finding any time to be in the garden? I'm looking forward to clearing out all the old, dead stuff in the vegetable garden today. I know there is mache (aka corn salad) sprouting under the detritus, and who knows what other treasures?!

Happy Seedurday,

Anne

When you’re ready, here are some more ways I can help you grow a thriving garden from seed:

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