Monday 25 October 2010

Hello all,

Another lovely sunny day but bit nippy again. A real autumnal feel, which usually means things start to quieten down as we prepare for a bit of a holiday, Christmas and next spring’s madness. But we have so many plans and projects on the go, I’m not sure if we will find time for Christmas.

This week I have been updating the catalogue for the coming year which will be winging it’s way to you very shortly, a few new varieties and a few encouraging words on how we are building in more affordable sustainability into the business. It is very easy to believe that getting more sustainable means increasing the costs but we are finding an increasing number of savings associated with the changes we are making. Sometimes it takes a bit of initial investment to reap longer term savings but occasionally it just takes a bit of focus and application. We are working on a combination of simply reducing our consumption and waste in all areas and changing kit, which both lead to reduced costs and lower carbon output.

Unfortunately although we are achieving very positive progress, there are not enough savings to prevent a price increase for 2011, our two major costs labour (50%+) and coir pots (12%) have gone up significantly and there is no slack in the system to absorb the increases. The cost of the coir pots alone have increased by over 4p/pot after the devastating fire at the production plant on top of the high inflation experienced in Sri Lanka over the last couple of years. Since the fire it has come to light (no pun intended) that although we were paying a rate that provided a valuable income for all the staff it didn’t allow enough to be put aside for reinvestment which is now going to be so vital to their future development. Naturally the insurance company involved are doing their best to wriggle out of paying back what is needed to get back to where they were before the fire and delaying the payments too (nice to know insurers are the same the world over!). So in the interest of continuing a sustainable relationship with them into the future, we have volunteered a big increase to get things back on a more realistic level. Having researched potential alternative supplies we have found that we are still getting a competitive deal and don’t forget that this is very much a handmade, multi-processed product and as, such still provides exceptional value for money.
Eco news (Don’t forget that if you receive this via fax we can save paper and email instead, just let us know)

SAVE, SAVE, SAVE.

Ok, now here is a top tip for saving loads of dosh almost instantly. This is on a personal level but makes its importance no less significant. With all the eco stuff going on we have been looking at our personal impact and heating costs have come up as a major cost both financially and carbon wise. Insulating things seems a really dull way of spending money but can be extremely effective if you don’t have much installed yet. We had a man take a look at the house this week for cavity wall, roof and water tank insulation. Despite having some loft cover we didn’t have the recommended 11 inches and cavity insulation would be easy to do. Now here is the exciting bit, we would need over £1,000 to complete the job but with the grants available we can get it done for a little over £300 and we don’t even have to apply for the grants, the company does all that. Anyone is eligible, owners or tenants (although not quite sure how this side works) and if you are over 70 it is free (yes I realise you are all under 35). Your financial situation and house size seems to make no difference. It’s a hell of a bargain. With our leaky old house we should make the cost back in a very few months and we will make those savings year on year. Don’t delay, Google ‘cavity wall insulation’ and loads of sites will offer their services, all at very similar rates.

Our wind turbine and sustainability efforts got recognised on the 10:10 website this week with a great little blog article. Fame at last. Link: http://www.1010global.org/uk/2010/10/making-cut-kirton-farm

Electric consumption on nursery down by 23.37% for 2010 up to the end of September. Water consumption down 15.6%.

Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

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