Our turmeric: pt 1

These are some of the beautiful faces that grow the turmeric I use in my golden milk powders "Howdy, Dude" and "Mellow Tone" at Astro Botanico.

When I was creating this company, one of the things that got me excited was the idea of creating a "values driven" brand that impacted the lives of everyone who participated in its success - from crop to cup.

One of those values is the intention to seek out suppliers of ingredients that are "Fairtrade" certified - or better. In case you didn't know, Fairtrade pricing is a certification designed to ensure that farmers and workers are paid an ethical, living wage for their crops (or textiles, minerals, etc) under safe, humane working conditions - without the use of child labor or forced labor - while encouraging farming practices that are environmentally sustainable...to begin with. Additionally, in some cases, producers are paid extra that they can invest back into their business or into other community projects of their choice. All in all, The Fairtrade organization works hand in hand WITH producers to set the MINIMUM pricing and ethical standards for the production of all major commodities to prevent the exploitation of laborers in underdeveloped countries.

Meaning...every company out there that sells you a product containing any of these commodities COULD choose to support Fairtrade pricing and production standards, but many don't because it would cut into their profit margins.

Like turmeric, for example. There are a number of suppliers I could buy it from for relatively cheap...but it wouldn't be organically-farmed or Fairtrade certified - all of which would negatively affect the health of the plant, the health of the planet, the health of the farmers who grow it and the people who rely on them in the communities they live in, and ultimately, the health of you, the consumer.

But that's not how I want to build this company, nor will I ever knowingly sacrifice the health and well-being of other humans just to make a buck.

Which is why I was extremely happy to discover a turmeric supplier with like-minded values who pays a collective of women farmers in a small Indian community 4-6x above the commodity price to grow the most amazing, potent, and flavorful turmeric. Not only is it grown regeneratively and sustainably without the use of pesticides or fertilizers thanks to the rich alluvial soil its grown in - but it's also farmed in a way that preserves, honors, and respects generations of cultural values and tradition.

And as lovely as all that sounds - and it is - it also means I end up paying nearly 3x as much for the turmeric I use in "Howdy, Dude" and "Mellow Tone", where it accounts for approximately 60% of the total weight and 30% of the total cost in each bag.

Which brings us to pricing. You see, high-falutin' standards and ethics don't matter one whit if, at the end of the day, nobody buys what I'm selling because it's too expensive. And after assessing the competition and noticing how they all seemed to be charging a pretty good premium for what appears to be (mostly) inferior ingredients (grain-grown mycelium rather than actual mushrooms, single constituent extracts, ineffective doses of medicinal mushrooms and adaptogenic botanicals, non-organic, not Fairtrade) and/or inferior taste, I determined it would be easy for me to enter the market at a price line equal to or greater than the competition - and absolutely be justified for doing so.

But I didn't. I went the other way instead and decided to offer them for less than a dollar a day per serving because - again - values. And that’s if the serving size is set at a generous 12 oz. If you only have an 8 oz serving, then there are roughly 47 servings per 100g bag - which brings your cost down to $0.61 per serving. After all, what good is all this amazing culinary medicine if it never finds its way into the highly inflamed, anxiety-ridden, chronically stressed, exhausted bodies and nervous systems of the people who need it the most?

As I've written a few times in the past several years, every time you spend your dollars, you're essentially casting a vote for the production of more of a thing and/or consequently, less of a thing when you don't. When you buy from me at Astro Botanico, you're not just supporting my family and me, you're also supporting the lives of hundreds - if not, thousands - of people downstream from me who've been working hard for years to make these ingredients possible - and, ultimately, help make you feel amazing. And in case nobody's told you lately, you deserve to feel amazing.

"Whole plant. Whole planet. Whole people."

Those six words are the driving force behind every product I create and sell at Astro Botanico...while your continued support is the driving force that keeps those beautiful faces smilin'.

And that, my friends, is priceless.