What do we do?

This week I had the absolute pleasure of presenting Barkwheats at a conference alongside other B Corps King Arthur Flour and Comet Skateboards, as well as one of the Co-Founders of B Lab, Bart Houlahan. At the beginning of the conference I really was struggling a bit with what exactly Barkwheats does. I know we make dog biscuits that are absolutely the best ones that a person could buy for their companion, but we really do so much more.

So, I talked to my girlfriend, expressing my emotional distaste with saying “we make dog biscuits” and we came back to the core of what we do. We work with small scale, diverse farms to purchase ingredients directly from the farmers who grow them, help support them to keep farming and to keep feeding their family. The farmers that we work with in Belize through our partnership with Sustainable Harvest International now have a market for one of their crops, which diversifies their income, helps to bring them and their communities out of poverty, and helps to further accomplish SHI’s mission of stopping rain forest devastation and rebuilding the lungs of our Earth. How we do that? We make dog biscuits.

Another thing I became much more aware of at this conference was the importance of collaborative efforts, and relationship building. The word “trust” was talked about often. Personal relationships are so important, and there are many, many people who’s closest friend is their dog. And when I say many, I mean… a lot around this country. It’s extremely important for our dogs to eat a proper diet and nutritious treats to let them live the long life they deserve, as all dogs really want to do is be a happiness provider to us. Why would someone want to give them something that would do harm to their health?

Dogs can bring joy into so many people’s lives, and we want to bring some more joy into their lives by providing a healthy, nutritious biscuit that we all can feel great about. We know people care about their food, and people don’t think they do, deep down I know they really do. Without food, we wouldn’t live. Without farmers, we wouldn’t have food. With Barkwheats, we can help keep these farmers doing what they do best… providing us and our companions with life.

A new week

Monday at the Sustainable Harvest International – Belize office was buzzing with Field Trainers and farmers.  I’m now sitting in front of 2 and a half pounds of wonderfully aromatic ginger (or shinsheer as in Kekchi Mayan) to bring back to the US with me.  This is the first bit of harvesting for the ginger, and the farmers are planting more as we speak for our wonderful dog biscuits.

To hear what it means to these farmers to have a market for their ginger is inspiring.  We’re continually amazed with what these folks are able to accomplish with what little they have.  To be able to give them access to a market  and get them funding to be able to send their children to school, put food on their tables, buy other things that we take for granted like soap and other small daily items.  The smiles on their faces tell us all we need to know about how working with Barkwheats makes them feel.  We’ll have many pictures up on our site soon so you can all feel what we’re feeling.

The next time I post I will most likely be back in the states.  We’ll be without internet starting tomorrow until we arrive back in the USA.

Above: Marianna Shol is the the principle farmer on her property, while her husband is working on the current road construction going on in Indian Creek village.  She showed us the ginger she has growing for Barkwheats.

Finally…some Belizean pictures!

We are finally at a regular computer instead of just our ipod touch, so we uploaded a few pictures for you to check out.  Enjoy!

<One of our ginger farmers, Gregorio.  We surprised him and his wife STILL made us food! Delish!

And a super cute boy in the village of Boom Creek

Responsibility

As I travel through Belize and visit the farms and the people who work them, I’m learning a lot about people’s visions of responsibility to the land they work.  Hearing the stories of Gregorio Caal and how he’s been farming that land pretty much since he was born, and his family doing the same before him, and because of SHI he’s now able to farm that land more productively and responsibly than he had ever imagined.  He’s since formed a farming cooperative in his community, expanding his reach for what things he grows, and providing a really great life for his family and his two wonderful dogs, Snoopy and rambo.  Completely precious dogs!

So today, we are heading to the TCGA and to a demonstration farm where they are growing more ginger.  Hearing the stories of the folk here is really something I could never have imagined.  Big time touching stuff, and I’m so happy to be able to work with them.

Till next time…