WEEK #86 You And Fill Good Are Starting Something Great!
Hello lovely,
I thought I would write and let you know about a wonderful Fill Good win, which is your win too!
With both Fill Good and Dr Planet I share many honest conversations with other stores and suppliers throughout my week.
The trend at the moment is the further into Melbourne you go staples are selling well, treats and indulgences are slow. Business is overall, quiet.
As you head further out this way, smaller stores are finally starting to feel like they are starting to get back to their pre-Covid buyer confidence.
Here at Fill Good, we have a healthy and humble baseline, even with or without social media posts or newsletters! It does bring home to me how rich the reciprocity is we all share with our community, and producers.
When I first started Fill Good, then Naked Nuts, 18 months ago I had, what I started to think of as a pipe dream of a closed-loop, no plastic food system, even in wholesale sizes. Just about all my (well-meaning) suppliers were sorry to inform me that it was a great idea to go plastic-free but just not possible, agreements like this seemed not likely. I came to terms that I would be taking on the plastic burden as do all other bulk food stores. .
My darling, 18 months later, we have collaborated this week with 2 of our existing and 2 new suppliers to supply Fill Good without plastic, which now makes a total of 8 bulk plastic-free suppliers for Fill Good!! These are unique plastic-free agreements, with Fill Good, we are their only and hopefully not their last plastic free wholesale customer.
Why and how has this changed you may ask?
Well honey, it's you consistently buying from Fill Good. When others are quiet, our community stays strong. Even without markets, those of you who have taken me up on our offer of delivery or a 5% pick-up discount have been able to bring Fill Good into a league that these suppliers now have confidence that we are worth the extra bit of time and attention. AND because we are small, nimble and committed to this cause we can take the time to do the extra work that is required without single use plastic. You guys are growing something new and, dare we say, revolutionary that may spread. The eliminating of plastic culture is gaining momentum! We are doing it my friend!!! Our humble little beginning together may pave the way for others to follow!
The elimination of single use plastic is not just ' plastic free', it is an indicator that food is fresh, local and loved. It's just not possible to have plastic free any other way
This brings me to the tangible feeling of the death of the old ways and the emerging of a more sustainable and just future.
As always it's VITAL we keep kicking our goals for food security and sovereignty, these are essential. As we have just seen with Fill Good, it is small business that can often pave the way, and spark change, grass roots per se. Food security and sovereignty is having the freedom to choose to support small businesses, producers, makers, artisans. It's keeping them alive so we don't end up with our only choices being Safeway, Coles, Aldi, Big W, Kmart, and Target! Gosh, it's the stuff of a dystopian future!
Like you all, I have hard days, and question what I'm doing. Like many other producers, I try not to think too much about the extra time and leg work I need to do that cannot be possibly charged by the hour. I am not unusual as a small business owner, I have a dream and an intuitive pull that this is just a small part of a bigger picture for us all; and truly, every single time there is a message, smile, even the most simple and ordinary one, my heart does truly warm and lighten. You guys are my heroes! Our producers keep showing up and so do you!
Buying from small, Australian businesses, as local as possible, is Fill Good's benchmark. Having these products affordable, accessible and plastic free is our role for you. We choose these guys because they care! They care about you, their products, their impact on the land and are always open to ways to make it better and with small is often able to action change quickly.
It's everyday people, going the extra mile to offer something they are proud to provide.
They also pave the way for more of us to take a chance on our dreams and follow.
The land and community we share is fertile and it's because we are showing up that it is so!
This genetic lotto win of ours per se, is not to be squandered, but a responsibility to keep showing up for the good choices when others can not.
Every sale and interaction with a small business, is investing in receiving the love and security for the future we dream of. It is an act of activism in the everyday.
When we feel powerless, being proactive in where we are called is our way of showing gratitude for our blessings. There are many ways forward here, each one unique to our own personal call.
When it comes to local resilience, your local small businesses and producers are your heroes as you are theirs!
he supermarket is purely convenience and profit-based. Quality is not the priority. Supermarkets count on us shopping there in our moments of busy. Not in our time of empowerment. And at the moment we all need to go in there, myself included, for some items as small business is still forming and growing to offer, local, affordable, and in our case plastic-free options for you all. However, sometimes a little organisation can make all the difference between spending our precious money and time on convenience shopping or supporting our locals loves.
I've had a bit of fun and with my dear woman in the chair, Jane, and we have created...
THE FILL GOOD WINNING AT LIFE SHOPPING LIST AND MEAL PLANNER
These planners have Fill Good/ Feel Good prompts, (I do love a cuppa!) as we are aiming to straddle the worlds of local, convenient, affordable and plastic-free. However, I really hope if you don't do a shop with us PLEASE use these lists to get to your other favourite small businesses! If this sings to you it may be a really simple and powerful tool to make the most of our precious time and money.
If you can, please do. If not, others are taking care of it for you, for now.
These lists will always be downloadable from our site, free. I will also add some that I have printed out into your orders in the next few weeks for as long as they last.
In the words of our dear Helen, from Timbarra Farm "We've got this" And in my words, "It's not worth doing if it does not feel/fill good"
Our farmers are selling their produce down the line for double the price we are sold the same produce. And they cannot keep up with demand. Yet they still offer their community first choice freshly picked. This is how much they love and believe in us all. Once again imagine our kids only buying from the supermarket!
Our farmers' generous actions and our freedom to choose our sovereignty to order a veggie box, join a CSA or head down to the local farmers market is precious and important to co-create. Let's say thanks in our own way 🙂🙂
Sending all our feel good love always
Chris and the Fill Good Fam
We've got this!
The pic below is Jordan from Everlasting Farm.
For more inspiring info about food sovereignty do look up Vandana Shiva and follow Joost Bakker with his Future Food System Home. Some inspiration and empowerment for all there
