IndieBakehouse

05/02/2025

Rather than selling Bob’s Red Mill to a large food corporation, Bob Moore chose to transfer full ownership to his 700 employees. He founded the company at 49 and passed away at 94 on February 10, 2024. In 2010, Moore established an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), giving employees collective ownership of the business. He made the announcement on his 81st birthday, emphasizing the importance of sharing the company’s success with those who contributed to its growth. The ESOP helped protect the company’s values and mission from external influences or potential takeovers.
Moore’s decision to keep the company independent reflected his commitment to the well-being of his employees and to long-term success. This move not only ensured financial security for the workforce but also strengthened the sense of ownership and community within the company. Moore’s legacy lives on through the employee-owned business, which continues its focus on producing wholesome, natural foods.

18/01/2025

15/01/2025

So interesting

10/01/2025

Every dollar spent at a local business strengthens your community, creating jobs and keeping wealth within the local economy. Yet, chain stores dominate, offering convenience at the cost of community resilience.
Studies show that locally owned businesses reinvest twice as much into their communities compared to corporate chains. The ripple effect is profound: better schools, improved infrastructure, and more vibrant neighborhoods.
How can we shift our spending habits to prioritize local over corporate? What small changes can you make to support the heart of your community? Let’s talk.

08/01/2025

🌳🌳 The Ketelbroek food forest is located in Groesbeek, a little south of the Veluwe region in the Gelderland province. The Food Forest was started in 2009 by Wouter van Eck and Pieter Jansen and now contains 32 food-producing species of plants on its 2.5 hectares (6 acres) of land.

Surrounded by monocropped fields containing plants like corn for animal feed and rye, Ketelbroek food forest has a significant visual impact and ecosystem service impact. About a kilometer away, there is a heavily managed natural preserve, so the location of the food forest, situated between these two different landscapes (agricultural field and forest preserve), has made studying the biodiversity and water retention impacts of the food forest possible.

For example, the food forest has equivalent or higher counts of nesting birds, butterflies, and ground beetles. In 2016 when heavy rains struck, the food forest absorbed water and avoided major flooding while the neighboring fields were inundated and suffered greatly. During a drought in 2018, the surrounding fields were completely brown or required heavy watering while the food forest remained stable. Additionally, the food forest fixes more carbon annually than a field of crops on the same size plot.

30/12/2024

29/12/2024

Golding's View: Leunig.
Illustrator: Matt Golding.
Read the letters to the editor here: https://tinyurl.com/4fvm2pdb

23/12/2024

❤️ This one was always my favourite. Thank you for the beauty.

20/12/2024

Farewell to a national treasure.
Vale Michael Leunig 1945 – 2024

Michael Leunig, The Adoration of the Magpie, 1972, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 1979 © Michael Leunig

12/12/2024

Happy Friday...

If you are anything like me, you have been waiting, not so patiently, for the Onegirlstudio Pop-Up Store. Today's the day (well, tomorrow too!)

WHEN: Friday (TODAY) 10-4pm / Saturday, (TOMORROW) 10-2pm (two days only).
WHERE: Graceville Presbyterian Church Hall, 12 Bank Rd, Graceville (just across the raod from three girls skipping)
WHAT: New work from many of our best loved hand makers and artists along with some new artisan friends
WITH: beautiful, meaningful gift wrapping by
WHY: to make it easy and fun to purchase local and handmade this Christmas (since intentional shopping can change the world).

I love Lijean's words, "...intentional shopping can change the world", becasue we know it does.

(We are just across the road if you need a cold drink...or a scone!!).

Here's to a great day... whatever you get up to (I'll be shopping - see you there!!)

Caroline

03/12/2024

Our young pigs have stopped dying. After consultation with the vet and other experienced producers, we treated the affected pigs with antibiotics.

We didn’t really want to do this, but the loss of life was unacceptable on animal welfare and economic grounds.

This is a good moment to talk about antibiotic use in livestock. We have never used an antibiotic on any animal in ten years of farming.

This is largely because of our discomfort with antibiotics in the food chain, which we know our customers share.

I think there’s an important distinction between our treatment this week and general antibiotic use in factory farming.

Of all antibiotics sold, 80% are for use in livestock. Factory farms that are vulnerable to disease outbreaks regularly treat animals (sick or not) with low doses of antibiotics to improve herd health and growth rates.

This bakes in antibiotic resistance, and high levels of antibiotics in the food chain. It’s a bandaid for poor management and animals kept in horrific conditions.

This isn’t us. Keen to hear your thoughts. 🌱💪🏽❤️

03/12/2024

25/11/2024

24/11/2024

Maybe this will be of interest to one of you