Gratitude

Like many of you, I spent some time recently thinking about the many things I'm grateful for.  At the forefront is gratitude for the many lessons my mother has taught me.  My mom always challenged my brother and I to be thoughtful and to question.  She taught us to be conscientious in our actions.  She explained how to think ahead, to consider the long term consequences of our actions and decisions.  She took the time to explain things in a very real and matter of fact way and held us accountable.  

While pursuing her degree, she was learning about the many wonders of our natural world and passed a lot of those lessons on to us.  She taught us about recycling, about pollution, about balance in our ecosystem, about reducing our waste and how all of those lessons impacted the world around us. She was always passionate about learning and doing better.  That has stuck with me to this day. 

From the very first days of running my business I've held onto those lessons.  Maybe I'm just trying to run a business that she would approve of and that allows me to feel at peace with my business.  Every time I consider a packaging item, an ingredient, a piece of production equipment, I think first about how she would view it.  Honestly, I'm ok with that.  She's a good litmus test.  So mom, if you are reading this, let me know what you think.  

PS: Silly fact, the tree in my logo is inspired by the Acacia tree in the opening sequence of the Nature series on PBS.  It's a series she and I would often watch together as I was growing up.