'Himalayan' Pink/Rock Salt - what is it?

‘Himalayan’ pink salt being delivered by horse cart in Punjab, India

Here’s a link to a fantastic photo-essay on ‘Himalayan’ pink salt because quite a few customers have asked about this and are surprised to hear the story of the mines.

Personally, it’s not a product I will stock: it’s not renewable, the region is valuable geologically, and I am unconvinced that miner and donkey welfare can be assured during the extraction process.

Yes: when I lived in Amritsar I would buy about 100kg of ‘Pakistani’ salt as it is known, for my horses. We’d go to the railway bridge where it would be heaped on the roadside, or sitting on the back of a horse cart. As the story of Alexander the Great’s explains, it’s extremely popular with horses! It’s strange to me now that I’d never even imagined it came from a mine and was completely non-renewable!

'Supporting' a change of narrative: opting in or opting out of local businesses

It seems multinationals are often the default way to shop, with local or independent businesses the ones to opt in to on occasion, offering a feelgood factor for doing so. We suggest that is the wrong way round: instead, when we don’t shop with independents, we are in fact actively opting out of doing so - we are opting IN to supporting a multinational business with no connection to our communities.

How did the narrative, as well as our hard earned cash, get diverted in this way? How did the the passive experience become the one where we support multinationals instead of those we know and meet daily, who know us and respect us and ask us how our dog’s operation went?

We’ve heard a lot these last few months about supporting local businesses. So how about we consider local, independent businesses as our default? The local businesses are the ones who could create livelihoods in our localities, offering caring, personalised, professional services in the communities they also live and work in.

Currently, we opt in to local businesses, with the default being multinationals. Let’s instead consider how we are opting out of local when we shop with a multinational. When we change the narrative this way, saying we are opting out of local and into Amazon, the feel good factor disappears. So let’s change our thinking, from one driven by those multinationals, to one driven by our communities and the businesses and enterprises within them instead.

Thoughts on the back of a postcard to us here at Re!

And here’s a random picture of Mr Wonderful Flower Man - the ultimate shop local florist on Dal Lake, Kashmir, as he’s heading to work at dawn.

It's not a business decision...

Loving our new masks! Our latest effort at doing the best we can for our customers

Well! Who’d have thought we’d be trying our masks for size on a sunny Sunday morning in May. Normally in the Singh household Sundays are for essays, friends and family. Now they’re for updating websites and squeezing essays in around the edges because we are sooooo flipping grateful to have the ongoing support of so many customers, old and new, at Re!

In the middle of March, Navneet and I had a chat. We set out to remind ourselves who we were, what our business meant to us, and how we thought we could adjust as time went on. I mentioned potential ‘commercial disaster’ or some other drastic scenario. Navneet’s point was “You need to do what’s right. It’s not a business decision. If it was, it’d be a poor one.” [note - he probably didn’t actually say ‘poor’, ahem!] We determined to remember that, over the coming weeks, if things got tough, and it’s still our guiding principle at this time.

So the last few weeks have been odd. Navneet is in the business much more, as many of you know. That enables us to limit the exposure of the shop, and therefore our customers. And, very importantly, to protect our fantastic team who we miss a LOT.

So thank you to everyone, for bearing with us. We are very much still the same Re. We just do the packing for you! But the feedback is that you are happy with our decision. Your feedback will continue to guide what we do. Once summer exams are over (in a few weeks) we will put a proper e-commerce site up for those who prefer to shop that way. Until then, it’s those rustic lists all the way!

Looking forward to many more collection-day chats!

Lindsay & Nav

Genuine effort over greenwash

Yesterday’s fantastic news that Northamptonshire brand Farrington’s had achieved net zero on both plastics and carbon was very welcome. We sell ‘loose’ Mellow Yellow oil here at Re, and it’s incredibly popular. When we’d first spoken to Farringtons in Spring 2019 we’d asked lots of questions about their production - just because they were local didn’t mean they were going to be the automatic choice if they didn’t stack up on caring for their land and the broader environment. They were incredibly open and helpful. As such we’ve been happy customers of theirs since we opened. The ethos of the whole company is one of care and responsible stewardship.

The same day, news of Unilever’s project was also in the press. They apparently plan to provide door to door refillables through their new brand, Loop. Of course, this got much more press than Farringtons - massive PR and advertising budgets can have this effect. But we have to ask whether it’s greenwash to Farrington’s authentic approach.

Today’s news brings us an article again reviewing the true costs of our delivery habits. Surely the Loop project will have to work very hard to avoid the same pitfalls. But when the business (for that’s what it is, not altruism, let’s not forget) is backed by multinationals with questions to answer on human rights, emissions, business ethics and environmental standards can it be anything other than greenwash? We think not.

The solution? Shop local where you can. Give the little guys a try. Support ventures in your own communities. And also consider that if something’s that cheap, then if you’re not paying for that, who is, and why?

Basically? Come to Re!!

Triple Bottom Line inventor asks for a rethink

Serious post alert folks!

Quite a few of you know that here at Re we are interested in the bigger sustainability picture. Whilst we love buying local where we can, and delighting in it, there’s plenty of things that come from further afield. We’re slightly fixated on how larger organisations measure and act on sustainability. Our current pet subject seems is how localised targets are: one company or government gets ‘net zero’ whilst failing to mention the impact on communities elsewhere. This article touches on that. We recommend a read.

John Elkington, who coined the Triple Bottom Line concept originally says also, ‘To truly shift the needle, however, we need a new wave of TBL innovation and deployment. But even though my company, Volans, consults with companies on TBL implementation, frankly, I’m not sure it’s going to be enough. Indeed, none of these sustainability frameworks will be enough, as long as they lack the suitable pace and scale — the necessary radical intent — needed to stop us all overshooting our planetary boundaries.’