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goosemoor organic produce |
Warfield Lane, Cowthorpe |
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QUICK LINKS: Order on-line for home delivery, with optional prepayment Pay for previous home delivery orders by Paypal
...or pay by Nochex
Download this week's Pick of the Crop Price List or the latest Grocery Popu-List Our latest newsletter Links to external sources of info NEWS: Mar 08: Goosemoor wins Best Green Business award! Mar 08: Goosemoor is the only Yorkshire supplier in Times Top 35! Feb 08: check out Where does the produce come from? Jan 08: What is the difference between Organic eggs and Free-Range? | Every little helps.......We believe strongly in supporting like-minded businesses who are concerned to reduce their own negative environmental impact, and we actively boycott the worst-offending companies who exploit the planet's limited natural resources for their own profit. When looked at in isolation, some of the actions we take could be viewed as making a minimal difference to the state of the planet, but if everyone in EVERY business and EVERY home did the same, we would not now be facing the current crises of resource-depletion, waste disposal, climate change and world poverty Saving the EnvironmentRecycling & Waste MinimisationOur aim is to produce only one bin bag of real rubbish per week, which is less than half what the average household produces! Surprisingly we usually achieve this in spite of taking all our own packaging back from customers To hit this target, we firstly reuse whatever we can, mainly cardboard boxes and paper sacks. We then recycle the remaining cardboard, plastic wrapping, vegetable nets, glass, wooden boxes, & metal In the office we use 100% post-consumer waste recycled paper, and recycle it only when it has been used on both sides. We use exclusively second-hand envelopes, and our pens & markers are all refilled when they run out, rather than being binned and replaced Transport
Getting to work at Goosemoor from any distance away is not easy - the nearest bus stop is a mile and a half away, and the nearest rail station is 3 miles away However we do still actively encourage staff to avoid travelling on their own by car to work by paying a green travel bonus of up to £3 per day to anyone who doesn't require a car-parking space. This acts as a contribution either to the generally high cost of public transport, or to another driver's fuel costs, or just as a reward for working up a sweat on the bike! We also offer interest-free loans to staff wishing to convert their own vehicles to run on LPG, and once converted staff vehicles can be filled up on site at lower-than-pump prices (please note however that we do NOT sell LPG to the public). Business journeys are undertaken by public transport. EnergyOur electricity supply comes from RSPB Energy which is largely hydro-powered. We use low-energy lightbulbs and turn off lights when not required; our computers switch to power-saving mode when not in use; we have a small wind-turbine which charges batteries for use around the holding, and solar panels which charge batteries to light some of our outbuildings. Future plans include installing a larger turbine that would make us self-sufficient in electricity. Trading fairlyFairtradeThe Fairtrade Mark is an internationally recognised standard which enables small-scale growers in some of the poorest countries to receive a fair price for the goods they produce. Each year the Fairtrade Foundation runs Fairtrade Fortnight to encourage consumers to seek out great food, and enable poor communities to regain their independence. More information about how Fairtrade works here Payments to suppliersOne of the characteristics of food-production is that effort and expenses are incurred early in the season, months ahead of the sale of the product Coping with this time-lag puts great strains on growers, particularly if the buyer of the crop then takes weeks or months to pay. Our policy is therefore to pay on collection wherever practicable, and for this reason suppliers are keen to do business with us, and in a limited market we are better able to secure produce than our competitors. BankingHaving applied strong ethical principles within our own business, we've no desire to let unprincipled companies profit from our money, and so we only place funds with financial institutions who demonstrate a similar commitment to putting people and the planet before profit. Consequently Goosemoor's day-to-day banking is carried out by the Co-operative Bank, 41 Vicar Lane, Leeds, and other accounts are held at the Ecology Building Society and the Triodos Bank Charitable supportWe regularly donate perishable food to our local childrens' hospice, Martin House at Boston Spa, Wetherby, and for fund-raising activities at the York Steiner School. Recently we have donated money to Friends of the Earth, Amnesty International, Oxfam and Martin House Hospice. In previous years, the Goosemoor Festival and Open Days have raised money for the Soil Association, Henry Doubleday Research Association, and Equafor (a local charity supporting the Ecuadorean rainforest). AwardsIn 2008 we won our local newspaper's award for the Best Green Business, and we were the top-placed Yorkshire business in the Times Top 35 Best Vegbox Schemes In 2005 we won the BAFTA award from Harrogate District Council for our commitment to green issues In October 2002, lots more of our customers were placed in the Organic Food Awards, and we are very proud to be associated with such successful businesses. The categories are: Joint Winner of the Local Food Initiative Award, Winner of Best Farm Shop, Winner of Best Small Shop, Highly Commended Retailer and Commended Retailer, Highly Commended Box Scheme and Commended Box Scheme - well done to all of you! In 2001, one of our long-standing customers won the award that we just missed last year. Also in that year, we supplied produce to the Winner of the Best Farm Shop in the Organic Food Awards, to a Highly Commended Retailer, and to a Commended Home Delivery Service In 2000 we were runners-up in the BBC Radio 4 Good Food Awards in the Small Retailer of the Year category, presented by HRH Prince Charles, himself an organic farmer at Highgrove in Gloucestershire. In 1999 we were presented with an award for Environmental Excellence by Harrogate District Council, in recognition of our commitment to sustainability in the building of our new warehouse, and in switching to LPG fuelled-vehicles. In 1998 we achieved compliance with the Employment Service scheme 'Positive about Disability' which seeks to improve recognition of and provision for disability within the workplace. |
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We run a fleet of
LPG vans which produce only 20% of the emissions of
equivalent petrol or diesel vehicles