Bee Green
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Our gorgeous tasting cakes are just part of what we do here on Naish Farm. We take care to step very lightly on our environment. This eco-caring approach is represented by our "Bee Green" symbol.
We have gently adapted the old farm buildings to house our bakery and packing areas, whilst retaining all of their original features. Our office was originally a set of pig sties - everything from stable doors to floorboards have been reused and recycled as part of our "make do and mend" philosophy. We enjoy working with what is already here, albeit quite quirky and challenging. We'd feel a bit out of place in a purpose built "factory" & we'd miss the wildlife... |
Details of our ongoing Bee Green projects
Live Webcams
We have installed two live webcams so far - one overlooks the yard where Joan and Bee live and the other is installed in a nest box by the bakery. This has a nest in it that we have seen a great tit building.
Tree and hedgerow planting
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Planting has encouraged lots of different species of birds to come and make a home here.
So far we've planted 6 horse chestnut trees & several oaks in the front paddock..... we'll be old & more wrinkly before they're large enough to hold a bird's nest though!
The hedgerows which Matt planted 3 years ago are well established now and resemble a "bird motorway" in the Spring. We regulary sight:
redwings, tits, gold crests, wrens, pied wagtails, goldfinches
plus many others.
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We've picked up many tips from
visiting Pam Lewis's wonderful wildlife garden, Sticky Wicket. Please see www.stickywicketgarden.co.uk for
inspiration. We've installed woven willow bird feeders after seeing them being used in Pam's garden. These pretty swirls of willow & hazel allow tits & other small birds to feed without being hassled by the bossy grey squirrel.
Operation Goldfinch
This is our ongoing mission to encourage
more of these beautiful little birds to feed and feel safe in our wildlife pocket which runs out to the back of the bakery. We've noticed a definite increase
in sightings since we allowed the finches' favourite food, thistles,
to spread.
It might look a bit untidy to visitors, but once we've
explained why we're allowing this patch to run wild, they agree that
it's a wholly good thing. What's not to love about encouraging more
goldfinches to make their home at Naish Farm?
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Recycling
We recycle all of our cardboard, foil, glass, plastic and paper. We're also installing a new toilet for the Bee Shack cafe which will be using harvested rain water. We have also installed solar power security lights around the site.
Packaging
The packaging we use is getting greener month on month as technology keeps improving. It used to be impossible to find a biodegradable film that didn't become "cloudy" and brittle after freezing. We've now located one & have switched over to this alternative for most of the film we use. Our cakeboard inserts are also from a sustainable source & are recyclable. We can still do better & we're currently investigating soya based ink to print onto our packaging .
Traffic Reduction
We are also very aware of the traffic we generate in the way of delivery vehicles to the farm. We have extended our storage areas to enable us to take larger quantities of ingredients and packaging at any one time. We then have to hold more stock than is ideal but, on the positive side, we can order less often & thus have fewer delivery vehicles.
For delivering our products, we do not run any of our own vehicles. Instead our goods "piggy back" on lorries which travel fully loaded & more efficiently on established transport routes.
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