A bit over a year ago, in April 2016, we introduced our new sturdy branded delivery boxes, after having two thousand of these manufactured and printed at local packing supplier Orora. Since then, we’ve packed around thirteen thousand boxes of fresh, tasty local produce – and thanks to those of you who reliably return your boxes every week for re-use (and even those who reliably return them every second or third week when you remember…) we’ve been able to hold off on placing another order of these boxes until now! Whilst these boxes are also recyclable when they finally die, that also means that we’ve managed to avoid manufacturing around nine thousand boxes over the past year, saving both the resources and energy that go into that process. By re-using your boxes, we also save money – packaging makes up a larger proportion of the average person’s food spend than you might realise, wherever they shop – and that money means we can give you more fruit and veg. For perspective, the price of a new box is equivalent to a half a kilo of broccoli; one kilo of pumpkin or apples; or one and a half kilos of carrots or onions 
– and this is what we’d need to leave out of your box every week if we only ever used new boxes. Each of the boxes we bought last year – on average – has been used six and a half times, but as the thick wad of labels on the older boxes will attest to, they’re quite capable of many more uses than that. What makes us sad is the number of boxes we send out that never come back… so if you’ve got a stock-pile of old BB boxes somewhere that you’re too embarrassed to return, or if you’ve been putting them in the recycling unaware that we do re-use them – it’s simple: just put your empty BB box (or boxes) out for collection on delivery day, or if you’re a pick-up customer return them when you come to collect your order! It’d be great if the next two thousand boxes were able to get us to twenty thousand orders…
This week’s box features a seasonal delicacy unkindly known in the vernacular as fartichokes – which make an excellent nutty flavoured soup, and are correctly known as either Jerusalem artichokes or sunchokes, but are actually the root of a type of sunflower. We’ve also got freshly dug Dutch Cream potatoes in most boxes – which apparently are hugely popular in Tasmania, even though I’ve always been a bigger fan of roasting varieties! We’re pleased to feature a range of produce from Eatem Organics in this week’s organic boxes – including some deliciously fragrant lemongrass – and we’re also pleased to have been able to include rhubarb from Premium Fresh in this week’s $40 and $25 boxes, which, like lemons, is something that seems to be in everyone’s garden but is almost impossible to reliably get in commercial quantities.
