It's that time of year when the big discounts come out across the internet.
There’s been lots in the media this week on the tension between big business slashing prices to encourage sales and many smaller retailers who try to price fairly year round, unable to compete with those kinds of discounts, so are boycotting the whole weekend. We realise that many people are expecting a discount this weekend so this year we are trying to balance those expectations with our responsibility to our environment. As you know, we believe in slow fashion (carefully produced and considered purchasing) and we make sure that each of our sheepskins is of the kind of quality that means it will be a part of your home for a really long time.
We’ve been working hard on our own plan for the next 12months and beyond and each choice we’re making as a team here is being shaped by making sure we’re doing our bit to take care of this incredible landscape we’re lucky enough to call home. Last year we raised money across the Black Friday weekend to kickstart our woodland project here on the croft as well as raising money for Children 1st: Scotland’s national children’s charity.
This year our discount will be 14% which might seem an odd number! However we’ll be donating a percentage of each sale and then match funding the total and using this to subsidise additional trees for the woodland we’re creating, here in Waternish.
We’re a working croft and if you’ve been to see us, you may well have spotted our flock of mostly Hebridean (and some particularly gorgeous speckled Herdwick cross lambs this year!) grazing the land around the visitor attraction.
We want our woodland to work in harmony with our traditional crofting approach and both trees and sheep have an important role to play in the management of the land. The trees are going into tubes (many recycled from other tree planting we’ve done as a family) to protect them from foraging rabbits etc and also so that our sheep can help keep the grass and weeds down around the trees which will, in turn, give the sapling roots less to compete with. Once the trees are more established, they will encourage greater biodiversity here and ultimately be a lovely place for our visitors to enjoy too.
<The trees we’re mostly working with are ones that have grown well locally in our exposed corner of the island; Common Alder (a damp-loving tree that helps with fixing nitrogen in the soil), Rowan (a great pioneer species and locally thought to be handy at keeping the witches away), Grey willow (enjoys wet land) and Silver birch (really important for lots of types of wildlife).
Huge thanks to all of you for supporting our wee family business achieve our sustainability dreams.
