Sourcing & Sustainability
All of our ojoche is sourced directly from women’s collectives in Nicaragua. That means that purchasing ojoche directly supports rural communities and helps families build and grow. Each purchase of ojoche helps to provide education for children in rural areas, bring in food and clean water to people in need, and provide income for women and families. That also means that we know exactly where and who our product comes from and who it benefits. What we each do on an individual consumer level really can make a huge difference in people's lives. The women and families we work with often live far away from town in rural communities and have no means of transportation other than by foot. Furthermore, it can be quite difficult and unsafe for women to get jobs and bring in an income that is truly their own. In purchasing ojoche, you are helping to support and empower women and help them to strengthen their communities.
Ojoche is also incredibly sustainable. Ojoche is wild-harvested and not farmed, so actually it has a negative carbon footprint and doesn't require a financial investment up front for water, fertilizer, labor, and other equipment. The ojoche tree grows abundantly in Nicaragua, and each tree produces many, many seeds. The seeds are encased in the ojoche fruit, a green, porous skin that has a sweet taste. The women we work with go out into the forest sometimes walking for miles to collect the ojoche seeds, then bring it home where it is washed and sun-dried. Although the ojoche trees are native to the area, it is a goal of the communities we work with to continue the proliferation of this and other hard-wood trees. Ojoche trees are a sought-after hard wood tree and have been over logged in many areas of Central America. Some ojoche seeds that are collected are saved and sprouted, and eventually transplanted back into the forest for future generations. Also, because ojoche is abundant, some seeds are left on the forest floor to sprout naturally. The ojoche tree is drought resistant, and is an important canopy tree in the forest. Along with providing shade and food for forest critters, ojoche sprouts actually help to purify the air. Ojoche trees are a vital part of the Nicaraguan and Central American forest ecosystem and in creating a market for the seeds, we hope to help protect the forests and promote re-forestation in these areas.
Shipping
We use recycled materials in all of our shipping. If you ever receive plastic in your shipments, its because we reused packing material from a shipment we received!