HELP PLEASE!

We are thrilled to have been nominated for a Soil Association BOOM Award under the category of Most Innovative Business.  This is a very big deal for a very small company which comprises just myself with some part time help from Long Suffering Stu and my trusty sidekick JJ. Whilst the decision on this award is not based on the number of votes, the Judges are ‘informed’ by public comments and thoughts. Sooooo…… if you love what we do, have bought from us in the past or would like to support us then please do nominate us. It would mean the world to us. http://www.soilassociation.org/awards/boomawards/nominate  (Please nominate under the innovators section…..) If you are wondering why we are ‘innovative’ – I mean there are a few edible flowers growers kicking around now right – then let me give you some stats so that if you are generous enough to vote for us then you know your onions…. or flowers….. or onion flowers which are delicious…. whichever way you like to look at it! Maddocks Farm Organics was the first edible flower grower to set up an on line edible flower shop and website so both public and chefs could buy edible flowers directly from the farm. We are the only edible flower specialists that are licenced organic or for that matter licenced at all. We were the first edible flower growers to set up an edible flower blog to give advice, share recipes and help those new to edible flowers. We were the first edible flower growers to offer bespoke edible flower mixes such as Wedding Boxes and Cocktail Boxes for our customers. We are also the only edible flower growers that produce guides to advise cake makers and brides on the pros and cons of using fresh edible flowers. We have the most comprehensive range of edible flowers available in the UK via our website and it is growing every year. Not only do we sell mixed boxes but also individual and seasonal varieties. Maddocks Farm Organics doesn’t pick any generic boxes of flowers at all. Every box is bespoke and picked to customer specification – all picked, packed and dispatched on the day they are ordered. We don’t keep any flowers in stock. We were the first edible flower specialists to be selling dried edible flowers petals. We did this firstly through and with The Edible Flower Shop and now directly through our own website. The only other dried edible flowers for sale in the UK are either imported, non-organic or both.     We are the only producers of organic culinary roses and rose petals in the UK. All others are either non organic or imported. It has taken several years of research and work with laboratories and specialist rose producers to get to this stage and most people are just not aware of it. They just love our roses. We are passionate about the organics. It is integral to our business. Our electricity is supplied by photovoltaic cells: our water via a borehole and then UV filtered: our hot water is heated by solar panels. Our packaging is as green as it is possible to make it and all recyclable and SA approved. All this costs money but having a green business is extremely important to us and this is why I was made an Organic Hero a few years back by the Soil Association – a accolade of which I am extremely proud. We are passionate about encouraging people to buy British Flowers whether edible or not. A lot of the edible flowers sold in the UK currently are imported and it is entirely unnecessary when we can produce beautiful British Edible Flowers (and non edible) of our own.  Somewhere near 90% of regular (non edible) flowers are also imported incurring long airmails and these are routinely sprayed before entering the UK. We are  passionate about supporting the plight of UK bees – both domestic honey and bumble bees. 2% of our profits go to supporting bee conservation and in 2016 we are hosting a Bumblebee day and bee walk/count with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and hopefully also hosting a course in making sun hives with the Natural Bee Keepers Association (although we are still waiting a date on this). Sooooo…. that might just explain a bit about why we’ve been nominated and why we’d so passionately love to win this Award. There are also plenty of innovative new products coming to the website this year as well but I won’t divulge details of these at this stage. Suffice to say that we have been at the forefront of innovating in this field for the past 14 years and we are not going to stop now. If any of this impresses you at all – given that we are only one full-time and two part time bods then can you spend 2 minutes voting for Maddocks Farm Organics under the innovators section. It would mean a huge amount to us. Please and thank you so much. http://www.soilassociation.org/awards/boomawards/nominate Jan  

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