ETHiCS
WHAT DOES ETHICAL MEAN TO US?
WE LET YOU DECIDE IF WE MEET YOUR VALUES
"Ethical" and "sustainability" tend to be buzz words that fly around to help make people feel comfortable. The reality is that ethical and sustainable mean something different to everyone. Because of this - and in the nature of transparency - we want to lay out all our ethical and moral guidlines regarding sourcing herbs, specimens, and the items we craft.
We hope our transparency and explainations will help inform your own opinions regarding ethical and sustainable consumption. Below are a series of Q&A's about our sourcing and how we support other small businesses/artists and ethical labor practices.
We encourage questions and comments regarding ethical sourcing and sustainability. Environmental sustainability is really important to us, and we all have a role to play as we work through the current climate crisis.
We invite educational discussion about these topics. Please feel free to reach out to us at our contact page!
HOW DO WE SOURCE OUR....
WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR BONES FROM?
No animal was killed for the purpose of being in this shop.
Most of our bones are sourced and prepaired by a taxidermist. The few specimens we don't get from him, are road kill. These are collected and then processed by a local oddities collector. We purchase our animal bones from these two sources.
We and our customers benefit from their expirence and artistic skill, and in the process, are able to support two small artists!
WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR INSECTS FROM?
Our insects are farm raised, or they are wild-caught invasive species.
Many insects we supply here are raised in preservation farms. When its their time, farmed insects are laid to rest. This preserves their beauty, as butterflies and moths with perfect wings are almost never wild-found. When a new generation of bugs are raised, some are selected for release into the wild for repopulation efforts, some are selected to stay in captivity to breed, and others are sold to oddities collectors and artists as a way for the preservation farms to fund their efforts.
Some of our insects are wild-caught invasive species that were frozen to allow them to pass away peacefully. This ensures that other native species and environments are enabled to thrive. Without efforts to remove invasive species, native flora and fauna struggle to survive. These insects pose a threat to their non-native ecosystems. They are euthanized, but are then given the opportunity to be have a second-life as art and educational tools.
WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR HERBS FROM?
The herbs used in our teas, candles, and ritual kits are fair trade and selected for their quality. We source from culinary-grade wholesalers. This ensures we can supply food-grade herbs, are able to idenify the origins of herbs and the labor practices used to produce and collect them.