It is one thing to inspire people to grow more food, but even more important, we needed to help them succeed at it. We needed to do more than just sell people seeds. So how about a product that not only has one ingredient, but that ingredient is only four letters long.

Kelp.

We had a source for sustainably harvested kelp from the Pacific Northwest and we already knew kelp was good for plants. In fact it has been used by master gardeners for years. Even better, it is almost impossible to use it in a way that would not benefit plants, so perfect for people just learning to grow. It was simply a matter of convincing people to try it - so it needed a brand.

For me the word “fertilizer” screams chemicals. So I branded this product as Plant Tonic. For me a tonic harkens back to the health “tonics” of the Victorian era. This is very in keeping with the Strathcona 1890 brand.

When test marketing a product you want to put out the best package without breaking the bank. At the beginning of this journey I was able to source small quantities (by the 100) glass bottles from a local supplier that had a very authentic, medicine bottle look and feel. I have a bit of background in marine biology so I was aware of Ernst Haeckel a German marine biologist and artist in the victorian era. I took some liberty with the imagery as it is not the same species of kelp (but hey, Victorians were not always exacting in their representations simply due to what was possible).

Even before the pandemic, our greatest challenge has been supply chain issues leaving us scrambling for packaging alternatives. The original glass bottle was discontinued after a couple years. I searched for alternative suppliers and none had anything quite the same.

I ended up with a glass bottle from a supplier in the US. The shape was good but I had a real hate for the oversized, childproof caps that literally left our hands aching when we bottled product. I redesigned the labels with a die cut to fit better with the bottle shape. Then we ran into a new issue - we had some breakage with Canada Post (their insurance does not cover breakage) after the first couple years UPS consistently broke the bottles. In all cases this was not due to poor packaging, the boxes would arrive smashed as well. After we lost 27 cases of bottles to breakage (2700 bottles sent to the landfill!!) I had co concede that plastic might actually be more environmentally friendly.

So bottle number three was an amber PET bottle from the US supplier. Much less expensive, not easily destroyed, and less weight for shipping. PET for the win! Plus the 4000 labels we had already printed would fit. But then the pandemic hit and supply chains crumbled. After the bottles being on backorder for a six months we had to switch to a smaller, not so great bottle and a quick & dirty label, simply to be able to fill orders with something. Everybody was very understanding, we were all dealing with the same issues.

After the bottles being on backorder for a year I decided that we would have to look to China. The fact is, all the bottles originated in China so realistically we would be reducing our carbon footprint since they would ship directly to us rather than to a supplier in the US and then to us.

But dealing with language barriers would prove to be challenging. After one major issue where they claimed I had approved for them to make the new mold which resulted in the need for a new mold at additional cost, I learned to very clearly define what an approval would look like and the words I would use.

I am very happy to say that we have now completed the design and manufacturing process and should see our shipment of 7,500 bottles in mid to late October. (Bonus - our existing labels still work)

Plant Tonic: The Magical, Single-Ingredient Product