Different kind of bargain

Through the 2010’s the big supermarkets combined our love of a bargain with our high consumption of milk to get us in their doors.

As a marketing tactic dollar-a-litre milk worked a treat but it had the cruel side-effect of sending a couple of thousand dairy farming families broke.

Michael Schulz and his son, Simon, saw the milk price wars coming and set up a processing plant on their Timboon farm.

Being able to sell their milk direct meant getting paid a fair price, which they invested back into their soils, their cows and their packaging.

In 2019 Schulz Organic Dairy re-introduced old-school milk-in-glass bottles, and this week Simon Schulz proudly announced that after four years they’ve refilled their one millionth bottle.*

The credit for this milestone Simon Schulz gives to a supportive group of around a hundred small retailers, organic shops, markets, home delivery services across Victoria, and of course their dedicated customers.

This mishmash of markets and independents are the places where the innovative and interesting small farmers and grocery makers find a home, where relationships come before market-share and sending a farmer broke just to make a sale is only hurting yourself.

As founding retailers CERES Fair Food and CERES Grocery at Brunswick East are so proud to have played our small part in bringing back milk in glass bottles.

And it’s funny this milestone happened on the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend where we celebrate our love of a bargain, because to make something as wonderful as reviving milk-in-glass happen, it asks us to find a different way to make a bargain.  

To celebrate their millionth glass refill Schulz Organic Dairy are hiding a kind of golden ticket on glass bottles that will win the finder a year’s supply of Schulz organic milk!

Here’s what you need to know;

Purchase a bottle of Schulz milk-in-glass between November 23 and December 15 and look out for the sticker or Simon’s handwritten note underneath the label for your chance to win.

Schulz are also giving away prize packs to five lucky runners-up!

You can find Schulz’s milk-in-glass here

*With glass bottles being washed and refilled on average seven times Schulz have only needed a fraction of the number of glass bottles to reach the million refill milestone and in the process have also saved 40 tonnes of plastic!

More Ultrawilding  

Thanks to everyone who entered our Ultrawild book competition – books are on their way out to the winners this week.

Ultrawild is an amazing book – something along the lines of The 13 Storey Treehouse if it was co-authored by Professor Tim Flannery and Willy Wonka.  It’s an invitation to play, to imagine and to be deeply silly in the service our Earth and its ecosystems.

Written by industrial designer Steve Mushin with the help of world-leading ecologists, engineers and designers, Mushin has created more than 100 incredible laugh-out-loud but totally possible ultrawild inventions that work with Nature to help navigate a way through the climate and ecological crisis.

Ultrawild is available at the CERES Nursery and Bookstore, which btw, has an incredible range of books and we’re not just talking gardening here. 

Have a great week

Chris