It's mulberry season again

This evening I hit three mulberry trees on my run with Rusty and for a change she let me stop for a bit to pick and munch (a trade for letting her stop and sniff). My favourite tree from last season did not disappoint. 

Two years ago I'd seen another tree with an abundance but as it was greatly pruned last year I didn't get any of its fruit. I got it this evening and these must be the sweetest I've ever eaten. 

Further on I joined a young boy picking white mulberries. I've often found them to be disappointing in flavour but these were good. I brought a handful home for Celliers and the children to try.

Rusty doesn't eat mulberries.

Last year I made a few mulberry desserts. I plan to make at least one in the next week to properly celebrate the season's abundance.

Learning about retail

YOLO is a big learning curve for me. A lot of what I have been doing comes from 'educated' gut instinct and it was good to have some of this verified.

Setting prices for products is difficult. We know our production costs and also need to make something on each item to cover salaries, marketing and other business expenses. But pricing isn't as simple as 1 + 1 = 2 because the price has to be one that the market will be prepared to pay for the product. For us, this means compromising to give our customers the most reasonable deal.

Our YOLO Compost Tumbler was very kindly 'hosted' by a gardening place for a few weeks to gauge interest from the public. Despite August and September being our busiest months to date, I didn't receive a single order through them. As I had to be out their way on Thursday, I dropped them a quick note to say I'd be through and that I'd collect my tumblers. I also thanked them for being so willing to put my compost tumblers on display and that I hoped in time, as our brand builds, that there will be more demand from the public for our product to be in their store.

The guy replied to say they'd had lots of interest but that the price had put people off. As I believed that my YOLOs were priced there at my recommended price, I'd been thinking that what was missing was the one-on-one interactions that we've enjoyed at expos and which the compost tumblers would have missed at his place.

It was only after I collected the tumblers that I saw the price tags...

We sell the small double at R2,295.00. Their price: R3,469.95.
We sell the medium double at R2,995.00. Their price: R4,159.95.

No wonder!

Unfortunately hundreds of potential customers may have been put off ever considering a YOLO Compost Tumbler but there is also a silver lining in that now have confirmation of what the market is not prepared to pay. I wouldn't either!

If people are not composting already, by any means, our YOLO Compost Tumbler is the best solution for them - apartments, townhouses and homes with gardens. But, starting to recycle organic waste from your kitchen and garden doesn't happen overnight. This is a 'behaviour change' process and it comes with a price tag, unless you have space in your yard for a compost heap in which to dump organic material. Whether a person decides to go with a YOLO Compost Tumbler, bokashi system, hot bin or wormery, it costs to buy something to help you turn organic waste into nutrient-rich compost.

We're still in the first few months of our business and while we have a long way to go, we're doing things right by considering the customer first. 

Want to know what our most popular YOLO Compost Tumbler colour combinations are? From the beginning, green-yellow has been a favourite combo. We introduced our brown and grey colours in late August and have seen a rise in the popularity of green-brown. Green-orange is a favourite in the medium and large sizes while brown-grey is also currently trend in these sizes. The orange-yellow combo comes in waves. We have made a number of units in 'outlying' combinations like grey with green, orange or yellow; these look amazing too.

When in Parys... go kayaking!

This weekend was a treat with a visit from my dear friend Allison. This was her first chance to come and see and experience my new (almost two years!) home.

The water is low, at around 30 cumec, but this also makes it a very friendly level. Some bumpy rocks in places but with easy-to-negotiate rapids, especially for beginners. We put Allison on a sit-on-top whitewater kayak - the same as mine - and she did superbly on her first time on our Vaal River. She took a swim early on, which is never a bad thing because once a swim is done then there is no need to spend the rest of the trip in anticipation of one. She also swam on the last rapid - but only after unintentionally catching a good surf on the wave.

I had a good outing too - no swims bar one at Gatsien while surfing. I'm learning more techniques, like ferrying across the river using the current and also surfing in rapids. Both are good fun and I'm enjoying the benefit of improved skills.

Ruben is paddling like a star. Celliers took the photos and Estienne, who is training to be a river guide, came down with us for the fun of it. We put in at Otters Haunt and paddled about 10km downstream to take out at our friend's place. It was a beautiful day with sightings of two goliath herons, a grey heron and a likkewaan that swam across the river towards us.

On Wednesday at the paddling club Celliers is going to get me and Ruben into polobats - the canoe used for playing canoe polo. Last week he taught a young paddler to learn how to do handrolls (rolling the polobat using your hips and hands - no paddle) and this will be good practice for me and Ruben too (and another young paddler has asked him to teach her too). 

Next week or the week after I'll get back into my sit-in whitewater boat to practice rolls and I'll also spend more time with the sit-on-top playing and surfing at Gatsien. 

This is a summer for learning.

Allison taking a rapid beautifully.

Allison coming through in style.

Allison missed the line (to the right of where she is) and showed us how to negotiate a shelf. She did good and recovered from a near flip to make it downstream. 

Ruben and Celliers.

Estienne coming through.

Me. Having fun.

Me.

Me and Allison.

Ruben totally rocking.

Ruben doing so very well.

'Lazy Sunday' river paddle and run

Yesterday I had one of my best activity days in ages. While my running has been regular and consistent for many months, I haven't done much in the way of distance as I run with Rusty and I have been very short on time. To get in some distance, I decided to run home from the take-out at the end of our river paddle -  a perfect combo.

I haven't tripped the river since last summer, where I probably set a record for the number of swims down rapids (3!). The river has been up a little - at around 35 cumec - so it was a good level to run.

There was Celliers, me, Ruben (9), Kyla (12), Hugh, Eric (12) and Karen. Ruben, Celliers, Hugh and Eric have been on the water quite a bit recently and Ruben is paddling beautifully. He and Eric take turns leading through the rapids - very sweet. Karen regularly paddles on the river while Kyla has paddled less than me.

Well, 35 cumec is just lovely! No swims for any of us! Yay!

The river is looking magnificent with green-leafed weeping willows on the banks, birds twittering all over and everything looking bright and sparkly after the recent rains. I didn't take along a camera so I don't even have photos to show you.

We took a route down that I haven't taken before. The Vaal River around here has many islands and channels and not all of the channels allow passage. I really like the narrow channels with vegetation on either side. It is quite magical. The rapids were all great and I didn't even have any near swims. Clean runs that felt good.

When we got down to Gatsien ("See your ass") rapid, the last one before the take out, we hung around there to surf the wave. This is where we have local kayak rodeos because this rapid forms a really great wave. This was my first time surfing and I had a blast. I even did a bit of manoeuvering in the rapid and a few time got in and out without swimming. Of course, I did take two swims too - it is a good rapid to swim with little risk as you get washed out immediately.

I'm paddling a sit-on-top whitewater kayak, which suits my novice status. This run and the surfing has definitely added to my skills and confidence and I'll definitely do more of this before getting into my sit-in whitewater kayak. I also need to do a lot more rolling practice. With the sit-on-top I can take a swim and then climb on again. A sit-in is more of a mission. Nonetheless, a good skill to acquire and work on later in the season.

Off the water, I changed into my running gear and set off for home. The first two kilometres is dirt road and the rest is tar. With about 6km to go I phoned my mom. She was ready and waiting to bring Rusty to me so that I could run the last bit with my doggy - getting in her run for the day.

Dark clouds has been threatening and within a few minutes of my mom heading off we could fee a few drops. And then more drops. And then a downpour. Rusty handled it well and with 2km to home we took shelter under the roof of the Indian shop near the bridge. If it had just been me I would have kept running but I am cautious of putting Rusty off playing with me! I sent Celliers a message to say we were fine and that we'd head out again once the rain passed but he was already on his way to find out. Minutes later we were in the bakkie - Rusty looking very relieved.

So, a very good morning with a successful paddle and a lovely run. I aim for many repeats this summer.