Bloomin' Flower Cards

Our solar panels have been up and running for about a month now. We have 144 Kyocera solar panels now collecting the light of the sun that power our light, computers, die-cutters, letterpresses and more. Our 29.52 kW system should produce 42,082 kWh per year. This is approximately the amount of electricity we use.

Here are the guys from Independent Power working in December.

Hopefully we will break even on the deal in about 5 years. With all the incentives right now for solar in America, we couldn’t afford NOT to get this system installed. More importantly, we are excited about making a difference and being less of a burden on this small planet of ours.

We love our sports in Colorado! Here’s a pic of Don on TV during our Colorado Rockies brief playoff run this year. And, how about those Broncos…. 5-0 so far! Now if we can just get our CU Buffs back on track…

Here is Tia and Naomi, my two 7 year olds enjoying a wintry Sunday morning. We broke a weather record the experts say, I believe it, brrrrrrrrrrrr. Is it because of climate change? I suspect so but I sure hope not. Anyway, I hope these two beauties will brighten your day, they brighten my day everyday. Our kids are the best thing that ever happened to us. It is so much fun looking at the world through their bright eyes. If you have kids, you know what I am talking about huh, if not, I’m sure you have plenty of other great things you enjoy. I hope it get back up in the 70′s soon, I not done with fall yet.

These girls are the sunshine of my life!

- Tom Noyes

As an MBA graduate of the CU Business School (Go Buffs), I was invited again last week to speak to the incoming freshman business school students. Nothing gets the butterflies going for me like the chance to speak in front of 350 students in one of those giant stadium-style multimedia classrooms. The kids always seem to enjoy hearing our very relevant seed paper shoe string startup story, and I love telling it.

This year I was asked to talk about social responsibility in the small business environment. While most publicly traded companies have responsibility primarily to their shareholders, we on the other hand enjoy a greater sense of responsibility, one that includes our community, our employees, our customers and our environment. We make every effort to offer a challenging, rewarding, fair, safe and clean work environment for each and every one of our valued employees.

Having our roots deeply embedded in Boulder, we are always looking to strengthen our ties to the community and the city we love. We employ differently-abled individuals from various agencies within Boulder and support all things local whenever we can. One recent project in which we have invested is Boulder’s new Valmont Bike Park. (My business partner Tom will be moving dirt this Saturday!) We have always felt a strong sense of responsibility to our customers (our partners), who are helping us spread the Bloomin’ word. We strive to deliver a product that does what we claim; specifically, they really do grow! We aim to meet and exceed our customer’s expectations on all fronts (print quality, delivery time and germination rates to name a few). We continue to operate at the forefront of environmental responsibility and are looking forward to our new solar power installation in the coming months.

If we remain vigilant to these principals, we will have the chance to honor a sense of responsibility to ourselves (the Bloomin entity), as well as ensuring we remain a profitable, viable, thriving and enduring company for many years to come.

Don Martin

I think fall is the best time of year at the Boulder Farmers’ Market. Especially on a nice day like yesterday. I love seeing all the heirloom vegetables that have been cropping up in recent years.

Heirloom vegetables at the farmers market.

More Vegetables.

My favorite purchase at the market was from a woman who was giving samples of homemade salsa. The salsa was so, so good, and her shtick was that she was selling sacks complete with everything to make the salsa, including fresh vegetables, herbs and instructions. It was so easy to follow that even I was able to make awesome salsa. I think she is on to a great idea. The salsa was perfect with the fresh corn chip I bought from a Mexican family a few booths down.

Boulder Farmers Market

Below is one of my top stops at the market. Boulder Popcorn has to be some of the best popcorn grown on earth. It’s all natural, and the blue, yellow and red cobs are about 3 to 5 inches long, just like the old days. Each color has their own unique flavor, and they’re all just so tasty – and good for you too. My favorite is the Mayor’s Mix. I have purchased other old-school popcorn before, but this stuff is the best.

Boulder Popcorn is the best.

The woman below appears to spin a lot of wool on Saturdays. I am entertained by her often; so are my kids. There’s something about the way she moves… well I don’t know what it is, but I want to sit in that chair and take my turn at spinning wool. It looks like fun, at least for a few minutes. She is proof that it’s not about the money. There is something more that drives this gal.

This woman loves spinning wool, and she is good at it, too.

OK, two more pics. Isn’t this bike cool. It holds up to 6 little kids, or a lot of groceries. It is a Madsen from a company in Utah. If my kids were small enough, I would get this urban hauling machine. I think it’s the first of its kind.

Madsen Hauling Machine.

This bike is so cool I found a better pic for you.

- Tom Noyes

Ok Boulderites, the first person who can identify the location of this photo is going to win a baker’s dozen of our plantable greeting cards. FREE CARDS ARE GREAT CARDS, RIGHT? Saying the location is in Boulder, Colorado is not accurate enough. Tell me enough detail so I know your on the right trail…oops. OK, that’s my only hint. It’s like a geo cache with out the geo, but a magical cache indeed. I’ve been by this spot a hundred times and today was the first time I’ve seen it; who knows how long it’s been there.

Gnome tree in Boulder, Colorado.

We’re going to have to keep the location of this treasure a secret because in Boulder, it may actually be illegal for this to exist on public land, doh… another clue. Boulder is a great town, but we can get a little uptight about some things. Email me with correct details of the location [tom@bloomin.com] and if you’re first, you will be hearing from me. Thanks and good luck.

- Tom Noyes

Every month, throughout the month, our neighborhood community bike co-op, Community Cycles, is all about getting people off the roads from their cars to their bicycles—perhaps to and from work, or just a ride to your local gym. Community Cycles really promotes not only a way of life/living within our Boulder community, but to give you the opportunity to help our environment any way you can. Whether you choose to recycle, reuse, or bring your own bags when you’re shopping, Community Cycles has a goal to fulfill, and that goal is to get more and more of our community either walking, taking the bus or riding their bikes around town as often as possible. It is important for the city of Boulder to continue to maintain their commitment to the global impact on the environment. Here at Bloomin’ we feel the same way, and we try and promote that same logic company wide.

Whether or not you’re in the Boulder, Colorado area, you too can make that commitment worldwide within your local community, as well. For more information and/or ideas for your local community on the Bike to Work Day/Month sponsored by Community Cycles, check it out — and you can also be a part of that global green effort.