S9 Ep18: Rooted in Change: Reimagining the Christmas Tree Tradition for a Greener Future with Scott “Scotty Claus” Martin
“It's not that capitalism is out to destroy the environment. It's basically there to make money. And so, if you can replace the mechanism by which it makes money with something that is beneficial for the environment, it'll continue to do that.” —Scott “Scotty Claus” Martin
Christmas trees are a beloved tradition, but the environmental impact of cutting down millions of trees each year is undeniable. But what if there was a way to enjoy the festive spirit of a Christmas tree without the waste? The answer may lie in the concept of living, rented trees— a sustainable solution that's gaining traction.
Scott “Scotty Claus” Martin, the founder of the Living Christmas Company, has dedicated his career to revolutionizing the way we celebrate the holidays. With a background in landscape design and a passion for environmental stewardship, Scotty has been on a mission to change the narrative around Christmas trees and promote a more sustainable approach.
Tune in as Scotty shares his inspiring journey of founding the Living Christmas Tree Company, the strategies he's developed to balance business needs with his social mission, the power of changing people’s narrative, his broader vision for using social entrepreneurship to drive positive change, plus tips for aspiring entrepreneurs.
Connect with Scotty:
Scott Martin, also known as Scotty Claus, is the founder of The Living Christmas Company. The idea for the company was born from his experience delivering Christmas trees for a local nursery during his Christmas vacation. Scotty Claus was struck by the joy and magic that a Christmas tree brought into homes but also saddened by the sight of discarded trees after the holiday season. This inspired him to create a more sustainable way to celebrate Christmas.
In 2008, he founded The Living Christmas Company, which allows people to rent living Christmas trees for the holiday season. After the season, the trees are returned to the nursery, repotted, and cared for until the next year. If a tree becomes too large to be used as a Christmas tree, it is planted in the local community or nearby forests through an Urban Reforestation Project2.
Scotty Claus's innovative approach has not only provided an eco-friendly alternative to traditional Christmas trees but has also expanded to include various communities in California, with hopes of reaching environmentally conscious people across the nation
Episode Highlights:
00:47 The Evolution of The Living Christmas
03:16 Sustainability and Value of Living Christmas Trees
09:23 Navigating Challenges and Expanding Impact
14:46 Social Entrepreneurship
19:09 Tools and Strategies for Success
21:03 Future Goals and Vision
24:19 Tips for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
Tweets:
Dreaming of a green Christmas? Discover how one company is rooting for a more eco-friendly approach to this beloved tradition with @jreichman and The Living Christmas Co. Founder, Scott Martin aka “Scotty Claus”. #podcast #entrepreneurship #socialgood #inspiration #impactmatters #NextGenChef #EssentialIngredients #Season9 #TheLivingChristmas #ChristmasTree #ScottyClaus #EcofriendlyTreeRental #GreenHolidays #EcoFriendlyTraditions #SocialEntrepreneurship
Inspirational Quotes:
01:03 “When I used to deliver cut Christmas trees, I was so excited about doing so because everyone was really happy because it meant that Christmas had arrived in their house. But seeing those trees afterward thrown by the wayside just felt not right.” —Scott “Scotty Claus” Martin
10:14 “If we were able to interrupt that stream of energy and make it more localized and employ more people locally, then it really could have a serious impact.” —Scott “Scotty Claus” Martin
13:15 “If you can change the people's narrative, people couldn't imagine killing a living thing. So if we start this with the next generation, maybe one day, people will not be killing trees.” —Justine Reichman
14:14 “When we can make those slight shifts and not lecture people on environmental things but bring it to a level of awareness and help people to celebrate in way that they value themselves, that's where real shift happens.” —Scott “Scotty Claus” Martin
14:37 “The reason we create this platform is not to tell people what to do, but to share with them different points of view, different ideas, different ways of thinking about things so that they can make a more informed choice for themselves.” —Justine Reichman
15:16 “It's not that capitalism is out to destroy the environment. It's basically there to make money. And so, if you can replace the mechanism by which it makes money with something that is beneficial for the environment, it'll continue to do that.” —Scott “Scotty Claus” Martin
18:44 “It's challenging to work with people, and when we choose to work with folks who have their own challenges, it can be very rewarding, and it can also be very challenging.” —Scott “Scotty Claus” Martin
19:07 “Disappointment is another piece that you have to learn to get good at.” —Scott “Scotty Claus” Martin
20:17 “Some things could feel like an emergency but it's not really an emergency. If it can be solved by money or time, then we're not really talking about a problem here.” —Scott “Scotty Claus” Martin
Transcriptions:
Justine Reichman: Good morning, and welcome to Essential Ingredients. I'm your host, Justine Reichman. With me today, I am very pleased and honored to have with me, Scotty Claus. He is the Founder of The Living Christmas Company.
Welcome, Scotty.
Scotty Claus: Thank you. Happy to be here.
Justine Reichman: Oh, I'm super happy to have you here. I love that we get to see you in this form, with your hat and everything. And for those that are not watching the videocast, but maybe just tuned into the podcast, it's worth a view to check out Scotty Claus. And so for those not familiar, Scotty, could you just give our listeners and viewers your 32nd pitch? What is The Living Christmas Company?
“When I used to deliver cut Christmas trees, I was so excited about doing so because everyone was really happy because it meant that Christmas had arrived in their house. But seeing those trees afterward thrown by the wayside just felt not right.” —Scott “Scotty Claus” Martin
Scotty Claus: Thank you. So back when I was like my younger years, when I used to deliver living or cut Christmas trees, and I was so excited about doing so because everyone was really happy and it meant that Christmas had arrived in their house. But then seeing those trees afterwards thrown by the wayside just felt not right. And so having worked at a nursery, I was like, why don't we rent living Christmas trees instead so they can go on living afterwards? And from there, we've just continued to build the company and to look at all the different ways we can look at making this a full cycle company.
Justine Reichman: Okay, so you were inspired by the holidays. And by seeing all the trees around, I have that visual in my head. I'm from New York so I visualize them on the sides of the street next to the garbage after the day after the week, after the holidays. And there's so many. And you're right that it's very inspirational to see that and to say, how do we fix this? Because they are living things.
Scotty Claus: That's right.
Justine Reichman: When you first came up with this idea, how long ago was that?
Scotty Claus: Early 2000, I started giving my friends different trees. There'd be an avocado tree, or something you'd see what can be inside for one amount of time. But our first official test year, I think it was in 2006 or 2007. And then our launch here was like 2008, 2009 where we were actually doing 100, 200 trees and kind of kept growing from there.
Justine Reichman: And so before this, you were working in a nursery. You were not an entrepreneur. Is that correct?
Scotty Claus: I had a design company as well. So I did landscape design, and started that when I was 17 years old. But yeah, I was also working in a nursery, so doing a bunch of different things.
Justine Reichman: You were able to take the skill set that you learned by working at another company, combining it with the skills you got at 17 by starting your own landscape company, which is really amazing to build this company. That's exciting. There's so much to dig into here. So first I'm curious, talk to me about the process of the Christmas tree, because this is meant to be more sustainable. It's to make sure that there's less waste by the side, less killing of trees. So what does that look like for you?
Scotty Claus: There's a couple different pieces, and we try not to get into the conversation of either saving a tree or carbon footprint, and really have a conversation around awareness of how we treat things that we think have value in our society. And how do we build on that value? So instead of something that's like, for example, you wouldn't go inside your front yard and cut down a tree to bring it in for three weeks. Or does a plastic tree really have the same meaning to you as a real tree does? And so how do we speak to value, and meet that in a way that feels more in alignment with why we celebrate in the first place?
Justine Reichman: Okay. I think sustainability comes along for the ride. But what you're saying is, if you're not going to do that in your front yard, which I never really thought about until you said it, and I wouldn't do that. So why would you do that any other time of year? That sounds crazy, almost, right? So I'm working on that. I hear you, and I do think, though, that there's people that live in apartments that that's not even on their radar. I grew up in an apartment in Manhattan. I wasn't going to go to Central Park, but there were no Christmas trees there. But sure, a tree. So for those folks, is the conversation still the same? Still got the meaning of Christmas, but is the impetus to get there a little different.
Scotty Claus: I think in some ways, even more so for folks living in an apartment who are perhaps a little bit detached from nature. And there are folks who do use our service just because we have elves that bring a tree into your house, and then pick it back up again afterwards. And so there's a convenience factor for being able to have something living in your home, and it's a completely different experience having something alive in your home that's sort of giving back. There's a reciprocity that happens with a living tree that just doesn't exist with either a dead or an artificial tree, something that's slowly dying in the corner, versus something that is plastic in the corner, or something that's actually alive. And you'll see the trees kind of breathing as they dry out. Or you water them, and you'll see during different times of the day that the tree moves. And so that experience is not something a lot of people get to have. And so especially living in an apartment, how would you get it? Living in Southern California, you're not going to put a tree on top of your Prius to get it to your house, and so we provide that opportunity through our elves, and then pick it back up for you again.
Justine Reichman: Where's the tree coming from?
Scotty Claus: We have The Yard in Torrance, a partnership with a nursery there who they retail some of the trees in the front end, and we use the back end of their nursery to deliver the trees out. They get delivered, and then when they come back. Most of the trees we donate. Many people are aware of the fires in California, and so we really reach out to folks who have experienced that, and allow them to pick up trees for free because they work really well for windbreaks, for erosion and things like that after the season.
Justine Reichman: How are they maintaining these trees? How are they arriving to be able to be kept alive?
Scotty Claus: They're mostly grown in pots, which helps with the stress of a tree being moved around. So they're grown in a pot. So they stay in that pot. Some trees, we will keep and shift to larger pots. Some of our other varieties are dug from the ground, and then put into a pot. And so that's how they stay alive. They've got all the roots and everything like that. And so it's just a matter of watering them, and kind of maintaining them right.
Justine Reichman: And so then when you go pick them off, they're alive, ideally. How long is somebody keeping a Christmas tree? And it's in a pot, so it's no longer that you've cut it out, you put it in the water, you put it with one of those things. I don't know what they're called, but the thing you put the water in with the screws which is not really keeping the tree. It keeps it alive a little bit, but it's not really doing the same thing. What would you say at the end of this? What percentage of the trees are in good condition and able to be donated, free use, reused?
Scotty Claus: We plan for between 5 and 10% to come back crispy. Sometimes, that's because some folks forget to water. That's one thing. Another is during the holidays, some people keep their house nice and toasty. And depending upon where you're keeping that tree, it's incompatible with an indoor living experience. There's also a factor of something being alive, and there's always a risk with moving it and stress that the tree just doesn't make it. Everyone has the experience of moving an indoor plant just from one part of the room to another, and the plants like, ah. And so imagine, now it's moving from my nursery into your home, and then back to the nursery. And so that shock factor also plays into it, and it's one of the challenges. I call it living people delivering living trees. And so there's a lot of variables that can impact that.
Justine Reichman: In my garden, if I tried to move a tree, I tried to move to one, it worked. One, it did not work. And when you bring it back from the nursery, sometimes they just don't do well in different environments. The tree behind me is a second tree. The first one I had was a fig that did not do well here. I don't know. Maybe it was just trying to get acclimated. I tried to give it a few months. I don't know how long one needs to give it, but I feel like that's part of dealing with living things. So as you started to grow this business, did you even think, I don't know if this was part of the conversation, but changing the narrative to how we think about it, how we treat living things as well. You said that you still are clear of this. I'm curious, did you look and forward the impact that you could have potentially by not killing trees? It's a much more human way to deal with something. Just on a personal level, when you say it to me, I was like, now I can't imagine killing a tree. They've put that out there. But I will say, to think about the larger picture to say, well, now if we could do this, and everyone did this, how many trees would we save? How would that impact our environment and the planet?
Scotty Claus: Just creating that awareness of something that used to just be thrown away, that had continued to live. I remember one time, a reporter asked a child and they kind of leaned down and said, do you know why this tree is so special? And the child looked at him and said, no. And the reporter was sort of stunned for a second. And I said, well, that's because to a child, this makes sense. The idea of cutting down a tree doesn't make sense so you don't have to explain to a child while this works. And so imagine if you had a whole generation of children growing up as this is the standard of how they do things. We have trees that are grown locally. Lonely environments continue to grow and so we're not doing monocultures of trees in one far off location that are shipped to another location and then thrown away. And so if we were able to interrupt that stream of energy and make it more localized and employ more people locally, then it really could have a serious impact.
Justine Reichman: I think you could expand on a global level, even to larger cities where delivery is the norm. If you get a tree in New York City, they have delivery. You don't buy it on the Upper West Side, generally, to get it to the Lower East Side. They have parks where people do it. They have different bodegas where they sell them. I can picture it right now, but it's not usual and customary to see them in a pot. And there are lots of places to go to buy plants in the plant district, etcetera. So I think there's an opportunity to expand this conversation and to explore that in different places. And so as you built this business, did I hear correctly that there was a shark tank moment?
Scotty Claus: Yeah. That was back in 2012. That didn't think a lot for the industry of changing the narrative with farmers that if you grew them in pots instead of cutting them. And since then, there's a lot of different little companies that have spread it out that do this. I'm excited to see that, and the growth of being able to shift the conversation is really important.
Justine Reichman: Yeah, I think it's amazing. My first question when I was learning about this was, well, if you're renting a tray and you're pulling it out, are you actually replanting it? But you're nuts because you're bringing it in the pot, which takes away the concern that I had about replanting. Because replanting can be a little bit more challenging for trees, then you can lose more that way. Can you share with me any stories as you were building this, and as you were navigating this industry, which people are used to buying their tree, getting rid of it, what were some of the responses that you got from folks as you tried to communicate this new way of thinking, and to get them on board, and to explore having a tree delivered in a pot, and then picked up renting it?
Scotty Claus: I'll tell you one. It's always a bit of a challenge in the logistics of the company, and we have such a short window in one particularly difficult year. I got a handwritten letter from a woman, and it was a picture of a tree, and her baby swaddled underneath the tree. She's like, I'm so proud that this is a tradition that my child's gonna grow up yelling. And to me, that was like everything. And I was like, we have to keep going. We have to keep talking about this, and creating more awareness around it. So that's one of the visions that's got me going through the years.
“If you can change the people's narrative, people couldn't imagine killing a living thing. So if we start this with the next generation, maybe one day, people will not be killing trees.” —Justine Reichman
Justine Reichman: I love the way that I might have said this already, so apologies if I'm being redundant. But I do love how you talk about changing the narrative for people versus focusing on the sustainability aspect. Not that that's not equally as important. But if you think about the chicken and the egg, if you can change the people's narrative of how most people are, they're not going to be looking for that. They're not going to want that. They're not going to go for that because they couldn't imagine killing a living thing. So if we start this with the next generation, and then the next generation, I could see that this, maybe one day, people will not be killing trees, and it might actually have a greater impact on the industry as a whole because we're talking about so many things now that we kill that are living. I eat meat, and I eat all those things, but I do think this is a completely different thing. I was like, oh, wait.
Scotty Claus: Even in all of those processes, there's levels of awareness we can create about asking the question of, where is this coming from? How is it being raised? What's sustainability? What is the embodied energy? And what are we doing? And not fool ourselves into this greenwashing awareness, and what are the actual impacts of our behaviors? And so when we can make those slight shifts, and not lecture people on environmental things and stick into these arguments around carbon footprints, but really bring it to a level of awareness and help people to actually celebrate in a way that they value themselves, then I think that's where real shift happens.
“When we can make those slight shifts and not lecture people on environmental things but bring it to a level of awareness and help people to celebrate in way that they value themselves, that's where real shift happens.” —Scott “Scotty Claus” Martin
Justine Reichman: I couldn't agree more. I think it's part of the reason we create this platform is not to tell people what to do, but to share with them different points of view, different ideas, different ways of thinking about things so that they can make a more informed choice for themselves. Whatever that choice is, they at least have greater access to information to level the playing field. For me, that was super important. I understand that for you, what was super important is building a socially conscious, focused business. Can you talk to me a little bit about that? What was it like when you realized that that was what your focus is?
Scotty Claus: The good, the bad news about capitalism is it doesn't care, which means that it's not that capitalism is out to destroy the environment. It's basically there to make money. And so if you can replace the mechanism by which it makes money with something that is beneficial for the environment, it'll continue to do that. And so I think a lot of folks rail against the system, and there are ways that we can work within the system and create meaningful jobs, which can also translate into being purposeful. So through the holidays, we give people work, and we specifically seek out folks that need help through the holidays and are available for working because they struggle. And so being able to also look at, how do we use our labor practices? And how do we do all these other pieces and other ways where we can create impact? And so those are different ways of using the market and the social entrepreneurial way of looking at things about, how do you create value? How do you impact lives?
Justine Reichman: It's so true. And for me, when I built my business, I thought, okay. Obviously, I want to make money, but it's equally as important to me to have an impact in the world as it is to make a living. Do you feel like it's luck? Do you feel like you're lucky? Do you feel like it was a choice to be able to do something that gives you the opportunity to be that social entrepreneur that's so meaningful to you?
Scotty Claus: I check a little bit with luck because I'm sure a lot of social entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs in general would at times not say that they feel lucky to be purpose driven and mission driven. It feels more like, again, a level of awareness of, once you've seen how something can go differently, it's very difficult for me in particular to do it differently. So once you can see how you can make a positive impact, then it becomes a standard for how I want to live at all times. I want to help other people and sort of invite them into the same level of awareness. I'm not sure luck necessarily comes into it, but it certainly feels like a commitment.
Justine Reichman: In some ways, I feel like it's a gift for me that I found something that sparks my interest, that keeps me motivated to be able to impact the world so positively and equally to make a living.
Scotty Claus: I would absolutely agree. It's a little bit of how I talk about our experience on Shark Tank, which makes great business sense. Make a ton of money? No, but as an experience of how to talk about the work I do, and to have an enriching experience that I get to grow as a person in my own practice, and an agility to talk about something in a different way.
Justine Reichman: So what are some of the challenges for you as a social entrepreneur, because you're motivated to build and be part of a social entrepreneurship endeavor. What are some of those challenges that you face as a founder?
Scotty Claus: I'll offer a bit of insight. One of the challenges was ME and wanting to be the Scotty Claus character who is always giving and always jolly comes with some limitations. And so sometimes, some years, I was a limitation for the organization because I would lean too far in that direction, and not quite frankly look at what the business needs to be successful. And so it took some work to get over that. And I would say that I'm still not great at it, but improving the other part is that it's challenging to work with people. And when we choose to work with folks who have their own challenges, it can be very rewarding, and it can also be very challenging. I create personal relationships with all of my elves and everyone we work with, and as those who work with marginalized populations, and with folks who really do need this work if they struggle. And so disappointment is another piece that you have to learn to get good at. And some people won't show up because of some of those challenges. And then I need to then explain to folks why their Christmas tree is going to be late, and I can't tell them the real reason why. It's just because I didn't plan properly. And so some of those real awareness is that it takes thick skin, and I still have a commitment to keeping an open heart around all of it. So those are some of the challenges that are both emotional, and I'm business at the same time.
Justine Reichman: And so now, having the years of experience that you have behind you now doing this, what are some of the things, or maybe some of the tools that you've instituted to make that a little bit more successful for yourself, a little bit easier to deal with that you could share with both our viewers and our listeners?
“Some things could feel like an emergency but it's not really an emergency. If it can be solved by money or time, then we're not really talking about a problem here.” —Scott “Scotty Claus” Martin
Scotty Claus: You'll notice my name, for example. So Scotty Claus, I go by that. Every one of the Elves has their own Christmas name, and so we call each other by Christmas name, and we greet each other. Even in all of our communication, we constantly remind ourselves and our customers that we're talking about Christmas, we're talking about a Christmas tree. And some things could feel like an emergency. It's not really an emergency. If it can be solved by money or time, then we're not really talking about a problem here. And so we can embody that. One of the challenges is you have a symbol that means a lot to a lot of people, which is both good and challenging. If you have a tree decorating party around the tree arriving, and that tree doesn't arrive, it's disappointing to people. They let us know about it. Part of our job is to both understand and be compassionate, and remind folks that we're talking about a tree. And so being able to hold both things is really important.
Justine Reichman: I think that's really important. And sometimes, I think it's also about being open to change. Sometimes, you just don't have control. Something can happen so you have to be able to pivot. One year, I used the ladder as a Christmas tree because we were having a holiday party at this place in New York, and my friends and I were doing this. We're like, wow, we don't want to get a tree and then wrap the tree in this place, and then what are we going to do with it? Two of the three of us were Jewish, but that's besides the point. We can celebrate everything. To me, it doesn't matter. It's just about family and friends. Not to say that there's not some religious meaning to these things. But for me, it's about family and friends. I can celebrate everything and get that behind for any one of my friends' holidays. So again, we got this big silver ladder like that was our Christmas tree because we're like, okay, it's low tech, and it's low output, and we didn't we didn't have ornaments. What are we gonna do with the tree afterwards? So we're like, that's very short lived one night. So anyway, as a founder, I think that we do have to adjust. Some of these lessons that you're sharing and the tools that you're sharing are really helpful for the narrative around building social entrepreneurship. And the community, do you look at them as equally as important when you look at making money and having an impact?
Scotty Claus: Yeah. A part in my life or in my career that I'm willing to do anything that isn't impactful for money. So, yeah. So that just becomes a standard that I live by, and everything else comes from there.
Justine Reichman: So for those folks that are celebrating the holidays in California, because you're in California, what impact do you hope to change within California as it relates to the holidays?
Scotty Claus: Yeah. So our tagline is, changing the way California celebrates Christmas. Particularly in Southern California because we have such a temperate climate. It does get more challenging in climates where things freeze because bringing the tree inside, it thinks it's springtime, and so then you bring it out and it freezes. It can impact the tree more negatively, actually protecting the tree a little bit. But in Southern California, there really is no reason why we couldn't be doing this across the board, and why this couldn't be the way that people do Christmas trees in general. And we could play with a whole bunch of different types of varieties and really change the entire narrative of how these spaces do this.
Justine Reichman: Think beyond the pie.
Scotty Claus: Some of those varieties don't even grow here so we don't want to import something that's not going to be successful. And so choosing varieties that can actually grow in Southern California is also important.
Justine Reichman: I'm sorry, I think a lemon tree would be fun.
Scotty Claus: We use different topiary trees. I've used fruit trees, I guess avocados. You can shape anything into a Christmas tree. Or just say, this is my Christmas tree.
Justine Reichman: Like you said, it's a narrative in your head. Like I said, the Douglas fir and the pine because of where I'm from. And honestly, I remember my stepmother going, oh, we need a Douglas fir because she celebrated Christmas. So here, it's a little bit different. You're at a point in your career where you're able to do good and make an impact, and do what you want in life and drive that result. So if you're looking forward to a few years, what do you hope to see, both for this industry as well as your company?
Scotty Claus: One of the facets of what I do and my real job, I'm doing international peace building. And so how we work with communities is also using the social entrepreneurial approach. So this is one part of that belief system of being able to practice what I talk about when I work with communities around the world on how to use social entrepreneurship for long term growth and gain, and social cohesion.
Justine Reichman: That's amazing. There's so many other questions I have, but they're really not relevant for this podcast. We're gonna have to explore this further because I'm certainly interested. But for those that are building, or want to build a social entrepreneur environment for themselves, think socially minded as an entrepreneur, are there maybe three tips you might recommend for them?
Scotty Claus: Yeah,. I think the cliche one is understanding your WHY. Understanding what's your personal investment into that. Not just the WHY for the marketplace, but what's the WHY for me. So understanding where I might get caught up. Sometimes the question is, how can my own passion sometimes disqualify me from being the best person to be leading this company? I think that's an important question to have. I think there's another question of, how do I know when it's not working? Making that decision ahead of time, and sharing that with others that can ask you questions like, is this still working or not? And then also have an idea of, what's the life cycle of the business? When does it end? How does it keep growing without you? And so really asking yourself those questions ahead of time, I think is really, really important.
Justine Reichman: I think those are really useful things to consider for people as they're building their business, even as people are into their businesses to just resurface those questions. Because things change, our perspectives change, our experiences change, and it's good to always check in. I really appreciate you resurfacing those, bringing those to the top for the folks listening and tuning in. So for those folks, because I'm assuming you're in Southern California because you've mentioned that a few times, that are in Southern California that would like to rent a tree, what is the best way for them to go about doing that?
Scotty Claus: So all the sales go through our website, it's livingchristmas.com. I think there are still probably a handful of trees left. Probably up until next week, we'll have trees available. And if they happen to be sold out, go ahead and get on our mailing list, and we'll be sure to let you know ahead of time so you can get a tree.
Justine Reichman: How far did you have to get trees? If you're already sold out, are these pre planned for next week delivery? Because it seems like that's a very long time.
Scotty Claus: I get folks starting to ping me in August to make sure that they get a Christmas tree.
Justine Reichman: But because they pinged you, when are you delivering that tree?
Scotty Claus: We don't deliver until the weekend after Thanksgiving because there's only so long the three can live inside the house. But typically, by the end of November, we're sold out of those trees because there's only some trees where we can do it within a two week period. And before, we used to do 1500 trees to 2000 trees, and it was just mayhem so we've reduced that significantly to just several 100 trees.
Justine Reichman: Okay. Well, for those folks, if you're interested, it sounds like he's got a few left so make sure to tune in. Make sure to check our show notes for his link. Scotty, thank you so much for joining me today on this special holiday series that we're having about building a more sustainable holiday, and providing sustainable gift ideas for people, and just living more sustainably. I know that while that is not your thing, we do hope that this conversation inspires people to change the way they think about it, which will then hopefully have a greater and more lasting effect than just thinking in the moment. Think long term. Think big. Thank you folks for tuning in today. If you are watching this video, don't forget to follow us and listen to us on Spotify or iTunes at Essential Ingredients, wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you're listening to this podcast but want to watch the video, you can find us at NextGen Purpose on YouTube, and go to the Essential Ingredients tab. So again, thank you guys so much for tuning in. We're here every week.
