Chip Happens

Some things are hard, some incredibly hard. Macadamia shells, for instance, are the second hardest “wood” in the world. The macadamia nuts they contain are much softer; therefore, when we apply pressure to crack them open, chip happens.

We gather these chips rather than waste them and turn them into a paste, then into milkadamia. It takes effort to separate the tiny shell chips and macadamia chips, but by doing so, we ensure nothing gets wasted. The shell pieces become part of the biochar used to fertilize our macadamia trees. The macadamia chips become milkadamia.

Taking something considered a waste stream and turning it into a beautiful, useful product is both enjoyable and motivating. The macadamia chips are perfectly good high-quality food, just the wrong size and shape for most uses. So we upcycle.

Once we started making something beautiful out of rejected chips, we were motivated to look for other opportunities, as you do. When people chose to undertake even a little thing, like doing away with plastic straws, it is a good thing in itself, but these types of actions’ significant contributions reside in the truth that movement begets more movement.   We turn inertia into momentum.

Googles momentum definition – “The strength or force that something has when it is moving.” By taking one action to help combat food waste, our team has become captive to the power of momentum that impels us to strive for more.

Offering an alternative to dairy milk and promoting and practicing earth positive regenerative-farming led to speaking out against the insanely destructive palm oil industry and sourcing and manufacturing alternatives to palm oil products. Momentum, Google claims, also allows something “to continue moving or grow stronger or faster as time passes.”   Hope so.

As in many life-defining moments – starting the ball rolling is a beginning. Maybe it will instigate a life impelled by adventure and enriched through meaning and your values manifesting in action.

At milkadamia, momentum is causing us to aim ever higher. We want to be part of altering the trajectory of the global climate crisis. As we said, some things are hard, and some are incredibly hard, and maybe we are just clutching at (non-plastic) straw’s, but we rather risk that than inertia because we already know what happens when we do nothing.