Continuing the series of Dufferin Trails videos we are highlighting the diversity of businesses in Dufferin County. Business owners who are reducing their impact on the environment. Taking responsibly for and actively making changes to positively impact the environment. Wellbeing of the environment is part of these businesses’ decisions. The project aims to attract more locals and visitors to discover our niche markets so that they can spend more time and money in the region, growing community pride and increasing the visitor economy.
Our team enjoyed making this film for the Dufferin Board of Trade. You can learn more about the work we do in the Tourism and Economic Development sectors here.
Full video transcript:
Branching Out Support Services was founded in 2019 and we opened our doors with the premise of being able to support people with neurodiversities. The environment is all around us and the environment is part of what makes Rosemont so unique. We have one of the most phenomenal views in the county, and when you look out, you can see what it is that we’re trying to preserve. The arts have been my passion for my life. A portion of every bottle that is sold is going to help children be empowered using the arts. Our granola project is our social enterprise that runs out of this space: the CommonFare Kitchen. It’s a physical product that you can buy. It’s nutritious. It’s all locally sourced. So we use all Canadian ingredients, if not more local. Currently, the store works as a general store, a bakery, a pizza shop and a sandwich shop as well. Freshly made food, as well as having the classic groceries and essentials that you need from a general store complemented with some fabulous gift items and some local and some British fare. We offer tours and tastings from tank and barrel, which is a unique experience in the winery. And then you can come up to our terrace and overlook the beautiful valley 280 feet below. We also hold events here. These events are sharing the beauty and the power of music and the arts with each other, and at the same time sharing the opportunity to have the money go to help empower kids in arts education programs. The Granola Project employs two people with neurodiversity, so Christopher and Dakota are both on the autism spectrum and this is their job, so they receive an equitable wage from the company. What’s really exciting about it is that it opens doors for them. So when you buy our product, you are supporting a much deeper cause. And the more granola that we can make and sell, the larger this program can get. All of the income that we make is recycled back into our social mission. We did a big transition two years ago to change our computer systems, to stop printing. So we we no longer have the paperweights that we used to produce. And then we redid all of our packaging. We wanted to use a paper bag that was recyclable, was compostable… If I don’t take care of what’s around me, there won’t be a future for any of us. So in designing the winery, we decided to put chiller jackets on all the tanks, and that allows us to control the temperature throughout the development of the wine. So this is an environmentally responsible thing to do because that allows us to get the wines finished without chemicals. I think it’s so important to give back to the community and especially to give back to children. They need opportunities to see as much of their world in as many different light as they can. And the arts have a special power of allowing kids to dig deep inside themselves and find their own creative self.