The Winning Ingredient: Basil

When I was running my personal “Spam Campaign” of Triangle B Corps to peddle some sweet tea, I pinged Basil, the owner of Leaf & Limb in Raleigh.

He ordered a couple of cases of tea, but I couldn’t deliver. That was in the spring—when the honeysuckle was in bloom.

We couldn’t connect. He suggested July 29th, which I assumed to be “never.”

But Basil came across the lake on July 29th, and we got along like a house on fire. He’s taken his family’s arborist business and shifted it into his actual passion: ecology and life in the soil. Instead of cutting down trees, he has turned toward bio char, compost tea, and techniques for managing tree health without just a chainsaw.

I felt like Basil was badass. I think one of the things he does is scale urban trees, and limb them such that it simulates the way the tree would grow in the forest.

Basil came to the Plant and walked around with me. His enthusiasm is infectious, and he schooled me in mulch. Apparently, the triple shredded commodity mulch that I buy by the tandem load is not only energy intensive, but it tends to mat and shed water. Not good.

I knew that. But I couldn’t have articulated it prior to meeting and walking around with Basil.

Bingo. I’ve been mulching wrong my entire life. Damn. Thank you, Basil. Yes. I need to buy his services immediately.

At the end of our time together, Basil bought some bottles of spirits.

B Corps buy from B Corps. It’s true.

When I walked Basil to the parking lot, we both knew this had nothing to do with commerce.

I was really glad to meet him. And he was positively lit by his visit to the Plant.

I’m guessing we both drove away with heads spinning, mutually excited about the prospects of what lies ahead.

Basil was the ingredient that made my day.