Chapter 4: Forward
Words by Eric:
Our team looked out over our full production run, more than 65,000 Adventure Packs in delicate, adventure-fearing pouches. This was our future. I was haunted with visions of losing our farm, our business, our yet-to-be-finished-tiny-house that we soon were supposed to bring a newborn back to; losing the opportunity at a life we felt good about living physically, emotionally & spiritually. We've been through multiple massive floods ripping through our small farm & essential equipment failing during our fast-paced maple season, but this felt like failure with life changing consequences. Having to tell our employees, all of whom are friends & family, we can't get ourselves out of this one was too much. This was the phase of the adventure where raw emotions poured out, where creative curses echoed through the deep Driftless valleys and tears attempted to wash away the pain, fear and self-doubt into the cold rushing streams below.
As the initial shock waned we began discussing how to move Forward. We've done hard things before, we just need to collect ourselves, right? Don't over-react. Get out of your head. I learned a phrase, a mantra, from volunteering at winter ultras. No matter how dark of a place you find yourself in, how many things around you feel like complete chaos, are stacked against you, and how doubtful you are of finding a way out, there are two things you will always be able to control; your Attitude & your Effort. So now it's time to re-orient ourselves, assess our options, choose a direction and start bush-wacking. There is a way out.
The Maple Energy inside the flimsy packs was still perfectly good. It was suggested to "reclaim it," which immediately caused our fingers and minds to cramp just thinking about opening tens of thousands of pouches and re-filling the same stainless tanks in our kitchen three ounces at a time that we had just brewed our Maple Energy in the first time. While this approach theoretically may have been possible, another heat cycle would certainly alter the flavor. The coffee maple in particular was a hard-won flavor profile, a combination of brewing variables perfected to prevent the oxidized burnt water taste that reminds us of the last truck stop we resupplied at in the middle of the night with flickering florescent lights and stale cigarette smoke. In addition, there was no way we could feel good about creating this much packaging waste, even if we could re-pouch the maple inside. We put a lot of effort into studying the carbon & resource costs associated with supply chains to help make the most responsible decisions we could. We knew we could do better than this, these packs were meant to be on adventure, to be the Good Energy needed to help folks keep moving down the trail.
We chose the path of "transparency," to be completely forthcoming to everyone that received an Emabrk pack that they were not up to our standards, that we were working on improvements and they should use extra caution when packing them on the trail. We printed up "WARNING PROTOTYPE NOT RUGGED" stickers and hand applied them to every pack. An opportunity was arising from the turmoil; we were telling our story to everyone we met, people were trying our Maple Energy and developing a genuine connection with us as we embarked on our journey. A community formed around us, providing support, encouragement & inspiration as we worked through our challenges. We found ourselves in a invaluable real-time feedback loop, talking with people about their nutrition strategies & ideas by volunteering at races and aid-stations all over the upper-Midwest. Everyone was excited for a solution to the problems associated with tear-off gel packs; seriously, who likes a sticky mess in the pocket AFTER choking one down?! Finally, energy that tastes as good as it performs, bringing versatility and opporunity to nutrition planning. Once again we packed up Helga the Astro Van and headed North to share Good Energy from the Woods of Wisconsin!
