Carpenter sets up a special project with nine other companies

Some major questions arise in the break room at the Schreinerei Elsener (Elsener joinery) in Finstersee. "We mustn’t give the chain out of our hands," says the owner Seby Elsener, demonstrating the interconnections using the objects on the table. He is referring to the added value chain of a product from planning, through production to sales.

For him, this is all relates to raised horticultural beds. Elsener and nine other companies - seven of them from the canton of Zug - have recently been offering these for sale. The special thing about the raised beds, which can be used for growing herby and vegetables, is that not only do their manufacturers and suppliers come from the region, but, whenever possible, also the material used for them.

The wood for the frames, for example, is cut in the Gottschalkenberg area. The message from Elsener and his colleagues is clear: we should not only talk about sustainability, but should also do something concrete about it. In their case, this is the production of raised flower/vegetable beds.

Inspiration from a film
The timing of the launch is not entirely random: the Corona crisis was in fact, the decisive factor, confirms Seby Elsener. But the idea for regionally produced raised beds has been in his mind for some time. Among other things, a documentary recently showed raised horticultural beds in a city environment as a way "to strengthen social coexistence and sustainable awareness and to combat climate change", for example, by growing vegetables or herbs. The carpenter from Finstersee is convinced that the Corona crisis has underlined how fragile globalisation is: "It was the dot on the i”.

Alexandra Elsener works on one of the raised beds.

The prices for the raised horticultural beds are not cheap, even when the cost of the soil containing the award-winning Neuheim vegetable carbon is included. The cheapest model costs CHF 490, while the most expensive will set you back by CHF 2,420. These are the prices if you collect the beds yourself. And, except for the smallest model, you also have to assemble the beds yourself. But there is also a deeper meaning behind this, explains Elsener: "We not want only to sell our customers a raised horticultural bed, but also to invite them to assemble it themselves." But they can also be delivered and assembled for an additional charge.

His people require only three and a half minutes to do this, "but, with a beer in your hand, is can maybe take half an hour," says Seby Elsener, laughing. A video on the homepage serves as a guide for the assembly.

According to his comparisons with other suppliers, the prices are not excessive - and he stresses that all the companies involved receive a share from each sale of a raised bed.

Elsener also wants to promote the local and regional businesses. A corresponding label ("Moränen Region" (moraine region)) already links a number of companies located in villages around the striking moraine hills near Menzingen. The label can also be used by other companies and institutions that meet "certain standards" in terms of regional orientation, as Seby Elsener puts it.

One thing seems certain: the next idea will not be long in coming.