Life has a unique way of nudging you in the right direction. Or just plain shoving you where you need to go. After all, you’ve landed on this page. Wouldn’t it be crazy to think that years ago you made a decision that set you on a path that would see you landing on this page, right now, at this precise moment in time – because to do so was a step in fulfilling one of your own dreams?
We’re twin brothers Padraig & Adrian Hyde and HOLO (HOListic Organics) is the brainchild we launched to see how far we could go with our goal. Our journey started in 2013 with the founding of Munster Brewery. Acutely conscious of what we put into our drinks (no additives, chemicals or preservatives) it was a natural progression for us to brew organic drinks (We brewed the first organic beer in Ireland – 12 Towers). We’d always wanted to do something with Kombucha – but instead of just launching a drink, we thought why not go all out and put our goal front and center and see what happens?
Adrian and Padraig Hyde
That goal? To make nutritious, organic food the standard and to bring a sense of wellbeing, peace and love to people.
We want to replace the current sludge that big companies mass produce. We want to give people an option for healthy, nutritious organic food that and to produce it at a price that encourages the maximum number of people to make the switch to organic food. We believe that if we can offer foods at similar price points to artificial food, people will choose the natural, healthier alternative.
It struck us as odd that to produce organic food you have to go through a rigorous certification process. We had to get everything certified, inspected and checked. Then we had to put special labels on the bottles to tell people we’re organic.
The whole food chain is operating backwards!
Foods with chemicals, pesticides, additives or herbicides (i.e. non-organic food) should require a special label and certification. They should have to carry a big red sticker warning people of the dangers.
Organic should be the norm and non-organic the exception.
Why?
Because we have arrived at a place in our journey where we believe modern life is making people sick. We are probably at a point where the way we lead our own personal lives is killing more people than at any point in history.
The foods we eat, our drinks, the air we breath, the drugs we ingest, the stress, money worries, lack of contact and no sense of belonging or community is taking a toll on people. So much these days is based around material goods and living fast lives that we have forgotten the way of just being ourselves.
Ultimately, we want to fund a retreat that would teach people how to de-stress their lives, live happy, eat healthy, sync with the earth and get inspired! Wouldn’t it be cool if you could check in somewhere for a weekend to gather your thoughts, take yoga classes or Tai Chi, meditation, mindfullness or listen to a motivational speaker for a while? To gather your spiritual thoughts, take a break and to ‘get away from it all’ for a bit and come back to the world with your life that bit clearer? All the while learning about how easy it is to eat, cook and grow organic, to live healthy and to work on your dream, your personal path? We want to make it so it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to come visit.
Okay, so we want to change the world.
You see, we believe in a world where food can be grown without being infected with pesticides, then being highly processed and altered and packaged up into nothing resembling its original structure or form.
We have become so far removed from our food that we have lost our comprehension that we are what we eat, think and do.
We believe people should live meaningful lives, fulfilling their dreams and nobody should face the drudgery of a job they loathe. We believe in strong communities, networks of families and friends to support the individual and give everybody a sense of belonging and love. We believe when we wake up in the morning we should be so excited about the day ahead that we jump out of bed, eager to get going.
Maybe we’re hippies in disguise.
Out there, somewhere, are the geniuses that can solve many of the world’s problems of hunger, energy and wellbeing. We want to build a community that sets about changing the world by taking one small step at a time. That small step is changing ourselves. By changing ourselves, we change everything! The world is never going to change for ‘me’ so we have to stop waiting for the ‘right time’. But when I change myself, I automatically change the world. And therein is the genius the world has been looking for. You!
I change, World Changes.
So we’ve put ourselves “out there”. Hands trembling and far out of our comfort zone to see what we can achieve. What’s the best that could happen?