Farmer's
Market
Sustainable
5 Acre Farm
Garden Store
Grown Under Seal
Community Gardens
Home Grown Greens
A
Model 5 Acre Farm & Garden Market
Using
Sustainable,
Authentic & Organic Methods
With attached
Gardening
Supply & Nursery Center
Home Grown Greens is in the business of creating a market and brand for authentic, locally grown, non-genetically modified, organic vegetables, fruits, herbs and gardening supplies. This is accomplished by the following elements:
- Sell locally grown, organic vegetables, fruit, herbs, sprouts and microgreens.
- Purchase locally grown produce from small organic growers and sell to individuals, restaurants and other end users.
- Create a network of custom growers, with Home Grown Greens as the focal point of distribution, allowing us to build a brand that means �Home Grown� by people, not machines and chemicals.
The
Taste of It
- Growing organic, heirloom vegetables, fruits and herbs operating under sustainable and holistic agricultural methods
- Providing a critical mass of produce for sale.
- Serving as a demonstration of state of the art organic fertilizers, natural insecticides and gardening supplies manufactured and sold under the Home Grown Greens brand
Organic
Shield
- Offering everything any gardener who wants to grow for the taste of it could desire: seeds, plants, containers, pots, fertilizer, insecticide, books, how-to-videos and a local point of contact for any questions about old fashioned gardening
- Encourage and enable small local gardeners and market gardeners, (1/4 to 5 acres), to custom grow specific cultivars according to Home Grown Greens standards
- Contract to buy �Grown Under Seal� marketable produce
- Provide free tomato and vegetable transplants to any local church or community garden.
- Contribute in a holistic sense to the community and gain access to community service announcements and various programs in the radio, television and the print media
The organic food market is the fastest growing segment of the entire food chain and the most enthusiastic part of the organic market is called �authentic� food.
Organic" is now dead as a meaningful synonym for the highest quality food. Responsible growers need to identify not only that our food is grown to higher, more considered standards, but also that it is much fresher because it is grown right where it is sold. Therefore, we have come up with a new term, one we define to mean locally grown and unprocessed, in addition to exceptional quality. It's a term we hope will be used, as "organic" was used when we began, by those local growers who accept that if you care first about the quality of what you produce, a market will always be there. We now sell our produce as "Authentic Food." We invite other serious growers to join us Beyond Organic By Eliot Coleman
Authentic food means that it was locally grown by a farmer you can actually visit. The consumer can authenticate their food by visiting the farm where it was grown. This is the attraction of all Farmer�s markets; people like to talk to the Gardener and see their food growing. Wild Oats is not authentic; none of the health food chains are because they do not grow their own food, and they do not know the grower. Authentic also means non-genetically modified, open pollinated plants, not hybrids. Once again, the large health food chains sell hybrids raised in hydroponic solutions of fish emulsion, not authentic food. And not what health conscious consumers want. People like to visit the farm, often as a family, just to see really high quality food growing, their food.
There is growing segment of
the produce market that serves the Raw and Live Food folks. This
market is underserved and currently has no commercial competition because
freshness is a quality that brooks little mercy on the existing produce
distribution channel. The product has to go from the grower to the
consumer within hours. Home Grown Greens will be ideally positioned to
serve the greater Dade/Monroe/Broward County area with the only full and
complete source of live sprouts, microgreens, wheatgrass, baby vegetables
and herbs in the area.
Grown Under Seal is an old concept used by seedmen in the Golden Age of open pollinated seed companies, to refer to the practice of growing specific varieties of plants for seed. The seed companies would certify farmers by providing the initial seed or plants and supervise the harvest thereby assuring the home gardener that the seeds the purchased would breed true.
This was an effective business relationship that allows for increased production without the cost of land and labor on the company side and an assured market for the crop on the part of the small family farmer or market gardener.. The added value of grown under seal allows Home Grown Greens to guarantee a fair and sustainable price to the gardeners and growers who participate in the program.
Growing produce according
to sustainable and organic principles requires a great deal of personal
attention. There are practical limitations as to how many acres of
intensive gardening one person or family can do. To grow food with the
highest nutritional value in a sustainable manner requires a
complex and diverse set of plants and techniques designed to take
advantage of bugs, worms and fungi, not to destroy them. The gardener is
the key balancing element. The gardener provides the intelligence, knowing
just when to plant what. The rigorous requirements to grow organic food in
a high intensity environment can not be easily mechanized so only a
network of individual small growers can produce enough produce to make a
reliable market. Home Grown Greens has established a network of
small growers who are committed to plant and grow organic vegetable and
greens, �Under Seal� for Home Grown Greens.
Home Grown Greens is seeking an investment loan of $110,000.00 and an additional line of credit of $75,000.00. These funds will be used to establish Home Grown Greens Inc., as a year round CSA for folks wanting homegrown, organic produce and , products.
In consideration of said loan Home Grown Greens will commit to the following:
- Home Grown Greens will repay the loan over a five-year period at 10% interest.
- Investor will receive 20% interest in Home Grown Greens Inc.
- Home Grown Greens will endeavor to construct a dwelling place and such buildings as will facilitate the year round business of selling produce and supplies.
The total investment at risk would be $185,000.00.
Start up costs will be $110,000.00 with the business projecting a positive operating cash flow within 4 months and a first year gross profit of $70,000.
This investment is collateralized with real estate with the added benefit of a profitable, ecologically positive cash flow.
This is family supported investment. Interested ?Contact Clifton Middleton, email donkey@homegrowngreens.com