I feel like it’s an obligation to grow locally now, considering bezos/gates buying all of that farm land and the FDA not really giving a crap about our health.
This small operation direct to consumer or very closer to the end user model likely works for so many products. Small manufacturing, one machine one product, likely endless. It is an industry he knows and saw opportunity. Hope this inspires alot of other literally mom and dad businesses.
Pretty cool to see someone so passionate about what they do in their spare time share the details. I take it this was initially his pet project after working in restaurants and seeing the need first hand. Nice to see how it's turned into something profitable and something they spend time together doing. The only downside to this kind of thing is that I can't see how they'd ever take a vacation without getting other people to come in and help out since much of the business revolves around weekly regular deliveries.
You could easily pay a close friend or family member 200 to 300 dollars to do the deliveries for the week. They are doing 250 flats per week and 25$ per flat is like $6000 per week. Highly doubt they are making that much. But even if you cut that down to $3000 per week you 100% could still pay someone to deliver for the week.
That is amazing. They seem very hard working, organized, and have found there niche. It's great they have a market for that many microgreens. I'm still trying to get customers to buy regular greens let alone micros.
Superb! Happy, hard working go-getters providing good food to people whilst gaining wealth. This is a win win scenario created by good people. I`m really inspired by this video. Thanks for posting
The difficult part doesn't sound like so much the work but - getting and maintaining customers and sales. He has a great advantage having insight in the business.
Microgreens are a great product for producers in a larger urban area. However for many of us there are not enough high end restaurants nor market as a whole to do this economically.
Curtis if you see this can I make a suggestion? A video playlist that is kind of intro to farming or basics? I've watched about 50 videos and find myself often lost. Info like what you use as weed cloth, what type of compost or soil you use in which situations, how you built your raised beds. Might also be a good way to get a bunch of views in one sitting for people who are new to the whole idea of farming? Love the content I have seen I just don't know if I can apply it because I am so clueless. Thanks!
you have to consider they have an extremely lucky and lucrative deal where they sell a lot of their stuff to a university. How many people getting into this can make a connection like that? Makes 10k a lot less feasible in reality for others
Why set the bar so high? They worked up to that. You can set goals, 3k a week then 5k a week, before you know it you made it to 10k. Not to mention it isn't too expensive to grow. So a lot of it should be profit, depending on your expenses.
This is a highly competitive husband&wife team. They seem organized, intelligent, articulate and highly driven. Moreover, they have experience in the hospitality industry; therefore, they understand their customers. I wonder how many people who watch this video will actually understand how disciplined, hardworking and driven person(s) actually have to be in order to succeed in this type of micro-farming. Imagine yourself completing against these two. They actually said that they undercut their competition by half. Something to think about before jumping into the "dream" of owning and operating a small farm...
I agree they are hardworking, organized etc but charging half of what their competition charges? Wow was the competition overpriced? I think competition is good for the consumer and hope they are fair to all. I wish them the best, tough out there!
Very well written point. Could you write a nice piece where I can find ten thousand a month sitting on my ass? Thanks. Don't EVER shy away from a dream. No matter what. Lol
I have to fight with the kids to go to bed by 10:30-11ish. I couldn't imagine 3 in the morning getting up. As amazing as they are. They seem very robotic in schedule.
Nice couple, glad to see them using compostable containers, but, I was hoping to hear more about their system operations, i.e. what substrate(s) to they use, if they use potting soil do they use vermiculite? Also, about their lighting, the kelvin, wattage, lux and lumens, and fixture per rack. Maybe a part two is out there...
WAO! It is so cool and an incredible business hobby to what it looks to Me. But it is something that it is so needed even lately as the way things are going everywhere with food and vegetables. I really love it! Congratulations!
Kinda like those memes where the wife says she works from home doing daycare and her husband breeds salamanders, and have 1.3 million budget for their home renovation.
the wife is fit as, they seem to be a good team and its interesting stuff, micro greens grow in such a short amount of time, its the way forward everyone should think about doing it at home , buy seeds while you can because soon they wont be around
jacob bedard In Canada I get my seeds from either Mums Sprouting or from Sproutmaster. Both places have great online sites. Mums has a little better pricing but Sproutmaster has a bit more variety. Hope this helps.
What kind and output are your wrack lights. ??? (1000 watt each? 2000?). I love the set up. Very clean and organized. I see a lot of pride in y’all’s work.
How much moisture is being generated in this basement? I see no vapor barriers to protect the floor joists. Fans only move the moist air around not ventilate it. Their home looks very new which means it is very airtight, I'd really be concerned with the air quality in the home.
I never claimed to be an expert, I was simply asking a question and sharing some general knowledge. Funny thing, I find most people are idiots, not experts. As evidenced to by Tony and Kenny's comments.
Entering year 7! This is the best business for indoor farming. If you are serious about this as a business keep it simple and avoid the gimmicky tools and bs that is out there. You can make 100K in your basement/spare room and do it very successfully with les than 25 labour hours per week.
Outstanding information. Would love a follow up video in terms of soil used, how they package the micro greens, and set backs that they had to overcome. This is a very resourceful and motivated couple. My only concern is that their children may feel neglected. If they are also able to have enough time for their family, I am really impressed.
Great video Curtis. Videos like this have inspired me and I am doing my university thesis is on microgreens and assessing their antioxidant levels! Greeting from ireland :)
Biggest question I have about running a microgreens business in an urban setting - and only Curtis has addressed this (years ago on his urban farm) - is what do you do with your spent soil? You either have a rather sophisticated composting setup or you're getting rid of it somehow...
Thank you, Curtis for making that video! Very well done. My intuition tells me that they won't be able to burn the candle at both ends like this indefinitely. Having full time jobs and doing this much added work on the gardens and administration, plus deliveries plus being parents, I can only imagine that something will need to shift for there to be balance. Hopefully one or both of them can leave their full time jobs and keep growing. Perhaps they can build a passive solar greenhouse like you have in Kelowna.
The skeptical inquiries are interesting but comments like they're going to murder their kids are just classless. The guy ran restaurants. You know how to work 16 hour days when you run restaurants or you don't run them for very long. Some people know how to organize their lives and should be congratulated for it. I lived in Alberta for 37 years. Good people.
@@twerkchampions2612 depends on country and state..In Russia you can have till 5 hectares of land(depending on state laws)and all you can produce on it and while selling to physical persons can be sold without paying any tax at all..good present USA and EU sanctions did to most tiny Russian farmers so Russia now is like off grid homestead-tiny farming paradise,can produce all veggies and grow all kinds of birds,bunnies,pigs and Cows,sell milk,cheese,butter,eggs,meat without paying ANY tax at all..other song starts when wanna turn into big farmer,sell to companies,supermarkets,contracts extra workers but while you’re family can manage it and you have enough with plot of land no need to even register as anything,just keep as common homestead in documents and thrive,work towards what side you want.for 15-20k £€$ can buy there home with 2 hectares of land and do what you want and that’s legal
So, you have to not only be the grower, but also be the guy that brings in contracts and customers, the delivery guy, the janitor, and running a family on top of all that. If you don't have a clean image then finding customers could be hard. And, you have the advantage of your restaurant experiences to help guide you and make you more comfortable dealing in this market. People have to consider all of these things before jumping into a big project like this. You make it seem easy. It's actually a lot of work and dedication. If you care a lot about your social life or have a short attention span then this is probably not for you. I would test to see if you can handle 1 tray first. Then, move up the size of the garden. Start small.
I applaud their success. Just looking at the 10 day weather forecast for Calgary... Highest temperature is 20 F and the lowest is -16 F. I live in North Georgia and think it's cold when it's 40 F during the day. I realize this does not have much to do with an indoor controlled growing environment, but just thought I would mention. Two days ago here, it was a little over 80 F and my greenhouse gets up to 70F when it's sunny and 40 F outside.
M main question is how do you go about finding your customers, especially the university? Was there some kind of community connectivity program for small businesses or what?
For people who do not have a culinary background, I'd love to see a video about how you find buyers. What does marketing look like? Do you go business to business with samples?
Curtis says he used to show up with samples. A workshop I did in my country, they said they tried that method and got almost no hits, and instead it was about getting the name out on social media. It's going to vary where you are I think, but I agree, probably the more daunting aspect of the whole operation tbh. I feel like I can get things working smoothly, but finding customers, eurgh!
great video even tho i dont know anything about micro greens . the morale of this video is to capitalized on your field. he knew the landscape and thrived simple
I mean if you watch the video it seems feasible. Micro greens really do demand a premium in the vegetable market because no one really produces them at a large scale, hence the high price. $25 a flat is actually relatively cheap as many growers charge closer to 40. They’ve got a very efficient system going though being able to do 1000 flats a month. If you were to try this yourself it’d take a lot more than 40 hours a week to hit those numbers until you gain experience and expertise and are able to get every single aspect of growing down to an exact science. They also have the business connections and brand value to actually be able to consistently sell that quantity, building up a good reputation and clientele like that can take many years. So yeah, it’s definitely feasible but it’s also a lot of work to get where they are, just as any small or side business is.
I have given this a shot myself and know this work is not easy as well as having a couple youngsters around makes it that much tougher to run your own business. As much as I am not one to throw judgement around... I feel the reality behind micro greens is being entirely mis represented. Micros greens are not an easy 40 hours a week solution to 120k/year. This is going to be a very investigative comment, and if you actually can make this revenue happen I am insanely jealous.... but I feel you are missing a TON OF THE DETAILS . I encourage everyone to give this a shot, but please have no delusions of grandeur. I have only achieved a minor success in comparison to 120k/year, with an 80% profit margin, and only 40 hours spent... I am still entirely perplexed on this couples schedule.. Do your kids, and you, go to bed at 7pm? If not... are you operating on 6 hours of sleep or less?? 80% margins on material cost to production, or is that including labor? Both are still FT jobs, so getting to work after dealing with the kids is..... 8am - 4:30 AT BEST? So after picking up kids and getting home you have 2 hours with the kids before bed?.... 9 to 10 day rotation of planting and harvesting 70-80 flats per week but 250 actively growing...? Am I missing something major? Even including the overlapping flats that take 2 weeks that doesn't quite add up..... or get close. Sun - "throw it in and get it done"...? Mon - Admin day. 4 Hours, is that fair? Tues - 3am and both are cutting flats at a rate of 1 flat per 4 minutes to get from a tray on a shelf to a labeled package. (6 Hours total). He does local client contact meetings / sales until noon (5 more hours? She does local drop offs averaging 30 in 2 hours... 4 minuets to drive from place to place??? This seems a bit inaccurate unless walking an apartment building) Plus clean the farm... 2 hours fair for 1 person? Weds - Up at 3am to plant 80 trays in 3 hours, and as mentioned usually only 1 person. 1.5 trays per minute to measure seed, spread and mix dirt, and plant, AND water, AND put on a shelf??.... Right.... I can guarantee that's not accurate. Thurs - Up at 3am again... to finish planting 70-80 trays and CYCLE trays.... 80 trays to cycle sounds quick, but thats still at LEAST an hour or two of labor. Fri - 2 Hours of routine labor? Sat - 2 Hours routine labor? soaking Seeds... which I assume takes measuring them, cleaning and filling containers, and soaking? 3 Hours? these incredibly vague and rough guesstimates put it at 42 hours a week... What about printing labels? Addressing new customers? CLEANING your flats ..?! This takes me at least 30 seconds a flat.. .and at your capacity would be another 3-4 hours per week unless you are purchasing new flats per planting. Mixing/prepping soil? Do you just throw a pre mix in or is that accounted for? Sourcing your goods... is 1 hour fair per week to get seed, soil, chemicals, etc? In reality I feel you are dealing with AT LEAST LEAST LEAST LEAST LEAST 60 hours a week in labor. An 80% margin is INCREDIBLE when considering seed cost, soil, flat usage, energy use, water consumption, labor involved, and the simple learning process. Wish you all the best and I wish I could be you if this video is accurate! But pleast help me understand, in a MUCH more detailed posting, how you are averaging this insane revenue without the labor and costs expected. With respect, Me
think you missed the part where it is actually 20hrs/week EACH, assuming it is literally split 50/50 (which it likely is not, as a mom almost always spends more time with children than fathers...typically not as a rule though). Also you are missing the compostable flats part, which also implies no cutting and bagging, but just raw delivery of the flats upon specified delivery day. Also loading a flat requires about 2.5x 1L scoops of soilless media (no nutrition needed as the seed leaves/cotyledons contain all the nutrition needed until the epicotyl develops) and 3-5 handfuls of seed (depending on the size of seed) to cover the media. Many micros also require no soil covering them and will freely germinate on the soil surface. Selling to chefs rather than retailing and packaging your produce is ideal, at least if you are growing your crop in a way that is either nutritionally or visually appealing to chefs. It requires less labor related to harvesting a packaging, thus making it a simple ordeal of fixing proper shelving in your delivery vehicle for however many flats your route requires. As for the 1.5 trays per minute part, that is amazingly easy, as I do it as well. My only issue where I am is the seasonal nature of most of the restaurants that would buy them.
So many questions: 1. How are they making 25 dollars per flat? I grow pea shoots and sunflower shoots, each pea tray produces 300g of usable shoots (tops not too leggy) I sell these at £2.50 for 100g direct to customers. So £7.50 per flat, I have no idea how I would get to £20 per flat. I do better on sunflower £10 per flat but still can't think how it would be possible to make up the other £10. I would be interested in their numbers for radish, pea and sunflower individually. Cheers, Tom
Did you have to do anything special to your basement for climate control? And roughly how much did it cost you to start? It is clear you both are extremely organized and driven to succeed people, very impressive. I Love video's like this, thanks for sharing! My boyfriend is the farmer of the family, we have a backyard garden for ourselves and to share with friends and family I know he would love to give this a dabble along with growing mushrooms. We regularly go mushroom hunting which people either find odd or risky but he has spent years on these hobbies, I am thinking I could get him the start up equipment for his birthday. Also do you use solar panels or have you considered it? That would help your profit margins as well.
Actually Alberta gets quite a bit of sunshine year round, Calgary averages 330 days of sunshine per year. It is effective for solar panels? I do not know. @@shtroizn
Hello, I live in a very large city and it is filled with chefs from around the world! I would love to do this scale, yet I feel there might be some big competition out here. I know of one large microgreens farmer company run by 2 ladies and they supply huge hotels. I would like to cater to the healthy and wealthy women in a certain part of town. Currently I sprout in large jars and I have a shelving system and trays ready to go. How do I feel or just do it, take action without feeling like I'm a small fish in an ocean of sharks??
@@taniamatthews1 I have worked in fine dinning, we had everything from micro-green sales people to micro-brew companies that wanted an in. Your best bet is to ask to speak to the chef in the afternoon, between 3-4 as this is a down time. If they can not speak to you be prepared with a card ( or if just inquiring) a note with a number to contact you. You can give a brief summary to a manager but the chef calls the shots on those things so that is who you really want to see. If you have product bring the chef some samples, i have watched chef switch providers on the spot because their last shipment was not up to snuff. My advise to you is also that if you do it you must make sure your standards are as high as the chefs when in doubt throw it out. Good Luck!
I would have liked to have seen a glimpse at some of the technical aspects of Micro Acres. Some of the pros and cons of a basement farm. Tray washing? Taking out the cut trays/compost up the stairs? Watering? Harvesting process? Where are the cut greens stored? Etc. I have a hard time believing the figures presented; I really want to call BS the labor and weekly tray count figures. I don't know about the dollar in Canada, but I'd love to fetch $25 for a tray of radish here in Vegas. (HMU, chefs) That being said, these two have an admirable work ethic as well as a beyond-human discipline to juggle all their responsibilities successfully. IMO, microgreens only fuel you so far. Cocaine is a hell of a drug. I'd love a follow up video in a year or two.
@@I0515-d4b great job, are you getting that for all microgreens? And are you getting more than a pound per tray on any greens besides radish, and peas?
@@americanfarmingfamily2133 I am very happy for them. Lol I'm actually researching how to do this on my own. Instead of being negative and asuming that I'm not happy for them is absolutely ridiculous. An answer to my question would have been better. Do I need to tell any government body that I'm doing this? What happens in the event of a recall... Do you need to be inspected/certified etc...
chefbillyx - exactly. Lots of stuff like that, just glossed over, maybe not relevant in this video. But if you’re going to ask details of their daily routine, it would be helpful to know WHY they are doing it the way they are, versus just planting out in a field somewhere using poopy water to fertilize their greens (which also works well). How clean does it REALLY need to be to make it legal to sell to restaurants & such? That’s what we’re asking. Sometimes that information is enough for people to evaluate whether or not this is the type of business they could undertake. 🙂
$10k is a fallacy. IF it was that sort of cash generation.....how come these dreamers haven't expanded their operation tenfold? I sure as heck would have expanded......I'm a farmer (The Natomas Farm.com) and I call bull pucky.
That might be a tenfold or even hundredfold expansion over where they started. But without any employees or unlimited customers they're doing as much business and they want to.
Don’t ever try to sound smart and incorrectly use fallacy lmaooo don’t speak on shit you clearly aren’t living. You don’t understand their grind so you couldn’t possibly speak for their decisions. Mind your business if you’re even doing anything meaningful. BITCH
It's been a crazy 4 years since this video was released. We are so grateful for all the support over the years! Let's all keep building our farms !!
Your house is amazing and your business is inspiring
I feel like it’s an obligation to grow locally now, considering bezos/gates buying all of that farm land and the FDA not really giving a crap about our health.
I'm surprised you didn't burn out
How’s the business going lately?
@@thanksalot2996 Been amazing, thank you. We just took on a 6000 sq ft facility and getting larger everyday.
I am blown away at how clean the whole basement is.
This small operation direct to consumer or very closer to the end user model likely works for so many products. Small manufacturing, one machine one product, likely endless. It is an industry he knows and saw opportunity. Hope this inspires alot of other literally mom and dad businesses.
I want to start farming microgreens but I dont know where to sell it ?
@@richwashere9484 think restaurants and farmers markets. Good luck.
Pretty cool to see someone so passionate about what they do in their spare time share the details. I take it this was initially his pet project after working in restaurants and seeing the need first hand. Nice to see how it's turned into something profitable and something they spend time together doing. The only downside to this kind of thing is that I can't see how they'd ever take a vacation without getting other people to come in and help out since much of the business revolves around weekly regular deliveries.
You could easily pay a close friend or family member 200 to 300 dollars to do the deliveries for the week. They are doing 250 flats per week and 25$ per flat is like $6000 per week. Highly doubt they are making that much. But even if you cut that down to $3000 per week you 100% could still pay someone to deliver for the week.
That is amazing. They seem very hard working, organized, and have found there niche. It's great they have a market for that many microgreens. I'm still trying to get customers to buy regular greens let alone micros.
Superb! Happy, hard working go-getters providing good food to people whilst gaining wealth. This is a win win scenario created by good people. I`m really inspired by this video. Thanks for posting
The difficult part doesn't sound like so much the work but - getting and maintaining customers and sales. He has a great advantage having insight in the business.
yup
Must have a business mind and ability to communicate with customers and set behind computer to know where to navigate!
This is literally the future of living for everyone person, and you get to make a living out of it. Awesome!
Microgreens are a great product for producers in a larger urban area. However for many of us there are not enough high end restaurants nor market as a whole to do this economically.
Which part is that if u dont mind me asking
Awesome video, amazing couple!! Tons of great information!! Wow!
What an awesome business model, very inspiring :-)
Curtis if you see this can I make a suggestion? A video playlist that is kind of intro to farming or basics? I've watched about 50 videos and find myself often lost. Info like what you use as weed cloth, what type of compost or soil you use in which situations, how you built your raised beds. Might also be a good way to get a bunch of views in one sitting for people who are new to the whole idea of farming? Love the content I have seen I just don't know if I can apply it because I am so clueless. Thanks!
I'm going back to bed. You wore me out! God bless y'all.
Great video Curtis! Inspires me to keep growing and teaching people about microgreens.
you have to consider they have an extremely lucky and lucrative deal where they sell a lot of their stuff to a university. How many people getting into this can make a connection like that? Makes 10k a lot less feasible in reality for others
Right, but they made it happen... didn't fall into their lap.
Why set the bar so high? They worked up to that. You can set goals, 3k a week then 5k a week, before you know it you made it to 10k. Not to mention it isn't too expensive to grow. So a lot of it should be profit, depending on your expenses.
Cultivate some restraunt or local market clients.....
that university connection is selling hemp to students.
Hi Curtis, thank you for sharing. Iam interested to learn about vertical farming and micro farming.
This is a highly competitive husband&wife team. They seem organized, intelligent, articulate and highly driven. Moreover, they have experience in the hospitality industry; therefore, they understand their customers.
I wonder how many people who watch this video will actually understand how disciplined, hardworking and driven person(s) actually have to be in order to succeed in this type of micro-farming. Imagine yourself completing against these two. They actually said that they undercut their competition by half. Something to think about before jumping into the "dream" of owning and operating a small farm...
I agree they are hardworking, organized etc but charging half of what their competition charges? Wow was the competition overpriced? I think competition is good for the consumer and hope they are fair to all. I wish them the best, tough out there!
Very well written point. Could you write a nice piece where I can find ten thousand a month sitting on my ass? Thanks. Don't EVER shy away from a dream. No matter what. Lol
I had a smile on my face when I heard their schedule. Amazing.
Good comment!
I have to fight with the kids to go to bed by 10:30-11ish. I couldn't imagine 3 in the morning getting up. As amazing as they are. They seem very robotic in schedule.
This is what happens when you take full advantage of your agricultural degree!! Great idea 👍🏼
lol
I have 5 flats on order and some seeds to start a personal grow to see if im any good at it
Hi from Australia
Nice couple, glad to see them using compostable containers, but, I was hoping to hear more about their system operations, i.e. what substrate(s) to they use, if they use potting soil do they use vermiculite? Also, about their lighting, the kelvin, wattage, lux and lumens, and fixture per rack. Maybe a part two is out there...
Same here.
I am so impressed that I subscribed and looking forward to more videos.
WAO! It is so cool and an incredible business hobby to what it looks to Me. But it is something that it is so needed even lately as the way things are going everywhere with food and vegetables. I really love it! Congratulations!
Kinda like those memes where the wife says she works from home doing daycare and her husband breeds salamanders, and have 1.3 million budget for their home renovation.
HAHAHA. "Breeds Salamanders"
Still better than the episode about homemaker who needed a home with at least 2 washers and 2 dryers. Only had 2 or 4 kids total, I forget.
"Breeds salamanders." Now THAT'S the video I wanna see!
Bahahaha that is hilarious! Good reference!
It’s actually very hard to breed salamanders
Very organized and clean. Thanks for sharing.
Wow, good for you guys! We love everything your growing.
You're
Thank you! I plan to start a micro greens farm in Denver! I will be watching more! Have a good day!
the wife is fit as, they seem to be a good team and its interesting stuff, micro greens grow in such a short amount of time, its the way forward
everyone should think about doing it at home , buy seeds while you can because soon they wont be around
Great stuff 👍 gonna give it a go along with mushroom room & native veggies,(underway).
Truly amazing techniques of modern agri farming ... Local produce for vibrant local economy and pride of Canada 🌎 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 🏔🎄⛪🗻🌲🎅💐🙏🙏
Pretty cool and amazing to share like this videos. it help a lot for so many people.
Thank you for sharing. I have a similar smaller setup as this. I don’t sell I just grow for myself and my family. 🇨🇦😎
Hey Paul. I would like to do something similar to you. How do i get started. Any hints? Where do you get low cost high quality seeds? Thanks
jacob bedard In Canada I get my seeds from either Mums Sprouting or from Sproutmaster. Both places have great online sites. Mums has a little better pricing but Sproutmaster has a bit more variety. Hope this helps.
I’m in calgary too. Where can I buy 1 shelf??? Just growing for us right now.
costco
@@microacres8207the lights too? Sorry to bug. We used to buy your products for our small bistro in carstairs but closed because of covid.
I like how he lets his wife talk, great to see an even balance of input into the interview.
thebeeveekay, that guy is legit
I would say he doesn't let his wife talk. Like at all. They might as well have just met with him alone :)
...and i enjoy sarcasm. thank you.
Anna Gray so glad you caught the sarcasm 😑
thebeeveekay that’s what I was thinking!! Like, shut up dude! 😂
Wow what a killer interview this guy really knows what he is doing here. Does he happen to have a RUclips channel?
Hi Curtis, I bought your book two weeks ago and it's amazing! Very knowledgeable and motivating!
What kind and output are your wrack lights. ??? (1000 watt each? 2000?). I love the set up. Very clean and organized. I see a lot of pride in y’all’s work.
How much moisture is being generated in this basement? I see no vapor barriers to protect the floor joists. Fans only move the moist air around not ventilate it. Their home looks very new which means it is very airtight, I'd really be concerned with the air quality in the home.
This video only shows so much. I'm sure they have what they need in there.. everyone's an expert at everything, I tell ya.
Kenny S not sure I agree with you in that everyone is an expert at everything. This is not my experience, most people are not expert at anything
I never claimed to be an expert, I was simply asking a question and sharing some general knowledge. Funny thing, I find most people are idiots, not experts. As evidenced to by Tony and Kenny's comments.
Yeah it would be nice to see the technical thingamajig behind the setup. It would be helpful for people wanting to get in on this.
Dehumidifier
Entering year 7! This is the best business for indoor farming. If you are serious about this as a business keep it simple and avoid the gimmicky tools and bs that is out there. You can make 100K in your basement/spare room and do it very successfully with les than 25 labour hours per week.
Outstanding information. Would love a follow up video in terms of soil used, how they package the micro greens, and set backs that they had to overcome. This is a very resourceful and motivated couple. My only concern is that their children may feel neglected. If they are also able to have enough time for their family, I am really impressed.
Curtis has some videos where he goes into much more detail about those type of questions..
Well they said 40 hrs a week together there's lots of time for kids, that comes to 20 hrs ea for that kind of money
Just wondering whats the size of the shelves u guys using ?
18x48x72
Great video Curtis. Videos like this have inspired me and I am doing my university thesis is on microgreens and assessing their antioxidant levels! Greeting from ireland :)
Kauri Maher really can you provide some references or links to educate myself ?
DO NOT forget to share the final thesis and results with us, I am honestly interested (I am a PhD in Biotech and Microbiology, MSc in Oncology).
@@latintrader do you have an email adress? send me a personal message or something and i can link you some articles
Kauri Maher I’d love to see that thesis! 😍 please, email me at emae0605@hotmail.com
@@EliMae will send it on, when i am finished
So awesome. Can anyone answer this question? What platform do you use for subscription deliveries?
squarespace
Pretty cool, I need to start growing my own little ones for myself.
Biggest question I have about running a microgreens business in an urban setting - and only Curtis has addressed this (years ago on his urban farm) - is what do you do with your spent soil? You either have a rather sophisticated composting setup or you're getting rid of it somehow...
We used to give it to farms for feed, we now have a commercial compost company pick up weekly.
Thank you, Curtis for making that video! Very well done. My intuition tells me that they won't be able to burn the candle at both ends like this indefinitely. Having full time jobs and doing this much added work on the gardens and administration, plus deliveries plus being parents, I can only imagine that something will need to shift for there to be balance. Hopefully one or both of them can leave their full time jobs and keep growing. Perhaps they can build a passive solar greenhouse like you have in Kelowna.
$10,000 a month why aren't they doing this only?
@@loumarlin1432 I'd guess they are growing the business. In many cities 10K a month doesn't equal 2 salaries.
@@loumarlin1432 cuz then you're making more than $10,000 a month lol
10g a month id quit my day job lol
They might have retirement goals. Rack in the $ while you're young, grow businesses and investments, pay off properties, retire young. ❤
amazing work curtis. Thanks for this video. their schedules are really driven..
The skeptical inquiries are interesting but comments like they're going to murder their kids are just classless. The guy ran restaurants. You know how to work 16 hour days when you run restaurants or you don't run them for very long. Some people know how to organize their lives and should be congratulated for it. I lived in Alberta for 37 years. Good people.
Very healthy microgreens. TFS. Stay connected 😊
He didn't want his wife to talk because she would have talked about the plants that were making the $10,000 per month.
It’s legal here dude.
LOL, but selling it never is outside of having licences. :)
🤣
So there's chronic somewhere? I volunteer as a test monkey
@@twerkchampions2612 depends on country and state..In Russia you can have till 5 hectares of land(depending on state laws)and all you can produce on it and while selling to physical persons can be sold without paying any tax at all..good present USA and EU sanctions did to most tiny Russian farmers so Russia now is like off grid homestead-tiny farming paradise,can produce all veggies and grow all kinds of birds,bunnies,pigs and Cows,sell milk,cheese,butter,eggs,meat without paying ANY tax at all..other song starts when wanna turn into big farmer,sell to companies,supermarkets,contracts extra workers but while you’re family can manage it and you have enough with plot of land no need to even register as anything,just keep as common homestead in documents and thrive,work towards what side you want.for 15-20k £€$ can buy there home with 2 hectares of land and do what you want and that’s legal
These husband and wife look so much like a brother and a sister, amazing!
So, you have to not only be the grower, but also be the guy that brings in contracts and customers, the delivery guy, the janitor, and running a family on top of all that. If you don't have a clean image then finding customers could be hard. And, you have the advantage of your restaurant experiences to help guide you and make you more comfortable dealing in this market. People have to consider all of these things before jumping into a big project like this. You make it seem easy. It's actually a lot of work and dedication. If you care a lot about your social life or have a short attention span then this is probably not for you. I would test to see if you can handle 1 tray first. Then, move up the size of the garden. Start small.
Someone with a handle MGTOW4Ever says something is too hard. I'm shocked. This is completely out of character.
I applaud their success. Just looking at the 10 day weather forecast for Calgary... Highest temperature is 20 F and the lowest is -16 F. I live in North Georgia and think it's cold when it's 40 F during the day. I realize this does not have much to do with an indoor controlled growing environment, but just thought I would mention. Two days ago here, it was a little over 80 F and my greenhouse gets up to 70F when it's sunny and 40 F outside.
M main question is how do you go about finding your customers, especially the university? Was there some kind of community connectivity program for small businesses or what?
For people who do not have a culinary background, I'd love to see a video about how you find buyers. What does marketing look like? Do you go business to business with samples?
Curtis says he used to show up with samples. A workshop I did in my country, they said they tried that method and got almost no hits, and instead it was about getting the name out on social media. It's going to vary where you are I think, but I agree, probably the more daunting aspect of the whole operation tbh. I feel like I can get things working smoothly, but finding customers, eurgh!
You need to bring your product to the local chefs and let them try it out.
@@LuisGonzalezMicrogreens can't open any of your links
Checkout how many youtube suscribers they have. Theres your answer....
Do you have a generator as a power back up, for any power cuts?
Hi Evie.
You are a very switched on couple! From Mike in Britain.☺️🇬🇧
How much is your electric bill monthly? (in Canadian currency)
great video even tho i dont know anything about micro greens . the morale of this video is to capitalized on your field. he knew the landscape and thrived simple
how much is your electricity bill ?
Do they have the appropriate permits?
So I tried out the micro green farming and I guess I'm amazing at it but I just couldn't find anyone to buy it. :(
You should always be doing market research before you even start growing.
@@offgridcurtisstone I'm sure you have a video on how to do market research can you post the title for it so I can check it out?
@@The_Woof_Pack use the search function on his channel page
@@greenergrass4479 I can't with a phone. It's so lame and I don't have access to a pc to do the search. But thanks for trying to help.
@@The_Woof_Pack You can do it!!! Just give the old youtube search bar a go, I found it first try!
Awesome video, Awesome insight. This is a very unique idea and all it needs is a basement.
10,000? Man that is some grade-A prime click-bait!
Yeah I call bs what do you think...
I mean if you watch the video it seems feasible. Micro greens really do demand a premium in the vegetable market because no one really produces them at a large scale, hence the high price. $25 a flat is actually relatively cheap as many growers charge closer to 40. They’ve got a very efficient system going though being able to do 1000 flats a month. If you were to try this yourself it’d take a lot more than 40 hours a week to hit those numbers until you gain experience and expertise and are able to get every single aspect of growing down to an exact science. They also have the business connections and brand value to actually be able to consistently sell that quantity, building up a good reputation and clientele like that can take many years. So yeah, it’s definitely feasible but it’s also a lot of work to get where they are, just as any small or side business is.
they didn't show the plants that bring in 90% of that $10,000 ;-)
From what I watched it doesn’t help with cold sores/herpes.
@@josephjuliano7889 🤣
with todays energy prices these became dream!!
It's not just a great basement business, but thanks for inspiring your community and people watching this video to eat healthier!
What are you using for lights? Do you buy from Amazon? Do you have links to the products you purchase for your business?
I’m pretty sure the wife started hallucinating from lack of sleep halfway through the video.
No it was from that loud leek she smoked or the micro jazz cabbage 😂
She's kinda hot,
@@seancurran1938 I agree, she is really hot.
@@sayedhusseinqubadi3166 yo she got herpes all over her bottom lip that shits all yours buddy
@@theguy3571 omg so rude bro xD
WOW!! Awesome! Great job!!! Very inspiring! Keep it up!!
La Vida Farmer--are a youtuber? or just a spectator like me?
@@americanfarmingfamily2133 Hi---we literally just started--like not even two hours!
@@lavidafarmer6211 awesome! I will subscribe- best of luck. farming community is very supportive- dont give up.
I JUST SUBSCRIBED-- BEST OF LUCK
@@elhpasu hey--thanks for suppport!
Whoa this is incredible
Inspirational video, also, word blooper @ 4:13@ schudents” 😂
I have given this a shot myself and know this work is not easy as well as having a couple youngsters around makes it that much tougher to run your own business. As much as I am not one to throw judgement around... I feel the reality behind micro greens is being entirely mis represented. Micros greens are not an easy 40 hours a week solution to 120k/year. This is going to be a very investigative comment, and if you actually can make this revenue happen I am insanely jealous.... but I feel you are missing a TON OF THE DETAILS . I encourage everyone to give this a shot, but please have no delusions of grandeur.
I have only achieved a minor success in comparison to 120k/year, with an 80% profit margin, and only 40 hours spent... I am still entirely perplexed on this couples schedule.. Do your kids, and you, go to bed at 7pm? If not... are you operating on 6 hours of sleep or less?? 80% margins on material cost to production, or is that including labor? Both are still FT jobs, so getting to work after dealing with the kids is..... 8am - 4:30 AT BEST? So after picking up kids and getting home you have 2 hours with the kids before bed?.... 9 to 10 day rotation of planting and harvesting 70-80 flats per week but 250 actively growing...? Am I missing something major? Even including the overlapping flats that take 2 weeks that doesn't quite add up..... or get close.
Sun - "throw it in and get it done"...?
Mon - Admin day. 4 Hours, is that fair?
Tues - 3am and both are cutting flats at a rate of 1 flat per 4 minutes to get from a tray on a shelf to a labeled package. (6 Hours total). He does local client contact meetings / sales until noon (5 more hours? She does local drop offs averaging 30 in 2 hours... 4 minuets to drive from place to place??? This seems a bit inaccurate unless walking an apartment building) Plus clean the farm... 2 hours fair for 1 person?
Weds - Up at 3am to plant 80 trays in 3 hours, and as mentioned usually only 1 person. 1.5 trays per minute to measure seed, spread and mix dirt, and plant, AND water, AND put on a shelf??.... Right.... I can guarantee that's not accurate.
Thurs - Up at 3am again... to finish planting 70-80 trays and CYCLE trays.... 80 trays to cycle sounds quick, but thats still at LEAST an hour or two of labor.
Fri - 2 Hours of routine labor?
Sat - 2 Hours routine labor? soaking Seeds... which I assume takes measuring them, cleaning and filling containers, and soaking? 3 Hours?
these incredibly vague and rough guesstimates put it at 42 hours a week... What about printing labels? Addressing new customers? CLEANING your flats ..?! This takes me at least 30 seconds a flat.. .and at your capacity would be another 3-4 hours per week unless you are purchasing new flats per planting. Mixing/prepping soil? Do you just throw a pre mix in or is that accounted for? Sourcing your goods... is 1 hour fair per week to get seed, soil, chemicals, etc?
In reality I feel you are dealing with AT LEAST LEAST LEAST LEAST LEAST 60 hours a week in labor. An 80% margin is INCREDIBLE when considering seed cost, soil, flat usage, energy use, water consumption, labor involved, and the simple learning process.
Wish you all the best and I wish I could be you if this video is accurate! But pleast help me understand, in a MUCH more detailed posting, how you are averaging this insane revenue without the labor and costs expected.
With respect,
Me
I agree with you that sound too good to be true. I wonder what they tell the tax people. Too much boasting, too little substance, if you ask me.
If you can make 10k a month you can afford daycare if you need it
Also she says they are up at 330am and kids are up and gone by 6am and theyre free
And if I were making that kind of money I'd quit my F/T job in a heartbeat!
think you missed the part where it is actually 20hrs/week EACH, assuming it is literally split 50/50 (which it likely is not, as a mom almost always spends more time with children than fathers...typically not as a rule though). Also you are missing the compostable flats part, which also implies no cutting and bagging, but just raw delivery of the flats upon specified delivery day. Also loading a flat requires about 2.5x 1L scoops of soilless media (no nutrition needed as the seed leaves/cotyledons contain all the nutrition needed until the epicotyl develops) and 3-5 handfuls of seed (depending on the size of seed) to cover the media. Many micros also require no soil covering them and will freely germinate on the soil surface. Selling to chefs rather than retailing and packaging your produce is ideal, at least if you are growing your crop in a way that is either nutritionally or visually appealing to chefs. It requires less labor related to harvesting a packaging, thus making it a simple ordeal of fixing proper shelving in your delivery vehicle for however many flats your route requires. As for the 1.5 trays per minute part, that is amazingly easy, as I do it as well. My only issue where I am is the seasonal nature of most of the restaurants that would buy them.
what soil do they use and light?
How much do they spend on seeds, plant food, etc?
2 weeks later, no answer
@@midknight3350 2 years*
Sooo awesome, best to you all and your amazing life “style”!
Not seeing something. 250 a week on a 2 week average(ish) cycle? I don’t see 500+ trays here.
What is their electrical bill every month?
I heard that Terrance and Phillip helped them develop their business model.
So many questions: 1. How are they making 25 dollars per flat? I grow pea shoots and sunflower shoots, each pea tray produces 300g of usable shoots (tops not too leggy) I sell these at £2.50 for 100g direct to customers. So £7.50 per flat, I have no idea how I would get to £20 per flat. I do better on sunflower £10 per flat but still can't think how it would be possible to make up the other £10. I would be interested in their numbers for radish, pea and sunflower individually.
Cheers, Tom
I suspect you are in the uk? so canadian dollars to pounds, also its a different enviroment. A different market.
What an inspiration. If they can do it with full-time jobs and kids, there's no excuse.
Where do you get the racks and do you use led or fluorescent lights?
Did you have to do anything special to your basement for climate control? And roughly how much did it cost you to start? It is clear you both are extremely organized and driven to succeed people, very impressive. I Love video's like this, thanks for sharing! My boyfriend is the farmer of the family, we have a backyard garden for ourselves and to share with friends and family I know he would love to give this a dabble along with growing mushrooms. We regularly go mushroom hunting which people either find odd or risky but he has spent years on these hobbies, I am thinking I could get him the start up equipment for his birthday. Also do you use solar panels or have you considered it? That would help your profit margins as well.
solar is not going to help profit margins . The cost of solar panels vs savings from electric is decades
No, it's less than one decade.
Could be in CDN currency which would make it slightly inflated
Solar panels in Alberta???
Actually Alberta gets quite a bit of sunshine year round, Calgary averages 330 days of sunshine per year. It is effective for solar panels? I do not know. @@shtroizn
where did u sale it? how cpuld u make engagement to customer who doesn't know about microgreens?
The wife isn't a partner, she's an employee lmao
Hmmm. I bet she runs the show.
She be better off up stairs making a samich instead of sitting there ratting her head saying mmhm over and over.
LOL
Everyone has got to work.
Very cool operation! I am not familiar with this industry but it looks very cool.
Hello, I live in a very large city and it is filled with chefs from around the world! I would love to do this scale, yet I feel there might be some big competition out here. I know of one large microgreens farmer company run by 2 ladies and they supply huge hotels. I would like to cater to the healthy and wealthy women in a certain part of town. Currently I sprout in large jars and I have a shelving system and trays ready to go. How do I feel or just do it, take action without feeling like I'm a small fish in an ocean of sharks??
Plus there are quite a few boutique restaurants in one area I feel I could sell too. How do I find out or ask if they are currently being supplied??
@@taniamatthews1 I have worked in fine dinning, we had everything from micro-green sales people to micro-brew companies that wanted an in. Your best bet is to ask to speak to the chef in the afternoon, between 3-4 as this is a down time. If they can not speak to you be prepared with a card ( or if just inquiring) a note with a number to contact you. You can give a brief summary to a manager but the chef calls the shots on those things so that is who you really want to see. If you have product bring the chef some samples, i have watched chef switch providers on the spot because their last shipment was not up to snuff. My advise to you is also that if you do it you must make sure your standards are as high as the chefs when in doubt throw it out. Good Luck!
you have to be certified to sell sprouts and there are massive regulations for growing sprouts
What about the basement harboring mold spores?
It’s a serious concern for any indoor grower.
I would have liked to have seen a glimpse at some of the technical aspects of Micro Acres. Some of the pros and cons of a basement farm. Tray washing? Taking out the cut trays/compost up the stairs? Watering? Harvesting process? Where are the cut greens stored? Etc. I have a hard time believing the figures presented; I really want to call BS the labor and weekly tray count figures. I don't know about the dollar in Canada, but I'd love to fetch $25 for a tray of radish here in Vegas. (HMU, chefs)
That being said, these two have an admirable work ethic as well as a beyond-human discipline to juggle all their responsibilities successfully. IMO, microgreens only fuel you so far. Cocaine is a hell of a drug. I'd love a follow up video in a year or two.
$25 a tray? $5 a *bushel* is a good price for real farmers.
What temperature u keed the basement?
72
$25 per tray, who's paying that much for micro greens? I can barley stretch $18 out here in Toronto.
That's what I sell them for here in Fresno.
@@I0515-d4b great job, are you getting that for all microgreens? And are you getting more than a pound per tray on any greens besides radish, and peas?
And they undercut everybody.
Reducing profits even more. I dont buy this story.
When Walmart sells a nice big bad of microgreens for $4, you can figure these people are selling to high end specialty stores and/or suckers....
can you email me back boss soundquest1976@gmail.com thx
How do you setup a buyer?
To have a business with your partner and a good relationship, Couple goals God bless you guys
Hi, what kind of growing light did it used? Thx.
The revenue to cubic centimetre must be insane. It is time to live in the shed and convert the house into a paddock.
Why use soil and not hydroponically? Does the soil provide something over the Hydroponic mats? Less cost? More nutrition? do you just reuse the soil?
Why use hydroponic?
better quality micros with soil vs hydroponic, less overhead, soil is a 1 time use and then composted
How does public health monitor this? What regulations do you follow to sell this.
oh .. please.... lets be happy for their success
@@americanfarmingfamily2133 I am very happy for them. Lol I'm actually researching how to do this on my own. Instead of being negative and asuming that I'm not happy for them is absolutely ridiculous. An answer to my question would have been better. Do I need to tell any government body that I'm doing this? What happens in the event of a recall... Do you need to be inspected/certified etc...
chefbillyx - exactly. Lots of stuff like that, just glossed over, maybe not relevant in this video. But if you’re going to ask details of their daily routine, it would be helpful to know WHY they are doing it the way they are, versus just planting out in a field somewhere using poopy water to fertilize their greens (which also works well). How clean does it REALLY need to be to make it legal to sell to restaurants & such? That’s what we’re asking. Sometimes that information is enough for people to evaluate whether or not this is the type of business they could undertake. 🙂
@@RokiMowntinHi I agree. It was just an honest and simple question.
Before I start preparing I'll speak with public health myself.
@@RokiMowntinHi Planting out in a field? They're in Canada, what is their growing season, 3 weeks???
Thanks for sharing! What kinds of micro greens do you grow?
We grow over 40 varieties currently
One full time regular job, one 20 hour a week (not including social network aspect) side job/hobby, 2 kids....yeah I call serious bullshit.
Awesome! What kind of bulbs do you use?
$10k is a fallacy. IF it was that sort of cash generation.....how come these dreamers haven't expanded their operation tenfold? I sure as heck would have expanded......I'm a farmer (The Natomas Farm.com) and I call bull pucky.
Plus, if you live in thailand you can get Fresh fruits and Vegetables at 1/20 th of the cost in a much better weather than Canada.
That might be a tenfold or even hundredfold expansion over where they started. But without any employees or unlimited customers they're doing as much business and they want to.
10k gross is probably 7k net. thats 3.5k each per month, which is 42k each, minus tax. Modest, but not exactly riches
Don't think you understand vertical farming and urban farming? It's time to ditch the old stupid way of farming with tons of land machines.
Don’t ever try to sound smart and incorrectly use fallacy lmaooo don’t speak on shit you clearly aren’t living. You don’t understand their grind so you couldn’t possibly speak for their decisions. Mind your business if you’re even doing anything meaningful. BITCH
What was the cost to get in operation?