Today we’d like to introduce you to Greg Crafter.
Greg, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Since I can remember, I’ve always enjoyed things that represented life and being outdoors. I grew up in Lizella, GA (small town west of Macon, GA) with much of our livelihood involved gardening and tending to animals. I remember planting beans in our garden with my mom as a kid. She explained that I needed to space the beans every few steps.
Because I had a hard time following instructions as a child (lol), I dug a hole and placed all of the beans at once in the hole. The amazement of what took place a few days later, seeing life sprouting from one place in the grown has stuck with me ever since.
My passion for growing began to evolve with learning how to grow indoors and in greenhouses to minimize seasonal planting, growing, and harvesting. About four years ago, I began reading about hydroponic greenhouses and indoor farming. I immediately felt as if this was something I could do and provide means to others for having certain crops available year-round.
Real estate in the city is extremely limited, however indoor (vertical) farming allowed me to take a small space and utilize its maximum capacity for growing. I converted a small 150 sq. ft shed in my backyard into a climate-controlled vertical hydroponic farm growing basil and mint varieties.
Just like any business, it’s taken a while to figure out the kinks. But we’ve now been able to find a niche and fill a void for providing fresh and locally grown culinary herbs to restaurants within hours of it being harvested!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Not at all. I am a firm believer that it’s impossible to grow without struggle. I experienced a complete crop loss from using less quality seeds which caused disease. I had to sanitize and sterilize the entire grow area, tools, and equipment.
I also learned how challenging it is to manipulate an indoor environment for providing the best health of the crop type you’re growing.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Produce’d – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
We are an indoor hydroponic farm selling fresh culinary herbs to restaurants. We’ve been able to shorten the time of harvest to kitchen and provide customer services that welcomes the opportunity to get to know their grower.
We want chefs and restaurant owners to visit our operations for understanding what goes into growing fresh quality herbs. There are no off-seasons as we’re able to grow year-round.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We’re expanding! We will be moving into a 2400 sq. ft space that will enable us to provide close to 200lbs. of herbs on a weekly basis.
Stay tuned as we will be in full operation Feb 2020.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.produce-ed.com
- Phone: 404-310-8007
- Email: gcrafter@produce-ed.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/produce_ed/
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