Today we’d like to introduce you to Greg Crafter.
Hi Greg, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Since a little kid, I’ve always liked being outdoors. Wanting to help my mom plant seeds in a garden and learning how to drive a tractor with my dad to till the ground was so fun to me. When I was 5 or 6 years old, I distinctively remember planting beans with my mom and she gave precise instructions on placing a bean in a hole, then taking a few steps to place another bean in a hole until I had no more beans.
Because I wasn’t the greatest listener, I placed all the beans in one hole and covered them with dirt. What took place nearly a week later has changed my life forever. I saw a form of life coming out of the ground that amazed me and I was hooked on gardening!
Since then, I grew frustrated with not being able to grow my favorite vegetables, herbs, and fruit year-round due to seasonality and climate changes. So I began researching different growing methods and began reading about indoor hydroponics and I knew that this was something I could do!
My wife lent me a small space in our laundry room to make a little hydroponic system. And from there, I continued to learn more and grow into a backyard 150 sq. ft. shed. And since March 2020, I left my corporate job and pursued my dream full time and now operate a 2400 sq. ft. indoor hydroponic farm inside a warehouse.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Early in my professional career, I learned that anything worth having doesn’t come easy. I’ve gone through so many failures that I can’t count. Even if I could count, it would only be the struggles and failures that I could remember.
I’ve experienced a complete crop loss due to diseased seeds, germination failures due to improper growing conditions, massive water leaks that come out of nowhere, and failing equipment that create a domino effect for other things failing.
Through it all, I absorb each encounter and use it as a learning experience along the journey. Anyone that asks me for advice, I always tell them, “fail early and often so you can grow from it”.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We began our business supplying fresh herbs and vegetables to local restaurants in Atlanta. Our produce was packed, shipped, and/or delivered within 24hrs of it being harvested so customers received the freshest food at the highest quality.
When the pandemic hit in March 2020, all of our restaurant business went to $0. We had to quickly redirect and began local deliveries of garden plants since we all had to shelter in place. I then came up with an idea to develop a system that would allow people to grow their own food (at home) in the same manner that we did at the farm.
With the help of friends, family, advisors, designers, you name it, I came up with a prototype and convinced a few people to place in their homes and restaurants to try it out. God bless them because I think they may have felt sorry for me as the only reason they agreed to do it. Ha! From there, I gained a lot of suggestions, thoughts, and feedback for improving the system.
Our “Grow Block” system today (which will launch Nov. 15th) is designed to sustainably, affordably, and conveniently grow enough food for you and your family all year long with a monthly subscription for renewing with fresh plants.
This is not another hobby system that you have fun with that would require you to become a mad scientist or horticulturalist. The automated system does all the work for you. We provide LIVE 6wk. old plants so you’re not having to seed and germinate with hopes that you did it right for something to sprout like you would do with traditional gardening. You simply add water once per week, our proprietary nutrient plant food, every two weeks, and that’s it. Grow Blocks literally removes weeks of planning, tending, and maintaining before harvesting fresh food.
Grow Blocks has the most dense growing capacity in the smallest footprint more than anything else on the market today with an environmentally friendly design!
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Do you remember Curious George? That was me. I was an explorer wanting to get into anything and everything. My mom often tells me that I was the type of kid that would tear things up just so I could fix them again. More time than none, I would get in trouble for tearing things up.
Pricing:
- Grow Block System – $875
- Monthly Growbox with Nutrients – $49
Contact Info:
- Website: https://producedforall.com
- Instagram: @producedforall
- Facebook: @produced4all
