You may wonder, what is a “farm of the future”?

In our efforts to modernize our farming process, we are both learning from the mistakes of the past and implementing the future as it comes. 

In a more concrete sense, by "learning from the past", we are aiming to minimize our environmental impact and supply ourselves as sustainably as possible. Plastics, extraneous waste, leaching soil, lack of companion planting — we're improving on all of that but we are driven to eliminate what we can. The environmental impacts of these outdated techniques are surprisingly noticeable. Even our local Clear Lake has been rendered unswimmable by the rise of cyanobacteria and algal blooms. These deadly microorganisms have grown to unsafe levels, and outdated fertilizing practices have been one of the main contributors. The city of Clearlake, sharing a vision similar to ours, is taking steps to restore Clear Lake to its former glory. There is still time to learn from and fix the mistakes of the past, and that's what we plan to do.

We currently do not use pesticides or fertilizers and we do not need to treat the water, and we plan to adhere to this policy as much as possible. Instead, we use different planting techniques to supplement our crops. These techniques are not new or complicated science. By planting certain types of plants alongside our crops, we can eliminate the need for fertilizers. Planting legumes, for example, will naturally add nitrogen back into the soil, and in a form that plants absorb more easily. Where fertilizer is needed, we will use water-based solutions. These solutions are absorbed more efficiently by crops compared to topsoil fertilizing methods. This is just one example of how we are learning from the past, yet it has a significant effect on our crops and the environment around us.

By "implementing the future", we are developing various technical solutions to monitor and manage our farm. Our crops will all be paired with various solar and low voltage sensors to monitor crop, soil status and atmospheric conditions while checking for abnormalities. We are collecting data about all of our crops to further optimize growing in the future. More than anything though, it will be guided by human hands and minds. This tech will be wrapped up in a proprietary AI-powered system with many farmer-focused features that will make the farming process much more efficient. Ultimately, this system will cut growing costs to maximize profits without taking it out on our customers.

The development of our farm will take place in two phases. Phase 1 is our initial startup phase, where we will perfect our microgreens growing process and begin our technological expansion. In this phase we are putting all of our proper farming techniques to use and building a foundation of efficient yet healthy crop growing protocols to prepare for Phase 2. Once our microgreens operation is established enough to sustain our farm and allow for some expansion, we will begin Phase 2.

In Phase 2, we will begin our spice growing operation and focus more on technological developments. Phase 2 is where saffron will become our main crop, and we will offer many other spices, which can be found on our Spices page. As far as technology goes, we will have advanced monitoring systems to help us keep track of all crops efficiently, as well as an AI assistant to help us with general information tasks and reminders. Phase 2 is essentially where we will realize the dreams our farm aspires to reach.

With all of these steps we're taking, our main goal is to efficiently produce the highest quality produce available with the smallest possible environmental footprint. We hope you'll join us for the ride!