by Barbara Berst Adams, edited for the internet by Amy Rose. Wheatgrass juicers are becoming more common kitchen items, and their owners need wheatgrass farmers to supply them. With your own wheatgrass kits and wheatgrass seeds, you can try your hand at becoming a wheatgrass farmer. Read here how a single mother planted wheatgrass seeds and set up her own wheatgrass kits in her basement to create the steady stream of income she needed that could also revolve around her young child's school schedule.

Ellen McGlynn of Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, is the creator and owner of the successful Wheatgrass Grower, LLC. "Wheatgrass" is the first green growth of the wheat plant. There are various types of wheat seeds, but wheatgrass seeds meant for wheatgrass juicers are always hard red winter wheat, which can be found organically and locally (see bottom of article). This new growth is put through the wheatgrass juicer either for immediate consumption, to be frozen, or to be dried into powder for eventual animal and human consumption as a health food. Since the 1930s when it was studied as a possible substance for health, wheatgrass growing meant for wheatgrass juicers has gained popularity and status as a healing food, reportedly providing quality and good quantities of chlorophyll, amino acids, minerals, vitamins and enzymes. (This article © and written for www.microecofarming.com).

"It is a rewarding small business with a lot of growth potential," Ellen says, "but it can also work very nicely for someone just looking to make a flexible part-time income, like myself." Ellen, in fact, had more business than she needed and eventually cut back because she didn't want or need to work full time. She has arranged her business so she can take summers off to be with her young daughter when school is out, as well as take a little time off during the winter holidays. "In the process of whittling things down," she says, "I have been able to carve out a small, steady clientele that has enabled me to run a tighter ship and gives me a greater feeling of control."

Here's how it happened.

The wheatgrass business evolved from her basement. "When I bought my home, it was only three years old," she says, "and it had an unfinished walk-in basement that I converted into what I would call an herbal workshop. I had a special dedicated HVAC system installed to include electrostatic air cleaning, auto dehumidification, indoor/outdoor air exchange, and ultraviolet air cleaning. The growing area itself is only about a 400 square foot area with a periphery of full-spectrum grow racks (to accommodate up to 120 trays) and two work tables in the center. I also had extra plumbing fixtures installed to accommodate plant watering, cleanup, and various work prep. It's something that has taken three years to evolve with the help of a patient master plumber. The adjacent basement areas are dedicated to the business for office and creative use."

Ellen has devised her own wheatgrass kits to fit her small farming needs. She uses no synthetic pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, or fertilizers. "I use an all-natural soil growing medium mixed with peat moss and other organic amendments as necessary," she says, "such as lime to control the pH balance or volcanic ash for added minerals."

The business is Certified Naturally Grown, and operates as a limited liability company (LLC). As with many who operate either as a small corporation or LLC, these business entities can protect the business owner's assets if they are run properly. "It was set up that way as a legal safety net," Ellen says, and then went on to explain that it also helped make it known she is serious about her business when people see the LLC in her business name. (This article © and written for www.microecofarming.com).

She has created a very workable and flexible schedule for herself. The business is closed from Memorial Day through Labor Day except for pre-arranged summer events, and also mid-December to mid-January. Otherwise, she is open by appointment Monday - Wednesday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. On days she's not open to the public, she can fit in other obligations. "I basically had to arrange my hours based on the school system," she says. "I work minimal off-hours to tend to things like mixing soil, cleaning trays, and tending to various administrative tasks. It's all very flexible. If there are no appointments on a particular day, I might opt to use that time for something entirely personal, like a doctors' appointment, and then finish up work at a more convenient time."

Finding customers and the rewards of keeping them satisfied

Ellen's small farming business demonstrates how product quality and honest, friendly service can generate serious customer loyalty, even in less than ideal circumstances. Her main customers are individuals with wheatgrass juicers who want to consume wheatgrass on a regular basis. Secondary markets are those who use trays of wheatgrass ornamentally, such as florists, spas and wedding parties. "It's a very slanted percentage, though," Ellen says. "About 95% of my business caters to customers who consume wheatgrass regularly and are referred to me through health professionals.

"Most of my sales are for cut product. It's based on a convenience issue for that 95% of my customers who are buying it for juicing purposes and usually do not have the time or patience to deal with a living product. It's also easier and cleaner to transport and store a small bag rather than a 10" x 20" tray. I don't often go the route of selling trays for juicing purposes because, according to studies, I believe there is an optimal time to harvest the grass, just as there is an optimal time to pick a tomato. You wouldn't let a ripe tomato hang on the vine until you were ready to eat it. You would pick it when it was nice and red and either eat it immediately or store it for a short amount of time before it went rotten."

From the moment Ellen plants her wheatgrass seeds, she nurtures her crops like a pro. "Some people are under the impression that harvesting their wheatgrass "fresh" from the tray, no matter when they harvest it, is the best way to go, but the reality is that wheatgrass reaches its peak nutrition on day 10 of growth. After that, nutritional values start to decline. The grass can only extract so much from 1 inch of soil.

"As for decorative displays, I don't actually decorate the wheatgrass myself like a florist would (except for personal events), though I do work with customers who are looking for ideas or might have a certain something in mind for their event and the grass base needs to be grown in a special container or flat. Basically, I either grow the grass base they need to work with, or I give them the instructions to help them grow their own. They can then either decorate it themselves or take it to their favorite florist for the finishing touches."

So, with Ellen's main customers being clients with wheatgrass juicers who want to consume wheatgrass regularly for health reasons, what happens to customers when she closes down for three months? "Obviously, having a summer break is not the most ideal situation for customers who prefer my product," she says, "but it has to be that way in order for me to be an available parent to my daughter. It's a risk I took last summer not knowing what to expect, and I kind of expected the worst. What happened is that my customers either sought out fresh wheatgrass from other local growers (I even gave them a list of PA and NJ growers because I didn't think it was right for me to just abandon them) or bought frozen wheatgrass juice. In the fall, ALL of my regulars eagerly came back to me because of product quality. It was quite a pleasant surprise, believe me! When and if my client base drops below a comfortable business-operating level, I will again approach the medical offices who use me as a referral in order to increase my customer base, but that has not happened yet. (This article © and written for www.microecofarming.com)

As mentioned, Ellen once operated the wheatgrass business full time, but cut back to have more time available for her daughter's school schedule. But that school just may prove to be a direction for expanding her business. "I have also been using the time to explore new, less physically demanding aspects of the business such as herbal workshops," she says. "I am currently putting together a children's Christmas herbal workshop for my daughter's first-grade class in early December. I am fortunate that my daughter's school allows me to both educate and entertain the kids this way. It's a great way for me to volunteer with the school and participate in my child's education while honing and exploring other potential business avenues for my craft."

Ellen herself is a wheatgrass juicer and strong believer in the power of certain healing crops. "There have been many happy, satisfying moments about this business," Ellen says. "I have worn many hats in my lifetime--held many jobs and have done them well--but in today's fast-paced world, often people don't stop to say 'thanks.' In this business, the gratefulness and the thanks are heard loud and clear and often. Fresh wheatgrass is a hard-to-find product and finding it doesn't always guarantee its quality, so people are quite appreciative with what I'm doing. Keeping the business small and personal, I think, is how I'm able to maintain product quality. Whenever people tell me how well they or a loved one are feeling or how beautiful their greens arrived in shipment, that's always a happy moment for me. It's the 'thanks' that really fuel this business."

If you want to try your hand at wheatgrass growing for home use first, and then explore the for-profit aspect, you can usually get wheatgrass juicers and appropriate organic wheatgrass seeds in bulk at health food stores and make your own wheatgrass growing trays with organic potting soil and shallow growing trays. Convenient pre-made wheatgrass kits are also available.

The Wheatgrass Grower, LLC can be reached at www.wheatgrassgrower.com

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