Progress Report: 6.11.2021

Grasshopper Family,

We can see the light at the end of the tunnel we are in.

The days are long. The days are hot. The work is incredibly demanding - both physically and mentally.

I have had the opportunity to lead some amazing teams during my twenty years in the military. There were missions that were somewhat standard all the way to special operations. And I am here to tell you that our Grasshopper Farms Team is successfully charging forward with discipline and fortitude during these demanding times and I would put them up against any other team out there.

They are each amazing and form a team that will define our success.

The sunrises continue to amaze. I will never tire of them and now the team is starting to document them as well. We start our work with an environmental backdrop akin to a Hollywood movie set.

I used to call tractors...well...tractors. I did not use terms like skid-steers, loaders, and excavators. The one in this picture is a loader. And Dan (the owner of Orr Construction) has generously allowed us to use this while we mix our soil. But, it doesn't start or stop there. Dan has been helping us from day one. Literally...October 14th of last year. This loader and the concrete blocks in the pictures have been instrumental in our ability to mix our soil and fill/deploy our 100 gallon fabric pots. Thank you, Dan!

Please also enjoy a short video of the FIRST pot being filled!

Let's head inside for a moment.

The plants are amazing. They are SO healthy and almost ready to head outside! You will see where one has even found a way to "escape" from the container. You might start seeing some of the blue and yellow tags in the plant pictures. These are our compliance tags. There is a unique tag for each plant that identifies it - the plant, stage of growth, strain, and location. Not an easy lift to manage those...remember when Caroline was smiling in a past update with the compliance tags? Well, she is still smiling.

We are so close to taking these lovely plants outside.

Meanwhile, the team has continued to prepare the outdoor area...in crazy heat. It would be one thing to be outside taking care of the plants. It's a whole nother thing to be filling and moving pots and laying ground cover. Thankfully, there is an end to that work that is starting to take shape. Keep in mind that these beds that you see are 84' wide and 590' long. They are BIG. You can see the layout and how the irrigation is situated.

Building 2 is looking good! The frame is complete and we are ready for metal. Exciting. Very exciting.

And our team is growing...we are at 38 now! And we will continue to grow. It feels great to offer work to people who need it...and want it.

I would like the opportunity to wrap up this update where I began - with our people. We are more than a team. We are a family. Our mantra is People Take Care of People and we are certainly living it. And we really see this come to life as the work has become more physically demanding and as new folks have joined us. The talk and the walk are aligned.

I remain feeling blessed and grateful for this opportunity and each of you who are reading this email.

We are on track and the team is incredible. So very incredible.