Progress Report: 8.13.2021
Grasshopper Family,
Perseverance. Fortitude. Tenacity. Strength.
I do not use these words lightly. These are badges of honor that are earned.
And the Grasshopper Farms Team has more to add to their uniforms this week.
We had an incredible windstorm. And with it there were two situations ushered in - power loss and plant damage. Both are real. Both are significant.
The winds howled overnight. Matt gave the team a heads up that we had lost power and that the winds were strong. The team sprang into action.
Brad was first on scene at 4:39am to make sure the folks pouring the concrete in Building Two had access while the power was out. He then moved on to securing a generator. I am not talking about some pull-start Honda. We are talking about a trailer with a key and starter. Big. It turns out that Brad's quick action got us the only generator of the size we need in the area. This is important because we have water to pump, security to maintain, and indoor plants growing under powerful lights!
The rest of the team assembled and got to work. The first step was to assess the damage. Next was repair. Repairing plants is way different than I had known in my pre-farming days. Plant triage and surgery are a thing. And they work. In fact, I mentioned in a previous email that the repaired areas can actually become stronger than before. Of course, damage can also mean partial or complete loss of a plant as well. The team spent the next thirteen hours cutting away parts that could not be repaired and bandaging (with tape) the branches that could be repaired. Like surgery, this takes a gentle deliberate hand.
We did take some loss. We won't know exactly how much until we give the plants a few days to recover. But, we do know this. The damage has not put our forecast in jeopardy. We are on track to meet or exceed our forecast. It was just really hard to see damage occur to our plant family and to take any loss whatsoever.
We care.
Transparency is really important. I am an optimistic person. But, I also want to make sure you know that I am telling you a complete story...not just about the rainbows, butterflies, and unicorns. We took damage. We incurred loss yet to be determined. Your investment is not at risk. Our company is not at risk.
Farming is hard. That's why we are one of very few who are farming premium sun-grown flower for retail. There are others farming average/standard flower for retail. There are even more harvesting for extraction. But no one seems to be doing what we are doing at the scale we are doing it at and with incredible plants.
So....on to the happy place.
Did you see our website?! It is AMAZING! The Clapp 360 team did an AWESOME job! Did you also see that you can go to grasshopperfarms.com to get there! Yeah...we got that domain.
The plants are BIG. They are vibrant. And outside of some damage, the majority are amazing. Our team has been absolutely crushing plant care and it shows in the pictures. Through all of the hard work, I am told constantly of smiles and happiness of a team with high morale.
The last of the t-posts were delivered on Tuesday and the team got to work to build the remaining trellising. The trellis system is VERY good. The plants with trellis took a fraction of damage than the plants without trellis. That was actually good to know since we now have all of the trellis and t-posts on site.
Building 2 now has a concrete floor! The team did a beautiful job. This building is going to be essential to our operation. We have more plants than we had originally forecasted and they are incredibly healthy. That means we need the space to conduct harvest the right way.
More work was done to the pump house to ensure we are maximizing our retention and use of our nutrients as they pass through a critical filter when headed to the beds.
The indoor plants are vibrant and barely even noticed that we had a power outage.
We have a series of shots around the farm showing the size of the plants and how good they look. And how TALL they are! Check out this video of our plants after the storm. Looking good!
And for more big news...WE HAVE OUR FIRST FLOWERS! The Red Pop presented us with our first Grasshopper Farms flowers and they look good!
The final sunset pictures were taken after a full day of plant repairs. You will notice how beautiful the sunset is and how great the plants look.
I had the opportunity to talk to two other outdoor farms after the wind. They were not so lucky.
Ladies and gentlemen....we are blessed. So very blessed.
We still have room for additional capital offered with the same terms - 100% interest to be paid by June 30, 2022. Email, call, or text me if you would like to learn more.
The motto of the Coast Guard is Semper Paratus. It means Always Ready. I learned it when I joined, lived it while serving, and it has become part of my DNA since retiring. I am proud to say that our Grasshopper Farms team embraces the motto of our United States Coast Guard. We truly are always ready.
Have an amazing Friday and weekend!
