Progress Report: 8.6.2021
Grasshopper Family,
Something special happened this week.
I arrived on Monday, just two weeks after my last visit. The farm was incredible. The pump house looks amazing. The team worked hard to complete the installation of some additional components and organizational elements. The plants have exploded again. Two weeks welcomed an incredible amount of growth...super healthy and vibrant colors.
And that was what I found when I got to the farm on Monday.
Tuesday morning is where the magic really hit me.
We start our days at 6:30am. The leadership team arrives and prepares for the day. The rest of the team arrives at 7:00am and we get the crews tasked and deployed.
The difference this time was the energy of the team and the flow of the work.
Smooth. Focused. Intentional. Highly effective.
The team got to work before the sun cleared the treeline...as if they had been doing it for years.
There are times when I have to remind myself and remind the team that we have only been on this property since October 14th of last year. There are times when we need to remind ourselves that we did not start operating with plants until April 20th of this year. Most startup organizations don't look and operate like this until they are in years three, four, or five...sometimes longer.
I have had the fortune of being on highly specialized military teams. I have enjoyed being on intense corporate teams.
This team is crushing all measures.
All.
But, that isn't just my assessment. We had a few organizations tour our operation. We also headed over to an outdoor grow of 5,500 plants that has been profitable for three years. There were folks who are well seasoned from the Colorado market, others from the Florida market, and some Michigan natives who toured the farm. All are experts in this space. The feedback was overwhelming: we look better than any grow they have seen. AND...our plants look healthier than they have seen outdoors or at other farms.
Our team is absolutely crushing it.
Let's take a look at the pictures!
We have an incredible t-post and trellis system. The final shipments of t-posts will be here early next week and we will finish setting up the support netting for all of the remaining plants. Check out where we have three people using post drivers and the spool to deploy wire. The team is incredibly innovative in how we make good use of our resources and time.
A secondary flag system made it out to the middle of the field to allow people to replenish their flags without having to come back to the pump house.
These flags are an incredibly important means for our farm team to mark plants that need attention.
And about the pump house...it is amazing. This is a high functioning area where we store water, mix nutrients, and deploy to the plants. The team has done an incredible job of focusing on improving its efficiency.
The team is really proud of how the plants look. They look great in these pictures. They look even better in person.
I have a really good friend who lives in Ohio and decided to fly over in his plane to tour the farm. We were invited on a tour of the farm from the sky with him. And it was amazing.
Finally, the sunrises and sunsets. I was commenting to the team that I can't see myself ever getting tired of the way we start and end our days at the farm.
They all agreed.
We are truly blessed with all that is Grasshopper Farms.
Have a fantastic close to your week and awesome weekend!
