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Local farmers growing the safest, freshest produce for your table. It’s frustrating walking through the produce section of a typical grocery store. Product of California, Product of Mexico. We accept that there are a lot of things we can’t grow in Alberta, but we can grow vegetables, greens and herbs. About 95% of the produce that comes into this province is from somewhere south of the border. It’s picked before it’s ripe, loses nutrients every day it’s stored, and most probably was sprayed to give it longer shelf life. We had already invested in a company wanting to feed people by growing produce hydroponically. I thought what they were doing was amazing. But then a friend shared a video on Facebook from a US company about growing in a seacan with vertical hydroponics. This was something that would work in our climate and took so little space. We knew we had to find them and get involved. Enter Range Road Garden Farms Laura – I grew up on a farm in Nova Scotia. “My Mom had a small greenhouse so at an early age I was helping with the flowers and vegetables she grew. I spent summers weeding the garden and tilling soil.” Jill- I didn’t grow up on the farm but I spent every summer there, helping in the garden, living the farm life. “It was farm, family and food. Eating everything fresh from the garden, carrots, baby corn all from Gramma’s massive garden.” Our Why Our experiences growing up are no longer available for many people. A lot of kids don’t recognize many vegetables. Tiny yards and busy schedules make it a challenge to grow anything sustainable at home. We have started down this road because FOOD security is a real issue. Like you, we were concerned about our food, who grew it, how and where it was grown. Hydroponic farming affords us the opportunity to offer produce in the community without acres of land. We will be local Alberta farmers growing vertically instead of horizontally. Our Product Our greens are non-GMO, herbicide and pesticide free. We will be producing fresh microgreens and herbs 365 days a year. Can you imagine fresh picked produce in the middle of an Alberta winter? Eating Local We will bring our growing towers right to the market so we can harvest for you, as needed. You couldn’t get fresher unless you grew it yourself. Because our greens are fresh picked, they last longer in your fridge and will be more flavorful in your salad. Those towers will then be taken back to the farm to produce again. Our Campaign And here’s how you can help. This Kickstarter campaign will enable us to involve you in our launch. Kickstarter gives you the opportunity to invest in a start-up without risk. Kickstarter is an all or nothing program. Our basic goal is $10,000 but our stretch goal is $30,000. If we don’t reach our $10,000 goal you won’t get charged a dime. Instead of traditional equity in the company you get some great rewards, at the completion of our campaign and once the business is up and running. The fundraising is to assist us in purchasing our first ZipFarm unit. The monies we raise will go to capital purchases only. We are covering all the costs of labour, fees and other expenses ourselves. Breakdown of Equipment to be Purchased ZipFarm Beginner Bundle – $27,850 • Includes 3 - ZipRacks with 20, 8' ZipGrow towers per rack (60 towers) Integrated irrigation and drainage • Light Rack • Intravision LED Grow Lights (Tunable, variable-spectrum) Plumbing Package - $6,200 What we have already completed: 1. We’ve done an in-depth market study including meetings with local independent restaurant owners and chefs. 2. We have written a business plan. 3. We have a location for the ZipFarms and the Modular Farms. 4. Introductory Training through webinars. More About the ZipFarm Our ZipFarm unit consists of 3 racks each hung with 20 towers, a nutrient distribution system and special LED lights. It is specifically designed to be used in a warehouse or greenhouse environment. We have chosen a greenhouse in order to be able to take advantage of the hours of sunlight we enjoy most of the year in this part of Alberta. Special, blue-red spectrum LED lights will take up the slack during the winter months to give our plants all the light they need to thrive and produce. Future Plans As we move forward, we will be able to offer produce grown from heritage seed. There are so many wonderful, flavorful, heritage plants. It’s produce you can’t find anywhere else. It’s produce we grew up with. We will also be able to expand our towers to be able to grow larger plants like peppers and strawberries. Our next step will be to add self-contained Modular Farm units to our system. The Modular Farm holds 264 vertical growing towers. Each Modular Farm unit has room for 3,500 to 4,000 plants. For example, on average each Modular Farm can produce 960 heads of lettuce every week, based on a seven-week growing cycle. The vertical modular unit measures 40 x 8 x 10 but has more growing capacity than an acre of land. With the Modular Farms we will be able to make a significant change/improvement to the availability of fresh produce for Edmonton and the surrounding area using a very small plot of land. Growing in the North Due to their construction, Modular Farms are a viable option for year round affordable production in our northern communities. When you help us launch Range Road Garden Farms you will be helping us work toward helping others. We are excited about the possibility of working with our neighbors to the North. Being able to grow quality produce in the far North, for communities whose only access to fresh produce is via the ice roads or by being flown in, is amazing. Back and suppor us on Kickstarter at CLICK HERE
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