Living a natural life and thinking about the environment is on trend right now, from using sustainable wood in furniture to creating your own food from natural ingredients.
Angela Jones, founder of Sow Grow Eat, knows this better than most. A passionate gardener, she decided to grow her own food and believed everyone should be doing the same, which inspired her to start her business.
“At Sow Grow Eat we are passionate about the geographical planting of fruit, veggies and herb seeds based on climate zoning and weather patterns so that everyone can grow their own food regardless of space limitations, experience or skill (just so you know, everyone has a green thumb―they are just different shades!),” she says.
Jones never imagined she would be running an ostrich farm with her sister, dodging vicious males while scooping out the eggs worth $1,000 each. She says the experience showed her just what she was capable of and how important it is to live your values and experiment with creating a business.
“Sow Grow Eat solves a problem most of us have, a lack of time and space to grow our own produce. The products are so simple; you can just open a packet with seeds and soil mix, add water and pop it on the windowsill to grow. It brings back the wonder and joy of watching seeds germinate and being able to eat the produce later.”
The packets make a great gift and orders have been through the roof since Jones started her venture two years ago.
“A lot of people from Sydney and Melbourne have been buying up and I have an agent in Western Australia, which is going really well,” she says.
She also developed corporate packs as handouts at events, wedding favours and other seed packs with useful information about what to grow and when to grow it all over Australia.
“We’ve also contributed products for fundraisers at schools as a healthy alternative to the chocolate boxes parents are lumped with selling, Freddo frogs and the like.
“Growing your own teaches us all a bit of zen and everyone gets a buzz when the seeds pop their little heads up―it only takes a few days or a week normally.”
By Marion Gerritsen
