For Kansas City area farmers Jeff and Pam Meyers, “Farming is sustained on faith.”
Faith is required to plant seeds in the ground. Faith is required as the farmer watches the seeds grow into a crop that provides for the family. Farming requires faith in the weather, market conditions, and a whole host of other phenomena that are outside the control of the faithful and hopeful farmer.
And sometimes, farming requires faith to walk away.
So when the Meyer family closed the doors to their family dairy business in 1998, they were faithfully looking for another door to open. Recalling this decision, Jeff and Pam say, “Faith brought us to that point for a reason…Everything we’ve done, we’ve been led to a certain spot and felt very confident in what we were doing…There’s a door you just need to open. Each time you open a door, you get excited for the new option.”
After closing the door to the dairy, the family took a family vacation to Epcot center in Florida. As they walked through the doors to the park’s hydroponic garden , they realized another door of opportunity had just opened.
Hydroponic gardening has been around for ages, and many believe the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were the first forms of hydroponic gardening followed by the Aztecs who used rafts to grow plants in rivers and lakes.
Today, the technology revolves around high-tech soilless production of vegetables, fruits, and other crops that are typically found indoors in greenhouses. Nutrient rich water is flushed over the roots to nourish the plants and infuse extraordinary taste into the product. The process is highly efficient and can be done anywhere no matter the climate. For example, look how Almeria Spain has turned a desert into a food-producing giant.
Returning home from Florida with an open door and renewed sense of purpose, the family began to retrofit their dairy facilities to grow tilapia and fresh basil. Basil was an easy choice because the delectable herb is nearly impossible to ship in its live form and any local market requires a local grower. Jeff and Pam became that local grower.
The family has true passion for their products and they personally deliver to the local market. Consumers have a passion for their basil too, and Pam often gets stopped by faithful customers who comment on how much they love their product.
Their operation now consists of 14,000 square feet of greenhouses that are reserved mainly for fresh, natural basil with an organic tone and a few other fresh herbs grown for the Kansas City market.
They are happy, wonderful people working hard to make a dream come true.
And it all started with a little faith.