Producer

Horizon MicroFarm grew out of our dedication to a healthy, clean, active, and environmentally sustainable life. We’ve loved gardening, cooking, and preserving for many years, and are always seeking new ways to enjoy these hobbies. Growing microgreens became the most recent addition to our growing some years ago. We love their amazing nutrition, flavor, and utility. Add our love of farmers’ markets that allow us to eat good food, support our local communities, and know the producers and their practices. Then came the idea to see if we could sell at markets to share our ideas and passion with others. This hobby also gave us respite from 60-hour a week jobs in health/long-term care. As our confidence and popularity grew, this hobby became a business in 2023. We continue to be blessed by amazing customers and are always working to grow our repertoire and reach.

Environmental Stewardship and Responsibility: We strive to use only environmentally sustainable products and practices as possible. Everything we do is as close to zero waste as possible. My room design, equipment, and methods, and packaging all minimize use of resources and reusable, compostable, or biodegradable. Yep, my packaging is ALL plant based, and can be HOME composted. ,
Hydroponic, Organic, and Non-GMO: No soil for my microgreens. I grow in water and a variety of inert organic and sustainable mediums to support them. I use no additives, letting the plant’s natural goodness speak for itself. This eliminates risks from chemicals and any soil imbalances or microbes. Seeds are organic and non-GMO seeds to the greatest extent available and heirloom varieties when possible. I also organically sanitize seeds, mediums, and room equipment/surfaces to ensure that they are free of any germy hitchhikers.
Just FYI, my outdoor garden soil is the result of years of compost with no waste or chemical additives and follows the same organic and seed sourcing /growing principles and adds rainwater conservation/re-use, seed gathering, companion planting for pollinator friendliness and pest management, and do it yourself pest management. Hand picking weeds and flicking bugs off plants builds character. (and if you’ve met me, you know I’m quite a character (LOL!)
Social Responsibility, Safety, and Access for All: We source as many supplies as possible from like minded local or U.S. based B-corps and businesses. We give back to the community and often donate our products for a variety of promotions and give-aways. From our first market we signed up to accept all SNAP based (FMNP/SFMNP/WIC) program checks and associated token systems (market dependent), to make these nutritional superheroes more accessible to everyone. This meant going the extra mile to be PA department of Agriculture inspected and approved. Most microgreens producers don’t do this for a few reasons. It isn’t required in the U.S. Microgreens aren’t regulated in the U.S, so they are often a cash only add-on product. Although they are cheaper and easier to grow in soil, there are contaminant risks. We sought guidance from the Canadian food code to find the safest organic guidelines and practices.