Mustard Seed Farm & Market is a horticulture-based program providing opportunitiesfor adults with disabilities and promoting monarch butterfly education and habitat restoration. It was created to offer employment and job skill training for adults who have disabilities. Our goal as an organization is to provide meaningful work, while teaching skills that will allow our participants to gain employment outside of Mustard Seed, at other jobs within the horticulture industry. The primary skill set that we will teach is basic plant weeding, watering, and care techniques within a greenhouse setting. We will also focus heavily on seed germination, propagation, and planting of butterfly milkweed plants. Due to the nature of our activities, we can provide modifications and accommodate a wide range of abilities. We also will have long term employment opportunities for individuals who may not be able to find other work within the community outside of our program. Our focus on butterfly milkweed plants will allow us to grow and ship difficult to grow, hard-to-find dspecies all over the country and supply a high demand within the market that most commercial growers don’t have the time or staffing to produce. Our research and development over the past 5 years has allowed us to reach an 85% germination rate, and we are confident in the procedures that we have developed to allow us to grow a consistent, quality product that will be a significant source of self-sustaining income for our program. IN THE FUTURE-
As we grow, our long term plans include expanding into edible crops and building a farmer’s market complex on site that is staffed and operated by our program participants. Within our farmer’s market we be able to expand our program to add shipping, customer service, and retail-oriented job skill training as well. We also fully intend to incorporate residential housing into the same complex once our program and market are well established. We will strive to provide the opportunity for meaningful work to all different levels of ability. Mustard Seed Farm & Market is GROWING GREAT PLANTS AND PEOPLE!
