So, my company holds an internal, worldwide "competition" to look for new and innovative ideas to support and invest in (the company as a whole is in an enormous amount of markets). A buddy of mine is getting quite far into the competition with a new type of home farming. All this is to say that his team is looking for responses to a survey for their research and presentation purposes.
If you're bored, could you answer the below questions? Maybe it will start a fun conversation or two.
1. How many people in your home do you typically purchase groceries for?
2. How often do you buy fresh groceries?
3. Where do you currently purchase groceries for your household?
4. Why is that your chosen place to purchase groceries?
5. Are there any groceries/ingredients you find difficult to source?
6. Roughly, how much do you spend on fresh produce/groceries per month?
7. Do you purchase any organic ingredients? Why or why not?
8. What % of all groceries you buy are organic?
9. Do you currently do any sort of gardening (indoor/outdoor) at home? Why or why not?
10. If not, have you ever been interested in trying gardening?
11. What types of equipment/products come to mind when you think of indoor gardening?
12. Have you ever considered buying indoor gardening equipment (such as hydroponics) to grow your own plants year round?
13. What would be your greatest concern in using indoor gardening equipment?
14. If you were to purchase indoor gardening equipment, what would you be most interested to grow?
15. What would be the most you would consider paying for indoor gardening equipment? (For example <$50, <$100, <$150, <$200)
16. Assuming the minimum equipment size is a 2-foot cube, would there be any concern about free space in your household?
17. How important would aesthetics be for you, if you decided to purchase indoor hydroponics equipmet? (Scale 1-5; 5 is most important)
18. What would be your preferred method for buying seeds/seedlings, if offered by the equipment manufacturer? (Subscription, a-la-carte, etc)
Maybe they need a Wordle tie-in to drive up eyeballs like here?
I have an AeroGarden that Philosofette gave me for Christmas a few years back. I'm on round 3 or 4 of growing herbs in it during the fall/winter/spring months. It is amazing and I love having those available to me. Plus it's just nice to have something growing when it's cold and grey outside.
This past weekend I made dishes using parsley, cilantro, oregano, and thyme all from our AeroGarden. I've also got basil and thai basil growing right now, both of which have been used frequently, and have really brightened up some meals. There's a lot of joy to be had here.
1. How many people in your home do you typically purchase groceries for? 6
2. How often do you buy fresh groceries? 3-4x /week
3. Where do you currently purchase groceries for your household? Local grocery.
4. Why is that your chosen place to purchase groceries? Location, supporting small town.
5. Are there any groceries/ingredients you find difficult to source? Yes, out-of-season produce. Specialty items.
6. Roughly, how much do you spend on fresh produce/groceries per month? $$
7. Do you purchase any organic ingredients? Why or why not? Yes, when price is close to non-organic.
8. What % of all groceries you buy are organic? <10%.
9. Do you currently do any sort of gardening (indoor/outdoor) at home? Why or why not? Yes, enjoy fresh produce, saves $.
10. If not, have you ever been interested in trying gardening? n/a
11. What types of equipment/products come to mind when you think of indoor gardening? AeroGarden.
12. Have you ever considered buying indoor gardening equipment (such as hydroponics) to grow your own plants year round? Yes, I own an AeroGarden.
13. What would be your greatest concern in using indoor gardening equipment? n/a
14. If you were to purchase indoor gardening equipment, what would you be most interested to grow? Herbs, peppers, tomatoes.
15. What would be the most you would consider paying for indoor gardening equipment? (For example <$50, <$100, <$150, <$200) <$150.
16. Assuming the minimum equipment size is a 2-foot cube, would there be any concern about free space in your household? No.
17. How important would aesthetics be for you, if you decided to purchase indoor hydroponics equipmet? (Scale 1-5; 5 is most important) 2 - plants dominate so aesthetics are minimal.
18. What would be your preferred method for buying seeds/seedlings, if offered by the equipment manufacturer? (Subscription, a-la-carte, etc) ala carte.
We also have an AeroGarden, and cosign on everything you say about access to fresh herbs in winter
Those things look really neat, but I'm cheap and completely balked at the price when I looked them up just now
Me, too, although the Harvest model at about 120.00 is tempting. My kitchen is small and counter space extremely limited. What models do you guys have?
I’d probably just grow herbs.
I've got a 6 pod model - the newer ones look a little different than what I have. Looks like it might take up a little less space, but comperable.
Looks like with a coupon you could get it for around $110, before taxes and shipping and such. That's obviously still a pretty big bite.
Another idea: Aquinas is doing his science fair project by comparing the effect of various light colors on plants. For his project we set up some grow lights and threw some bean plants in potting soil. It would probably take a bit more space than an AeroGarden, but you could homebrew the same idea pretty easily I'd think.
the lettuce (electric and not) is delicious out of my aerogarden. We're DINKS so..... We also use this is a seed starter for the garden to get a head start on spring / before it's too hot to grow anything.
How far do you let the roots develop before transplanting? Does the absence of dirt would hurt or slow down the transplant process?
We’ve had great success just putting the pod in dirt and letting it go. I also use the square foot method and put peppers in a milk crate lined with ground cloth, lettuce I put two to a milk crate. The cherry tomatoes take off like weeds right away.
1. How many people in your home do you typically purchase groceries for?
2
2. How often do you buy fresh groceries?
2-4 times per week
3. Where do you currently purchase groceries for your household?
Costco and a local grocery. Occasional specialty store.
4. Why is that your chosen place to purchase groceries?
Quality, price, variety
5. Are there any groceries/ingredients you find difficult to source?
I get bulk Indian spices at a local Indian grocer.
6. Roughly, how much do you spend on fresh produce/groceries per month?
Probably around $400-$500 per month overall
7. Do you purchase any organic ingredients? Why or why not?
Yes, occasionally. Depends on what looks good and is on sale. Costco has increased it's organic options dramatically.
8. What % of all groceries you buy are organic?
10-25 pct
9. Do you currently do any sort of gardening (indoor/outdoor) at home? Why or why not?
Yes. We have three raised beds. Currently growing bok choy and swiss chard.
10. If not, have you ever been interested in trying gardening?
11. What types of equipment/products come to mind when you think of indoor gardening?
Grow lights. 😏
12. Have you ever considered buying indoor gardening equipment (such as hydroponics) to grow your own plants year round?
No. I live in California.
13. What would be your greatest concern in using indoor gardening equipment?
Our cats.
14. If you were to purchase indoor gardening equipment, what would you be most interested to grow?
Herbs and micro greens
15. What would be the most you would consider paying for indoor gardening equipment? (For example <$50, <$100, <$150, <$200)
Under $100
16. Assuming the minimum equipment size is a 2-foot cube, would there be any concern about free space in your household?
No
17. How important would aesthetics be for you, if you decided to purchase indoor hydroponics equipmet? (Scale 1-5; 5 is most important)
4
18. What would be your preferred method for buying seeds/seedlings, if offered by the equipment manufacturer? (Subscription, a-la-carte, etc)
A la carte
Costco has been a good source for organics. Another thing I like is, even if non-organic, the ingredient lists of the products they sell tend to be pretty short.
Expect to see more worrying posts like this one at FanGraphs on other independent baseball sites you read.
Maybe they need a Wordle tie-in to drive up eyeballs like here?
I have an AeroGarden that Philosofette gave me for Christmas a few years back. I'm on round 3 or 4 of growing herbs in it during the fall/winter/spring months. It is amazing and I love having those available to me. Plus it's just nice to have something growing when it's cold and grey outside.
This past weekend I made dishes using parsley, cilantro, oregano, and thyme all from our AeroGarden. I've also got basil and thai basil growing right now, both of which have been used frequently, and have really brightened up some meals. There's a lot of joy to be had here.
We also have an AeroGarden, and cosign on everything you say about access to fresh herbs in winter
Those things look really neat, but I'm cheap and completely balked at the price when I looked them up just now
Me, too, although the Harvest model at about 120.00 is tempting. My kitchen is small and counter space extremely limited. What models do you guys have?
I’d probably just grow herbs.
I've got a 6 pod model - the newer ones look a little different than what I have. Looks like it might take up a little less space, but comperable.
Looks like with a coupon you could get it for around $110, before taxes and shipping and such. That's obviously still a pretty big bite.
Another idea: Aquinas is doing his science fair project by comparing the effect of various light colors on plants. For his project we set up some grow lights and threw some bean plants in potting soil. It would probably take a bit more space than an AeroGarden, but you could homebrew the same idea pretty easily I'd think.
the lettuce (electric and not) is delicious out of my aerogarden. We're DINKS so..... We also use this is a seed starter for the garden to get a head start on spring / before it's too hot to grow anything.
How far do you let the roots develop before transplanting? Does the absence of dirt would hurt or slow down the transplant process?
We’ve had great success just putting the pod in dirt and letting it go. I also use the square foot method and put peppers in a milk crate lined with ground cloth, lettuce I put two to a milk crate. The cherry tomatoes take off like weeds right away.
Answers
Costco has been a good source for organics. Another thing I like is, even if non-organic, the ingredient lists of the products they sell tend to be pretty short.