Blue Feather Homestead, also known as Rainbow Garden Kauai, is owned and run by Katie and Carl Young. They are the new owners of this business that has been around since the 1980s. They provided delicious bags of sprouts to the Malama Kauai CSA Bag Program to families in need.
Like many farms around the island, there was some struggle through this COVID-19 pandemic; however, Rainbow Garden Kauai’s outcome has been a positive impact for them!
They have been working hard these past few months to continue to feed the community. This includes distributing to six different markets and a dozen restaurants around the island. With Blue Feather Homesteads’ controlled factors, they are able to forecast bags needed to fulfill their client’s orders each week.
During quarantine, they were able to use the time to reorganize their sales channels. This allowed them to forecast how many pounds of sprouts seeds needed to grow to distribute to the CSA programs, markets, and businesses around the island.
The kinds of hydroponic sprouts that they grow include clover, clover & broccoli mix, sprouted garbanzo, mung bean, radish, and a “Crispy Mix” with sprouted peas, lentils, and adzuki beans.
Sprouts have abundant health factors that include plant proteins, enzymes, minerals, vitamins, and amino acids, which work great as toppings additions to add to your favorite recipes for an extra boost of nutritional value.
Katie enjoys her sprouts on pho noodles as well as a simple stir fry dish sautéed with vegetables. Carl enjoys his sprouts rolled up in a summer roll, Vietnamese style.
Before they bought the business, Katie and Carl had learned the tactics of how to sprout farm by the previous owners. With the skills, knowledge, and exciting opportunities in the future to provide locally farmed sprouts to the community, they decided to take the challenge to pursue the sprout business.
Once things have settled down, they plan to further their farming knowledge so they can develop a whole new sustainable ecosystem of producing food. This includes a food forest and introducing farm animals so they can interconnect and network naturally together.
“Buying local products from the community agriculture on Kauai helps farmers stay in business. That is what we need on the island – sustainability – instead of shopping and relying on imported produce. Buying Kauai grown produce is the way to go!” says Carl Young.
Rainbow Gardens Kauai is one of the farms that has luckily been able to continue to strive forward and use this time to continue to distribute and sell their delicious sprouts to the community.
For more information contact Carl at (808) 822-2221 or email them at [email protected]