Why I Started Super Farmers
I am Cynthea, a mother of two young kids and I founded Super Farmers two years ago because I really wanted to share my personal story of nearly losing my first born to an acute illness, and then had to give up my career to nurture her back to health again.
I lost everything monetarily, but I got back my daughter.
As this is the first time we're 'meeting', allow me to share the full story here.
Let's get on with this introduction.
Super Farmers wasn't the first business I'd started - during my daughter's long recuperation at home, I'd started an organic catering business for fellow moms whose kids weren't eating well, but alas, the high costs of procuring organic produce meant it took up 50% of my revenue - how is that ever a sustainable business? To worsen matters, I was doing everything by myself - buying the ingredients, prepping, cooking, packaging and delivering - all while taking care of my kids. The fatigue I felt at the end of each day was very real, and with so little profit at the end of each month, I could hardly put food on the table. And so, I knew I had to approach things differently.
I truly wanted to help others eat and live healthily - that goal has never changed. But I needed to do it in a way that was easier for me to reach out to more people and in a sustainable manner.
Whilst I kept pondering about how I could do that, I'd noticed that the organic sweet potatoes I'd forgotten about started sprouting stems and leaves! It was very interesting to see life begin in something we all think is already dead. I started reading up about growing, and experimented further with store-bought pumpkins, chillis and spring onions. The pumpkin seeds sprouted beautifully and the shallots sprouted spring onions quickly but the chillis were not meant to be, and became a decomposed mess. I was almost convinced I had no green fingers.
Not wanting to give up, I joined urban farming communities here, while I pursued a childhood nutrition course and my first sharing opportunity came when I was invited to host an urban farming workshop (my first workshop) that had a full attendance and we had to add a few more sessions because so many people were interested to learn about growing their own food!
Super Farmers is a zero-dollar startup and is still about sharing how we can live a simple, happy and healthy life. Over the past two years, I've conducted urban farming workshops, set up a pop-up retail store, given talks about life, and shared glimpses into my personal life. Mine is not a story of 'success' and big money, but more importantly, it is a journey of seeking happiness. I hope you will follow me on this journey of seeking and discovering, because I have so many more stories to share and knowledge to pass on.
Let's all stay healthy and happy together!
Very humbly yours,
Cynthea