Mama Kali’s Farm founders Kali and Jiangyu are passionate about microgreens saying they are more than just the garnish on a meal at a fancy restaurant.

The plant-mad mother-daughter duo started the business in Te Puke in 2022 but since then, the business has flourished rapidly.

Starting with 15sqm of land, they now operate a 72sqm farm and plant a minimum of 250 trays each week.

Sales have also been growing - starting with 40 weekly microgreen packets, they now sell more than 1300 packets weekly.

Microgreens are baby vegetables with concentrated nutrient contents meaning they are believed to be more nutritious than mature vegetables as they are rich in vitamins and minerals such as calcium.

With more than 300 indoor and edible house plants between them, the duo has always been passionate about gardening.

Jiangyu lost her job with an indoor plant-tending business during Covid-19, and her mum Kali was retired, leading the duo to the farm venture.

“Me and mum ... were just doing it for fun and just learning about microgreens and I guess we sort of got lucky, the community here is supportive,” she says.

From growing to harvesting, packaging and selling their produce, the duo have done it all themselves.

From left to right: Mama Kali from Mama Kali's Farm, and daughter Jiangyu with their hand-harvested microgreens from their farm in Te Puke.

They pride themselves on eco-conscious farming by not using sprays or chemicals on their greens, being careful of water usage, and hand harvesting all their trays without machines.

They also use natural light to grow their microgreens with heating systems only in place for the germination phase.

Jiangyu says hand harvesting can be very labour-intensive but it helps to ensure the quality of produce.

“It takes five minutes to hand harvest a tray when it would take 15 seconds with a machine,” she says.

However, she says they are proud of harvesting their crops by hand.

“When we hand cut, we check all the greens we package too so what’s being packed into the containers are double checked, which guarantees longer and better quality.”

She says their microgreens often stay fresh for more than a week.

The name of their business is an inside joke between the duo as Kali has a huge vegetable garden in her backyard.

“I knew it would be perfect because sometimes when I would go and get vegetables from her house, I’d say “I’m at Mama Kali’s farm now”, and it’s something that just stuck with us,” says Jiangyu.

“It’s nice spending time together, learning more about each other, and just appreciating the life we’re building together.”

Almost 25 supermarkets in the Bay of Plenty and Hawke’s Bay areas are now stockists of Mama Kali’s products including New World, Pak‘nSave, and Fresh Choice.

Jiangyu says their next step is to expand their network of stockists to other supermarkets nationwide.

Meanwhile, Jiangyu also encourages others to try microgreen farming.

“You don’t need a lot of land or water, and you can grow something with a lot of nutrients ... quickly - from seed to eat in two weeks,” she says.

“You can grow it on your kitchen bench and only need to water it once a week. It’s also so much fun to grow, it’s easy, and healthy for you. Microgreens are not just the garnish on a meal at a fancy restaurant, it’s more than that.”

Mama Kali’s Farm is located at 18 Kenana Rd, Te Puke.

-Te Puke Times.