The weather was perfect. A beautiful spring day. We imagined all the things we would accomplish around the farm.You know the feeling… The cold winter had you cooped up inside, suffering from spring fever and you couldn’t wait to get out.

We could flip beds (farm lingo for pulling out old crops and preparing for new plantings) while the birds sang their melodies. Or we could screen compost while the frogs croaked love songs to potential mates. Or we could patch insect netting while white puffy clouds sailed overhead.

So why did all these accomplishments exist only in our imagination while we found ourselves in the car driving toward Kansas City?

Vegan Mix. It’s an organic certified fertilizer made only from plants and various ground-up rocks. We choose it because it’s the only fertilizer that doesn’t contain any animal products. No dried ground-up fish leftovers. No dried ground-up blood. No ground-up chicken feathers. Not even bat guano or cow poop. All of which may pose a risk of disease spreading to our soil and plants. The risk is very low since all these products are considered safe, but it’s a risk we are not willing to take.

Our commitment to growing fresh, local, and nutritious veggies include growing food that is safe to eat. We are not willing to compromise putting your and your family’s health at risk. Especially since most of our produce grows in the soil or just above it (unlike other crops like tomatoes or corn which are attached to plants high above the ground). Also, our specialty is salad, which most people eat raw.

There’s just one problem. Down to Earth Vegan Mix fertilizer is restricted in the state of Kansas. We had previously been able to order it online but recently learned that now, no one would ship it to us. Except for Amazon, but that came at a hefty price.

Doing more research, we learned that although the company, Down to Earth, distributes other products in our state, the Vegan Mix is not allowed until the company pays the state agriculture department a registration fee. They have not done this in the past because it was not worth it to them if the product was not popular enough to make it worthwhile to sell in Kansas.

The company rep assured me that because of our interest he would register with Kansas immediately. But as you know, anything with the government can take a while and even longer now with Covid-19 restrictions in place.

In the meantime, we found a store in KC just over on the Missouri side that was willing to order in a couple of bags for us.

So, we found ourselves dreaming of spring while cooped up in our car driving for 6 hours round trip on a perfectly good day.