WHY?
When I was a kid, I remember the great flavor of fruits and vegetables. They were tasty, flavorful, and juicy! I looked forward to summer time to have a large slice of watermelon or cantaloupe. However, today’s store bought fruits and vegetables are horrible. They’re sad, disgusting, and tasteless. Half the time, the purchased fruits and vegetables have been a waste of money. They weren’t even edible.

Growing up, my father would do a Spring and Fall garden. I remember the tomatoes and green bell peppers among other plants in the Spring and broccoli and brussel sprouts in the Fall. We had so many tomatoes that we were making spaghetti sauce, tomatoes sandwiches, eating them like apples with salt and pepper, using them in salads. They were always good!

A few years ago, I decided to start growing my own. Tired of the trash they are selling in the stores. I wanted good, flavorful fruits and vegetables. The first year I grow in soil and in five gallon buckets. And, this was OK, except for the Texas Spring heat! The next year, I grew in a raised bed and I added some extra topsoil and compost. Both seasons I had great results. Now we’ve purchased a small commercial hydroponic set. We will be posting many videos on our YouTube Channel for everything from equipment we’re using to finished product.

We are currently in the process buying 142.5 acres of land in order to start a commercial hydroponic farm, thus the setup that will be featured for the first part of this page and in the videos. It’s all a big test. Can we do it? Will we be successful?

We are using the NFT (nutrient film technology) system to get an idea for what it’s going to take. We are starting with lettuce, then spinach, and then maybe kale. Once we have that down, we will purchase a Bato Bucket system which will allow us the opportunity to grow vine crops such as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and eggplants.

At Weiss Family Farms, we want to grow the best fruits and vegetable we can. They must be tasty, delicious, and nutritious! Being hydroponically grown will allow us to control every aspect of the plants growth from seed to marketable produce. With hydroponics, we don’t need to use chemicals such as herbicide, pesticide, or fungicide. Hydroponic grown produce can be eaten right off of the production tables and no washing is required. Hydroponic produce also last longer than commercial store purchased equivalent.Ultimately, we are hoping to start with a fully integrated greenhouse capable of producing just shy of 10,000 plants per month!

Our plans include selling at local farmers markets, CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), small specialized grocery stores, produce distributors, and/or restaurants. We also want to produce cage free chickens and eggs and honey and bee products. In addition to all this, we are also going to be offering Agritourism opportunities such as Farm tours and stays. We want to start with a couple of fully equipped cabins, that will consist of two bedrooms, one bath, a full kitchen, living and dining room. We also want to add four recreation vehicle full hook up spaces and then several primitive camping sites. These are things we can start offering to the public almost right away to help with cost.

The Farm will also be completely self sustaining. We have already priced out a 50,000 watt, double axis solar system with more than 85 kWh battery system. All lighting on the farm will consist of low energy LED lights, energy efficient appliances and building techniques. Water will consist of a rainwater collection system that will be purified through a Reverse Osmosis Water Processing Plant. This will give the farm water as close to what God intended! Propane powered stoves, greenhouse heaters, and hot water heaters will round out the utilities.

We invite you to subscribe and like our Facebook Page. Head over to our YouTube Channel and like and subscribe there too. We are going to video just about every step along the way. We’ll discuss equipment, growing techniques, business and finance, marketing issues, and everything else.

Let us know what you think. You’re welcome to ask questions and add comments.