Photo: Susanna Redekop
Kind Organics is a community inspired, family-run farm located in Newmarket. Tamas and Sandra Dombi have been operating their sprouts-and-greens farming business since 2009. The work-load balances out well between the two of them since Tamas’ passion is farming, and Sandra loves to interact with customers at the markets selling their sprouts, greens, and other treats. But this sprouting family business has had quite the journey to get where they are today.
For over a decade, Sandra and Tamas have been working toward creating a healing retreat centre. In order to further that dream Tamas became a Real Estate Agent. After 5 years selling homes in Toronto, he went through some health challenges. He then realized that he needed to take his life in a new direction and one day, while driving in the country for inspiration, he found an advertisement for a 96ft x 20ft greenhouse for sale. “Since we were living in a small apartment at the time, I really had to just trust that we’d find some land to put it up on” says Sandra. “Every step we take moves us closer to our goal of creating a self sustainable retreat and healing centre, trust plays a large part of that.”
Once Tamas and Sandra found a piece of farmland, they were all set to move in for April of 2009. However, the former tenant refused to vacate at that time; but that didn’t stop Tamas and Sandra from planting on the land, as well as their next door neighbors’ land. Tamas had to drive up from the city daily to clear the land, till it, and erect the greenhouse. Finally, as the harvest season approached, the former tenant left and Tamas and Sandra moved in for August 1st. Their first harvest was the very next day. And their very first market was the following week! To top it off, that week a major sprout farm in Toronto announced it was moving their business elsewhere… leaving an opening in the market for exactly their niche. One could call it good timing, or perhaps fate.
Kind Organics specializes in sprouts, baby greens, teenager greens, and mature greens. They currently are experimenting with different products such as their new kale chips, apple chips, herbal teas, and even kombucha. “We’re always expanding and trying new things,” says Sandra. And it’s also a creative way to continue to serve their customer base when greens begin to become scarcer in the winter. “We’re also known for our always-changing, always-great deals at the markets,” she continues to say. “It’s a great way for a customer to get to taste a range of the different items that we offer.”
One of the unique things about being a sprout farmer is that there is such a high turn-over: greens get planted every two weeks and harvested after thirty days, and sprouts, which are planted three times per week, are harvested every ten days. Even though Sandra says that her “least favourite thing about farming is having to do it, even in the cold,” it sure is a lucky thing that their sprouts continue to thrive indoors all year round.
