Brian Norton

Hi-
If you want to take our Air BnB. On us. Hit me back quick. I need to go block it out.
https://abnb.me/8HAJTUMdTX

Terrified to have the Duke and Duchess see my place. But also excited.

I have my living room set up to do presentations on the 60” with stadium seating. So if you wanted to do a talk. We could also fit about 20 folks. Would have to co-ordinate on that.

We are 8 miles south of the airport. Just off I-5.

Brian & Candice
Food Forest Farms

Phone on our site and the google thing.

Brian Norton wrote:Hi- We are ready to start the next phase of farm income diversification.  You can see a bunch of pictures etc of our 1/4 acre city farm at Food Forest Farms Fb Page

UPDATE-
We found 2 folks for the city farm tiny house build.  1 from craigslist.  Local.  Doesnt need a place to live, just wants to helpon the build.  One from the TSP community.  He's moving up from Texas to help on the project and test drive Seattle.  

NEXT PHASE-
Start building out farm ops on our 10 acres out on the Key Penninsula.  If you have any ideas for a permaculture venture you need space to set up, hit us up with a proposal.  Bee Keeping, Black Smithing, Tiny House Campground.... We are open to creating stuff collaberativly.

Jocelyn Campbell wrote:I backed you because you roast very good coffee! :-) And I added this thread to a couple other forums where it might get more views. (If anyone ever wants their thread added to other forums, click the "!Report" button and simply ask for the thread to be added to other forums.)

I'd recommend more pictures in your Kickstarter campaign page, including pictures of the coffee, soap, lip gloss, hat, shirt, coffee press, and burr grinder. Or did I miss pictures of those? Of course you likely want better pictures than the one I posted here. ;-)

I think I enjoy good coffee, though I'm not exactly a connoisseur, so I would not know how to describe the two roasts of yours that I sampled. Do you have customer quotes, or other descriptions of the coffee attributes that could be included in the campaign?

Good luck!!

The reason there aren't pics of the swag is that it doesn't exist yet.  I built our logo via cut and paste.  Found out this week its too low res for any professional printing.  The redesign is active on Fiverr right now.  Will repost here as soon as its done.  I have the shirt/hat/mug guy ready, he just needs the art.  Will update all as it comes in.

The description of our coffee wehear back from everyone is SMOOTH.  It's from 2 main things and its the combination that sets us apart.
1.  We source only super high grade Arabica beans.  We usually test roast at least 4 versions before deciding on any lot.  (the best 2% of coffee in the world)
2.  We Micro Roast ( tech definition is less than 150#/day) 1 to 3# batches on our electric fluid air bed roaster.
    -  By using an electric element to heat the air that cooks the beans, we ARE NOT cooking in an exhaust gas.  Roasters deriving heat from natural gas or propane impart dangerous levels of hydrogen sulfide to the final roasted product.  
    -  Air Roasting negates the burning effect of the conductive heat from abig heavy metal drum roaster,  By not buring the outter shell on a big hot steel drum, to cook to the center, we impart less bitterness in the cup.
    -  Micro Batch roasting means as the roaster I have complete immediate control of every roast.  There is no super hot giant metal drum that changes temp slowly.  I can change the tempof the hot air stream in real time.  Also cooling small batches within 1 minute means I can stop the roast exactly where I want it.  With larger batches, you can get close, but have less control.

Tracy Wandling wrote:Hi Brian & Candice;

I've added photos and links from your website and Facebook page. It might be good to add the link to your Linked In profile as well.

Also, you might want to consider adding the Kickstarter video to Youtube. Then we can embed the video here as well!

And here are links to Paul's podcasts about how to do a Kickstarter which might be helpful:

How to do a Kickstarter - Part 1
How to do a Kickstarter  Part 2
How to do a Kickstarter - Part 3

Best of luck to you!

Tracy

Thanks so much for the assist on the photos!  I am going to go listen to those today!  

Hi- We are ready to start the next phase of farm income diversification.  You can see a bunch of pictures etc of our 1/4 acre city farm at Food Forest Farms Fb Page

We own a duplex in Federal Way WA and a 10 acre property on the Key Peninsula.  We have well established hueggel beds, Muscovy ducks, aquaponic true wasabi, fig and lemon trees.  Now we want to get the place ready for Air B&B / workshop visitors.  Last year we stripped down a 25' RV frame, and had power run out to our upper driveway.  That will be the stand alone tiny house, that needs to be built from the ground up.  The other 1 bed/1bath is 90% done.  Just needs an exterior door, interior door, and a window.  Both spaces will then be rentable - hopefully to permaculture type people.

As a BONUS - my friend has jobs at his roofing company OPEN and if you are part of this project you will get first consideration.  If roofing is not your thing there are 100 manufactures within 10 miles all looking for machine ops, forklift drivers, etc....  You will need a real job/income to come here.  If you can pass a piss test you can get a $15/20 job in a day or 2.  Shit, even go work in the Amazon warehouse picking orders.  Full healthcare from day 1.  Mindnumbing, but solid.

In the begining you will need to be a self contained living unit.  Meaning you have a van camper, truck camper, or something to keep yourself in while the first space gets completed.  There is 30a 22v power inplace you can tap into.  Oncethe first space is  complete, you need to decide, move into that space and pay rent or we put it up on Air B&B and you start collecting cash for the labor you have into the build. (we split net income on the rental 50/50 until you are paid). Then we start building the Tiny House on the frame.  I pay for and source materials, you do the build.  Same deal on the tiny house.  Once its renting we split 50/50 until you are paid off.

If you are still loving the deal, we plan to build about 4 more Tiny's out on the 10 acre property.  Out there we will be using more rocketmass heating, water catchment, etc...

Federal Way WA is about 7 miles south of the Airport and directly in between Seattle and Tacoma.  We are 4 blocks to a major transit hub and a block and a half from the Rapid Ride.  A very well positioned property to rent.  Close to I-5 but also 2 miles to the boat ramp and 5 -7 miles to all the businesses in the valley.  If you would like to make the leap to the coast and come help on a fun project, do some research on us, then get in touch.  All of our contact info is on facebook, or on our website.  

Brian & Candice
Food Forest Farms
Founding Farmer/Queen Bee
Food Forest Farms Home Page

Food Forest Farms

Hi!

Thanks for looking at our project: Kickstarter - Food Forest Farms Coffee

I retired from Corp Sales 7 years ago and started Food Forest Farms, with my now wife Candice. We did a lot of Aquaponics work, experiments and consulting back in the hay day of medicinal cannabis. That's when we started South Sound Aquaponics. As we saw the writing on the wall and the state/corp take over in the medical space we morphed the farm into a Nursery and Duck operation. We sell at the Federal Way and Des Moines Farmers Markets in the Seattle area. We have settled into Muscovy Ducks, and permaculture herbs. After 7 years our 1/4 acre city farm is almost ready for tours and workshops. We will be posting soon, on permies, for a carpenter type person to help build out our 2 Air B&B spaces. Diversification of farm income is key right now. Keep an eye out for that.



As for our Specialty Coffee - Custom Micro Roasting coffee business: you can go check my Linked In and see my whole sales career. For 5 years I worked for one of the most Permaculture-based farms in Costa Rica, under Bill McCalpin at LaMinita/Distant Lands Coffee. I ran the convenience store, office coffee channels, until I moved into top to top sales with some of the biggest hotel/foodservice chains in the country. The point is, I've built brands for many different companies; now it's time to focus on building one to support ourselves and stabilize the farm income stream.



I would LOVE to have any help from Permies folks if you are feeling it. Please ask any questions or offer suggestions. It's the first time we have really started to be permies. Here is the link to the Kickstarter: Kickstarter - Food Forest Farms Coffee

Thanks in advance for sharing where you see fit.  
Brian & Candice

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