I've always had cats throughout my life and worked with a lot of rescue groups over the years. I know firsthand how expensive pets can be, but to people like myself, cats are family and they deserve as good as we get (if not better).

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As a child, back in the 70's, I grew up with a Siamese Chocolate point who believed he was part cat, part dog and part cow. He did most of the typical cat stuff, but he also liked jumping in the shower, swimming, fetching and stealing food off the counter. Most of all... He LOVED grass. Back in those days, he just munched on whatever the lawn had to offer because the idea of growing grasses for cats was not really a thing yet. The mere mention of growing grass or nip for your cat would have got some strange reactions from people back then.

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Fast-forward to 2021 and a lot has changed in the pet industry. Today, we understand pet nutrition better and we probably spoil our pets way too much. A few years ago I tried to source out cat grass seed that wasn't going to put me in the poor house... I was like most people and believed that it was a special seed/plant of magical origins. It didn't go well and I found myself back at garden centers buying overpriced seed to keep my furry kids happy.

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About a year ago when Covid-19 hit, I was finding it very hard to find seed or even a store that was open to buy from.  I thought to myself, "This is nuts... Everything about it is nuts... There has to be a better way. It is after all ONLY GRASS!" After many hours of research and talking to a lot of garden smart people, I started to understand what was going on. My quest began...

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I had a funny feeling right from the start that the pet industry was taking me for a ride when it came to cat grass... And I was mostly right!

 

I became motivated to understand the crazy prices for cat grass seeds at stores. $3.99+tax (at the low end) for a pack of 15g seeds at "X big box store" and it's not even enough to grow a single 4 inch pot. I tried Amazon and it was even worse! The prices were outrageous! Seeds were often old and a lot of seed didn't germinate at all (25% or more). I figured I can't be the only person who thought the pricing was ridiculous (and I was concerned with where the seeds came from) In Canada, we're one of the biggest producers of grains in the world and yet my cat grass seed was coming from Belarus? REALLY!?!? (No offence to anyone from Belarus, but here in Canada, we are a major producer... Seeds bought here should be from here)

So, I went to talk to local farmers... and more farmers... and yet more farmers here in Ontario trying to source fresh, cleaned, good quality, non GMO, organic seed for growing good quality cat grass my fur balls would love. After A LOT of emails, dead-ends, running around and talking to people, I managed to figure it out, but I was very surprised at how hard it was to find these (sproutable) grains in a Country (Canada) where it's something we literally grow millions of tons of each year.
 
I soon discovered that the pet industry wasn't the only culprit when it comes to overpriced cat grass seed. Shipping is the other half of the equation that inflates the prices when sourcing in smaller quantities (under a ton). In almost every case where I found live seed to purchase, the shipping was 5 times (or more) the value of the seeds themselves. I needed to find something semi-local to where I live so I could reduce both costs so it made sense.

 

One day, on a whim I stopped at a farmer on my way home from the lake whom I had bought corn from before near Peterborough, Ont. Low and behold... After a long chat and some explaining, he informed me he had something I might be interested in... but there was a catch. (Isn't there always?) I would have to buy in bulk... Like 200lbs minimum. Enough to make thousands of pots (About 6200 pots) of cat grass... Yikes!

 

I didn't give up yet... I figured there had to be a solution, so I asked him for a few handfuls of sample seed. I took it home and grew a bunch of test pots and was happy with the germination rate (over 90% consistently). The big test was my 2 current boys Soxx and Presley... Known to be a tad finicky and self proclaimed grass connoisseurs. All doubts were gone after about 7 seconds.

 

I offered some seed to neighbours on my street and friends to try with their own cats... These became my 1st "customers" inadvertently. (It was never my intention to become a sales distribution hub) I think every single one of my neighbours had asked for more at least twice in the next 6 months. I have been supplying them all ever since. None have gone back to store bought packaged seed.

And here we are today...

 

To be clear... I don't sell .5oz/14g packets of seeds at ridiculous prices... I sell in bulk by the 1/2 pound (227g) at prices that make sense and support local farming. Don't let that quantity scare you... When I first starting doing this, I did sell by the ounce. People would order 1 or 2 ounces at a time, but soon realized they needed more and started ordering in bigger quantities. You'd be amazed how fast you can go through a half pound (8oz or 227g) That's roughly 10-14 batches in 4 inch pots. Less if you overseed to get those super lush and thick crops. Selling by the 1/2 lb allows me to lower prices, keep product fresher and reduce the workload. 

Let's be honest about this... It's technically a species of GRASS... it's not magical beans or gold nuggets! $28 for a 2oz packet of seeds on Amazon is just nuts! That same 2oz's is $2.50 from me. Additionally, you're supporting local farming, you know how old the seed is, where it's coming from and that nothing has been sprayed on it that would hurt you or your cat.

 The big box stores were a bit better than Amazon averaging about $70-$90/Lb. Pet store average was around $5.99/pot (which granted did have a pot and soil in the price as well) with roughly a 1/2 ounce of seed works out to be $190 lb (minus cost of soil and pot... Mere pennies) In almost all cases where I researched seed online or in-store, seed origin was unknown, GMO and organic information was either unreliable or unknown and I only found 1 seed packet that was dated. None had a germination success rate. Most seeds were not from Canada... Many were not even from North America.

 

Despite having to incorporate fuel, my time, wear on my vehicle, packaging, distribution, advertising, etc, I still come in drastically cheaper than any retailer or supplier I could find. To boot... it's Canadian, local sourced, cats love it and way better quality... win-win-win-win.

I'm by no means making a lot of money selling this way, but as long as I cover my costs, the product is good, cat parents are happy and kitties are thrilled everywhere... Why not?!

 

You can thank me later with pictures of your fur balls gorfing down their grass after you grow the 1st pot!