DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY
La Huerta de Chanita offers all customers a service to produce a wide variety of vegetables, medicinal plants, and herbs for their own consumption and/or commercialization without leaving their homes. These gardens are designed in a personalized manner, taking into account the available spaces, including patios, balconies, terraces, gardens, larger spaces in houses located in rural lots, restaurants, and hotels. This is achieved through the implementation of a simplified solid substrate hydroponic system. Compared to conventional systems, this can save up to 70% of time and space while achieving higher productivity per square meter.
The main system implemented by customers is the design in wooden containers lined with plastic, raised about 70 cm from the ground, where 100% of the garden is installed. Customers are provided with training, technical assistance, monitoring, and the necessary inputs for its maintenance. Mini-gardens also become an alternative for people who do not have sufficient space for a 10-meter garden that can self-sustain an average of 7 people.
The success of the company lies not only in offering customers the opportunity to produce their own food through an efficient system free of chemical insecticides and fungicides and irrigated with potable water, but also in providing recreational spaces where families can share wonderful moments while engaging in productive activities. In the Huerta de Chanita, they not only harvest products but also harvest smiles and emotions, fulfilling their slogan "For a healthy family diet." All of this is achieved with the help of a professional and humane team that is constantly improving and seeking to meet the needs of customers with passion and love, recognizing this as a life project rather than just a job.
More than 23 years ago, I had the opportunity to participate in a project with government entities, and we became a national model. Some of the thousands of experiences included adults expressing that they felt useful, young people engaged in productive activities, and cancer patients receiving treatments based on vegetables when they couldn't afford to buy them. In essence, the project contributed in many ways, and each family had its unique story.
Five years ago, I assisted in an educational process with La Salle University, where I had to outline life projects. That's when I wondered where my life project was. I remembered everything I had experienced with these wonderful beings and decided to create a legacy for humanity, always feeling passion and commitment, and that's how the company emerged. Initially, we validated the technique by adjusting substrates, nutrients, species, and had meetings with the collaborators of that time. We initiated the program, and the workgroup truly became a family. Subsequently, we named it LA HUERTA DE CHANITA as a tribute to my grandmother, Mamá Chana. The logo was designed with various distinctive points, meeting several criteria.
Now, we had to figure out how we were going to sell our gardens. We started the process of planting and creating mobile samples, initially seeking spaces in shopping centers to conduct demonstrations. After many meetings, we were given a date for the activity. However, just 8 days before the event, they informed us that the exhibition couldn't take place. We already had everything ready, so we had to harvest and start over since the plants couldn't withstand another month of being planted. We continued the process, replanted, and finally conducted our demonstration. We provided training, and it was a success. We closed deals, installed two 10-meter gardens, and the project continued. However, there were no more customers. I kept knocking on doors, attended all expos, and gradually made ourselves known as a family business run by a 9-year-old and an agronomist, teaching how to plant medicinal and aromatic plants in small spaces.
Progress was slow. I worked with advances from credit cards, borrowed money from the workers' savings, and faced customers who owed us money, leaving us waiting for days in the offices. Some plans weren't well-budgeted, and we didn't make profits, but we had referrals and satisfied customers. I also had a deficit of 200 million pesos due to fraud, in addition to the advances to start the project. All these expenses, along with raising a daughter and maintaining a home, meant that I had to seek other sources of income while developing the project. However, I always thought of LA HUERTA DE CHANITA as a way to move forward with my small family.
By 2022, the debt is about to be paid off, and we have become a reference point in installing gardens in country houses and condominiums. Every day, we have more customers installing their gardens. Currently, we are initiating the project of setting up our headquarters with the help of some funds from Fondo Emprender, which took three years in the making, including a failed call in 2020 and a successful one in 2021 where we were awarded. The goal is to use this seed capital for three months of rent and employee payments so that we can continue to grow in sales and consolidate our company. We are full of energy and commitment in the process to offer our customers educational programs on vegetable production, preparation, and marketing, as well as to continue strengthening the company.
