I stumbled across YouTube videos by Anders, Co-Founder of Vertical Greens, when exploring how to grow my own microgreens, and became so captivated by their innovative ideas that I reached out to them to find out more about how they have become the biggest vertical farm in Denmark, bringing in more than 1 million euros annually.

I interviewed Anders Lunden Gydesen on December 10,2024 for insider’s tips that let us peek behind the veil into the inner workings of their company. I was struck by resilience, innovative approaches to growing food, and how they chose to expand their business in a way that empowers local communities in different countries.

The first company Anders they started was called Microgreens Denmark, and Vertical Greens was started as a part of that company. Recently they launched Nordic Hydro to serve customers and potential partners abroad.

They have shown great resilience to persevere and make it to the number 1 spot, because it wasn’t easy for them at first.

Surviving Amidst Steep Competition

They started up very small, by growing greens in a rack in their living room.

At this time a large company from The Netherlands was sizing up Denmark as new market in which they could expand and dominate, so they were facing steep competition from the very start.

Compounding matters was that after Vertical Greens received some positive press in the local news, they noticed about twenty competitors jump into the game.

Many startups in their area were lured by dreams of high profit margins made quickly, since microgreens can be harvested within ten days of planting.

Vertical Greens forged ahead, growing slowly, setting down a firm foundation of sound business practices and systems. They managed their costs carefully as they went, to avoid over extending their resources and capital, and ensure future success.

Secrets of their Success

Anders and his partners had to doubled down to become successful. They didn’t take any paychecks themselves for a long time, pouring their earnings back into the business.

They didn’t jump on the bandwagon and install a lot of equipment and AI automated systems as many of their competitors decided to do.

Instead they spent considerable time and effort testing equipment and refining their systems manually, and striving for consistently high product quality.

They experimented with different brands and equipment thoroughly to learn how to grow the best quality microgreens efficiently, using no chemicals in the production process.

As a result they have been able to consistently produce high quality greens and minimize expenses over the long run.

Clear and responsive communication with their customers was another key to their success.

One of their founders,Alex Pritchard, is a professional chef with years of experience working in the restaurant and hospitality industry, so they had insights and connections for serving the hospitality industry. They knew how to access and communicate with potential clients. They also were willing to develope products upon request of their clients, such as mushrooms and edible flowers.

Anders commented that after a few years most of the competition had disappeared. He noted that they spent too much on a lot of equipment and heavily automated systems that they hoped to pay for with profits that they didn’t make.

Vertical Green’s frugal and staggered approach to growth has paid off handsomely, since they now have expanded into a much bigger space in their local area, and can employ 35 local youth to help them. They have turned into a valuable asset to the local community, providing employment that teaches valuable life skills in terms of how to grow food sustainably.

Clever Solutions That Set Nordihydro Apart

Anders and his team implemented a number of innovative ideas that helped them save money, which has helped them stay ahead of the competition and preserved profit margins.

One of their cost saving measures was to redirected the heat generated from the mushroom shipping containers into the main microgreens growing facility, reducing heating costs in their main facility considerably.

They also developed a very efficient way to grow microgreens in individual containers that double as final packaging and shipping containers.

Most microgreens growers use large trays to grow their microgreens, and on harvest day someone has to cut them manually, weigh the greens, and pack them into containers. Not only is this time and labour intensive, but it can bruise the final product. Furthermore, once the microgreens are cut, they start to wilt and decay.

But Nordichydro delivers microgreens that are still living in their growing medium, greens that haven’t been heavily handled, cut or bruised, which extends the shelf life of the greens considerably. Chefs cut and prep the greens just as they are needed, so that the utmost freshest flavour is present in the final dish, and what is not used that day continues to stay fresh and green for use another day.

Growing greens in the same container as the product is shipped in also greatly reduces labour costs on harvest day since it’s quick and easy to move the full grown greens into bigger cardboard boxes for delivery on harvest day instead of cut, weigh and repackage them for delivery. There is also no mess or wasted product related to cutting greens for packaging.

This is a win-win situation for everyone involved. I think this sets Nordichydro miles ahead of the competition.

The third clever idea I want to touch on is their community development approach to growing their business as a whole.

Vertical Greens now employs 35 young people, providing jobs to the local youth and new opportunities to earn a decent income and learn valuable farming and business skills. This has created a new, thriving community within their community.

Instead of expanding their business using traditional models, such as relocating to a bigger warehouse in a larger urban centre or going the franchise route, they have decided to expand in a different way.

They are offering mentoring and coaching services to help others start farms like theirs in other countries. They are presently focusing on creating an European network of colleagues and farms, and have non-compete agreements within a stated geographic range with all their course and community partners.

They have started farms in four countries already, and have a community that includes members from 6 countries. With the launch of their mentoring program, courses and private community or support, this number is set to increase quickly.

What a brilliant business to grow, and way to grow a business, in my opinion. It is very egalitarian. I believe that empowering entrepreneurs to grow food indoors, in many different local communities around the world is the best way forward in these uncertain times. It’s a brilliant way to ensure food security and local economic stability in a way that avoids being negatively affected by international supply chain disruptions, skyrocketing inflation, rising fuel prices and international transportation costs, and increasingly unpredictable changes in politics, the climate and weather.

Growing food indoors in controlled and controllable conditions, using chemical free processes and empowering business models that help even small communities thrive is an excellent way forward for people in every country in the world, and I wish Nordichydro all the best luck in their community and growing efforts.

Photo credit: footage of an active volcano by Pressmaster/ Pexels

What Happens When you a City Loses Internet Access for Weeks Might Surprise You

We all know that we are heavily reliant on the Internet for our every lives to function smoothly, but are usually able to cope if we run out of batteries for awhile.

But it turns into a crippling- and dangerous- situation quickly when the internet conks out for weeks on end.

Here’s what can happen, and what to do to mitigate or prevent a crisis caused by a natural disaster, based on what happened to me in Chile in 2010.

Volcano Ash Knows No Borders

At first I didn’t pay much attention to the Chilean news headlines that there had been a big volcano eruption in Ecuador because Ecuador was a few countries away. We couldn’t see any volcanic ash in the blue skies above, so it was hard to take the situation seriously.

But then the internet service became spotty and then cut out completely all over the city. And it didn’t come back online in a few hours like it usually did.

The order of events when society goes into survival mode due to a lack of Internet may surprise you.

There was no cell phone service.

The first, most noticeable thing was that no one’s cell phones worked.

It became impossible to make plans and stay in contact with people. Even some land line telephone systems went down because they used digital switched and internet based switching services.

Some businesses were unable to stay open since they couldn’t contact their staff.

The ATMS all stopped working instantly.

The people who had stuffed their mattresses were OK ( a common occurrence in Chile since bank fees and account minimum deposits are so high), but those who depended on using a credit card or bank card to pay for everything were quickly suffering and begging and borrowing money from friends and family.

After a couple of days, some business simply didn’t open, giving their employees an unexpected holiday because their computer systems were reliant on an internet connection and they didn’t have a backup plan. Paying employees to sit there and do nothing was worse than letting then stay home. Many businesses saved money by not having staff come to work, so they closed.

Within three days there were noticeably less vehicles on the road.

As vehicles ran out f gas, people couldn’t refuel their cars or motorbikes or buses or taxis or work vehicles because all the gas pumps relied on the internet to function.

The underground fuel containers were all computer controlled and sealed and couldn’t be manually opened without risk of a huge explosion.

There were no taxis or buses operating within a week.

Everyone started walking everywhere, but it became increasingly unsafe since pick pocketing, always a problem there, became rampant and common everywhere, not just in the touristy areas.

Women stopped carrying purses, and everyone started wearing money belts under their clothing. People started walking in small groups everywhere, for safety reasons. It became important to know big and strong people and those who were trained in martial arts and self defense.

Break-ins started to happen with alarming frequency since the security cameras weren’t working.

Many stores that had stayed open using paper ledgers to record cash transactions close due to people stealing off the shelves since they knew that no security cameras were working.

After two weeks, many people did not receive their paychecks since electronic banking was still not functioning. This intensified the crisis.

The banks had to revert to tracking withdrawals and deposits using paper slips. Withdrawals were limited for each person since the amount of cash in the vaults was only 10% or less of the amount of money actually on record for total deposits due to fractional banking practices. You could only take out enough cash to last a few days at a time and the lineups were a mile long and out the door. You simply had to wait in line and hope you got a turn before the bank closed for the day.

After a couple of weeks the banks organized an armoured truck convoy with its own fuel tanker to bring palettes of cash into our coastal city. It looked like a war was about to happen with all the heavily armed vehicles arriving in a parade- like convoy.

I was lucky that my employer had a lot of cash in reserve in it’s own fortified vaults and we were paid in cash. Otherwise I don’t know what I would have done.

Most people started spending 24/7 with their loved ones and formed gangs of close friends, hanging out in the most secure place amongst them.

People only went out when necessary.

Some people started off by having parties, but the alcohol quickly ran out and no liquor stores were open, so they reverted to having long live music jam parties (the Chileans are very musical and usually someone has a guitar and sings and they all sing along, which happens in a lot of Latino countries, I have discovered).

And then it turned into marathon movie sessions with those who had physical copies of movies (already downloaded or box sets) as everyone bided their time, waiting for the crisis to end.

Some people started doing arts and crafts or reading books to pass the time.

The worst thing was that no one knew what was happening outside their own house. No knowing how long the situation would last was highly stressful. It was the uncertainty, the fear of getting robbed and attacked, and the fear of running out of drinkable water and food that made tensions run high.

The food situation became very tense.

The daily markets that sold fresh fish and locally grown vegetables and fruit did a thriving trade, but they only accepted cash or posted a sign that listed the items they would accept in trade.

The vendors only allowed tabs to accumulate for trusted family and close friends, not strangers.Gold and jewelry was useless to trade with since it couldn’t be properly valued and no change could be given. Many food vendors profited greatly, accepting items like fences or acting like loan sharks.But it’s not a fair trade to use a gold necklace to pay for bread and vegetables.

People with manual scales or electric scales became very popular, as people tried to trade things by weight using barter and trade.

Soon many people couldn’t buy things. They became hungry and skirmishes and altercations increased as the tensions rose and people became desperate.

Again, I was lucky that I was living in a big house where the owner lived on the top floor and he offered to help his renters get food.

The situation dragged on and on.

People couldn’t leave the city or get into the city unless it was by boat due to the fuel shortages caused by inoperative gas pumps. All planes were grounded at the airports in every city in the country.

At the end of the month, a few gas stations took the risk and manually broke into their fuel stores, charging a king’s ransom for the manually pumped fuel to cover the costs of replacing the ruined fuel containers.

People couldn’t work and weren’t getting paid as a result, and paying for food and rent was an issue even for those with a lot of money in the bank (theoretically).

The situation was getting dire and he worst part was that no one knew how long it would last.

Then, after five and a half weeks the internet started to work again, although it was slow and the connections dropped constantly.

After internet service was restored, life went back to normal quickly, within a couple of days.

After a week, all businesses had unbarricaded their doors and windows, and it was back to business and school like usual. The police and insurance companies were very busy sorting out breakins and robberies.

But memories and hard feelings persisted forever after. Many families experienced huge rifts. Many people had lingering feelings of anger and resentment at being left out and left to fend for themselves, or if they experienced mistreated during the crisis.

On the positive side, acts of kindness and generosity were long remembered as well, and debts and kindnesses repaid.

Key Takeaways

1. Keep a stash of cash on hand and don’t be completely reliant on your bank cards and credit cards to survive.
2. Make sure you have a network of support and people you can contact and trust within walking distance.
3. Have at least a month’s worth of food stored in your cupboards. In case the electricity cuts out as well as the internet service, have things on hand that don’t need to be cooked to be eaten. The best thing to do is get in the habit of constantly rotating through your stockpile, eating the things you bought a month ago and putting what you bought to replace it at the back of the rotation. Only buy things you actually enjoy eating. Get good at preserving and canning your own food to ensure you have complete and tasty meals and not just random processed snacks in your cupboard for extended emergencies. Have extras on hand to share with people others who arrive and are hungry.
4. Have something small on hand that you can use to barter and trade. Small bottles of essential oils that remedy common health issues (e.g. that reduce pain, inflammation and headaches, or that can reduce fevers or be used as first aid) that have a known value (you can prove what they would sell for in a store) would be useful. The ability to grow microgreens that you can harvest within 7 or 10 days could make you very popular quickly.
5. Have a money pouch to keep your valuables with you and have a way to lock up your valuables when you go out. It can turn into the wild west quickly, and you need to think of how t hide, disguise or carry valuables with you. Or develop the ability not to care if they are stolen.
6. Keep calm and treat others with kindness and be as generous as you can. HOW you get through the crisis matters. As I learned in Thailand during their economic crisis, everyone comes through a crisis better if we help each other. Chile was an example of what happens when people don’t trust each other and turn on each other and strangers.

Photo credit:K Travels (Travel Bloggers) / Pinterest

Many people thought I was crazy to go to Thailand when I did.

I arrived in Thailand in 1997, a few weeks after their currency devalued and the economy collapsed, as part of the sequence of events now known as the Asian Financial Crisis.

I had registered in a teacher training course to learn how to teach English in Bangkok and hadn’t realized the implications of the headlines announcing the baht had unpegged from the US dollar.

Overnight the economy nosedived. People withdrew their money – and often themselves- from the country and the currency value plummetted. And kept plummetting.

Overnight Thai people lost their savings and many lost their jobs within the following weeks as well, as businesses closed shop.

Inflation started to skyrocket.

I saw people walking around like shellshocked soldiers, and a pervading sense of gloom and doom hung over the city like a black cloud. People still smiled at me, but it was forced, and their faces looked haunted by misery.

The Thai people I knew told me that they knew that the global elite, and their own elite, had manipulated the economy and created the crisis, and that they were profiting from the devalued currency. And they knew that it would be them, the people of Thailand, who would have to pay back the crippling IMF loans that no one wanted.

As the crisis deepened, more and more people lost their jobs. My Thai friends had to drop out of their English Teaching College and help family by working.

Then after a few weeks, I saw the Thai people rally and started to get very creative in how they could overcome and survive and overcome this dire situation.

Within weeks there was a great migration in the country as people moved home or moved in with other family members and pooled resources to try to survive.

Many communities had town hall meetings and discussed what to do.

Community Pools

As a result, a number of them started a community pot in the spirit of ‘Ubuntu’ which roughly translates to ‘I am because you are’ or ‘together we rise’. In many places in Africa there is a tradition whereby the locals put a small amount of money into a communal pot in the main plaza and the people most in need were allowed to take it to buy necessities.

The Thai people adapted this idea. They collected a very small amount from many households, with a few women making the rounds everyday, noting all the contributions. Each week one family as allowed to ‘take the pot’ in turn. The order was determined by lottery. The recipients garnered enough money to start a new micro-business or pay debts. Sometimes there were 250 or more families participating in a ‘community pool’.

Although the amount contributed was very small, it added up, and it was the only way they could get ahead.

Seed Banks

I will never forget the day I saw one of my Thai friends pacing nervously, dressed in his finest, saying words to himself like he was practicing a speech. He was waiting to meet with a group of locals and elders, where he would ‘pitch’ his idea for a small business.

If the group liked his idea and thought it was feasible, he would be allowed to participate in their collective and get funding for his idea.

How it worked was that each member of the collective (usually between 12 and 24) would contribute the same amount of money on a set day every month (e.g. the 1st of the month), and participants would take turns being the recipient of the monthly pool of money with which they could start their business.

There was no dropping out unless you died.

The other participants would also give free advice on the business plan and help with free labour to ensure each business had a successful launch and the best chance of success.

This was how many people who had lost their jobs because of the economic downturn got. back on their feet and found new ways to support their families.

Movable Feasts

One day a taxi cab pulled up to give me a ride and I was bewildered by the thatch of green grass like plants that covered his rooftop.

He had planted a garden on the roof.

It seemed to be thriving despite the choking diesel fumes of motorcycles and cars all around. He would pop out and water it when traffic slowed to a stop.

I thought it was a brilliant way to grow food for his family and maybe be able to grow extra he could sell. It was also the only way he could safeguard it, and tend his crop while working full time as a cabbie.

I saw this idea revived in 2021 during the Covid pandemic.

Community Ditch Gardens

I also saw strange happenings in the ditches of the major roadways between towns and cities. In some areas, I would see many people digging and working in what looked like a tangled weed patch scaling the sides of the ditches and in the shallow basin catchement for water runnoff at the bottom of the ditches. My friends explained that the locals had commandeered the ditches to use as community gardens.

This was very smart since in the north of Thailand where I was living, all flat land was already being used to grow rice, and the jungle took over the mountains and was very hard to clear. But the road allowances on either side of major roadways were already cleared.

The were using ancient knowledge of companion gardening to reduce pests and insects naturally since no one could afford chemical fertilizers or pesticides. There was not a bare patch of soil to be seen. A great variety or plants were all growing together, with medicinal and edible plants in the mix. Plants that were sun tolerant and did well in drier soil were planted at the top of the ditches and the shaded the areas lower down the ditches so other plants could grow. Rice was sown in the watery damp areas at the bottom. The community residents took turns watering and tending the plants and all shared equally in the harvested plants.

Markets that Beat Inflation

Photo Credit: Rasita

I noticed another clever thing. In the local indoor market, a second non-descript sign was placed beside the fancy official price list on the wall. My Thai friends explained that the locals had banded together and decided to keep using the price list that existed the day before the currency devalued. They were using that non-inflated price list amongst themselves.

The reasoned that the goods and food that were for sale had been grown when the prices of all inputs was more affordable, and they simply decided not to charge each other the inflated prices so everyone could survive. They chose not to gouge each other. They also allowed barters and trades amongst themselves, noting things in handwritten ledgers kept under the tables and only brought out as needed. Each vendor could choose whether they wanted to accept what was being offered as barter item. by another vendor. Sometimes they showed a list of the things they would accept and the person had the option to go and barter with a different vendor to procure the item or items that the first vendor wanted in order to make the trade. They used the ‘pre-inflation’ list as a benchmark for determining the value of items for trade purposes.

They agreed to reevaluate the ‘base price’ list at the end of the year.

I thought this was a very clever way to get around inflation.

Throughout this time of great crisis I was constantly amazed by how well I was treated as a foreigner. I was never robbed or pickpocketed.

Once a young boy was sent to find me in an open market place to give me back the Bic pen I have left there. He ran for two blocks in the blazing sun to try to catch up to me.

Old ladies I did not know would take my arm as I crossed streets to make sure I got across safely, not for their own safety (the traffic was bumper to bumper and never stopped unless you thrust yourself into traffic, and this always freaked me out so I would stand at the edge of the road for a long time). The often asked if I felt safe traveling alone as a single woman and smiled in relief when I said yes. They knew that tourism would be their best way out of economic debt compounded by the IMF loans their government had agreed to.

My Thai friends spread the word for me that I was looking for an English teaching job after my teacher training was finished, and briefcases and the things I needed for a job interview were given to me so I wouldn’t have to pay prices that they thought were too high to get ready for job interviews. Once a woman who worked at a local guesthouse I had stayed at asked around for a month until she found where I was staying so she could pass along a phone message I had received from a school I had applied at. They wanted me to get a job and stay. It was so touching that even total strangers wanted to help me out. I stuck out like a sore thumb, towering above them all, and glowing with my white skin, so they all knew me, but I had a hard time telling them apart for months.

Despite their economic hardships, my Thai teacher friends took turns inviting me out for dinner and outings on the weekends and someone invited me to join every meal, which was usually fried fish with fresh veggies on the side, and a bowl of rice, with a burning hot namprik sauce, eaten on the floor, using newspaper as a tablecloth.

Lessons Learned

Here is a summary of the lessons I learned

1. Co-operating and acting as a community is the best way to get through hard times. Pooling resources instead of being competitive helps everyone survive and thrive. Everybody needs to belong to a community.
2. Necessity is the mother of invention: you can grow food almost everywhere if you think creatively and look objectively at where there is space available
3. Economic hardship doesn’t have to lead to crime and security issues
4. The Thais proved to me that you could still maintain generosity, goodwill and maintain your dignity despite hardship

I believe we all can learn from this, decades later, as we see inflation skyrocketing around the globe and see great volatility in the global markets. It all comes down to the strength of your local community, or ability to create one, to weather the storms, both physical storms and financial crises.

Next up… Tips for Making it Through Internet Outages that Last for Weeks: Lessons Learned in Chile

Photo credit: Image by Wolfgang Eckert from Pixabay

What is Resilience, Really?

Resilience is defined in the dictionary in a few different ways.

Resilience is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as “the ability to withstand or quickly overcome difficulties; toughness”. 

I like how this definition separates resilience into two skill components: the ability to endure or withstand and the ability to overcome challenges. I also like how it added the word ‘toughness’ because I have found it takes courage and steely resolve to persevere through a crisis.

I think it’s important to note that resilience is a skill you can cultivate, and not a trait you are either born with or without.

In slight contrast, the Santander defines resilience from the psychology perspective, emotional resilience is the ability to deal with adversity in a constructive way, adapting and becoming stronger in the face of traumatic events. Therefore, a resilient person is one who learns from the adverse situations they experience, and is able to see the positive side of thing.

About the Stories of Resilience and Reourcefulness that I Share on this Blog

I share stories of resilience and resourcefulness with these definitions of resilience in mind, including tales that show people withstanding hardship, finding clever and creative ways to perservere and overcome adversity and obstacles.

I do this because it fascinates me, and because I believe we are living during a time of great transition, and that cultivating resilience will the be the most important skill to cultivate, now, as prices skyrocket due to inflation and in the years to come, as the old world power structures crumble and new ones need to be made.

There is a lot we can learn from what has happened in different places around the world in the past, and these lessons can help us cope with what is going on right now.

My stories have been curated from all over the world, usually from situations I have witnessed first hand as I traveled through more than 50 countries on 4 continents over 20+ years.

I wasn’t always a traveler. I grew up in Canada, in Alberta, where the Rocky Mountains meet the parkland and  prairies, and got itchy feet at a young age,although I didn’t gain the courage to act on my travel urges until I was in my early 30s. 

Then I couldn’t stop. 

I keep coming back to long stints of travel lasting years in end between periods of living back in Canada.

During my many wandering travels I have wound up in some very ‘off the beaten path’ places. I have experienced first hand what it is like, and the daily and weekly and monthly routines of living in mostly Buddhist, Arabic, Catholic, Christian, athiest, and many different indigenous places. I have experienced living under democratic, monarchy,  and communist systems, in a few different Asian and ‘Western’ countries. I have seen alternative economies, alternative health care and alternative, nature based, eco-friendly lifestyles in action in many countries.

I have seen adversity in both ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ places, and clever ways to cope with hardship and difficulties, either caused by natural or man-made circumstances in every country, and especially in the countries we dismissively call ‘developing’ countries.

I was in Thailand right after the currency devalued and inflation triggered an economic collapse in the early 2000s.

I was in Argentina during a time when inflation started to rise, doubling the prices of everyday things in an uptick in the typical 7 year cycle of inflation that wracks that country has experienced.

I was in China at the beginning of the Covid pandemic, and I even lived in Wuhan the year before the pandemic happened and working in the south of China as an English teacher when the pandemic hit in 2019 and 2020.

I have seen dirt poor indigenous tribes barely eeking out an existence high in the Andes alps and the coasts of Ecuador and favelas in Chile and Mexico.

And I have been impressed many times by the creative solutions I have seen people come up with all over the world that have shown their resilience and fortitude to survive.

And thrive.

I learned so much from these experiences.

These are the ideas and lessons learned that I want to share with you in this blog, in the hopes that you too will appreciate hearing surprising ways to solve problems, and that these ideas spark your own ideas about how to overcome challenges you are acing in your own life.

I call these ideas ‘bright ideas’ and stories of resilience and resourcefulness on this blog.

Based on them I have added informative articles intended to educate you further on a topic to deepen your awareness of issues and options related to the topic. Occasionally I also offer my recommendations for the best things to use or buy to replicate a solution. Sometimes there will be affiliate links added, as a way of earning revenue to help support me and this site.

I appreciate your support and look forward to connecting with you and hearing your ideas, reactions and your own stories of resilience and resourcefulness on my Telegram channel

Peace,

Marianne