We are the first veganically certified fertilizer company in North America!

🚨Breaking News! Cabbage Hill has been Certified Veganic by the North American Veganic Certification Standard. 🚨

The NAVCS‘s mission is to certify all North American producers and farmers in the production and sale of fruits, vegetables, herbs, flowers, seeds, fiber crops, and compost who seek veganic certification, regardless of size or income level. Their ultimate goal is to end animal agriculture once and for all and fully transition to a fair, 100% plant-based food system.

Veganics is a gardening or farming philosophy that simply is both vegan and organic. 

Many vegans see chemical fertilizer as the answer and many organic gardeners see animal-based fertilizers as best. Veganic gardening marries the best of both. Congrats you two!! 💒

Veganic also frames the gardener or farmer as part of a larger ecosystem. As such, veganic eschews the use of pesticides and herbicides and fungicides – organic or chemical. Veganics rejects the use of all chemicals and animal products. If your garden is somewhere on the spectrum, that’s ok! We are all on our own paths and always evolving. 

But just know if you want a certified 100% animal-free, organic garden fertilizer, Cabbage Hill has the credentials. ✅✅✅

Thank you to Jimmy Videle and Learn Veganic for all the support! I look forward to all we will accomplish together. 

And there’s a LOT of work to do!

I still register the shock on people’s face when I tell them organic vegetables are all grown in animals. Not poo or manure as they might think, but rendered animal carcasses. Organic has been diluted to where it’s downright dangerous.

Everything from banned antibiotics to forever chemicals have been found in organic garden products. With Big Ag forcing its “waste” on organic farming and gardening, there’s really been no place for conscious consumers to turn for safe, ethical organic fertilizer.

Until now!

Cabbage Hill® Animal-Free Fertilizer is a hearts and minds campaign. As CEO, I need to embrace a “thought leader” mentality and take the time to educate and inspire my customers. Because even the most experienced gardeners, even the most militant animal-rights advocates, aren’t aware this issue even exists. Successfully launching this company is not just a push to get Cabbage Hill fertilizers on the shelf. It’s revealing a truth to the public. Its creating alliances across the vegan and gardening and climate concern spectrums. That takes the time it takes. It’s wonderful to blaze a trail, but it’s time-consuming and unpredictable.

Being first in this space allows me to raise consumer confidence in our brand and of course, gain a large part of the future market…but that’s nothing to sleep on. All that to say, the time for investment is now. Like, right stinking now. An investment of 250K would allow me to immediately start working on organic licensing and certification so we can legally start selling, as well as scaling the current business model.

I have found some organic fertilizer manufacturers/mixers who handle private label accounts. I think that will be a logical first step for scaling up. I need to research these contacts to make sure our processes and inputs can be certified organic, CDFA-compliant, as well as being able to provide vegan certifications. That’s what Cabbage Hill can accomplish with your investment.

Here’s our updated PITCH DECK. There’s the original graphic version below and a “clean” version below that without offensive images for sensitive viewers. Please share our mission with your friends and colleagues.

ORIGINAL VERSION

MOBILE USERS: JUST CLICK ON THE LINK TO VIEW. NOTHING WILL DOWNLOAD TO YOUR DEVICE.

CLEAN VERSION

MOBILE USERS: JUST CLICK ON THE LINK TO VIEW. NOTHING WILL DOWNLOAD TO YOUR DEVICE.

HERE’S SOME MORE UPDATES FROM THIS LAST YEAR.

NEW DESIGN

The plan is to start selling at independent nurseries and even alternative spaces like vegan clothing stores and grocery stores, but eventually the dream is to have animal-free Cabbage Hill fertilizers sitting side-by-side with traditional garden fertilizers at big box stores. Our graphic labels are designed to help Cabbage Hill fertilizers stand out from the competition. The aesthetic is also designed to appeal to new gardeners: both urbanites and millenials: a fast-growing sector of garden customers catered to by exactly no one.

Until now!

We have a beautiful new logo and label. The porches and steps pictured on the label are reminiscent of the city stoops my family gravitated to for eavesdropping on the neighbors community. And always up front is Cabbage Hill’s signature black cat, throwing shade on animal-based fertilizers.

NEW PRODUCT

I also decided it was high time to roll out a new fertilizer formula. One that really embraces an enthusiastic group of new young Plant Parents who have adopted billions of these since the lockdown: houseplants!

PHOTOS & VIDEOS

And since we have gorgeous new labels, it was time to take some photos. We shot dozens of gorgeous stills to grace our social media and website. I also filmed a professional video to pitch Cabbage Hill as well as a how-to video for the website.

NEW WEBSITE

Our gorgeous new website has everything from our origin story to educational blogs to investor info. Once we are licensed, we can turn on the Shopify site for sales.

🐈‍⬛  www.cabbagehillfertilizer.com

UPDATED SOCIAL MEDIA

Our social media was updated with the new branding and I have created a LOT of vegan fertilizer content. If you find a platform Cabbage Hill is not on, let me know! We are at all the scrolls @cabbagehillfertilizer.

SWAG

Our new logo and black cat aesthetic are too cute not to share wherever possible. And truly, this branding really helps carry our message. This is far more than a product; it’s a movement people are going to identify with and want to show support for.

NEW INVESTOR

Cabbage Hill now has five investors. Let me introduce them all: Joan Valentine, avid gardener and a UCLA Distinguished Research Professor in BioChemistry; Mike Garcia, founder of Enviroscape LA, a permaculture-certified, sustainable and native landscape contractor; Wendy Kohn, long-time gardener and retired Los Angeles Superior Court judge; my friend from my hometown of Lancaster PA and passionate gardener, Todd Metzger. Our newest investor is Kirsten Vangsness, an advocate, writer and actress who stars on the CBS drama series Criminal Minds as fan favorite FBI Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia.

I am absolutely honored to have these amazing folks as friends, investors and advisors. And I can’t wait to include you in that number.

NEW CONNECTIONS

The launch of Cabbage Hill in November ushered in new, exciting connections. Support & Feed’s Maggie Baird and I hung out with the same cool mom friends group when our kids were little. She has been a gracious advisor and had me on her Instagram LIVE (linked below). I also have received support and encouragement from other heavy hitters like Farm Sanctuary’s Gene Baur, World of Vegan’s Michelle Cehn and UK vegan gardening expert Cleve West. I’ve had positive engagement with the Canadian-based organization Learn Veganic and the father of Veganics, Jimmy Videle, as well as Animal Alliance Network, Vegan F.T.A., The Undisputable Vegans, Animal Save Movement and Los Angeles brand, Don’t Eat the Homies.

Lawyers from Fair Start Movement and Animal Defense Partnership agreed to connect me with pro bono legal support to get our fertilizers licensed by the California Department of Food & Agriculuture. They will help ensure Cabbage Hill is given a fair shake by the CDFA and not persecuted for our activism.

Lastly, embracing the thought leader mentality, I’ve been spreading the message on podcasts and in online articles. There are many more to come this year but here are the links to what is published already. I hope you are as impressed with Cabbage Hill as I am. Thank you for reading this, and for your support. This is something to feel good about. And we all need a bit of that right now. You can contact me at erin.riley@cabbagehillfertilizer.com and you can always find me on social media. 🙏🏾

PODCASTS

Maggie Baird’s LIVE on Instagram

Green Thumb to Greener Planet – Composed Living

When Vegetables Aren’t Vegan – Vedge Your Best

Is Your Garden Fertilizer An Animal Graveyard – Plant Yourself

ARTICLES

Vegan Women Summit Women Founders in Technology News

Vegconomist – Get the Crap out of Gardening

Innovation of the Day

You can also read this story on our Substack