When the harvest is stolen
Autumn is the month of the harvest. With the harvest festival, people want to express their gratitude for the yield in agriculture and gardens. In doing so, they also remind us of the close connection between people and nature. The tradition of celebrating a harvest festival is also known in other countries. In the USA, for example, Thanksgiving is celebrated as on the fourth Thursday in November. On this occasion, Americans commemorate the first harvest of their Pilgrim fathers.
The theft
As an amateur farmer, I harvested our last crop eight weeks ago. The hardships of months of physical labor are compensated by a bountiful harvest. It is more than disappointing to discover on harvest day that some of the crop was stolen days earlier.
Improved arrangement of the beds
We noticed the first losses weeks before the final harvest day. The lavender bush, which had been cherished and cared for many years, had grown to a stately size.
The arrangement of the vegetable, herb and flower beds was such that the bees and bumblebees had the optimal variety between the individual beds during their flights. This allowed us not only to increase our crop yield, but also the flowers bloomed especially long due to the frequent “massage” of the flowers by the insects.
So did the lavender bush, which was still blooming in October.
Disappointment and hope
One day, however, to our surprise, most of the flowers had been harvested. Someone had tampered with our lavender bush. The disappointment was great, but the remaining harvest was still sufficient for our own cosmetic production.
We were all the sadder as we noticed at the end of the season that the whole bush has been stolen, as there will be no harvest next year either. Three years of intensive and caring nurturing and then theft.
Our hopes now rest on the offshoots that we raise on the side on our balcony.
Good harvest in 2020
Overall, we had the most successful harvest year since we started 10 years ago. Each year, we manage to gain new insights and achieve continuous yield improvements by changing the arrangement of the vegetable beds. Of course, the weather has an important influence on the yield of individual vegetables. The mix of herbs, flowers and vegetables helps us to buy less of these products during the growing season and thus improve our own return on investment.
Care and maintenance
The first few weeks after planting are crucial. Protections against cold snaps, adequate watering and regular weeding are the guarantors of a good yield.
Later, much of the focus is just on adequate watering.
Tip for Business Angels
These experiences can be projected 1:1 to the startup ecosystem. The risk that a founder’s idea is copied and gets more successful than the original is always possible. This should not stop investors and also founders from communicating openly and thereby receiving feedback. For the business angel, a balance of technologically differently oriented startups is the basis for being successful in VC. The earlier the funding stage, the more the startups need to be cared for. Miss this and failure is more likely, even though the product (seed) is good. Later in the growth stage, liquidity (watering) is the most important ingredient.
Please refer to our previous article on medium: What business angels can learn from hobby gardeners
Mato Krahl for MK Venture Capital, Munich 2021
https://mk-vc.com
