Jill Hayner knew for some time that she wanted out of the corporate grind, but had far less clarity on what the next chapter of her life would look like.
Married with two young daughters, the Okotoks woman spent more than two decades in accounting with some of Calgary’s largest firms, but as time marched on she began to realize that balancing other people’s books just wasn’t doing it for her anymore.
“I was working 9 to 5 but I wasn't getting out of it what I felt I was putting into it,” she said. “I was working whatever hours and at the end of the day, I didn’t have the energy for my kids, for my house, for my husband. I just felt disconnected.
“Sitting at my desk, I'm not happy. I'm there for eight hours but I don’t talk to anyone, I’m just pounding on my keyboard, it’s lonely. Nothing was going to change so I had to make that change.”
Hayner had stayed home with the girls, now nine and 10, for six years, but returned to work about three years ago after they started school. She said initially she was happy to be back in the office, thinking it was where she needed to be, but that soon changed.
Not long after she returned, COVID-19 took hold and she found herself working from home, able to see her kids but not interact with them because she was at work.
It made her reassess her priorities.
"I didn't want to be that absent parent,” she said. “I didn’t want to be that person that you could see her, but you couldn’t talk to her. I wanted to be there with full attention on them. When COVID hit, I realized that’s totally not what life is about for our family.”
Saying it sparked a journey of self-reflection to find her true purpose, Hayner began seeing a life coach, using the sessions to discuss a wide range of topics in an effort to not only clear her head but find a new direction.
She knew she wanted something different, but what and when were less clear, although the latter snuck up on her earlier this year.
Hayner said in February her boss told her he was changing roles, so she used that opportunity to tell him she was also looking for a change.
“It just came out of my mouth. I hadn’t even told Kevin (husband) but I knew in the back of my mind that it just wasn't working for me. When I hung up the phone, I said to Kevin, 'Oh my gosh, I just quit my job.’ I don’t know, it just came out of my mouth so I just need to go with this and embrace this and see what I can do,” she said.
Hayner said she knew she was building to that point but had no clue about the timing.
With the when part sorted out, she then needed to figure out what the next chapter held. During sessions with her life coach, that answer began to emerge: microgreens.
Saying nutrition and clean eating had long been important to her, she began to take an even greater interest in where food comes from and what that means in terms of nutrients, chemicals, additives and the like.
The more she researched, the more she would run into microgreens, the younger, smaller versions of full-grown vegetables that pack a nutrient-rich punch.
“Everywhere I looked I saw microgreens, microgreens were everywhere,” she said. “When you start paying attention to little things, answers kind of reveal themselves.”
That revelation led to the creation of KE&E NRG Microgreens, a family business where everyone helps out, daughters included, although Kevin’s quick to add that Jill's the boss.
“We knew we were looking for something we could do on the side to begin with and maybe look at making it into more of a business, so we were looking at a few different things and then it all just clicked,” said Kevin, who works in cloud architecture for one of the world’s largest software companies.
“It's been more of my passion but I’ve never lived my passion because I was always following the road that I should take,” added Jill. “(It was) the road that I thought I should take, but that road didn’t fill my bucket.”
Run out of a spare room in the basement of their Ranch Road home, KE&E NRG Microgreens has been a labour of love that has seen the couple immerse themselves in the industry as they go through trial and error to perfect their craft.
Jill completed a 10-week course and has found an online community to provide ongoing support, including a microgreens-growing former nurse who has become a mentor of sorts as they share a family-first outlook on life.
Jill is excited to share the benefits and varied uses for microgreens, which are often mistaken for sprouts and can confound people on how to incorporate them into their diet.
Used for years by chefs solely to add colour to the plate, microgreens are now being recognized for their nutritional value, which can be up to 40 times a comparable full-grown vegetable. Microgreens are the result of the first boost of energy created by the seed, containing most of the nutrients the seed has to offer in order for the plant to grow. As the plant continues to grow, that energy goes elsewhere, so most nutrients are more densely-present in microgreens.
Beyond their nutritional value, they’re also becoming known for their robust taste.
“People are so surprised by the taste,” said Jill, before Kevin added, “Because it looks like you’re eating baby weeds.
“I can’t get over the taste of the radishes,” Kevin said. “They taste more like a radish than a radish tastes.”
Jill is set on dispelling the myth that microgreens are only a garnish, saying they’re great in salads, on top of steaks or burgers, or in smoothies.
“You can put them on everything you're already eating,” she said.
At the moment, the couple is growing broccoli, daikon radish, pea shoots, sunflowers and both a mild and spicy salad mix. The growth cycle, from seeding to harvest, is just 10 days, ensuring the greens are cut when they’re at their peak in terms of flavour and nutritional value.
Kevin said they continue to hone their craft, the learning curve having dipped significantly over a short time, but they’re always looking to refine their approach.
“It's not rocket science but it’s consistency,” he said about the process required to produce quality products on an ongoing basis.
The fledgling entrepreneurs have set up shop at the Okotoks Farmers’ Market, and have enjoyed that interaction with the community, which far more often than not involves educating people who have never tried microgreens before.
Kevin said the market helps get their name out there, but most of their business is done on a subscription basis through their website, which allows them to deliver products to customers the day they’re harvested.
He said that subscription service is where they want the business to grow into a steady clientele of repeat customers that want fresh microgreens on a regular basis.
As far as expansion goes, Kevin said they could double capacity where they are now, at which time they would have to look at the economics of expanding beyond the home.
“We’d love to have it in stores if it didn’t sit on shelves,” Jill added. “We’re not opposed to having products in stores, but I've seen products sit there for six days. I wouldn’t want to buy them and I wouldn’t want my name on them.
“We want them with the customer as soon after they’re harvested.”
The enterprise is trying to be as sustainable as possible, using non-GMO seeds, organic soil, filtered water and plant-based packaging. Root mats full of nutrients that were previously being composted are now on the menu for the hens at Tangle Ridge Ranch.
The couple isn’t sure what the future holds for KE&E NRG Microgreens but Jill is certain she made the right choice to break free from those desk chains.
“We just thought, let’s do this, let’s take a chance,” she said. “To be here with the girls, I want to be such a positive role model in their lives, to teach them how to work hard. When we’re not tending to the microgreens, we have time to spend together. That’s time we’d never get back.”
