Who are the Spice Girls?

Hey!  We are Rich, Sam, Peyton (7), & August (4) and we are the crew behind Spice Girls Pepper Company.  Read along to see how we've gotten to this point, we're so glad that you stopped by!

It all started when Uncle Colin gave us a Carolina Reaper plant in 2022.  Rich and Peyton have had a single raised garden bed since Peyton was 2, which was mainly used as a salsa garden.  We also grew cucumbers, various herbs, basil to make fresh pesto, and other peppers to spice up our salsa.  Peyton has always had a strong interest in learning anything and everything, so she was attached to Rich's hip, helping him with everything from gardening to home renovation projects.

Uncle Colin has been growing super hots for years and during a visit he dropped off an extra Reaper plant that he didn't have room for.  We made room in the corner of our bed and figured we'd see what happened.  To our surprise the plant took off, producing 150+ peppers per month.  In addition to all of the tomatoes, cucumbers, jalapeños, and more covering our kitchen counters, there were Reapers everywhere and Sam said that we had to do something with them or they had to go.  Not knowing what to do with them, we started experimenting with ways to use them, while trying not to killing ourselves in the process.  We ended up with a really tasty smoked and dehydrated crushed pepper, which we bottled up and shared with friends and family.  Everyone kept asking for more and it was fun to make and share with everyone.

During the spring and summer, we frequent the NC Farmers Market every other weekend and Peyton loves it there.  One day late in 2022, she asked if we could have a stand there to sell our pepper.  Now this kid is always full of the coolest ideas and who am I to stand in her way, so I said sure let's figure it out.  This kicked off our multi-year journey on becoming a farm and partnering with the NC Dept. of Agriculture to produce our pepper, have it tested for consumption, and bringing it to market.

Our main goal while pursuing this has been to educate our children about entrepreneurship, finances, and agriculture, while keeping it centered around a topic that they are interested in.  In essence, to teach them all of the life skills that traditional education doesn't provide, but balancing that with keeping it fun and not discouraging them with all of the hard work along the way.  To help them build a strong work ethic, but also just let them be kids.  There are lessons on cash flow and expenses.  The girls have a quickbooks account and are learning how to classify transactions and upload receipts/invoices.  We've worked with their schools to get excused absences so that they can attend business meetings and facility inspections.  They have been working with an amazing branding company and graphic designer to create their brand, logos, product labels, and more.  They are dipping their toes into website development.  They are learning more and more in the kitchen each week, about food safety, product packaging, and creativity.  We have spreadsheets where we track yield, moisture content, and more, so that they can understand the data behind all of it.  Most importantly, we are all learning this stuff together and as August has gotten older, she is just as excited about her role with Peyton.

Growth.  Our farm has grown from the single raised bed that we started with.  Year two we built 3 more.  Year 3 we are up to 8 in total, with 61 Reaper plants.  We are networking with other local farmers to source local ingredients for the products that we create in which we are not growing the produce ourselves.  We are all having to get out of our comfort zone and trying things we know nothing about and it has been good.  Our business is growing and so are we as people.  

We are excited to see where we go next and look forward to updating you soon!