We were lucky to catch up with Rod Gesten recently and have shared our conversation below.

Rod, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

I have a background in architecture. When I got serious about wanting to grow vegetables in Northern New Mexico, I had to first consider all of the obstacles of doing just that. There were many, such as strong winds, poor clay or sandy soil with major rocks, dry weather, intense sunlight, burrowing and above ground critters. All of these factors work against having a successful in-ground garden in many areas of the southwest, as well. The obvious solution was to look online and in stores for what was available in addressing these problems. Available options also lacked the durability needed for our climate. Most options were but flimsy shells that would cover the garden only. The challenge was to design a unique durable garden containment that addressed the aforementioned gardening barriers without delving into concrete footings to support the structure and needing building permits in most locales.

It was obvious from the start that raised beds filled with organic soil would be needed in providing nutrients to help plants flourish. The beds would need critter exclusion on the bottoms, with weed barrier on top. Bench tops were added to the beds to help reduce the physical strain of gardening and provide a place to sit and pot. The beds, themselves, support the overhead tubular steel structure, topped with a vinyl coated steel hex mesh, shade cloth and a poly film assembly that rolls to the top of the greenhouse on both sides. Standard wood screen doors with polycarbonate panels attached provided easy access to the garden.

As a novice gardener, soon to be a certified master gardener, I had many successful seasons before consider building greenhouses for others with the same problems I had.

Rod, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As I continued to consider selling greenhouses to others the biggest challenge was how to convey what was so special about my product. There were no similar models for doing this, so I had to first understand this business, what would motivate an investment into a greenhouse, what market segments to pursue and how to address them. It was a very steep learning curve.

The first sale was made when I built a scale model of a unit and sat in as a vendor at a local growers market. It was a homeowner that requested a visit to her yard after the market closed for the day. With the sale providing some material, a website was developed and more people found Mud Hub Greenhouses through the website, social media and Google. Since first starting with a few homeowner sales, we have provided greenhouses for schools, correction facilities and micro farms.

Along with providing installed greenhouses, a decision was made to give people a less expensive option of buying kits with an assembly guide to build their own greenhouses, which some have completed successfully.

For me, gardening is a year-round passionate activity. It has been enormously satisfying to help people have their own personal bountiful gardens to grown their own food. The biggest pleasure is providing an outdoor classroom resource to schools so that students can learn sciences connected with agriculture. In the case of Native American Pueblos, knowledge is passed on about this indigenous tradition.

We approach each prospect and owner with a personal touch. We want to know about them. We help them site their greenhouse, ask what they want to grow, what problems they’ve been having in the past with regards to gardening and make suggestions.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

While aspiring to be a better grower myself, I enrolled in the Sandoval County Master Gardener program. After all, if I were to sell greenhouses I would have to know how to address questions pertaining to gardening, soils, pest management and many other factors. If I did not know the answer to inquiries I could at least know where to look or who to refer people to.
The program extended to 16 weeks. Each topic was addressed for 4 hours, presented by PHD’s from New Mexico State University. It left me with the expression that I was more of a Master Learner than a Master Gardener, which was fine. However, this experience and maintenance of this status through volunteer, outreach and continuing education gives me the basis of discussion with prospects and owners. The ability to do this also helps gain the trust of people I am selling to.
The other factor is doing what we promise as far as time frames and repairs. This cannot be understated. The word does get passed along, as I have experienced many times.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

When the idea of manufacturing and selling a product first came to me, I was also at a loss. I had spent many years trying to promote a service and had no experience promoting a product. This required taking some small chances and a lot of effort.
Entering a business plan competition locally provided the opportunity to understand the business better and be among others in the same situation with their own start-up ideas. At the same time, I regularly met with a consultant from the Small Business Development Center. I was asked tough questions and faced brutally honest feedback to some of my answers. All of this helped me to better focus on what was important and defined steps I needed to take.
As we built our first dozen or so greenhouses, we would stop after each step and discuss how we could make the process easier and more efficient. It usually required me to go online or shop locally for the right part that would reduce effort and save time in the field. Today, the components we use come from all over the country and get shipped to my shop. It doesn’t stop there. There are always processes to question with regards to making things easier for us and do-it-yourselfers.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mudhubgreenhouses.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mudhubgreenhouses
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mudhubgreenhouses
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmudhubgreenhouses/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mudhubenchantedgreenhouses1565