Welcome!

 By: Vicky Lefebvre-Vincent

C'est moi, Vicky!

Propriétaire

Welcome to DoSo microgreens!

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Vicky, and I’m the founder of DoSo microgreens. I’m also a huge foodie and have always been interested in the agro-food field. Following this passion, I studied professional cooking at ITHQ in 2005 and then worked in the restaurant field shortly thereafter. I started growing microgreens and sprouts from home (in Montreal at the time), since I was super unsatisfied with the retail market’s lack of freshness and diversity. So I tried a few things out and, soon enough, loved what I was seeing. Friends and family started asking me for bunches of plants every week, and voilà, this project began. However, DoSo’s flagship microgreen product — MICROGARDENS — had not yet come into fruition.

This would be in 2013, when running a market test of the Val-David Christmas market. I decided to try offering microgreens directly in their planters, ready to be harvested. Things sold well, and I received some promising comments and a sizeable demand. So the microgarden became our company’s main product. During this time, I graduated from the University of Quebec – Montreal in gastronomical management and sociocultural practices. After this, I continued my studies, earning a degree in administration from HEC Montreal.

So there’s a short overview of my background, which, truth be told, is much less straight and narrow. Entrepreneurship is an amazing adventure when we dare cast our fears aside and open ourselves up to others.

Several people have contributed to making this project successful, both financially and morally. DoSo Microgreens would not be able to provide you products online without the help of these people. My family and friends, customers and partners, the CLD des Jardins-de-Napierville and certain professors have all supported me in this endeavor, and I want to thank them all for their help!

It’s my pleasure to deliver you these products and help put some life on your plates!

From your micro-grower team

Unboxing the Microgreen Home Grower Starter Kit

Is growing plants at home difficult? Not at all! Below is my growing guide for total beginners. I’m the one who built the DoSo website, and I am sure that my experience setting up the starter kit is exactly the same as any other beginner’s would be. In fact, I am about as far away from a botanist as anyone could be, and this is the first time I tried growing anything from seeds. It’s also my first time growing microgreens. Long story short — I’m a complete and total beginner.

So I ordered a kit, which arrived at my doorstep 3 days later. Everything was packed really nicely without being overwhelming.

The kit comes with plastic boxes, dirt, seeds and instructions.

OK, here we go. Put the soil in the boxes. Sprinkle the seeds over the soil. Add a little bit of water. Close the boxes. And that’s it!

I swear — this took me five minutes tops from opening the box to finish. It’s so quick that I wanted to do this with my xxxx to find an activity but the cartoon finished before I did. Honestly, I think starting this entire batch of microgreens took less time than it would to say a toast — and it was just about as difficult.

Here we can see how our microgreens changed over a couple days.

<left: black radish, right: arugula>

Day 1: the day after

There is NO WAY it grew that fast. We’re only talking 18 hours here. It’s too bad my money doesn’t grow like this in the bank …

Day 2: Sorry, but I forgot to take a picture this day.

Day 3:

OK, now this is ridiculous. I could already eat them, but let’s give them a chance to grow a little more first.

Day 4: ready to cut.

Day 8: the last of the black radish.

Here, this salad took about 1/4 of my box. This went rather quickly since it’s good and I love how it tastes.

Conclusion

Do you like fresh produce? If so, then there is NO excuse not to start growing microgreens at home (except maybe for buying DoSo’s ready-made products). It’s super easy, incredibly delicious and requires zero knowledge of plants. Also, it looks cute sitting there on the window sill.

Recommendations

Buy more seeds than what comes with the base kit! It’s very likely you’ll end up getting hooked, and your plants will go quickly since you will start to put them on everything. Also, always having at least two microgardens, one as a “culture” and another as “harvest”, will provide you with a constant dose of DoSo. It’s also easy to find seedbed in almost any garden store.

Thanks to Vicky (owner of DoSo) for this product. It’s easy, tasty and environmentally friendly (the trays can be reused a bunch of times, waste is kept to a strict minimum, and the plant roots can be composted).

About Us

 By: Vicky Lefebvre-Vincent

Welcome to DoSo microgreens!

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Vicky, and I’m the founder of DoSo microgreens. I’m also a huge foodie and have always been interested in the agro-food field. Following this passion, I studied professional cooking at ITHQ in 2005 and then worked in the restaurant field shortly thereafter. I started growing microgreens and sprouts from home (in Montreal at the time), since I was super unsatisfied with the retail market’s lack of freshness and diversity. So I tried a few things out and, soon enough, loved what I was seeing. Friends and family started asking me for bunches of plants every week, and voilà, this project began. However, DoSo’s flagship microgreen product — MICROGARDENS — had not yet come into fruition.

This would be in 2013, when running a market test of the Val-David Christmas market. I decided to try offering microgreens directly in their planters, ready to be harvested. Things sold well, and I received some promising comments and a sizeable demand. So the microgarden became our company’s main product. During this time, I graduated from the University of Quebec – Montreal in gastronomical management and sociocultural practices. After this, I continued my studies, earning a degree in administration from HEC Montreal.

So there’s a short overview of my background, which, truth be told, is much less straight and narrow. Entrepreneurship is an amazing adventure when we dare cast our fears aside and open ourselves up to others.

The CLD des Jardins-de-Napierville contributed a lot to our takeoff, in 2015, and allowed me to take part in a program that supports independent workers. This support allowed me to put in place my business foundations before bringing in employees. Then in 2016, we qualified for the MAPAQ PROXIMITY program, which allowed us to create our brand image with G l’agence as well as our marketing plan. Finally, in 2018,we qualified for a grant to establish a Financière Agricole Canda company. Multiple partners allowed us to make the best decisions and propel our  company forward.

DoSo Microgreens was legally incorporated in 2017 and became a family company in 2018.

So far, including myself, there are five of us:

  • Monique Lefebvre (my mother and co-owner): production manager
  • Véronique Ménard: our right-hand woman for production and sales
  • Céline Naud: manager (my second brain)
  • Jonathan Lucier (spouse and co-owner): our Sunday helper
  • There is also Benoît Vincent (retired father and co-owner) who isn’t technically an employee but who still helps out when it comes to strategy and marketing (he worked in the agro-food industry)
  • My step-parents and in-laws also helped us a lot with this undertaking. This has become a family business in every sense of the word!

Our collaborators:

  • Marine Le Berre: Photographer, video maker and food stylist. Blog: Mlle Coton
  • Solange Adéchian: Specialized in food research and regulations, nutritional health coach and naturopathy. You can follow her YouTube channel Sister’s healing
  • Marie-Claude Boucher: Our edible flower guru and “house tester”. You can follow her on: fleurs, joie et gourmandises
  • Daphné Grenier-Berthiaume: friend and trained agriculturalist, Daphné did her senior BAC project right when we started our company in 2013 to see how our methods held up to the literature.

And that’s it! This is the team behind your products.

We are happy to help put life into your dishes!

Vicky Lefebvre-Vincent
– Your micro-grower