Okay, this isn't a musical, it is a profile of a new business sprouting up near Castlegar called Homesown. The home based business, owned and operated by Mark Zeabin and Elysia Samarodin, sells indoor gardening appliances for families as well as businesses.
"The advantage is starting your own seeds," said Zeabin. "Having good, fresh food that you know where it came from. Growing all year round."
"You're saving time, saving gas, making it yourself rather than running around to different stores," added Samarolin. "There are tons of local seed companies in town where you can buy your seeds, your herbs, that you can start growing."
The couple moved from South Slocan to Vancouver so that Samarodin could take an aesthetics course at a top beauty school.
"While we were down there, Mark and I were living in a condo," she said. "We had no yard. It was pretty small but it was close to school. That's where we became inspired with this idea of an indoor garden.
"So people that lived in small spaces, didn't have land or space in their houses for pots and growing vegetables. Why don't we come up a unit that allows people to grow all year round."
Both Mark and Elysia did research into different methods for growing fresh vegetables and herbs and sprouts inside.
"Growing your own food and eating well is part of a healthy life-style," she said.
The couple are both Doukhobors and were raised in the Castlegar area in nearby Krestova. "You could say that gardening is in our blood," said Samarolin. "We're passionate about sharing that with other people, that If they could start growing fresh and vital greens in their homes as part of a healthy lifestyle. It's part of food sustainability."
Zeabin also grew up around gardens, but wasn't crazy about all the time and hard work necessary to yield strong results.
"It was a huge part of our life," he said. "Every day you were in the garden pulling weeds and stuff."
Zeabin preferred using his hands for building. He started with legos, and then worked his way up to where he would help his father around the yard.
In 1997, Zeabin started a coffin making company in Krestova called CasketFurniture.com.
"We started building coffins for the community and it grew from there," he said. "We went international. We were selling truckloads of coffins to Amazon. We became known as the world's most famous coffin makers. Our coffins could be used as pool tables or entertainment centres and then you could use it to be buried when you needed it."
Eventually the business was featured in Maxim magazine, People magazine, and BusinessWeek. Zeabin got to tour the world and was even invited to the Playboy Mansion where he got to hobnob with playmates and celebrities alike.
"That business took me all over the place," he said. After 12 years of the "rock 'n roll lifestyle', Zeabin decided it was time for a change to a healthier lifestyle.
"I started becoming more health-oriented," he said.
Around the same time, Zeabin's coffin business was hit hard by the economic recession around 2008.
"Amazon ordered a large number of coffins and cancelled just before we had to ship it out," he said. "So we were stuck with $50,000 worth of inventory. That pretty much took the wind out of my sails. I couldn't recover from that."
Zeabin then took time off and went to Vancouver with Samarodin.
"We got to Vancouver and you couldn't grow anything," he said. "It's concrete everywhere. You want some fresh vegetables and all there is are these stores but who knows how fresh they are. I wanted to build a garden and make it so it has all the right lighting, the water system, proper air circulation, and came up with our first prototype."
The couple wondered how many other Vancouverites would be interested in having fresh vegetables. They took their prototype to a couple of trade shows and were met with positive responses.
After some tinkering and several improvements, Zeabin's Indoor Garden Appliance was ready to be sold to the public.
"When you place an order, in one week you get your garden, your seed, your soil, and your trays," he said. "You plant it, you add water, that thing is going to grow and within three days you're going to be eating fresh sunflower sprouts. In five days, you could be juicing wheatgrass. You're eating good, fresh healthy greens."
Zeabin says that one ounce of wheatgrass juice is equivalent to eating two and a half pounds of the choicest greens.
"Part of this whole thing is raising awareness with people that your health is in your hands," said Samarolin. "It's up to you. I believe you can heal your body through food. It's great for weight loss, it's great for acne, it's great for anxiety, it's great for energy. It's great for so many things."
For those people who may not want the full unit, Homesown also offers Stackables, which are smaller single-unit trays that can be stacked on top of each other.
"Say you are interested in gardening, but you don't know how interested you are. You buy a Stackable," said Zeabin. "It's about the size of a microwave. It has one light inside. You can grow one tray of wheatgrass. It's all set to grow. Say you like it - you get another Stackable and you can put it right on top."
People can pick up and order Homesown products through Mother Nature's in downtown Castlegar where they have a display of the Indoor Garden Appliance.
"On Saturday (March 24), we're going to be at Mother Nature's giving out samples all day and talking to customers," said Zeabin.
The products are also available online at www.homesown.com.