We love to point out companies that we admire and the just launched Sprout Robot is certainly in that category. They have an adorable design. They have a free useful service that tells you when to plant seeds in your garden depending on your area (and even points you to instructions on how to do it). And as for revenue, they’ll send you the seeds you need as part of one of three good/better/best packages so you have absolutely everything you need to plant your beautiful and delicious vegetable garden. Oh yeah, they’re a boostrap also. We’re big admirers.

Check them out at Sprout Robot.

There’s nothing we love more than more companies like us. And we say that humbly hoping that said companies won’t be insulted by the comparison. The criteria are typically that the company is small, tech-focused/savvy, experimenting with lots of new products to see what works, and focused on being profitable and having a great workplace, etc. As a bonus we particularly like companies that are bootstrapped, and not looking for some kind of exit of liquidity event. They just want to make good scratch making great products and working with awesome people.

As far as I can tell, Particle meets most of the criteria. According to TechCrunch they’ve taken investment from Justin Timberlake but they also appear to offer some consulting services on their site. More importantly, they’re pumping out all sorts of adorable products that focus on the small! And much like us, they decided they needed to write their own online invite service – Crusher. (We built Invitastic.)

Bottom line, these seem like cool folks making excellent products. And while TechCrunch calls their multiple product strategy “disjointed” we call it balanced and smart. Who wants to only work on one thing? We’re rooting for them as we feel like every small company that makes a success out of themselves building bunches of great products on a shoestring is another example for people to follow.

(And of course, as if you didn’t know, we’ve created a showcase for small companies doing cool things — Small and Special. It’s only $25 to attend for this inspirational afternoon mini-conference. Hope to see you there.)

I am a big fan of vegetables. Fresh, flavorful, crispy, juicy vegetables can’t be beat. One of my favorite meals of all time was almost entirely composed of vegetables. (The meal was prepared emphasizing the greatness of the vegetables themselves rather than trying to simulate some sort of meat-based dish.) I would eat a lot more vegetables at home if this country was better designed for fresh vegetable consumption (1. Americans need to demand vegetables that have great flavor, not just ones that look good and are cheap, 2. these mythical vegetables need to be available within walking distance from your house, so you can buy them fresh every day.)

Pending a major restructuring of this country’s priorities when it comes to fresh vegetables, I had been resigned to mediocre veggies once a week from the supermarket, and eating expensive quality veggies from Wholefoods once every two weeks. But, I still yearn for better. The econapocolypse and the inevitable crumbling of society has brought all this into focus for me — I need to grow my own vegetables. Unfortunately, if I gauged my ability to nurture living things based on my history with plants then I never would have had children. Past performance would have indicated that they never would have made it to their first birthdays. In addition, the pacific northwest is not exactly prime vegetable growing territory.

Enter Seattle Farm.

For a minimum of $250 they’ll come set up a raised bed in a sunny spot in your yard, fill it with good dirt, run automatic drip irrigation lines so you don’t have to water it every day (this is key for me!!!). And then, even better, for $35 a week they’ll come and maintain your vegetable garden, pick the vegetables, plant new ones, and then walk the freshly picked veggies the 10 feet from the garden to the door to our kitchen. This is my kind of vegetable gardening!!! As for the $35, I spend that much on vegetables just driving by Wholefoods.

Here’s a shot of our new garden:

Over the next few weeks/months we’ll be swimming in: cucumbers, tomatoes, golden beets, sugar snap peas, red cabbage, arugula, ratte potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, purple carrots, scallions, radishes, shallots, cilantro, basil, garlic, and kohlrabi. Be nice and you might get some.

This company is adorable. They’re providing an awesome and convenient service. While it’s too early to tell you about the quality of my veggies, so far they’ve been doing a great job. I hope they become a huge success.