Help The Caterpillar Get Well Fed

We are Kayla and Amy, co-founders and owners of the still-newly formed The Well Fed Caterpillar LLC (just about 6 months old!) -- the only woman- and queer-owned retail native plant nursery in Central IL. We grow and sell plants native to our part of the country, offer ecologically sustainable landscape design, and focus on fostering habitat that increases biodiversity. Our dreams are to heal and empower: the ecological benefits of native plants are outstanding, and we want to educate people so they're comfortable working with them in their own home landscapes.

We didn't meet our original goal for this GoFundMe campaign, so we have updated our information with the hopes of meeting or going above it as we approach winter.

We have had an incredible season since starting in March this year! By the end of 2022, we:

1. will have hosted 8 remote native plant sales,

2. will have designed native gardens for enough local clients to require outside help with installation and maintenance,

3. will be booked for spring 2023 designs and installations (we’re already almost full),

4. will have designed our first fully remote projects more than an hour away (3-5 of those)

5. will have designed our first commercial spaces, and

6. will have hosted our first retreat with workshops to teach folx how to do some native gardening on their own (see our website and social media about it)!

We are so grateful for your support and encouragement! At some point, we might add up all the square footage to show how much carbon has been sequestered in the earth, how many more pollinators, birds, and other wildlife now have habitat and nutrition, and how much soil and water have benefited from these critical plants.

All this said, starting a small business is no small or easy task! Even with the momentum, we are not able to cover our start-up and ongoing costs right now, and we’re moving into the cold season. In order to make it through winter and continue doing what we’re doing, we need support for: monthly recurring costs like insurance and software subscriptions, accounting and tax services (we have an accountant, but she costs money!), taxes which will hit us at a time of year when we have little to no revenue coming in, a color printer, seeds for next season, soil supplies, gardening equipment, natural fertilizers, more hoses, sprinklers with timers, plant pots and flats, plant plugs, animal repellent, and time to research and set up e-commerce options and other sources of revenue in the off-season.

We’re making a public and humble plea for support of the campaign so we will be able to continue doing this important regenerative work. We would love to make it to the original goal of $10,000, but if we go over, that would allow us to be even more equipped for the tasks ahead on the way to our greatest dream: a Central IL brick-and-mortar native plant nursery where people can come and shop on a regular basis, see demonstration gardens, and attend workshops and other events.

*Your contribution is not tax-deductible. But if you give, and if you send us an address, you will receive a thank-you gift (we're still working on thank you's from the first round of gifts in spring -- we've been busy! -- but they will come as long as we have your address!).

Though GoFundMe says your donation is the start to "Amy's" success, the funds go straight into our co-owned LLC business account. And we're interested in much more than success. We're interested in healing and empowerment all aimed at a better future for this earth and all its inhabitants. THANK YOU for helping us fatten up The Caterpillar and for being part of the healing of this precious planet!

Kayla and Amy