From seed to sprout: the origin of Kīpuka
When walking along Main Street with music pounding at the Soda City Market, there are many avenues to be drawn to, whether that be food, music, art or in Kīpuka’s case — plants.
Originally from Fort Collins, Colorado, the owners of Kīpuka Coffee and Plant House, Rachel and Greig Seitz, moved to Columbia, South Carolina in 2017 and were blown away by their capability to grow plants much easier than in Colorado’s harsh cold and dry climate.
“When we moved here, I just learned about the climate and all the plants that can grow here that are beautiful, so we just fell in love with plants,” Rachel said. “I was like, ‘Gosh Greg, I want plants everywhere.’ We felt like we could probably make money off of this because everyone loves plants.”
After years of nursing plants they found on the side of the road back to health, the couple felt that they wanted to share their love of plants to their community. In 2018, Rachel and Greig were able to make their dream become a reality.
“Eventually we were like, ‘Okay, we’re good at taking care of plants, now we’ve got to figure out how to get a business license or get out here.’ That’s kind of harder stuff, but start with your skill. If you want to learn how to do it, you can do it,” Greig said.
Both Rachel and Greig work in the medical field, with Rachel as a nurse at Lexington Medical Center and Greig as a physical therapist for Prisma Health. They felt that opening up a plant booth at the market would not only give them an extra financial boost when Greig was a student at the University of South Carolina, but also give them a change of pace from their typical nine to five work schedule.
“I feel like when we’re in a work mood, we just work. Sometimes it’s good to change up the feel of that schedule. Go somewhere beautiful, back to nature, back to the simplicity of the world,” Rachel said.
Choosing to sell plants was an easy decision for Rachel and Greig. Rachel’s grandmother lived in Hawaii for seven years, where Rachel realized her love for the beauty of the island’s nature.
“That’s kind of the background behind Kīpuka too. A kīpuka is an island forged by fire in Hawaii,” Rachel said. “The lava flows over the mountains and it engulfs bits of land. So it kills everything around the flock of islands. Life on the island is known to have really beautiful plant and animal life. It’s its own ecosystem that survives with each other. Jesus is our main Kīpuka. He’s our light in the darkness.”
SMOOTH RUNNING: Greig and Rachel talk to customers at the booth during the March 5 Soda City Market. The Seitzes are crafty with their hands and enjoy handmaking their booth’s items. “We love to do things with our hands. We would work with some of that, making furniture. He made this table too. We just like to be creative and use what we have. Make it something beautiful,” Rachel said. Photos by Tory Ratajczak and Melanie Frick.
Both Rachel and Greig are devout Christians, and their spiritual beliefs have shaped their life and business.
“We love Jesus, he saved us eternally and whatever we have, He’s allowed us to have. It can be taken away, just like that, or it can be given to us more, so we are nothing without Christ,” Rachel said.
The Seitzes are very particular about where they source their plants from, choosing to stay close to home for their plants and pots, especially after seeing how rallying with local businesses was vital during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We get supplies from Jarrett’s Jungle Gardener’s Outpost just to name a few,” Rachel said. “They love when we come by with hundreds of dollars from them, so that helps and then also we do pots at Kyle Smith Pottery right across the street.”
The couple used to also sell coffee at their booth but decided to pause the idea when it became too much to handle for the two of them in a confined space. This has led the Seitzes to dream beyond the tent.
“We work mostly in our garage or trailer. Maybe one day we’ll have a store to open with the whole barista and espresso machine. That’s kind of my hope and desire,” Rachel said.
“We want to create an environment where other plant and coffee lovers can enjoy a quality cup of coffee and even bring home a plant of their choice! This brings us to our future vision: to open doors to a brick and mortar store.”
– Kīpuka Coffe and Plants House website
The couple is getting ready to start their family, but they will not forget about their adventures with their handmade trailer.
“We saw this design. I was like, ‘I’ve never seen that, it just looks gorgeous with the natural wood’. So we’re like, ‘Let’s make it,” Rachel said. “We took the camper to Georgia. We’ve driven it around South Carolina, camping at Edisto Beach right by the ocean. We drove it all the way down to Colorado and then camped in 20 degree weather.”
Although Kīpuka might have initially started out as a young traveling couple’s ambitions to extend their love of plants to others, this dream grew into much more.
“Your dream will always be a dream unless you do something about it,” Greig said. “We dreamt about Kīpuka for years but if you don’t do something, if your dream doesn’t result in action, it’s never gonna happen. At some point, you’ve got to start making steps.”
