Selling catnip on Knot By Gran'ma has been years in the making. I spent the past few years clearing out a large, overgrown section of our property, acquiring various catnip blends for testing & planning, and prepping a large area dedicated to catnip plants. This year was the first successful growing season since I started this project, and I'm thrilled to see the end product finally.
What is catnip? Catnip is a perennial plant and a member of the mint family. Catnip contains the chemical Nepetalactone, which attracts cats and causes their behavior to be affected.
Get your catnip here: https://knotbygranma.com/products/all-natural-homegrown-catnip-treat
This year I only used 2 of the four garden beds to hold my catnip plants. The remaining two beds have since been sown with catnip plant for next year, hopefully doubling this year's harvest. Catnip thrives and doesn't need much more than regular watering when it gets hot and sunlight. This year I missed out on an extra crop because I let the plants go to seed too early, but those plants supplied all the catnip seeds for the empty flower beds. Being the first year, I learned what to try again and what to change.
My plants fell over right before my first harvest, so I cut them when I did. I would have waited until they were about about to flower and cut them, but Mother Nature had other plans. I wrapped them in manageable bundles and let them dry in our greenhouse. Once the catnip fully dries out, it becomes brittle, and it's easy to slide the leaves off each plant stem. I ended up with two full tins of dried catnip, which I set back into the greenhouse for another few days to ensure they were completely dried out.
Harvesting the catnip: https://www.tiktok.com/@knotbygranma/video/7108782139134709038
Stripping the catnip leaves: https://www.tiktok.com/@knotbygranma/video/7114020805029252398
Once the greenhouse wholly dried all the catnip, I moved it to large plastic bags and then to the individual Knot By Gran'ma packaging. Once it's gone, it's gone! This year gave us around 30 6-fluid-ounce bags of catnip, so quantities are limited.
Packing up the catnip: https://www.tiktok.com/@knotbygranma/video/7165964804132310315
Eventually, it would be amazing to grow enough catnip to not only sell by itself but also become the catnip used in the Knot By Gran'ma catnip cat toys that we offer. I'll need some more garden beds for sure.
Click here to get your catnip before it's all gone! https://knotbygranma.com/products/all-natural-homegrown-catnip-treat
How to store catnip? Keep your catnip in the sealed bag that comes in or another type of sealed container.
How much catnip to give a cat? Our catnip packs a pretty strong punch to our cats here. They each get about a teaspoon of catnip sprinkled over their toys and beds. It's plenty for them to enjoy the rest of their afternoon and then take a nice nap.
