Queens County Farm - New York City never ceases to amaze.
Red Russian Kale - good eatin’!
New York Farm City - a film created by Petra “Petrina” Engelke and Raul Mandru who film short documentaries in New York City.
Sid Wainer & Son
Earlier today we had the opportunity to tour the facilities of Sid Wainer & Son, a leader in the produce and specialty foods industry, located just up the road in New Bedford, MA. While getting a chance to sample some unbelievable food (White Truffle Honey? Ridiculous.) the real highlight of the trip was getting the chance to check out their state of the art Microgreen Greenhouse. Chief Microgreen-ologist Warren took us around from table to table, explaining how the whole process works and what makes it so unique.
Microgreens are a tiny form of edible greens produced from the seeds of vegetables, herbs or other plants. They range in size from one to two inches long, including the stem and leaves, and pack a powerful punch of flavor. The idea behind this micro-movement is that restaurants are able to offer ‘so-fresh-it’s-still-living’ salads - which sounds really cool and healthy but whose full benefits still need to be understood.
Regardless, the implementation of microgreens should be welcomed for two reasons: #1) since the greens ‘die’ quickly following their harvesting (which results in soft, stretchy, flavorless produce), chefs and restaurants must source the microgreens very very locally - which is always good. #2) thanks to the fact that a container doesn’t take up very much room in a kitchen and can essentially regenerate (aka ‘re-grow leaves’), this can help cut down on some of the waste involved in transporting and shipping food as this does not need to be sourced on a weekly basis.
Warren and the crew at Sid Wainer & Son are on to something pretty cool. We are hoping to get back up there in the near future and get some more tips on how best to set up and operate our own backyard microgreen greenhouse for ourselves!
PS: the other cool idea Warren turned us on to is what he called the ‘Death Trap’ (see below). The idea is to set up a couple ‘traps’ and entice the ‘predators’ that are always lurking to come and get it. By installing the yellow sticky cards throughout the bed, you then catch and remove those little pests that want to eat all of your stuff. A benefit built into the microgreen process is that the turnover is about 3 weeks - this is not long enough for the pests to lay their eggs and really wreak havoc. In Warren’s wise words: “It’s always something, but it’s usually too - too much water, too little water, too many bugs, etc.” Well said, Warren.
Sid Wainer & Son Microgreens
Read about this tepee-trellis system for the cucumbers. We will see how it goes.
Roma’s First Yield
Strawberries!
Fresh Romaine!
Rain Barrels are full thanks to this much needed rain
