Big Goals, Tiny Greens
Eamon Molloy
by Olivia Spitzer
Monday – prep. Tuesday – plant. The following Friday – harvest. Welcome to the world of microgreens.
The word “microgreens” refers to the nascent stage of vegetable or herb plants that are edible on their own, before they reach full maturity. There are over two hundred different varieties of microgreens, including broccoli, carrot, arugula, radish, kohlrabi, beet, yarrow, and cantaloupe. They look exactly as you might expect. Microgreens are small, slender, and seedling-like - something like sprouts, but in a much wider spectrum of colors, shapes, and textures. They’re small but substantial. They bring to mind Helena’s reflection about her friend Hermia, in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream: “though she be but little, she is fierce.”
Helena is referring here to Hermia’s bark, but with microgreens it is all about the bite. “Microgreens can be four to forty times more nutrient dense than their mature counterpart,” Keith Brown says. It’s all to do the that bundled plant potential. The seeds carry all the components of the mature plant, just ready to burst forth. When you eat microgreens, you’re able to take advantage of that. It’s a part of what makes microgreens such an amazing food. For a small purchase, adding microgreens to your diet can really have a big effect on your nutritional intake.
They’re also simpler to incorporate into your daily life. No peeling, chopping, steaming, or cooking required. Soledad Diaz, known as Sol, and says, “We add them to everything: scrambled eggs, avocado toast, burgers, pizza, smoothies, salads, sandwiches, soups.” Keith interjects, “We put microgreen basil on ice cream!” Sol continues, “The nutrient content is amazing, and the flavor is so much more potent in microgreens.”
Keith Brown and Sol Diaz make up Modern Living Kitchen, a microgreen farm located right in Hillsdale, and Hillsdale Farmers’ Market newest vendor. The idea behind Modern Living Kitchen began as Sol’s capstone project for her master’s degree in nutrition. As Sol dove into the research of microgreens’ nutritional impact, and their farming practices, the couple soon quickly saw the potential these seedlings hold. “Keith and I connected through our love of plants and growing.” Sol remembers, “Joining our brains together really made this project flourish.”
Modern Living Kitchen is indisputably a farm, but it is tucked inside of a two-bedroom apartment. Keith and Sol have transformed their spare room, complete with a sterilized entry, an air purifier, a dehumidifier, LED grow lights, and racks and racks of high-quality nursery trays, brimming with microgreens. Stepping into their farm is like walking between realms – the air, the light, it’s all different, and it’s all growing.
“One of our biggest motivators is accessibility to nutrient dense foods,” Sol says. Their operation is growing, alongside their plants. Keith and Sol have big goals for microgreens. In an increasingly unstable climate, Modern Living Kitchen’s microgreens are able to grow no matter the outside weather, the time of year, or the condition of the local soil. As compared with traditional farming, “we are using a fraction of the water, making a fraction of the waste, and we can grow so much in a small space.” They firmly believe growing microgreens is a solution to many of today’s food industry problems.
Keith’s family lives in Spray, a small town in rural Oregon. Sol uses them as an example of a community locked in a food desert, the type of populations they hope to serve. “They have to drive two hours to get fresh produce and groceries. Typically, the only thing available is convenience stores, with ultra-processed foods. How can we begin to solve this problem?” For Modern Living Kitchen, the answer comes in small, nutrient dense packages. On an individual scale, Keith and Sol are hoping to grow their business, begin offering at-home kits, and inspire families to grow their own microgreens. On a much bigger, future scale, they’d love to provide infrastructure for entire communities to participate in growing microgreens, farmed and designed to fit inside a refrigerated shipping container. “We want to be able to ship these to communities, to make food accessible in food desserts.”
Modern Living Kitchen is seeking to take some of the smallest food and cause some big changes. In 2022 their operation has grown exponentially, and they’re thrilled to be bringing their product to the Hillsdale Farmers’ Market. They sell plant specific batches, as well as mixes of radishes or salad greens. “We want to make people excited about vegetables. Microgreens are just so easy: the easier answer, the easy choice to get your vegetables in your day. At Modern Living Kitchen, we believe everyone deserves healthy foods.”
Find them at the market this weekend, or go to their website to order directly for at-home delivery.