Doesn't get any better than looking out your door to a misty Hawaiian day, resplendent with chicken on the lawn and cat lazing on a bed. I thought rather than showing you a neutral background detailed pic of what I am doing now, it would be great to show you what some of our actual customers and kits are doing. Here is a shot provided by Lisa, one of newest customers, who has embraced the growing and consuming of microgreens. This is a shot of several wonderful crops all basking in the natural light along with some added grow lighting due to the gloomy weather he have been having here in Maui.
Great results Lisa ... your microgreens are putting mine to shame!!!
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We have created a new look, adjusted some prices and included a new hydroponic kit based on standard 1/2 trays (10'x10"). Our new hydroponic kit provides the most production in our store and offers 8 crops of microgreens for more serious growing and use. The new kit is hydroponically based, so 8 grow mats are included along with the seeds ... 
All of our kits now feature free shipping and are ready to ship. Go to our Store and Order yours now !!!
One of the reasons I love working with microgreens is the wonderful feeling of working with living and growing plants. Numerous studies have shown how beneficial and stress relieving that can be. I saw an article from the Mother Nature Network this past week that spurred this new creation. Why should kids have all the fun and why should my area that I spend most of my day be so austere and lifeless. Well no more I say, check out my new tiny microgreen farm ... 
I took some cabbage microgreen seeds and added them to a bottle cap from water bottle I was using as a watering vessel and turning it into my new farm. This picture taken today is after 5 days of growth and I am hoping to get a least a couple of weeks of enjoyment before topping a salad or main dish. I have reclaimed a bunch of bottle caps of all colors and sizes to see what comes of this grand experiment. I think this could really be a valuable addition to a workspace ... what do you think? leave me comments and let me know if this is a product you would consider buying ...
It's easy to get confused with this elusive microgreen. Called red pea lettuce, cow peas, adzuki, azuki, hongdou, or simply small red beans. I was thoroughly confused until I started digging into names and found that all of these names describe the same humble little bean. It is used in many ways in Asia and I grew up eating the sweet paste made with adzuki beans. Then I noticed the wonderful crunch they added to sprout mixtures. So we tried these peas / beans as microgreens. 
This is a picture of the microgreens in their full glory. This was taken at 10 days of growth to see just how big they would get ... one of my seed suppliers replied to my direct question re the name, red pea lettuce with the following ...
"Red pea is a very common American name for adzuki beans. Another name for it is cow pea. When grown into a shoot, for about 8 o 10 days, it has a large leaf and many people use it to replace lettuce." We are always testing and looking for better means of growing our microgreens. To that end we obtained a new cellulose based organic growing mat and decided to compare the growth of our microgreens using the mat vs our "soil" based alternative. We are using WonderSoil discs for our growing and these are mostly made of sustainable coconut coir with the addition of worm castings for nutrients. We started our thai basil in both a few days apart (cellulose mat started 3 days later) but the results speak for themselves. Here is photo taken today of the same thai basil we shot yesterday and our hydroponic system using water and the growing blanket. Normally, microgreen seeds will have enough nutrients to carry the rapid growth for 7 days or so all in the seeds. Once the enzymes and nutrients are used up, external sources of nutrients must be obtained.  The tray on the left is the soil based system vs the simple hydroponic blanket on the right. The difference is amazing and illustrates why we have chosen to use our media in the kits we sell. I have started further experiments using external nutrients to try and create an experimental solution to the pictured differences above. Stay tuned for more photos and experiments in the coming weeks ....
We decided to grow out our tray of thai basil to see what an extended grow would lead us to. This was a wonderful and aromatic surprise !!! The plants flourished in our WonderSoil based media and continued to thrive as we switched to using supplemental CFL lighting as our day lighting was down due to the winter season. Typically we are using 16 hours of light on our crops. These photos were taken today of our thai basil crop that is now truly a field of greens ... To say the crop is robust is an understatement ... it is thick and has that thai basil smell that is immediately wonderful. These photos are of the crop at 26 days ... this represents one of our longest grown crops and we decided to halt and harvest here as the true leaves are starting to emerge and we believe that this crop is at a good place and it is time for our harvest and feast ... I think we may try letting some of our other crops grow a little longer and see if they can get close to our thai basil field !!!
 I think beautiful would be a more apt description of our newest microgreen offering. Kohlrabi microgreens have a deep green hardy leaf contrasted with purple stems. This creates a unique and stunning look for these tasty microgreens.
Kohlrabi is a member of the brassica family and is related to broccoli and kale. Nutrient packed and vivid packaging is a great descriptor for this nutritionally potent microgreen. Studies of broccoli sprouts have shown efficacy against cancer cells and even were patented by researchers because of this (subsequently disallowed). More study on the nutritional values associated with kohlrabi need to be done, but without a doubt consuming these tasty microgreens are good for you and taste great ... Kohlrabi kit available now in our store ... |
UrbaformUrbaform is a technology integrator and developer specializing in food production in the urban environment ... Archives
February 2020
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