As you know, Nick works at The Hickories, an organic farm near Ridgefield CT. Cindy and Larry visited the Connecticut DeBrock household from Nov 1 - Nov 8 of 2016 and we had the opportunity to visit The Hickories one beautiful day in the fall, after the World Series 😀.
In addition to his various other tasks on the farm, Nick has been devoting some attention to his brainchild, producing microgreens. (Click here for a nice New York Times story about microgreens popularity and/or here for an NPR story about the science behind these healthy little plants.) Right now, he is growing them in a greenhouse on the farm.
In this photo, you can see three cohorts of greens. The first is lush. The middle is covered with plastic flats to create more warmth. The third is also lush. There is actually a fourth cohort on a lower palette all the way back in the photo. Here is a better shot of this last cohort of flats relative to the higher table with three cohorts.
So what does Nick do with these microgreens? Well, if you clicked through on the NYT story above, you will note that top chefs in top restaurants are CRAZY about these young, delicious, healthy additions to their plates. Nick showed us how it works. In the picture below, Nick is demonstrating the process. He creates the cohort of greens looking for a mix of flavors. In the cohort below he is using basil, cilantro, radish and others. To harvest he takes the flat and "snip" with a scissors, mixes the greens into a box for sale (notice his sharp finger-scissors). After harvest, the flat gets emptied into the compost, refilled with fresh soil and Nick chooses the next cohort of pure-gold microgreens.
SO COOL. We are so proud.
And, just to make your mouth water, here are some other pix of organic greens in the greenhouse.
