Urban farm aiming for big impact with its tiny greens

By Ellen Kanner
Special to The Miami Herald:

Photo: Thi Squire surveys the microgreens at Rock Garden, an urban microfarm, in a commercial warehouse district near Miami International Airport. C.W. Griffin / Miami Herald Staff

Little is the new big. We’re talking really little, as in micro, as in microgreens, teensy young vegetables and herbs harvested when they’re just a week or two old.

Flavor- and nutrient-intense and eater-friendly, they’re popping up in supermarkets and growing here in an appropriately little space — the three-acre Miami Green Railway Organic Workshop, or GROW.

It may be small, but it has a big heart and a bigger mission — “Sustainability, community outreach and urban agriculture,” says Thi (pronounced Tee) Squire.

Urban is right. The farm is an organic oasis surrounded by commercial warehouses near Miami International Airport. Next-door neighbor and partner Rock Garden Herbs, which employs Squire, packages and distributes the microgreens.

“It’s such a bizarre thing to want to do,” admits Squire, GROW’s director of education. “Who wants to grow food in the middle of a city and make it commercially viable?”

It took over a year of work before the site, originally zoned for industrial use, earned organic certification and the city’s blessing.

Traditional planting would be impossible, with chemicals from surrounding warehouses compromising the soil. But GROW, which launched in 2008, thinks — and grows — out of the box. The staff of 10 raises vegetables and herbs in pots and microgreens in flats. If a crop isn’t flourishing, they shift it elsewhere on the property to give it access to different light.

The farm also grows full-sized vegetables and herbs, but right now, microgreens are having their moment, available at major retailers including Publix, not just locally but nationally.

Restaurants are also feeling the microgreen love.

“For me, the product’s taste and appearance really sets it apart,” says Yardbird chef Jeff McInnis. “We love using the celery to serve with our pimiento cheese and kale for items like our big kale salad.”

Read the rest of the story here.