We are almost there. After months of research, experiments, development and procurement ... we are ready to present our Microgreen Farm-in-a-Box product line. Fresh microgreen crops in 7-10 days provides the freshest and most nutritious live food you can get. There are three basic mixes in the Farm-in-a-Box Microgreen Farms ... the original Farm-in-a-Box along with the Micro and Mini versions. These three products allow you to choose from production for an individual up to a family. The Micro Kit will grow 3 crops in a tray that measures approx. 4"x4". The Mini Kit contains supplies to grow 4 crops in a container of approx. 6"x4". The original green trayed farm will produce 4 crops in containers that are approx. 8"x6". Tomorrow more on pricing and opening of our store. You can get an early start by going to our etsy store that has the Micro Farm-in-a-Box kit for sale in limited numbers .... Photos of actual microgreen crops in the trays from the kits ...
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As promised we are posting the first photos of the crops produced in our Mini Farm-in-a-Box. There are three sizes in this line - the initial Farm-in-a-Box comprised of the green trays from the UK were the starting point. We then noted that there are other form factors of containers that are consumed and just thrown away. So we designed systems based on these other two sizes. We previously showed the small clear 4" containers that we got from Whole Foods at their olive bar. Today, the final container is highlighted. We call this the Mini Farm-in-a-Box, mini comes from the local container normally referred to as mini bentos. These containers are often used to package sushi. The photos below are our two initial crops of broccoli and arugula. Tomorrow we will highlight our three "farms" as we prepare to open up our new Farm-in-a-Box store...
Just had to share this quick one, one of our beta testers Wisa Miller, sent me this quick photo over the weekend of the broccoli microgreens from our new Farm-in-a-Box microgreen kit. Great idea and looks like a perfect meal for a hot summer day. Will post more tonight on the results of our Mini Farm-in-a-Box along with some shots of our superfood selections ....
Finally here ... took us exactly 7 days to go from seed to harvest in our new Micro Farm-in-a-Box. The growth was exceptional and the microgreens were super. Our initial plantings were done in containers from our local Whole Foods and are the small containers (4"x4") small container and cover at the olive bar. By reusing this, we allow repurposing of the container rather than heading straight to the landfill. The first crop pictured below was Amaranth, Broccoli and Radish Mix. I think you will agree, the results were incredible ... We will have more details on the Micro Farm-in-a-Box this week as we unveil our webstore for our Farm-in-a-Box line of personal farms. Below are two shots of our Mini Farm-in-a-Box not quite ready to harvest, but at 5 days enough to give you a sense of the larger farm. First shot is Arugula and second is Broccoli with about 3 more days to harvest. Will have more details and pictures tomorrow .... stay tuned ...
As promised, here are first shots of our 4 day old crop of broccoli microgreens. We started these on Sunday, so we are technically at a little over 4 days, but you can see the crop progressing. You can compare the results vs other broccoli shots we have done previously and it appears at this point that there is no significant difference in the performance and growth using this smaller tray. Again, this is a tray we call mini bento or sushi tray here in Hawaii. This tray is probably known throughout the world as a sushi tray and should be easily obtainable. The mini kit will have one tray and lid along with seeds and media for four different crops. The second photo shows the tray with expanded media disk in it. The water level in the glass is the approximate amount of water to be added to the disk to hydrate it. Once hydrated, take half and put it in the bag the disk came in for second planting. The kit will include 2 disks which is enough for four crops in the tray.
Tomorrow we will harvest our first micro crop from the containers we highlighted yesterday. When we designed our original kit we got great feedback from a good cross section of consumers. Most beginners wanted a smaller tray to test the growing and consuming of microgreens. It was not a question of whether these are nutritious and great foods, the question is whether they would grow and flourish even closed houses or apartments. We also wanted to be eco conscious so we started with an eye towards utlizing containers that are being thrown away after consumig packaged foods. We settled on two convenient packaging items ... our Micro Farm is based on a 4" square container that we got at whole foods from their olive bar. Our Mini Farm is based on a classic hawaiian mini bento container or sushi container found all over the world. Both containers are designed to utilize our bioSoil without any waste and contains either 3 or 4 packets of seeds that are premeasured to fill those containers. The above pics are our three starter crops in our Micro Farm-in-a-Box ... amaranth, broccoli and radish blend. These photos were taken after 5 days .... appear to be right on a 7 day seed to harvest cycle. These are the clear small food containers from our local Whole Foods and are approximately 4" X 4" in size. Notice what a handy harvest these containers represent. Tomorrow we will highlight our Mini Farm-in-a-Box. Pricing and availability yet to be determined with expected launch by Sept 1 ....
These containers are also the basis for our classroom units that are being designed now to introduce a new generation to the wonder of microgreens ... Our grand experiment turned into one of the most productive trays we have produced. The sunflower seeds have basically not stopped from first harvest at the normal 7 days of growth. It is now the 10th day and we are still harvesting some really robust microgreens. The sunflower microgreens are crunchy and the tastes are incredibly complex with a bit of sweetness and nuttiness not found in other crops. The harvest continues as many of the seeds that were not able to get sufficient light are now emerging, it is like having a new crop. We will allow this tray to continue producing and document the production while enjoying this incredibly delicious treat ....
We wanted to see how our kit fared with other crops so we tried several ideas this week ... two of our new crops were sunflowers and chia. The most interesting side of this is that we had a bag or organic chia that we use for adding to our breakfasts, so we decided to try the seeds in our kit. You know the chia pets, we figured a chia field might be fun ... big FAIL !!! The seeds straight out of the package that we have had in our cupboard germinated wonderfully. In fact, they were so dense that two bad things happened, 1) the mucous generated held too much water around the seeds 2) the excess water caused a mold problem which you can see that created dead spots ... Lesson learned ... we are still about 4 days away from harvest so we will see if the chia overcomes our errors ...
This second set of photos is of sunflower seeds ... they were amazing and are amazing ... look at the size and color of the microgreens so far. We are so anxious to see what these big fellas are going to look like when we harvest them .... Confusing terminology used to describe what happens to a new plant ... the first leaves are from the cotyledon or seed, so the first leafs are what most microgreen mixes consist of. The first true leafs are the next set ... here are photos taken today at day 9 of our attempt to create a baby green system using our microgreen kits, the first two plants have produced our examples of the first true leafs ... We are expecting to harvest some baby green leafs from our arugula in approximately 20 days of growth, we are almost halfway home ....
Pardon the baseball reference, but if we build it they will come ... This idea stems from a local Whole Foods salad ... I have been using the arugula for my greens for awhile and noticed the baby spring greens mix that had some arugula, remembering my beautiful tray of arugula microgreens I wondered if I could round out my home salads with some baby greens like the pre made spring mix. Upon researching arugula, it appears that is should take approximately 3 weeks and we can harvest several crops of early leaves at one week intervals ... well the one week corresponds nicely to the time to grow out a new tray of microgreens, so there lies the inspiration for a possible new product ... a baby greens system to go along with our microgreen kits. Here is our field of greens at 8 days ... the main difference here is that I planted 3 seeds in the bioSoil with spacing of approximately 1", once the seeds sprouted I thinned the plants out to keep the strongest plant. I believe the first true leaves should emerge this weekend with multiple leaves appearing over the next week. Then it will be one more week to first harvest. Follow us along on this experiment as it will use all of the parts of a kit and we can add another tray while you simply use some of the seed from a regular arugula packet to populate this tray, it should have very little impact on your microgreen tray. The only thing needed more would be an additional disc of bioSoil. Since we are gong to promote more growth in these plants we are giving them a layer of two discs in this tray. We will soon see what we get ... As a matter of reference, the above is a photo of the last crop of arugula microgreens at the same length of time. Note the stronger and deeper leaf color and thicker and straighter stems. By allowing the plants access to light, they do not elongate like the crowded microgreen tray as they are all reaching for the light to grow.
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UrbaformUrbaform is a technology integrator and developer specializing in food production in the urban environment ... Archives
February 2020
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