Urban Coyote Farm Makes Big Splash with Microgreens

Growing fruits and vegetables on a farm typically takes a lot of water, time, trouble and land along with a little help from the weather. It would be wonderful if fruits and vegetables sprang up instantaneously, or at least days or a few weeks at most after planting, and could go, literally, fresh from farm to table.

But, of course, you can’t rush Mother Nature. Fast food may be one thing, but fast farming simply doesn’t exist. Or does it? If you happen to be growing something called “microgreens,” which practically spring from seed to table in less than a few weeks, you’ve grown food as fast as nature allows.

Nicole Petti, an East End microgreen farmer, recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of her one-woman operation, Urban Coyote Farm, a home-based microgreenery in Wading River. Petti in a year has planted over 200 pounds of seeds, growing about 4,000 10-by-10-inch square trays and producing about 10,000 “clamshells” full of microgreens.

“It took a lot to get here,” Petti says. “From learning how to grow, retrofitting my grow space, and setting up processes to meet industry standards, it was certainly a labor of love.”

While most farmers stick to one or a few plants, Petti farms a variety microgreens that include broccoli, celery, cilantro, cress, dill, leeks, parsley, radish, sunflower, pea shoots, and a rotation of seasonal mixes.

Microgreens, she says, are “bursting with micronutrients and antioxidants,” six to 40 times more nutritious than their adult forms.

Microgreens first started to spring up in California in the 1980s and 1990s before “becoming more mainstream over the past decade,” according to Integris Health.

Integris describes Microgreens as young seedlings of edible vegetables and herbs that can be harvested and eaten as little as a week to 10 days after the cotyledon, part of the embryo within the seed, develops leaves.

These “tiny versions” grow to a few inches and can come in 50 to 60 different varieties. While they originally were served as part of fancy menus and at high-end groceries due to higher cost, that has changed.

“The use of microgreens has expanded now that they can be grown at home,” Integris says. “You can add them to a salad, put them on a sandwich or top a steak or fish with them to provide a floral contrast.”

Urban Coyote Farm is named “for the resiliency and adaptability of the urban coyote, which we constantly draw inspiration from as we innovate and build our suburban food system.”

A suburban, rather than rural, farmer who needs less land than ordinary agriculture, Petti specializes in freshly harvested, double washed microgreens. Her agricultural cycle is very different from most of her fellow farmers.

After harvests, microgreen farmers need fresh soil, seed and a sterilized container or growing mat — all additional costs to traditional farming, according to Integris. This process is not to be confused with growing sprouts, which germinate in water to produce underdeveloped leaves. Microgreens grow in soil and sunlight and take at least a week to produce leaves, before going up for sale and ending up in salads or otherwise on plates.

Petti says she seeds trays twice weekly, going from seeding to harvest in from eight to as long as 28 days, depending on the variety.

“Harvest entails cutting the greens, double washing them, spin drying them followed by a quick fan dry, and then they get packed,” she says of her process. “Washing is the most labor-intensive part.”

Petti believes washing “makes for a far superior end product both in quality of the green and convenience for our customers.”

Once the microgreens are packed and labeled, she separates them for orders and markets, delivering to regular customers on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Prospective customers can sign up for Urban Coyote Farms Microgreen subscriptions with weekly and bimonthly options and delivery ranging from Stonybrook to Southold and everywhere in between.

Signup forms are available on her Instagram and Facebook pages @urbancoyotefarm.

“I’m absolutely delighted to bring customers gorgeous microgreens each week,” Petti says. “I harvest once or twice per week, depending on where we are in the season.”

While microgreens may be small, they can be big on benefits such as nutrients. A 2012 study of 25 microgreens in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that, on average, they had four to six times more nutrients than their mature counterparts.

Red cabbage microgreens, for instance, had a staggering 40 times more vitamin E and six times more vitamin C, while cilantro microgreens had three times more beta-carotene, according to Integris Health.

“You can easily grow them in your own kitchen or outside in a garden,” Integris adds. “All you need is light, a container, soil and water. Of course, you also need seeds to plant.”

While some stores and websites sell pre-packaged seed mixes, you can also buy them from Urban Coyote.

Petti sells her microgreens Saturday mornings at the East End Food Market farmers market, currently at Twin Fork Brewing, 807 Raynor Avenue in Riverhead. The market, she says, is scheduled to move to the new East End Food Hub at 139 Main Road in Riverhead this summer.

Petti also sells her microgreens at KK’s The Farm Sunday Market, held monthly in Southold, and plans to sell at Three Village Farmers Market in East Setauket May through October on Fridays from 3–7 p.m.

“I love selling directly to my customers” Petti says. “I get to see their faces light up.”

Petti accepts SNAP and Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) payments at the East End Food Market, as part of her effort to make microgreens more easily available. And she hopes to expand her wholesale business.

“I want to nourish the most people possible, and that means expanding access,” she says.

Urban Coyote microgreens, Petti adds, also will be available on the North Fork at Sang Lee Farms in Peconic, 1760 Homestead in Riverhead, Golden Acres Organic Farm in Riverhead, the South Fork at Share the Harvest Farm in East Hampton and Hen of the Woods in Southampton.

And you can order them through Zilnicki Farms’ weekly, a customizable Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, available for delivery or pick-up at their Riverhead farmstand. “We have a few new partners in the works as well,” she says. “So stay tuned.”

Urban Coyote Farm microgreens also are available as part of the new, all-vegetarian menu at North Fork Chocolate & Eatery in Riverhead. Additionally, North Fork Chocolate Chef Steven Amaral uses the company’s microgreens for pesto.