Tiny Microgreens Make a Big Splash at Greenwich Farmers Market

This summer there have been several new vendors at the Saturday Greenwich Farmers Market in the Horseneck lot, including TinyGreensCT, an urban farm that grows high-quality, hyper-local microgreens.

Daniel Ellern and Lily Mass share a love for growing their own food. At TinyGreensCT  they specialize in growing unique, delicious, healthy seedlings we call microgreens.

At the Saturday Greenwich Farmers Market, Daniel Ellern and Lily Mass of TinyGreensCT specialize in growing microgreens – unique, delicious, healthy seedlings. July 13, 2024 Photo: Leslie Yager

What makes TinyGreensCT unique? They use all organic inputs and grow strictly indoors.

“We take a lot of pride in our quality and what we deliver to our customers,” Ellern said.

At their urban farm in Stamford, they stack trays of seedlings on six foot tall shelves with specialized lights attached to the underside of the shelves.

And while they use regular tap water, they ensure that every drop has a slightly acidic pH of 6.0 for the microgreens to thrive.

The TinyGreensCT microgreens tent has become a staple at several farmers markets. They started out in the Wallingford winter market, and expanded to both the Fairfield market and Greenwich seasonal farmers markets.

A sea of tiny microgreens at the Greenwich Farmers Market. Photo: Leslie Yager

Also, they will participate in a new Tuesday New Canaan farmers market on Tuesdays, led by that town’s market master. This new market will be held on site at Designs by Lee beginning August 6.

Ms Mass said patrons at the Greenwich Farmers Market tend to already have an awareness of what microgreens are.

“We do occasionally run into customers who are not familiar with it, and our job is to educate them. Basically, microgreens are the young seedlings of the mature vegetables that we know and eat on a daily basis,” she said. “But they’re much more flavorful and nutrient-dense.”

Almost every mature vegetable has a microgreen counterpart. Early research has indicated that microgreens contain up to 40% more phytochemicals – beneficial nutrients and components – than their full-grown counterparts.

Ms Mass explained that every week they offer the basics – broccoli, kale, sunflowers and peas – but they add in some different varieties to “change it up.”

On Saturday their mix included Daikon Radish and Rambo Radish.

Daikon Radish is a green crop with an intense radish flavor great in any microgreen salad or full sized salad. Daikon is one of the most popular radishes to sprout as well. Use instead of sliced radish anywhere you would normally use radish. Radish greens have a pleasant peppery bite, whether raw or cooked.

“Daikon Radish has a nice kick at the end that takes you by surprise,” she said. “The Rambo Radish, to me, tastes like horseradish, but not spicy. It’s a little more mild.”

Ellern said his personal favorite microgreen was sunflower.

In addition to Daikon Radish and Rambo Radish, Saturday’s selection included Red Russian Kale, Broccoli, Mizuna Mustard, Sunflowers and Peas.

There are 3 different sized containers. The standard small container is $6.00 for 1-1/2 oz, which lasted us all weekend.

Salad topped with edible nasturtium flowers and mizuna mustard microgreens from TinyGreensCT. July 15, 2024

Mr. Ellern elaborated on the versatility of microgreens.

“You can put them in a salad. You can put it in sandwiches. You can garnish your plates,” he explained. “The mizuna mustard is great on sandwiches, especially if you are packing a sandwich to go a little while, this is a nice, dry way to add your mustard.”

Mixed Grass Cat Cups

“We also grow live trays of wheat grass,” Ellern said. “The cat cups, which are wheat grass, barley grass, oat grass, are healthy for cats to eat. They’re not catnip. They’re not psycho-active in any way. They’re just a nutritional treat for your cats.”

What’s the Future for TinyGreensCT?

Mr. Ellern said currently the TinyGreensCT business certification was strictly for a farm, though he and Ms Mass do enjoy juicing for themselves.

When a customer inquired about wheatgrass shots, Mr. Ellern said said unfortunately not, but he could arrange to have trays of wheatgrass available for the customer so he could juice them at home.

“We are not authorized to sell anything processed,” he explained. “The most we can do to our crops is cut them.”

“We’re working on getting into a commercial space, and at that point we hope to pursue another certification and do some juicing,” Ms Mass said.

The TinyGreensCT tagline is fitting: “Microgreens with a purpose.”

TinyGreensCT also offers a subscription program where they will deliver your favorite microgreens to your door weekly.

Visit TinyGreensCT at the Greenwich Farmers Market in the Horseneck lot on Saturdays from 9:30am to 1:00 pm.

Find them on Instagram and Facebook.
Email: [email protected]

 

See also:

Featured Greenwich Farmers Market Vendor: Sprout Juice Bar

Greenwich Farmers Market Featured Vendor: American Dream Coffee