Buffalo may be known for its chicken wings and fish frys, but residents also have an appetite for a variety of locally grown healthy foods. WBFO’s Farm-to-Table series features entrepreneurs in the local farm-to-table movement, including a husband and wife team in the Town of Amherst growing a new business with tiny nutritious plants.
Justin and Lisa Brocato are the owners of Rooted Locally.
"Indoor we grow microgreens and edible herbs and flowers, twelve months a year," Justin said.
Microgreens, he says, are just small versions of larger plants and vegetables known for their intense flavor and high nutritional value.
"You use them in like salads, sandwiches, wraps. A lot of restaurants use them as garnish, smoothies. They're four to 40 times more nutrient-dense than adult plants," Justin said.
The couple converted their two-car attached garage into a controlled 24/7 grow room with heating, ventilation and special LED lights. They plant everything in small black plastic trays, on floor-to-ceiling racks, and produce nearly two dozen varieties.
"Cilantro [is] popular. This is a mustard. It tastes like a Weber's Horseradish Mustard. Peas. We have nasturtiums. Amaranth and basil. We've got arugula. And we got some edible flowers growing right now," Justin said.
They started out in their spare time in 2016 and Lisa says their customers now include about 30 local restaurants.
"We have some very loyal restaurants, which is wonderful. And then we're out to two farmers markets in the summer. So we're at the Elmwood-Bidwell Farmers Market and the Williamsville Farmers Market. And we try to do as many pop-up events as possible to keep us out there right now because we don't have that shop yet that people can come to and purchase microgreens from," Lisa said.
That will be changing thanks to a $25,000 award from Ignite Buffalo, which allowed Justin to leave his job as a catering manager and go full-time with Rooted Locally. And it helped buy property to expand their home-based business.
"Our plan is to be an indoor grower beyond microgreens, herbs and edible flowers so that local restaurants and regular, just consumers, can come and get locally grown produce year-round," Lisa said.
That's key for Michael Dimmer, owner of Marble + Rye on Genesee Street in downtown Buffalo. Since opening nearly five years ago, Dimmer says the mission from day one was to work as locally as possible.
"The thought was not only to be able to help local farmers in our area and shorten the carbon footprint. It's one of those things where, you know, if everybody says, 'Oh well my contribution to the carbon footprint—it's so small, it's not doing anything.' If everybody thinks that way, then nothing's ever going to change," Dimmer said.
So, he says everything from the kitchen is scratch-made with mostly products from about a dozen local farms. He has worked with Rooted Locally and says he's a big proponent of growing microgreens indoors.
"Because where I am big on local farmers, I consider them to be local farmers, as well. And I'm not blind to the idea that when winter hits we have a very big problem here with being able to produce salad greens and stuff like that. So the quality of what these guys are putting out is incredible," Dimmer said.
That's music to the ears of Susan McCartney, director of SUNY Buffalo State's Small Business Development Center. McCartney says farm-to-table business owners are in an "amazing economic ecosystem."
"Each benefits from it, and everybody keeps the money in Buffalo. If you look it up, if you have businesses doing business with other businesses, and then you have the consumer involved, so you have this triple situation of all the money just rotating within our economy, locally, that is better for all. This is like the tide that raises all ships," McCartney said.
Across New York state, she says, the number of food related businesses surpasses that of all other businesses.
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February 28, 2020 at 04:12PM
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Farm-to-Table: Microgreens, edible flowers and herbs - WBFO
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