How does your garden grow? For Tara Newman, it grows without harmful pesticides and fertilizers. Grays Greens Farm in Elma, Washington, it a local farm producing microgreens that are delivered right to your doorstep. You can’t get more farm-to-table than that!
Elma Farm Grows Sustainable Produce in the form of Microgreens
In the summer of 2021, Tara moved to Grays Harbor, with the idea of a farm in the back of her mind, but sometimes the road rises to meet you. “The farm was intended to be a long-term goal at that point, but I was too excited about it and before the moving boxes were even unpacked, I had started up a farm business growing and delivering microgreens,” she shares. “I started offering seasonal produce in summer 2022.”
“Our farm is woman-owned and operated,” Tara shares. “Farming skipped a generation in my family so I’m starting from scratch, but my mom has been my biggest supporter in building a farm and she is out here every week helping me make it happen.”
Grays Greens Farm grows microgreens. Microgreens are immature produce plants harvested early, around 7-21 days after germinating. “My grandmother actually grew and ate microgreens long before they were called microgreens,” shares Tara. “My mom got me into growing them on a very small scale several years back. Once I had the space to do so, I wanted to grow more and be able to share them with the wider community.”
Microgreens have grown in popularity due to their nutrient-rich nature. In fact, Tara shares that microgreens are up to 40 times more nutrient-dense than mature greens, like broccoli. “Microgreens are great because they provide both exceptional nutrition and exceptional flavor in a small package, she adds. “They are extremely versatile and it’s very easy to add them to just about any dish, though many of our customers snack on them straight out of the box.”
While it was hard for Tara to choose, she says she personally loves microgreens on sandwiches, in salads and smoothies, and with her stir fry. “No matter what you are eating, you can level up its flavor, nutrition and visual appeal just by sprinkling microgreens on top,” she adds.
Not only are Tara’s microgreens delivered fresh to your doorstep, she grows them in the best way possible. “We are committed to using better-than-organic growing practices,” she explains. “I started growing my own food because I wanted to be sure that it was free from pesticides, produced sustainably, and contains all the macro and micronutrients that should be found in fresh produce, and this is what drives our farm as well. We have a strong focus on agricultural practices that build soil health, including no till, organic compost application, cover cropping and regular soil testing to amend our soil with trace minerals as needed. Healthy soil supports healthy plants, which are more resistant to pests and more nutritious for the consumer.”
Fresh, Local Microgreens Delivered to Your Home
Farmers Markets are a great place to pick up local, fresh produce, but what if you need your produce on a different schedule or you can’t make it to your local farmers market? Questions like these are what promoted Tara to offer locally and sustainably grown fresh microgreens delivered to you. “I wanted to help people get microgreens and other healthy produce into their diets in a substantial way every single week,” Tara explains. “Offering a delivery service also allows us to know exactly how much to grow and harvest each week so that we can get produce into our customer’s hands when it is the freshest and most nutritious- our microgreens and most of our seasonal produce are harvested less than 24 hours before delivery. It’s the next best thing to growing it yourself and it doesn’t get any more convenient.”
It also allows people to have a direct relationship with the farmer growing their food, something that is becoming more and more rare in today’s food industry. Grays Greens Farm offers a wide variety of produce including tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, green beans, zucchini, winter squash, carrots, beets, radishes, potatoes, garlic, onions, leafy greens, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce mix, herbs, berries and more.
While most of her customers are on a subscription plan, you can order one-off deliveries from her site. In the summer and fall months, they also have an online farm store website. Grays Greens Farm is not open to the public, but you can arrange for pick-up if you are outside her delivery area. Anyone interested in purchasing produce should sign up for their email list or contact Tara directly at tara@graysgreensfarm.com. Learn more on the Grays Greens Farm website.
