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Have you ever enjoyed a salad made with fresh local lettuce at an area restaurant either in the heart of winter or the inferno of August and wondered, 'Local? Now? How's that possible?” There's a good chance those sprightly greens came from Jeffrey Orkin's hydroponic urban farm, Greener Roots.
What started two years ago as an experiment in a downtown condo utility closet has burgeoned into a full-time commercial operation inside a 6,000-square-foot warehouse. Today, Orkin is annually supplying Nashville with six tons of sustainably grown leafy greens and herbs.
A landscape architect who got his master's in business with an emphasis on sustainability, Orkin was seeking another way to positively impact our food system. Hydroponic farming (growing produce using water and nutrients but no soil), he learned, can be done on a large scale with efficiency, making it conducive to urban environments. Taking advantage of indoor climate control and vertical space, he uses LED lights and a recirculating nutrient-infused water system to grow ten varieties of lettuce, young mustard greens, arugula, sorrel, assorted shoots, and select herbs such as chervil.
Orkin notes that his operation supplements, not supplants, traditional farming: 'Hydroponics is a piece of puzzle,” he says. "This will never take the place of our local farmers. But in an urban operation, I can sustainably provide high-quality greens year-round."
Imagine, for instance, 1,170 heads of lettuce flourishing weekly in the economy of 232 square feet. Imagine that freshness anytime of the year, traveling 10 miles instead of 2,000, to your plate. And then imagine the tastes, which run the lively gamut of crisp-clean-peppery-vibrant-biting-green-alive.
Chef Jeremy Barlow, an activist who has long been working to fix a broken food system, agrees. Dedicated to using 100 percent locally sourced ingredients at his sandwich shop, Sloco, he was excited to become Orkin's first customer.
'Urban ag is a big part of the solution,” Barlow says.
Chef Tony Galzin, who until recently worked at Fifty First Kitchen & Bar, applauds Greener Roots' sustainable nature and year-round accessibility.
'I love that I can text Jeff in the morning [and they will] harvest that amount and deliver it within hours, ' he says. 'It gives me a reliable source for weather-sensitive greens that don't do well here in extreme heat or winter. Greener Roots helps bridge that gap of wanting to use organic produce but not wanting it shipped from California in off months.”
There's an ever-growing roster of local eateries using Greener Roots, including Sinema, The 404 Kitchen, The Catbird Seat, Rolf and Daughters, Merchants, and The Treehouse.
Want to purchase some for yourself? Orkin retails The Nashville Blend, a five-ounce bag of butterhead, lollo rossa, and oakleaf lettuces, at The Produce Place, both Turnip Truck locations, and Hendersonville Produce. Stamped on each package is a 'harvest date,” not an expiration dateyour assurance that it's as fresh as it gets.