Naturally Grown

MATTHEW SCOTT WALL PARTAKES IN AN INTIMATE AND CARE-FILLED GROWING PROCESS, ONE WITH A PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY AND CONSERVANCY.

Article by VANELIS RIVERA| Photographs by PRAJAL PRASAI

“Grandpa said he bought it for five-thousand dollars,” states twenty-eight year old Matthew Scott Wall, owner and grower of Wall Greens Farm & Seed. He’s referring to ten acres of land in the middle of hilly Calhoun, Louisiana that his grandparents still own from buying in the seventies as a weekend get-away. The carved out patch of land is more of a hideaway, fenced by thick towering trees and accentuated by a still pond at the foot of the hill. At its prime, the Wall’s former camping ground was grazed by cows, horses, and featured a vegetable garden (a substantial piece of land that awaits re-tilling). Currently, it’s Matthew’s operation headquarters.

Although Matthew’s grandparents haven’t touched the land in nearly three years, they’ve only recently relinquished some power to the place. He keeps getting more keys, he laughs. But it seems that his grandparents recognize the massive potential in Matthew’s micro-endeavor, and local food establishments are following suite. This small urban farm in Northeast Louisiana isn’t just specializing in microgreen production, it’s perfecting the art of doing small things in a great way.

Even for someone who grew up farming, driving tractors to make rows, planting peas and butter beans, and learning woodworking from his grandfather, venturing into microgreen growing is still a stray from the usual. But all roots must grow somewhere, and Matthew’s began as a busboy at former sushi restaurant Samurai. He was just seventeen when he was moved up from “cleaning people’s throw-up out of urinals” to learning the more respectable and artistic skill of creating sushi. His life course quickly changed as a sushi chef. He worked daily with fresh vegetables and learning how to pick the freshest tuna for customers. “I never even had sushi before I started there,” he says. He was hooked the moment he tried tuna that was less than twenty-four hours out of the water. “It just kind of melts in your mouth,” he recalls. Five years at the restaurant, his perks included free sushi and exposure to new ingredients, one of which was radish sprouts. It didn’t take long for him to grow microgreens himself, adding them to smoothies and salads; after all, he’s had his own garden since the age of eighteen. His first microgreens started out in his kitchen. He used small trays for each variety and would throw them into his smoothies (seeds and all). At the time, he wasn’t as informed on the full process of growing microgreens, and now, he makes it a point to shake the seeds off of the sprouts before cutting. Aquaponics was another early venture. His first goal was to have tilapia, but he needed to have a larger infrastructure than he was able to have at the time. The aquaponics still runs in the form of medium-sized fish tanks, but he just grows a little lettuce for personal use.

By that time, Matthew had already sowed the seeds of possibility concerning his business, and in 2014 he bought his LLC. His first business purchase was bees. He turned to these pollinators after hearing that local honey was “the way to go” to ease sinus issues. When he learned that his local bee seller had an apiary, he bought some bees from him and began the beekeeping production. But even with a growing hive, he knew it would take a while to commercialize his farm. “Bees aren’t really a way to make money at first,” he says. Even now, he only has eight hives, while it takes twenty-five for marketing. Between the beekeeping and microgreen growing, he learned from online seminars the commerciability of the miniature plants. Once you find your clients and get the investment of building, lights, and air conditioning, “not much else goes into them except seeds, soil, and water,” he says. He’s been growing greens for commercial use since March. The first client he reached out to was For His Temple Foods, restaurant-grocery store hybrid focused on preparing and serving healthy, nutrient-dense, great-tasting food. When the owner agreed, he sold her all the greens he had. It was as easy as that.

If you’ve never heard of microgreens, it may be hard to envision what they are exactly. “I kind of think of it as the veal of plants,” says Matthew humorously. “It’s the young tender version, before they can grow legs.” In other words, the small version of a regular plant. There are a few delineations for young vegetable greens. Sprouts are the youngest, having no leaves and with the shortest growing cycle. Microgreens are second, characterized by the first few leaves that emerge seven to twenty-one days after germination. Following are mini greens, baby greens, and finally the full-grown greens. You’ve probably seen them as a garnish for a variety of meals, and if you brush them to the side of your plate, you’re missing out on a punch of nutrients. Microgreens have about four times the nutritional value than their adult counterparts. Some may pack even more heat, like the red cabbage microgreen, which is forty times more nutritious than a grown radish. “It’s tender and it’s better for you,” informs Matthew.

Since May of this year, Matthew has been growing tray-fulls of these powerful three to four inch stalks in a 20 ft. by 10 ft. shed out in his family’s land. The bare-bones set up is emphasized only by shelves, lights, fans, and air purifiers. He has yet to get organic certified through Certified Naturally Grown, but his methods are currently all organic. Though the growing process is just as lax as the set up, the attention to detail is optimal for guaranteeing a safe food product. His first step is to weigh the heirloom seeds he gets from True Leaf Market. (He’ll be switching to all organic once he gets certified). By hand, he sprinkles them onto a 10 in. by 20 in. tray filled with coconut coir—a natural fibre extracted from coconut husks, also known as coconut fibre. This material is renewable and organic, a personal value he strives to incorporate wherever he can. Some seed holes can contain bacteria or fungi, so in order to sanitize the seeds, Matthew sprays them with diluted food-grade three percent hydrogen peroxide. Filtered water is then sprinkled over the seeds. Three trays are stacked: one underneath the seed tray for drainage and one over it to weigh the seeds and help them evenly form a connection with the soil. “It helps get them a good start,” Matthew says. In an almost poetic stride, the seedlings stay in the dark for three days (as part of the sprouting process). When it’s time, they begin reaching for the light in an almost desperate effort (the weighted tray their first obstacle coming into the world) until they burst open with incredulous fury for life, so much so that they end up raising the top tray. At that point, they are still yellow, but once they’re put under the shop lights, photosynthesis flushes them with green. They begin to shed their seed shell at around three to four inches, with Matthew sometimes expediting the process by brushing the leafy tops of the sprouts. Ready for packaging at this point, they get cut close to the foot of their delicate stalk, placed in a drying station to remove any additional moisture from their last round of watering, and then packaged in a plant material container that looks and feels deceptively like plastic but is one hundred percent compostable. It’s such a thoughtful and unexpected effort that once the For His Temple Foods team got wind of it, they started buying the containers from Matthew as well as his microgreens.

Matthew currently grows four varieties of microgreens—broccoli, radish, sunflower, and kale—that can come from a variety of seeds from different plants like arugula, celery, beets, and spinach. Matthew wants to try as many varieties as he can, currently setting his sights on basil and cilantro for the near future. While already expanding and gaining notable traction with local food vendors with only a handful of crops, his aspirations reach so much further than just grass roots. Just like his sprouts, he’s yearning for the highest light source. He plans to set up a road-side farm stand, purchase several plots of land for farming, and even have a microgreen food truck which will allow him to sell his microgreens right out of his trays, the freshest you can get them.

“Microgreens are a gateway crop,” he says, recognizing that thanks to them, he’s learned crucial facets of the germination process. This type of understanding is what allows him to partake in an intimate and care-filled growing process, one with a particular attention to environmental responsibility and conservancy. He strives to live in a symbiotic relationship with all the variables of nature from the biochemistry of the soil to the complex forms further up the list. “When people say pick yourself up by your boot straps they never mention that you have to get boots first, lace them up, then wear them in first,” he says. As a grower, he has encountered many obstacles and knows that more await in the distance, but like nature has taught him over and over again, all that is required for his success is his ability to keep growing.

Wall Greens Farm & Seed microgreens can be purchased at For His Temple Foods and Fiesta Nutrition. Visit their website (http://www.wallgreens.farm/) or follow the company on Instagram (@wall.greens) and Facebook to learn about their custom woodworking, honey bee removal/relocation services, and beekeeping hardware products for sale.