Keen Green LLC
Website: www.KeenGreenMicrogreens.com/
This grower has a photo album.
Aubrey Hanford is a local entrepreneur who is truly passionate about growing food hydroponically. He has been involved in various projects throughout St. Petersburg giving selfless service of mentoring those who want to learn his methods. One of Aubrey’s recent projects is Hydro2Table(.com) which supports sustainable growing systems for school and community gardens, among which are Faith Covenant Church (FCC) Community Garden which was initiated and led by Annette Hubbard, another local valuable community resource. He will also be installing a hydroponic garden in the coming months at the Suncoast Haven of Rest Mission.
Now Aubrey has teamed up with Cathy Harrelson to create Keen Green, LLC. Microgreens are now his targeted passion and St. Pete Locally Grown is right there cheering him on! Our customers are going to benefit from live microgreens delivered to their door and placed on kitchen counter tops to harvest LIVE on demand. We are psyched!
Who are we?
Aubrey is a farmer from Pennsylvania who has relocated to St. Pete to help grow the supply of healthy locally grown food. He has been a speaker at agriculture conferences and local events, and provides consultation to community gardeners. He is also a Kickstarter alumni with two successfully funded projects.
Aubrey was a gardener since he was a small child and got into farming as a career in 2009. His passion has always been odd or unusual varieties of common fruits and vegetables. He started more recently with microgreens as a way to grow a superfood in a super small space.
Cathy is an environmental organizer who works with a number of local and regional groups to affect changes in planning, water and habitat conservation, and alternative energy production. She is a member of the People’s Budget Review and the St. Pete Sustainability Council.
Why we grow what we grow
Microgreens are a superfood that grows super fast in a super small space. Our microgreens are packed with nutrients, antioxidants, and minerals. They’re so rich, we even recommend eating them in moderation (top a salad, accent a sandwich, spice up a smoothie).
How we do it
We start with a USDA Organic professional grade potting mix on top of which we sprinkle our seeds. Our seeds are USDA Organic where available, or otherwise heirloom varieties. Each pack of our microgreens is delivered to you ALIVE growing in this nutritious soil. This means that when you cut your microgreens, they’re as fresh and as nutrient-packed as possible!
Each tray is grown to harvest size in 4-14 days, depending on the variety. The production area is currently a box trailer that has been converted into a mobile greenhouse with shelves along the sides that hold the microgreens flats.
We are chemical-free throughout our process, and never use any synthetic products of any kind. The seeds even provide their own stored energy to grow to harvest size!
Our environmental commitment
We use a sustainably-sourced USDA Organic potting mix that helps protect our natural peat bog resources. After the microgreens are harvested, the soil, roots, and stems left over can be composted in your compost pile and reused in your garden. We also recycle the plastic bags in which the potting mix is packaged.
Our packs are recyclable HDPE and, if returned to us, are cleaned and reused.
We also recycle the seed packaging when possible.
In our greenhouse, all our growing flats have solid bottoms to catch water so that we use as little water as possible.
