![]() They are so delicate and tender, they nearly fall apart when you try to section them. If you’ve never had Sweet Scarlett grapefruits before, you should totally add them to your ‘must eat’ list. If only dieting were this easy all the time, am I right? Two sweet, juicy fruits that seem to really love one another when they come together and meet a tangy, peppery vinaigrette. What makes this salad so amazing is choosing the highest quality ingredients when they are at the peak of their season. Move over boring steak – the salad sheriff’s in town – and it’s packing a whopping sweet grapefruit and a killer vinaigrette! From here on, salads are no longer going to be an after-thought, they’ll become the main attraction. Loaded with in-season fruits and vegetables, this salad made me realize I need to incorporate more healthy greens into our rotation. If only all forms of healthy eating were this tasty. Now I have some good news… this salad is good, really good. Swimsuit weather calls for salads, are you with me on this one? Bring on the healthy eating!įriends, today we’re getting our leafy greens on, with a healthy salad as we start the transition from spring to summer. Wiebe, who has 15+ years experience as a chef, shared how to bring the farm to table with an easy, delicious and healthy vinaigrette recipe made all the better with fresh local ingredients.This Grapefruit Salad with Champagne Vinaigrette is light, healthy and full of summer flavor. ![]() “I do believe in the future we’ll see a lot more farming like this, not just here but everywhere.” “This kind of farming and farms like this, which are postage stamp size, I hope expand,” said Philo. The Verdegreens team believes that traditional farming will soon become a way of the past with the development of more sustainable farming methods like hydroponic and vertical farming. “We definitely have the person at the end of the process in mind when we harvest and sell things,” said Philo. Consumers can browse the Verdegreens website and choose from offerings like a single head of living lettuce to various sizes of farm boxes that include a variety of fresh local produce. The idea bloomed into a booming venture, which was no surprise with the green thumbs at Verdegreens. So, an idea that we just sort of kicked around was offering some sort of produce box,” said Philo. “At the time, about half of our revenue was split between farmer’s markets and restaurants. Luckily, they came up with an out-of-the-box idea. It allows us to grow plants much faster and much healthier,” said Wiebe.Īfter building up business with the Houston restaurant scene and hitting the farmer’s market circuit, Philo, Trainor and Wiebe were dealt a blow during the pandemic. ![]() The water system itself is recirculating, so we don’t have any wastewater or runoff water. “Hydroponic farming uses about 90% less water than conventional farming. “Eventually, we’d go and start another venture and open a restaurant and be able to serve this local food to Houstonians.”įor now, the trio is focusing on the farm and perfecting the way they grow a myriad of produce ranging from lettuces to herbs to microgreens. “We were looking for a way to get closer to the food and understand where it’s being produced and how it’s being produced,” said Wiebe. “That sort of translates very nicely to this work because in some ways there’s a lot of parallels making sure that the stage is set for these beautiful lettuces to grow.”įor Philo, Wiebe and the third partner Billy Trainor, Verdegreens was a way for them to take a step back from the final dish and get a better understanding of the ingredients that go into it. “At one point, I had a lot to do with the wine buying at a restaurant.that led to an 11 year career in winemaking,” said Philo. Verdegreens was founded by three restaurant industry veterans, a winemaker, a chef and restaurateur, who each bring their own unique skills and experiences to the farm. We have a mix of hydroponics and no-till soil, and this kind of farm can easily be replicated all over the place,” said Wiebe. “We’ve really proven what we can accomplish on one acre of land. Business partners Dave Philo and Kyle Wiebe shared what makes their farm different and in many ways better than traditional farms. But, located in Acres Homes in north Houston is Verdegreens, a small sustainable farm with big hopes for changing the future. Since the early 1900s the number of farms has dropped more than 60 percent, while the average farm size has grown by nearly 70 percent. HOUSTON – Rural farming in America has changed drastically in the last 50 years.
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