If there’s a lesson to be learned from Love Leaf Farm in South Hadley, it’s this: don’t judge a farm by its size, or the size of their crops, for that matter. In the words of farmer-owner Michael Fredette, “Love Leaf Farm is a very small, indoor vertical farm specializing in microgreens and selling mostly at farmers markets.”
Fredette has grown his business using the resources he has available without taking on any debt. By recognizing the benefits of something small, he is adding a little value and joy both to his life and the local economy. For many of his customers, that’s the same reason they add microgreens to a meal.
“Microgreens,” he explains, “are a little bigger than a sprout and a little smaller than a baby green. They grow for around one to two weeks before we harvest and sell them immediately. Not limited to traditional leafy greens, a wide variety of plants, from radishes to red cabbage, also grow tasty microgreens. Across the board, microgreens tend to have highly concentrated nutrients and flavors, often similar to the full-sized plant they would grow into.
Fredette’s green thumb and appreciation for home-grown produce date back to his childhood. Growing up in a single-parent household, gardening was a fun activity that also stretched their food budget. “Later in life, I worked in commercial flower greenhouses,” he says. “Then, in 2017, I took a new farmer training program offered by (University of Massachusetts Amherst) and Nuestras Raices in Holyoke for a summer. It was a great crash course, but I wasn’t at a place in life and didn’t have the capital to start a farm yet.”
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