On Sunday, I paid a visit to Sunizona Family Farms in Willcox, Arizona. I had never been to a greenhouse farm before. Once we entered the 2 story high greenhouse, I was amazed by how cool it was. Gigantic swamp coolers keep the temperature down while row upon row of different varieties of pruned tomato plants, eggplant, cucumber, and peppers reached up towards the ceiling. Around 50 plants per row spanned each bed and each plant climbed it’s own string that kept the lone, pruned stalk upright while. Imagine looking out into almost an acre of indoor 9 foot tall dangling tomato plants bursting with vegetables and fruit. In a completely separate greenhouse are the micro greens, which are pictured above. The micro greens also have their own crew that delicately takes care of them. While we tasted plump red and yellow tomatoes, both the indoor and outdoor varieties of cucumbers, and picked right out of the ground radishes and asparagus, the micro greens had me transfixed. Micro greens don’t grow to be much more than 5-8 inches tall and once harvested, the remaining stems and soil is composted for another batch. It’s a finely tuned process. Each table that the micro green sit on in their trays is roughly 5 feet wide by 25 feet long and effortlessly slides from side to side to allow easy passage between the tables. One of the farmers kindly cut us a bunch. They were delicious. I highly suggest giving them a try for your next salad. They are usually available at Whole Foods, sometimes at Trader Joes and Sunizona can include them in their farm box available here.
Stay in the Tucson Foodie Loop
Weekly digest of new openings, events, and guides. No spam.
Article written by:
