Marine veteran grows new business with microgreens

BROADWAY, Va. – On the ground floor of a manufacturing facility, Ian Young – a young entrepreneur in Broadway – happily clicked on a project management software called Notion.

“It’s great because you can tag all the days,” Young said. “You can plan for a certain date. It’s amazing. That’s how I plan for everything.”

The young produce – various types of microgreens – is laid out on the day it is ready to be harvested, packed and sold, by planting the seeds and soil on various lighted shelves of neatly stored plastic sheets.

At his business headquarters, MicroBite Farms, Young — a transition veteran who served at the Marine Corps — grows more than a dozen types of microgreens, greens like broccoli and cilantro that are dense from seed and grow in less than three weeks to harvest. They have grown their first leaves. They are different from “buds” that grow in water.

“When I started eating these, I lost a lot of weight,” Young said. “I was fat when I got out of the Navy. There are so many health benefits.

Before becoming a vendor at the Harrisonburg Farmers Market on Tuesdays and Saturdays and selling for CrossKeys Vineyards Bistro and providing and ordering the small plants, Young — always with a green thumb — discovered microgreens as a hobby and after serving four years in the military for their superior ingredient. Content.

“I just love doing this. It doesn’t sound like work to me. I love meeting customers at the market,” Young said. “The restaurant customers are all very friendly.”

These baby-green versions make full-grown peppers, sweet and spicy, based on the plant. Young Red Acres sells dozens of varieties, including cabbage, daikon radish, sunflower, broccoli and a variety of salad mixes.

“i eat. [salads with microgreens] It’s because the field is so full of flavor without wearing any clothes,” Yang said. “As far as nutrition goes, you’re getting a lot of bang for your buck.”

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To grow them, he starts seeds in a layer of soil weighed down by a concrete block. The next “black” stage encourages the plants to form long stems. It’s a trait that attracted new CrossKys Vineyards CEO Lionel Velazquez to become one of the first small local suppliers with MicroBeat.

“We love his product and are excited to bring it in,” Velazquez said. “We use them for our meals and events here at the bistro. They’re clean, they taste great. I like to have micros with big stems and this one does it.

The young man, who is currently working on a bachelor’s degree from Penn State University, said he started selling microgreens to restaurants around State College, Penn., but he started following the pandemic and business was slow.

“I’ve always enjoyed the idea of ​​being my own boss, but it’s really hard when you do it. I’m always learning and sometimes I feel like I know what I’m doing,” Young said.

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The young man’s time in the Navy—where punctuality and preparation were essential—helped him develop the “self-management” he needed to run his own business full-time.

“I don’t think I could do it before the Marines,” Young said. “You have to take care of yourself and be healthy and show up on time every day. It helps a lot with that. I don’t have days. If I forget to water or something,[the plants]die.”

One of the things Yang, who is obsessed with efficiency, likes about this business is being able to grow a lot of food in a small indoor space without using any chemical fertilizers.

“The end game for me is to use everything in the sun, but not in direct sunlight,” says Yang. “Freshness is hard to come by. My long-term goal is to distribute widely but maintain quality.

The young man who said that he found his interest in microgreen development, said that he hopes to grow the business to a higher level. The goal of the youth, which “seems like a dream at the moment”, is to create a large solar energy facility.

“At some point you have to take a chance on something, whether it’s a career track or whatever. And this is it for me,” said Young.