Tiny Forest Micro-Greens in Billings grows small greens that deliver big flavor, freshness, and flair to a dish especially during this time of the year. Broccoli, mustard, sunflower, cantaloupe, and merlot radish are some of the tiny vegetables produced. Owners Bobbie and Forest Rush started growing these 1- to 3-inch produce as a project with their kids, whom they homeschool, during COVID in 2021.
Bobbie shares how they learned to grow microgreens. “We watched some videos. We did a little research, and we started growing in a little room in our basement, just a couple of trays at a time, for us to eat. And then we started sharing with our friends. And I have a lot of friends who eat healthy and are foodies, and so they were excited to try out what I was doing.”
Then Forest decided that they should try to sell microgreens to grocery stores and restaurants. They brought samples to Chef Jason Marble at Marble Table and Town and Country as well as Albertsons. They also approached the Yellowstone Valley Food Hub and the Healthy By Design Gardeners’ Market.
Inside their insulated garage off Rimrock Road near downtown, pink and purple lights give the space a futuristic disco vibe.The 500-square-foot temperature- and humidity-controlled grow room is optimized for successful growing conditions.
“We like to keep the grow room around 70 to 72 degrees, the humidity at about 45%,” Bobbie says.“Any warmer or more humid, it gives more of a chance for mold to grow.” ‘We also have different fans just to keep the circulation going.”
Three groups of shelves house seeds at different stages of germination. All are placed in trays with about ½ to 1 inch of soil. On the wall closest to the entrance, sprouting seeds are held down with a brick to control even development. Once the seeds begin pushing on the brick, the brick is removed, and they are put under lights for further growth.
“The lights are on all the time. They don’t go through a blackout period. I think that’s what helps the microgreen grow so quickly, as it doesn’t get nighttime here. For them, it’s always daytime,” Bobbie shares. The constant light, along with growing in soil, produces what Bobbie believes are more flavorful microgreens.
Bobbie sought help from Healthy By Design, a coalition that improves the well-being of Billings. It was started by the CEOs of Billings Clinic, Intermountain Health, St. Vincent’s Regional Hospital, and Riverstone Health, the home of the Yellowstone County Health Department.
Amanda Zimmerman Merter, Community Health Improvement Manager from Healthy By Design, explains, “Out of a shared recognition that if we work, we can have a much bigger impact on community health than working individually. In 2011, the coalition created the Gardeners’ Market. The South Side neighborhood is a USDA-designated food desert, having lost its grocery store in 2013.
Becoming involved with the market is simple. Emma Lamson, Community Health Improvement Specialist, shares that a vendor wants to participate in the market with selling produce or crafts, “We set them up with an orientation, and at this orientation, we go over correct licensing, depending on what you want to sell. We go over the guidelines’ handbook, and then just expectations for the market, and there’s no fee or charge to be a vendor.”
That vendor could be a home gardener with surplus produce, wanting to make a few extra dollars and share their bounty with the community.
“Microgreens are rich in a lot of important vitamins,” nutritionist Ginny Mermel shares, “Vitamin C, Beta Carotene, which our bodies make into Vitamin A. They have Vitamin K in them. They have traces of different minerals. The minerals depend more on what they’re grown in because that’s naturally how plants get their minerals, which is absorbing them from the soil or the water if they’re grown hydroponically.”
Executive Chef Jason Marble of Marble Table, a James Beard Foundation semifinalist with his wife Jen for Best New Restaurant in 2022, finds Tiny Forest Micro-Greens “stand out. You can taste the soil. They’re grown in the minerality, the depth of flavor that they bring. They’re super fresh. They bring that green element and depth of flavor is just, it’s there.”
At his restaurant, he highlights Tiny Forest Micro-Greens in his Heirloom Tomato Salad with a side of Merlot Radish and Sunflower Sprouts. The salad also receives a sprinkle of grated Parmesan cheese, bacon bits, and garlic crouton crumbs. Pea sprouts are found atop his mushroom risotto.
For how small they are, microgreens pack big splashes of flavor, nutrition, and beauty. Especially during this time of the year, Tiny Forest Micro-Greens can bring freshness to any dish.
