Lowcountry Cuisine Spring 2018

lowcountry cuisine LC 11 www.LowcountryCuisineMag.com | www.CharlestonRecipes.com W hen was the last time you picked up an apple or a bag of spinach at the grocery store and felt excited? If you can’t remember, try something grown locally instead. I, for one, was inspired by the fresh vegetables and fruits I experienced visiting two of our area growers: Vertical Roots Produce and Fresh Future Farm. As distinctly different as they could be, both operations do the good work of feeding residents in the Charleston metro. I had the sincere joy of visiting both farms and learning a little more about what they do to make fruits and vegetables spring forth. Vertical Roots Produce I’m always delighted at great stories that start off with a friend calling another friend to share an idea. Take Matt Daniels, for example, who phoned his pal Andrew Hare and suggested that the two get into vertical farming. That was in 2014. Four years later, their aeroponic farms are gaining traction around the Lowcountry. What’s an aeroponic farm? It’s a farm where the plant roots hang in the air instead of being tucked into soil or water – hence the word “vertical” as a description. For Vertical Roots Produce, crops thrive inside custom shipping containers lovingly made by Tiger Corner Farms Manufacturing. I was able to step inside the one on Daniel Island, located next to Dockery’s. It was definitely a new experience for me, seeing all those greens standing up in mid-air and lit by LED lights. A purpleish hue bathed our faces as Matt and I continued talking. “When Andrew and I first started the project, we wanted to bootstrap it and not spend a lot of money, so we did everything from scratch – I even made the lights By Denise K. James