Lowcountry Cuisine Spring 2018

lowcountry cuisine LC 12 www.LowcountryCuisineMag.com | www.CharlestonRecipes.com myself,” he said. “Later, I met up with Stefanie Swackhamer of Tiger Corner Farms, and they hired me to assist with growing and operation. We got the system to a level of producing crops, and Andrew came back on board.” Today, Vertical Roots Produce has farms in Summerville as well as the spot on Daniel Island, and all crops are grown without pesticides in coconut fiber, which is “very sustainable,” according to Matt. The idea of plants grown in midair is catching on. Restaurants in downtown Charleston – somewhere between 60 and 80 locations – are currently using produce grown by Vertical Roots. “A lot of cool things are happening right now,” Matt said. “Growfood Carolina has been a big advocate for us, and they distribute to restaurants on our behalf.” There’s also a contract with Dorchester District 2, which has several Title I schools. Matt, Andrew and the rest of the staff are excited to work with the school system and named giving back to the community as one of their current and future goals at Vertical Roots. “We’ve worked with Lindsey Barrow of Lowcountry Street Grocery. Her mobile market goes to some lower income areas. Whatever crops we don’t sell, we donate to the Lowcountry Food Bank. We donated a lot this past winter during the holidays and snow,” Matt said. “And we’ve had a container before that grew crops strictly for donation. We’re hoping to do that again soon.” Even though he said they have a “hands off until harvest” approach with the plants, Matt was gracious enough to pluck a few greens off – arugula and mustard – and let me have a taste. They were delicious. Fresh Future Farm It was the rare warm day this past January when I drove to the Chicora-Cherokee neighborhood in North Charleston and spent part of the afternoon basking in sunlight with Germaine Jenkins, CEO and director of Fresh Future Farm. They say necessity is the mother of invention – and that was definitely the case for Germaine, who fielded so many calls from folks in the Come Visit Us! 616 D Long Point Road Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464 Where European Chic meets Southern Style