Valerie Mancinas’ business, Fresh Start Microgreens, grew out of a desire to feed her children healthy food.
“The thing I usually say is that broccoli is 40% more nutritious like this,” she said. “That’s why I started growing them – just to get the big-time nutrition to my kids.”
Mancinas said her dad always had a garden growing up and she has always loved fresh vegetables, but it was her sister who got her into microgreens, or vegetable greens harvested just after their first leaves develop.
“My younger sister does it in Texas, and she taught me how, and so I started doing it,” she said.
As Fresh Start Microgreens, she has been growing the tiny, non-GMO vegetables for about a year and half in Ignacio.
Mancinas said she currently grows 13 different microgreens.
“My favorites, and people’s favorites are broccoli and kohlrabi, probably,” she said. “And sunflower ... of course sunflower.”
ngonzales@durangoherald.com
