Cathy Munro is the queen of greens, or perhaps the queen of microgreens might be a more accurate title.
Cathy’s roots did not begin in the soil, but rather in the sea. The daughter of a fisherman, she grew up in Nova Scotia’s Port Bickerton, where her father would later become captain of the Country Harbour ferry. Cathy decided on a career path that would keep her tied to the ocean and became a fisheries biologist.
As many of us know, we do not always finish as we mean to start. Cathy and her husband moved to a beautiful old farmstead in Alma, Nova Scotia. There, the garden grew and the family grew. As her children aged, Cathy returned to her career, but soon realized that leaving her family every day did not fit into the ideal of the homestead lifestyle she was drawn to, so she left that career. It left the huge question: what to do?
At this time, the New Glasgow Farmer’s Market had just erected a facility that would allow them to operate year-round and Cathy felt this might be the perfect fit for her. It brought about a second question: what to grow? She knew she wanted to be able to offer fresh produce 12 months of the year, so she settled on microgreens. It was a match made to be: she loved the market and the market folk loved her greens! Soon though, Cathy had a desire to expand and to make the move from market vendor to full-fledged businesswoman.
Cathy developed her operation, called Bramble Hill Farm, and grew the business to include pea shoots, a seasonal micro mix starring the largest of the micros, fava, a spicy mix, a beautiful and bold broccoli mix and my personal favourite, the FarmHER’s mix, which is a constantly changing blend of microgreens that was so named to honour all the strong “FarmHERs” working hard to get their products from farm to table.
Cathy aims to empower nutritious meals, inspire healthy habits and to help you sprout your green thumb, and that has never been easier with the launch of Bramble Hill’s home microgreen kits.
These “cute as can be” kits come in several varieties; radish, pea shoots, fava, broccoli mix, buckwheat and for those feisty felines in your life, there is even a cat grass kit. It was very important to Cathy that she create a high-quality product with minimal packaging. The kit comes fully contained: there is no tray needed, once you remove the top of the package the greens will grow in the base. The plastic is also recyclable.
Just in time for the holidays comes the release of Bramble Hill Holiday Kits, a blend of pea shoots and buckwheat which is the first multi-blend kit to be offered. Cathy suggests that they make excellent stocking stuffers and she has even had an order from a customer who intended to use them as ecofriendly Christmas cards!
The micro gardens are sold in stores or on the Bramble Hill e-commerce site and can be purchased individually, in three-packs or in a bundle containing all six varieties. The kits contain minimal packaging, as mentioned above: simply snip off the top, water, and place in a sunny spot; soon you’ll be harvesting your own micro greens.
Visit www.bramblehill.com for a list of retailers or to order online.
While you’re there, check out Cathy’s delicious recipes using these wonderful microgreens.