The Sprout Project: Positive Vibes for Positive Greens

Have you seen The Sprout Project out on the produce isle of Key Food on East Park yet? 

Maybe you've seen some pictures of sunflower sprouts floating around somewhere on Instagram. 

Well, the news is OUT! And we are getting so busy and so excited about a growing enterprise partnership that the students at the NIKE work-based learning center is doing in partnership with LI Greenmarket. 

In the Fall, students began to learn how to grow sprouts and microgreens, but with a little bit of a twist. The results, are positive and amazing!

The Nike work-base learning center is an alternative option for high school students from Long Beach, Lido Beach, Point Lookout, and Island Park. It seeks to provide supportive options in vocational experiences and training, as well as Regents completion programs. Nike has worked in partnership with LI Greenmarket Inc. for the past 8 years, providing students with classes in horticulture and urban farming education. The school has 18 raised beds that students grow vegetables in during the warmer months. Students also work indoors at an off-site Greenhouse to grow microgreens.

This semester, students executed an experiment based on the work of Japanese scientist Masaru Emoto on the “consciousness of water”, which concluded when microgreens/sprouts were spoken

to positively during growth, their molecular structure- made up of 89% water, becomes stronger, healthier, resulting in more positive emotional energy. So, in practice, the Nike Sprout project microgreens are not only cared for by local students, but are also raised with positive verbal messages and vibrations, that we believe makes a healthier, edible vegetable.

Now, with the support of the Long Beach School District, students want to grow their horticulture program and microgreen entrepreneurial spirits. The Sprout Project is asking for the partnerships of local Chefs, grocers, and retailers to consider purchasing the Sprout Project Microgreens to help fund the construction of a working Greenhouse on the Nike Learning Center property. This learning facility would help facilitate a more substantial amount of microgreen products, as well as serve as a working classroom for not only Nike students, but other classes and grade levels throughout the Long Beach school district. Your support will make a very big difference in the learning and future of sustainability studies for our local students.

Where you can find the Sprouts for retail or in prepared foods: 

1. Key Food, East Park Ave.

2. Taste NY, LI Welcome Center @ Dix Hills

3. Bob's Natural Foods, West Park Ave. 

Also, keep a lookout for sprouts with local Chefs at Pop-Up events. Please follow our Instagram handle at @thesproutproject and spread the positive vibes! If you are interested in wholesale orders, we deliver local to Long Beach, Lido Beach, and Island Park!

Email us: glomeckes@ligreenmarket.org

photo credits: @thedreadchef, Raymond Smith