Nashville Area Farmers Markets
Looking for delicious local fruits, vegetables, meats, or specialty foods? Check out this list of some of our favorite Nashville-area farmer's markets. Whether you live north, south, east, or west of ...
Radical Shoots
A Little Science and a lot of Moxie Grows these Tiny Powerhouses
For James Valencia, it all started in 2020 with a degree in Environmental Sociology and Communication of Science and Technology. Valencia’s passion is sustainable technology and its implications. Through a course project in Dr. Kevin Galloway's class, "How to Make (Almost) Anything," at the Wond'ry Innovation Center, he met and worked with Hassan Sharaff of HydroHouse Farms. Hassan introduced him to David Speegle at Cheekee Greens Farms, where he honed his skills and knowledge for the past year working in their hydroponic greenhouse and mushroom facility. With the biology, science, and food system knowledge under his belt, he then went on to work in the non-profit makerspace Fort Houston, cleaning the woodshop so he could have access to its tools, facility, and members. When he was offered a 100-square-foot space to use, he started growing hydroponically and spreading awareness of urban agriculture.
“There's a big difference between ordering at McDonald’s, where the ingredients and cooking processes stay behind closed doors, and watching my grandmother grind chiles and spices in her molcajete (passed down from her grandmother) to make salsa for homemade tacos,” he says. “One of those meals supports unsustainable supply-chains (mono-crop, third world country exports, high fructose corn syrup, etc). The other brings people together and facilitates the transmission of generations of culture. From a health perspective, there's a lot to be said as well.”
With only a small space to work with, he needed to maximize production with a vertical growing system. Microgreens fit the bill as they are high-value, can be grown in rapid cycles, and are extremely nutrient dense (broccoli microgreens are 40x as nutrient dense compared to the adult sized plant and contain incredible health-promoting compounds such as sulforaphane - not to mention they don't need to be scrubbed clean or steamed). Once his product was up to par, he started building restaurant clients. Today, James offers his micros under the name Radical Shoots at The Nashville Farmers’ Market and East Nashville Farmers’ Market as well.
As he gears up to expand into the greenhouse at The Nashville Farmers’ Market, Valencia has brought together a diverse team to collaborate with and improve the company. The team includes an agricultural engineer from Buenos Aires, a biochemistry/computer scientist from Oklahoma, and an NYU Stern Business School marketing major from Los Angeles, among others.
James and his team have a production style that is tech-forward and data-oriented, with the goal to create scalable, automated systems to bring local, nutritious greens to Nashville and beyond. Taking a part in the food system is fulfilling and exciting for James, with all the imagination and opportunity bubbling in the ag-tech field.
“Radical Shoots is an outlet for our creativity and hardworking mentality and is a springboard towards a future supported by decentralized, sustainable agriculture,” James says.
Shoot for the stars, guys, shoot for the stars.
What are microgreens?
Other than the obvious fact that they are very small in size, microgreens are young vegetable greens that fall somewhere between sprouts and baby leaf vegetables. Because of their size, they’re concentrated in nutrients and packed with intense flavors, featuring complex flavor profiles. They also provide a nice textural component to dishes, which is why chefs have been using them for years. Now, you can too.
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Baby Turnip Greens at the Farmers Market
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