VFM Spotlight: Food Pedalers can keep you healthy with organic microgreens

In this series, the Georgia Straight visits different vendors at the Vancouver Farmers Markets to learn about their business, products, and why they love being at the weekly markets.

Vendor Profile: Vancouver Food Pedalers Cooperative  owned by Jaymie Johnson, Ross Jarvis, and Chris Thoreau.

What do you sell? Microgreens (sunflower, pea, buckwheat, radish, basil) and wheatgrass, which are all grown organically in soil in our unique shipping container greenhouse. We harvest twice every week all year long, and we deliver by bicycle throughout Vancouver—rain or shine and sometimes snow.

How did you get into your business? We identified a niche for microgreens at the farmers markets, and then expanded into grocers and restaurants. We also saw the opportunity to be a bike-based business, greatly reducing our carbon footprint and making us very efficient! We love biking our microgreens around the city.

What’s your specialty? Our sunflower shoots are quite well known for their firm texture and nutty flavour, while our wheatgrass is sweeter than you can possibly imagine!

Favourite item you sell? We each have our favourites, but sunflower shoots would be our go-to crop for folks looking to try our products for the first time. Though over the past several months, we have all started to really like our spicy radish shoots, which are becoming more and more popular at the market.

Favourite thing about the city’s farmers markets? The market is a great chance to interact directly with our customers, and to get feedback on our products in real time. It's also great to be around other folks running similar businesses and offering great food to the public! It’s a true foodie's paradise...