Virtual Microgreens Workshop
Microgreens: Delicious and Incredibly Nutritious
Microgreens are the baby plants of what grows into a vegetable or herb. They are tiny, colorful, and very tasty. These greens are often used as flavorful toppings to salads, soups, and sandwiches. Learn more about what makes microgreens so unique in our article:
MICROGREENS: Delicous and Incredibly Nutritious
Virtual Microgreen Workshop
Despite moving towards an online format due to COVID-19 restrictions, Guahan Sustainable Culture nonetheless presented another hit microgreens workshop that welcomed 16 participants. The workshop entailed an educational discussion on the techniques and methods of growing your own microgreens right inside your home. Participants were provided with a starter kit before the workshop so that they could plant alongside their instructor, Michelle Crisostomo, owner of Tiny Greens Guam and President of GSC. Participants learned how convenient it would be to have fresh veggies to put in their soups or salads — all stemming from the satisfaction of having grown these microgreens themselves!
The success that comes along with workshops like these provides GSC with great pleasure, as it helps push our initiative towards food security and food soveriegnty one step further.
https://youtu.be/Xv2C1M8Q44U
From Microgreens to Food Sovereignty with Michelle Crisostomo
Written by Shaylin Salas
Michelle Crisostomo is the owner of Tiny Greens Guam and co-founder of Guåhan Sustainable Culture. Michelle has not always been interested in agriculture, but she definitely grew up around it. Her dad, Dave Crisostomo, is the Aquaculture Specialist at the University of Guam (UOG), and has been engaged in different aspects of plant and livestock cultivation for most of his life.
Michelle has fond memories of following her dad to work and helping him feed the fish at the UOG hatcheries. She shares, “I even remember swimming in Tilapia tanks when we were little.” Dave explains that his family is not necessarily a farming family, but the interest in plants and animals is inherently there. “I guess that’s genetic,” he laughs.
Several years ago, Dave asked Michelle to help out with his microgreens business. As she got more involved, her passion and leadership began a natural shift of ownership of her own microgreens business. Soon after, Michelle founded Tiny Greens Guam, a local microgreens producer.
Microgreens are the baby plants of what grows into a vegetable or herb. They are tiny, delicious, and nutritious. They grow to their full size in just a couple weeks, and can be grown year-round if maintained properly. These greens are often used as flavorful toppings to salads, soups, and sandwiches (1).
Michelle says that after diving into the business, “it just grew into something that I wanted to share with everybody. I realized it’s so easy to do this.” Michelle’s experience with Tiny Greens Guam is what inspired her to co-found Guåhan Sustainable Culture (GSC) with Marlyn Oberiano.
Together, they formed a non-profit organization that aims to educate, cultivate, and nourish the people of Guam. GSC, founded in 2019, educates the community through public workshops. Since 2019,, they have hosted microgreen growing workshops among other topics such as hydroponics, aquaponics, and raising hens. During each microgreen workshop, participants learn how to create their own microgreen gardens and ways to incorporate their harvest into meals. Michelle shares, “it all started with, you know, tiny little microgreens for me. Just learning how to grow my own food and learning how plants work, and then grew into something much more.”
Michelle is a mother of two boys and a little girl and through this role, she sees how critical it is to know how to grow your own food and then to pass that onto your children. Michelle also emphasizes that learning to grow food and sharing it with others builds stronger relationships in your community. She wants her family - and the greater community of Guam - to strive toward food sovereignty and an overall healthy and sustainable island ecosystem.
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