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CapitalPress.com
Friday, February 11, 2022
People & Places
Farmer has big success with tiny greens
By JULIA HOLLISTER
For the Capital Press
Established 1928
FORESTVILLE, Calif.
— Corie Brooks raises tiny
crops on a tiny farm. For
nearly three decades, she has
grown sprouts and micro-
greens on 1 acre.
She says that sometimes
the definitions of the two are
blurred. “Sprouts are the first
leaves the seeds produce,”
she said. “Microgreens are
the first true leaves produced
next.”
Growing sprouts and
microgreens is no easy task.
“Some
sprouts
and
microgreens are harder than
others to grow,” Brooks
said. “Each one has different
tricks.”
Brooks, a food scientist,
opened Brooks and Daugh-
ters 28 years ago.
Today she lives on 5 acres
and farms just under 1 acre
with five greenhouses on it.
The farm sells 80% of
the sprouts it grows to con-
sumers at the CUESA Ferry
Plaza Farmers’ Market in
San Francisco and the farm-
ers market in Berkeley.
One of the hardest things
— in addition to getting
them to grow — is get-
ting them to reach market-
ability at the right time, she
said. Tracking the weather is
essential.
Brooks & Daughters
farm never uses pesticides,
herbicides or commercial
fertilizer and uses only water
and organic compost on the
sprouts.
The health benefits are
Capital Press Managers
Western
Innovator
CORIE BROOKS
Home: Forestville, Calif.
Occupation: Farmer
Education: San Francisco
State University, bachelor
of food science
Family: Two daughters,
Geneva and Lindsay
Corie Brooks opened Brooks and Daughters 28 years ago. Today she farms just under
1 acre with five greenhouses.
many. The tiny plants have
concentrated amounts of
most of the vitamins and
minerals humans need.
Studies also show that
microgreens have 8-10
times the vitamins and min-
erals by weight compared
to the adult plant. An ounce
of wheatgrass juice is the
equivalent of eating 1 1/2
pounds of vegetables.
Also, the flavor is con-
centrated, she said.
The farm starts all its
sprouts in buckets of water
outdoors. Next, they are
transferred to specially
designed racks under a
large shaded structure.
As the seeds sprout, they
are planted in soil or in
17-by-17-inch open-bottom
nursery flats and moved into
greenhouses.
The sprouts and micro-
greens then grow for one
to four weeks in the green-
houses before they are ready
for market.
“Corie Brooks had a
background in food sci-
ence before taking over
the farm,” said Lulu
Meyer, CUESA’s director
of operations. “She grows
more than 30 varieties of
sprouts and microgreens
on the farm, rotating them
throughout the year and
feeds what she doesn’t sell
to her small but very happy
chicken flock.”
There have been some
downturns in the sprout
market due to COVID
pandemic. The business
had a “horrendous” 2020
because 60% of its sales
are to restaurants, which
also generally had an awful
year, Brooks said.
Retail sales were down,
too.
2021 was better and
things seem to be improv-
ing now despite omicron.
“She takes a lot of pride
in growing specialty micro-
greens for chefs in the Bay
Area, which is very evident
if you ever visit her at the
Saturday Ferry Plaza Farm-
ers Market,” Meyer said.
“Her stand is often the first
stop for chefs as they line up
for a shot of her wheatgrass
to power them through their
market shopping.”
Quote: “The business is
all women though not
intentionally, but it works
for us,” Brooks said. “We
enjoy growing and sell-
ing clean, fresh healthy
food at our wonderful
Ferry Plaza Farmers Mar-
ket. It is the best market
with the best customers.”
David King, a long-time
officer with both the Oregon
Hay & Forage Association
and the Klamath Basin Hay
Growers Association, lost his
battle with cancer and died
Jan. 26.
King, 62, had been a hay
grower in the Malin, Ore.,
area since returning to Klam-
ath County after graduat-
ing from Cal Poly-San Luis
Obispo in California with an
ag business degree in 1982.
The King farm grows alfalfa,
grass, timothy and triticale
hay and grain. The farm was
a member of the High Moun-
tain Hay Growers Coopera-
tive that marketed and sold
the hay products.
King was a founding
member of the state hay asso-
ciation. He was both a long-
time secretary of the state
organization and president of
the Klamath
Basin hay
association.
“David
put a lot of
hours into
both organi-
David King zations, try-
ing to make
them better, to make them
work,” said Mylen Bohle, the
recently retired Oregon State
University Extension hay and
forage specialist for Central
Oregon. “He saw the value of
the two organizations.”
King had planned to par-
ticipate in an evening zoom
meeting of the state associa-
tion on the day he died.
“David’s whole love
was farming,” said Robin
King, his wife of 40 years.
“He enjoyed the satisfac-
tion of seeing things grow.
He believed in the market-
ing part of the business and
that’s why he was also a
believer in the hay grower
associations. He believed
you could move forward
as a group better than as an
individual.”
King was first diagnosed
with leukemia in 1998. In
1999, he had a bone marrow
transplant with his daugh-
ter Whitney being the donor.
Six years ago, he had surgery
to remove cancerous cells
and then last year another
surgery.
Robin King and their son
Cameron will continue to
work the family operation.
The couple’s two daughters
are also involved in agricul-
ture. Angelina King works
for the Tulelake Irrigation
District and Whitney Cantrell
is an accountant for Macy’s
Flying Service and also does
bookkeeping for the family’s
farm operation.
David and Robin King
each have long family his-
tories in the Klamath Basin.
Robin’s great-grandparents
came to the area in the early
1900s.
David’s father, Frank
King, got a homestead in
the Malin area as a vet-
eran in 1949. That home-
stead property is still part
of the family operation with
the land being used to graze
cattle.
David King was known
as an innovator, trying new
ways to benefit the soil and to
conserve water. He was will-
ing to share what worked best
for his farming operation.
“He wanted to promote
education as much as possi-
ble,” Robin King said of her
husband. “He worked hard
every day to do it right and to
produce a high-quality prod-
uct. That was important to
him.
“It was also important to
him that people got the right
facts and perspective so they
would better understand agri-
culture,” she added.
Brooks adds that neither
of her daughters — Geneva
and Lindsay — is involved
in the business.
“When my oldest went
into the Peace Corps they
asked her what she wanted
to do. She said, ‘Anything
but agriculture!’ Grow-
ing up they did help with
the business and I believe
the close-up look at the
amount of hard work,
involved in farming, was
enlightening.”
Laurence Bagg, another
Malin area hay grower,
described King as efficient,
creative and progressive.
Bagg said King laser-lev-
eled several fields to make
them more efficient for flood
irrigating.
Scott Pierson, a Sil-
ver Lake, Ore., hay grower,
agreed that King was
“extremely innovative.”
“But he was also inter-
active,” Pierson said. “You
could ask him questions, but
then he wanted to know more
about your operation, your
soil and water issues.
“He was a serious repre-
sentative for the ag industry,”
Pierson added. “He could be
a professional among suits
or easily talk to a person
who was just getting into the
industry.”
Bohle said King is “a real
loss to his family, the Klamath
Basin and to the Oregon Hay
and Forage group.”
Longtime Spokane Ag Show site manager receives excellence award
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
SPOKANE — Brad Hoyt, a
longtime volunteer site manager for
the Spokane Ag Show, received the
Excellence in Agriculture award Feb.
1.
Hoyt’s humility was evident in
accepting the award.
“I feel like there’s a lot of farm-
ers and people that deserve it more
than me,” he said. “I appreciate the
honor of having it, but there’s a lot of
really good farming, technology and
things going on that I think deserve
the award also.”
Tim Cobb, chairman of the award
committee, highlighted Hoyt’s mil-
itary service and professional career
helping people invest and prepare for
the future.
“He has continu-
ally shown his com-
mitment to the agri-
culture committee
and to Spokane Ag
Show,” Cobb said.
Brad Hoyt “Personally, I can
say that (he) is one
who can be relied on to complete any
task, large or small. His dedication
has made the ag show the success it
is today.”
Hoyt grew up on a 400-acre cat-
tle, alfalfa and timber farm near Post
Falls, Idaho. Back then, a tractor took
“about a week” to plow a 100-acre
field, he remembered.
“The first day, if you got three
rounds, you were feeling like you
were really rolling,” he said.
He thought the tractor then had a
“huge tire,” he remembered.
“Some of these tractors have the
front tires as big as (our tire) in the
back,” he said. “As the machinery
got bigger and the laws got stricter,
people didn’t want to drive down the
road to get to 100 acres. It wasn’t big
enough.”
Hoyt retired about four years ago
after nearly 38 years as a financial
adviser. He’s been working on home
projects since then, including a shop
house at his home in Priest Lake,
Idaho, for the last year and a half.
Hoyt has volunteered at the ag
show since 1983, wanting to help the
community he was working with.
“I like helping the farming econ-
omy, they’ve been undervalued,” he
said. “Everything that comes from
the store comes from an ag business.”
Preparation for the ag show begins
mid-summer. In December and Jan-
uary, Hoyt goes over the schedule
to coordinate with exhibitors about
what machinery they’re bringing.
Move-in begins the Wednesday
before the show, with the major-
ity of the large equipment coming in
Sunday.
Volunteering for the show is one
way Hoyt feels he’s able to give back
to farmers. He admires how they’re
always willing to step up to help
someone in need.
“The farming community has
always been that way; it was when
I was little,” he said. “You helped
the neighbors if you could help the
neighbors, even if you only just put
in your muscle. That still is there.”
CALENDAR
Submit upcoming ag-related
events on www.capitalpress.com
or by email to newsroom@capital-
press.com.
THROUGH
SATURDAY FEB. 12
Organic Seed Growers Con-
ference: Oregon State Univer-
sity Campus. The Organic Seed
Growers Conference is the larg-
est event focused solely on
organic seed in North Amer-
ica, bringing together hun-
dreds of farmers, plant breed-
ers, researchers, certifiers, food
companies, seed companies,
and others from across the U.S.
and around the world. Farm
tours and short courses are held
prior to the full two-day confer-
ence. Website: https://seedalli-
ance.org/
FRIDAY
FEB. 18
PNWCTA Christmas Tree Short
Course: 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Sheraton
Portland Airport Hotel, 8235 NE Air-
port Way, Portland, Ore. The Short
Course’s primary focus is education.
To succeed in producing and selling
quality Christmas trees takes more
than just planting seedlings. It takes
commitment to continually hone
your skills, add to your knowledge
base and use the tools of your trade
in the most effective and efficient
manner possible. Website: https://
bit.ly/3gAmk17
FRIDAY-SATURDAY
FEB. 18-19
Oregon State University
Small Farms Conference (online):
Everything you ever wanted to
know about succeeding as a small-
scale farmer. Website: https://bit.
ly/3IA8jx9
THURSDAY
FEB. 24
Virtual classes for pes-
ticide applicators (online):
8 a.m.-noon. There will be vir-
tual classes for pesticide appli-
cators’ recertification, offered
by Oregon OSHA and the Ore-
gon Farm Bureau Health &
Safety Committee. The virtual
training will provide continu-
ing education credits for any
pesticide applicator licensed
in Oregon. Participants will
receive pesticide recertifica-
tion CORE credits to maintain
an applicator’s license. The four
CORE credit hours provided are
approved by the Oregon Dept.
of Agriculture’s “Worker Protec-
tion Standard: What You Should
Know.” Website: http://www.Ore-
gonFB.org/pesticideclass
THURSDAY-FRIDAY
FEB. 24-25
USDA Agricultural Out-
look Forum (virtual): The forum
will include more than 30 break-
out sessions on climate, inno-
vation, trade, commodity out-
looks and supply chains. Website:
https://www.usda.gov/oce/
ag-outlook-forum
TUESDAY-WEDNESDAY
MARCH 8-9
Oregon Wine Symposium
2022: Oregon Convention Cen-
ter, 777 NE Martin Luther King Jr.
Blvd., Portland. The Oregon Wine-
growers Association will host an
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Hay industry leader David King succumbs to cancer at age 62
By CRAIG REED
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Index
Water .............................................. 13-14
Opinion ...................................................7
CORRECTION
Dam position
corrected
Whatcom Family Farmers
advocates water storage
in the Nooksack River
Basin, but that could also
include aquifer recharge
and not necessarily a dam.
The group was incorrectly
reported as trying to rally
support for a dam in a Page
1 story on Feb. 4.
The Capital Press regrets
the error.
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