CRAVEN COUNTY, N.C. — Ryan Willett’s passion for growing began as a child, helping his dad in their huge garden. Now, as an adult, he is digging deeper in order to follow his passion for sustainability and water conservation.

“I still remember the first head of lettuce that we sold at a farmers market….the lady picked it up, and she was like, ‘I’m going home to paint this,’” Willett says. “It just really stood out like that first punch. Like hey, we’re really doing the right thing. We’re doing something good.”

When Willett started his farm, Harlowe Custom Microgreens and Hydroponics, he never expected it to be such a success. He specializes in hydroponic gardening, a growing technique that uses nutrient-rich water instead of dirt.

“It’s far more efficient because it’s being delivered directly to the roots and it’s being consistently recycled so the roots have a constant opportunity to only take what they need and shed off the rest,” he says.

Willett plants the seeds in foam blocks that disintegrate once he transfers the seedlings onto the hydroponic table. The plants use about 50 gallons of water a week. That’s only 10% of what a regular field crop of the same product would use.

“The goal of the farm is to produce in a sustainable manner,” Willett explains. “I don’t want chemicals on my food. I don’t want chemicals in the ground. So we use a top-down regenerative process where we try to reuse as much of everything that we can.”

He built the setup from scratch. Gravity pulls the water across the roots and then collects it in a big container where it is pumped back to the top again. Hydroponic gardening has been around for a long time, but it’s recently grown in popularity because of how sustainable it is. In cities and areas where water and growing space are in high demand, this technique is a viable solution.

“This method of growing allows you to grow 100 times the amount of food per square foot with the same amount of nutrient input,” Willett says.

In addition to hydroponics, Willett and his girlfriend and business partner, Rebecca Rabone, grow microgreens. Microgreens are grown in high-density clusters for a short period of time. They are about 10 times more nutritious than a full-grown plant. Willett and Rabone sell their products to 17 restaurants and multiple local farmers markets in Craven and Carteret counties.

“It’s just a really personal relationship that we have with our customers, and they’re just really important to us,” Rabone says.

Ultimately, they want to teach people how to eat healthily and sustainably. You can find Willett and Rabone at the Beaufort and New Bern farmer’s markets starting in April.