BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A seedling seeks out some light amidst a bed of greens, another flat gets a water bath. It may look like your average nursery, but on upon further inspection, this garden is growing in a basement in Buffalo.

"Making fruits and vegetables in a really sustainable way in an urban environment,” owner and worker of GroOperative Mike Zak said.

Zak and fellow worker-owner Josh Miller enjoyed gardening outdoors, but wanted to create something that could work year-round. GroOperative was their solution. The vertical and aquaponics based farm operating underneath Buffalo Roots utilizes a system of fish, water and waste to produce basil, oregano, mint and cilantro.

"The fish creates waste, waste is then turned by microbiology into a usable nutrient base for any type of plant,” Zak said.

One tower holds about 360 basil plants that grow in half the time as a traditional garden, an ideal setup as GroOperative tries to keep up with demand.

"Took us about 3-4 weeks before we had basil in the store and that's been our most consistent product,” Lexington Co-Op’s Mike Runco said.

The Co-Op was GroOperative's first vendor nearly 18 months ago. Since then, restaurants like Ashker's, Martin Cooks and SeaBar have also jumped on board, as Zak says they're able to provide live plants right to their kitchen doors.

"If a chef wants to promote super fresh microgreens, they have it live wherever they're preparing food,” said Zak. “They can just cut it as they need it; it's as fresh as you can possibly have."

As the urban farming trend continues to boom in Buffalo, so does GroOperative's desire to eventually shift the cooperative from this space to a bigger factory-style setting.

"A building say with a brewery or some sort of food production and waste and we can turn it into compost," Zak said., "We'd also like to share resources like heat and resources - get it to the point where we have renewable energy."

"The more people learn about it, it becomes not such a rare occurrence to see this kind of farming. When you have urban areas with not a lot of space it’s a great way, rather go up rather than go out," Runco said.