RISE Farms with Leah Dannar-Garcia
I am so excited to finally bring you my first feature on a local grower! As a homesteader myself, locally grown food is very important to me. Producing food locally and turning it into a business that fulfills the triple bottom line is no easy feat, so it’s my honor to highlight a local team doing just that! What is the triple bottom line you ask? It’s a popular business ideology that is shared by many small farmers. It’s the idea that your business be good not just economically, but also socially and environmentally. My new friend Leah, from Firefly Farm is doing just that on more than one farm in the Wichita area. Oh - and there is a full podcast with her - check it out here!
First, Firefly Farm is located in Andover and has been my go to for everything from local produce to fresh flowers and they have even hosted yoga events in the past. They service a handful of top notch restaurants in the Wichita area and also have a food hub available for local produce pick ups!
Now, onto the story of how RISE Farms came into existence. During COVID, when Leah’s main business over at Firefly was severely disrupted, she was set up by a friend with a contact from Fidelity Bank. Fidelity wanted to provide a safe, private parking garage downtown for its employees, but realized they didn’t quite need all the space they were building. Leah’s friend suggested an urban farm, made the introduction, and the rest was history!
Leah had time on her hands, again, thanks to COVID, so she embarked on the journey, hand in hand with Fidelity, to visit other urban farms and design what would ultimately be RISE Farms: Wichita’s own 15,000 square foot rooftop farm! At 15,000 square feet, RISE is one of the largest rooftop farms in the entire midwest, but funny enough it is still considered a “micro-farm” by farming standards.
RISE features 5 main areas: a perennials section, a floral section, a greens section, a rooting section, and even a greenhouse for winter production. One of my favorite moments from my tour was getting to try an edible flower. It was a small orange flower that had the texture of a micro green but tasted like a tangerine. It was pretty magical.
Also, I enjoyed hearing from Leah about the soil. To most, this may seem like a minute detail, but to me it was very interesting. The soil they use is not in fact soil but something called a “growing medium.” It’s part soil, sand, and some other ingredients that basically act as soil, but is more lightweight. When you’re carrying all of your gardening supplies up 5 parking lot stories, weight is important! What I found most interesting, is that Leah said the produce growing in the faux soil is actually healthier and more manageable than the produce in her in ground farm. Go figure!
Another moment that warmed my heart was when we were visiting the flower section. I was trying to focus on what Leah was sharing, but I was distracted by the ever so subtle scurry of bees enjoying the flowers. Yes, bees, in the heart of the city. As a beekeeper myself, I was absolutely tickled that RISE was not only creating a solid business for themselves, offering a service to Fidelity, but also fostering a safe place for nature - there’s that triple bottom line I mentioned earlier!
So, what’s next for RISE Farms and how can you visit? Keep an eye on their social media, as they will soon be offering public tours. You will definitely want to get some friends together and book a tour when they’re available, it will be well worth your time. Also, Firefly Farm will be adding a downtown pick up location for their food hub service in the near future. To Leah and Sarah, who were my tour hosts, thank you for having me and for all your hard work making our corner of the world a better place to live and eat!
Do you know a local grower that should be highlighted next? Let me know!
XO - Olivia
