Phase 1 commercial line (first harvest August–September 2026):
- Sunflower micro – stand-alone green, salad / raw bar / protein plate base
- Pea shoots – “tendril pea” garnish, plate finish, warm grain bowl
- Radish micro – heat-and-finish garnish for plated fish, steak, vegetable entrée
- Broccoli micro – raw bar / salad mix-in, lightly cooked finishing micro
- Wheatgrass – cat-greens baseline, cold-pressed juice bar, shot / blend use
- Mixed brassicas – “kitchen garden blend” (kale + arugula + mustard + broccoli rabe micro)
Phase 2 secondary lines — basil, cilantro, amaranth, arugula, kale — are queue-pending behind the Phase 1 rotation. If your menu calls for a specific additional line, that request folds into Phase 2 ahead of the baseline schedule. See the companion Wholesale Offer Sheet for the full Phase 1 table and per-variety menu-use detail.
- Case weights. Clamshells ship 6 to a case (~6 lb gross). Food-service flats ship 2 × 5 lb per case (~10 lb gross) or as a single 10 lb flat per case.
- Labeling. Every clamshell carries farm name, lot ID, and harvest date stamped on the lid — trigger the case-level lot-ID binder on delivery so you can trace any case back to a specific harvest tray.
- Mixed-case “first-order pilot.” A 10 lb mix-and-match case across the Phase 1 lines is available to new accounts that want to evaluate the rotation before locking a standing order.
48-hour order cut-off. Place the order, with delivery window confirmed, no later than 48 hours ahead of the chosen Tuesday or Friday corridor drop. Pre-orders welcomed against the August–September 2026 first harvest cycle window.
Emergency 24-hour add-ons. Same-day dispatch is doable for true emergencies — a 24-hour notice and a phone confirmation to the farm cover the cold-chain handoff.
Standing weekly cadence. Once a buyer holds a Tuesday / Friday slot, the order cut-off is 48 hours ahead of dispatch; any add-on or substitution rolls into the same drop. Full MOQ cadence (mixed-case pilot, standing minimum, seasonal pre-order windows) is on the Wholesale Offer Sheet.
- Shelf life: 7–10 days from harvest date stamped on the clamshell.
- Cold-chain: 34–38 °F throughout storage and transport. Walk-in cooler set ≤41 °F at dispatch.
- Clamshell lot traceability: Every clamshell is stamped with the harvest date; the case-level lot ID binder at the kitchen lets you rotate stock first-in / first-out cleanly.
- Do not freeze. Microgreens are a fresh-cut, living product — freeze-thaw damages cell structure and ruins plate finish. If a delivery arrives warm, flag it on receipt and we replace the case.
Process-level summary — for per-line yield and pricing see the Wholesale Offer Sheet:
- Cut: Pre-cut at the harvest table immediately after the grow-out cycle completes.
- Wash: Triple-rinsed in potable water.
- Dry: Spin-dried to a chef-ready moisture level (no standing liquid in the clamshell).
- Pack: Food-grade clamshells packed in our cold-room at ≤41 °F; same-room cold chain through dispatch.
- Trace: Lot ID on every case and harvest date on every clamshell.
- Terms. Net-30 default · Net-15 available by request · ex-farm pricing · no broker markup on direct Phase 1 accounts.
- MOQ per variety per drop: 5 lb minimum. A 10 lb mixed-case “first-order pilot” is available across Phase 1 lines to new accounts.
- Standing weekly minimum: 50 lb across varieties to hold a recurring Tuesday / Friday slot; below 50 lb / wk runs as case-by-case spot orders.
Volume-tier price matrix (Tier 1 / 2 / 3 by weekly pounds) lives on the Wholesale Offer Sheet — this FAQ deliberately does not carry the price grid so the two documents stay aligned on one source of truth.
Tuesday / Friday corridor drops to Richmond, Charlottesville, and Southside VA from the Locust Grove, VA facility (Orange County — central Virginia, ~1 hr from both RVA and CHO). Cold-chain dispatch from the on-site ≤41 °F walk-in; every case carries the lot ID + harvest date from the binder.
Beyond-corridor buyers (Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, the Shenandoah Valley, the Eastern Shore) are routed case-by-case — we coordinate the cold-chain handoff with a regional distributor or schedule a dedicated run if volume justifies it. Reach out before assuming a route is closed.
- VDACS regulated-facility filing — in process.
- GAP pre-audit — underway.
- HACCP — concurrent with commissioning.
- Third-party GAP audit — targeted Q1 2027.
Full GAP / HACCP readiness scope, walkthrough checklist, and a copy of the latest gap analysis live at /gap-haccp-readiness.html.
Email ironroost-farms@polsia.app with two preferred windows. Visits are scheduled on Tuesday / Friday mornings at the Locust Grove, VA facility, paired with a same-day harvest walk so a buyer can see the cut, wash, pack, and dispatch flow end-to-end against the volumes they are sizing.
- Window: Tuesday or Friday morning — aligned with the regular corridor drop so the visit coincides with a live harvest cycle.
- Slot length: 60 minutes, including the cold-chain walkthrough.
- Visitor cap: 2 visitors per slot so the walkthrough stays with the farm-side lead and the buyer sees the full rotation without a crowd at the bench.
- What you’ll see: grow-out racks, harvest table, triple-rinse wash line, spin-dry station, cold-room packing, and the case-level lot-ID binder — the same supply chain the kitchen will be receiving against.