Old brewery used to grow vegetables

For most farmers, bad weather means bad news.

For farmer Chris Wahlberg, however, weather… For most farmers, bad weather means bad news.

For farmer Chris Wahlberg, however, weather has never been much of a concern. His crops rely simply on location.

Wahlberg grows more than 30 varieties of sprouts and organic produce in the old Duquesne Brewery on the South Side. As owner of the sprout farm Mung Dynasty, he has taken the definition of urban agriculture literally by reusing an existing city structure and modifying it into a successful indoor farm.

His specialty is sprouts, which are what plant seeds grow into when deprived of soil and sunlight, but still given water. They are nutritionally rich and produce no waste. They rival meat in protein and tomatoes in vitamin C. Most importantly, they can be grown inside, in a city, during any time of the year.

And the Brewhouse is perfect for that.

The existing French drains, once used to dispose byproducts of frothy beer, now enable tons of cool, clear water to be sprayed on the plants without flooding the facility. So much water is doused on the sprouts that they grow about an inch a day.

“It’s pretty explosive,” Wahlberg said, and gestured to two trays to show the difference one day’s growth makes. They first looked like an army of pea-sized green heads; in the second, the heads had sprung sleek, slender Mohawks.

When the plants need florescent light, the brewery’s location next to UPMC South Side is convenient for uninterrupted power. The power company never wants a hospital to be dark during a power outage and, thus, the plant lamps stay on too.

Thick ceramic tile walls, lined with black garbage bags and insulation, keep the plants cool in summer and warm in winter.

“We have Caribbean conditions down here in January and February,” Wahlberg said.

Water, light and a comfortable temperature, Wahlberg discovered, were the secrets to growing sprouts. Today he grows about 6,000 to 8,000 pounds of sprouts a week, depending on the demand, including chia, corn, peanut, pumpkin, rice, rye, spinach and sunflower.

“What Chris does is very unique. He’s the only one I really know of that does it on that scale,” said Laurel Rush, the coordinator of Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture’s Buy Fresh, Buy Local campaign.

He also sells microgreens – similar to sprouts, but days older – salads and even “Atkins pizzas,” organic tomatoes stuffed with cheeses, garlic and basil, and ready to bake.

Rush said her favorite is the sprout garden salad, a mix of lettuces with broccoli, cabbage and mustard sprouts, and organic grape tomatoes.

Wahlberg first experimented with in-home food-producing systems in the early 1970s. He sold bean sprouts to Chinese restaurants.

Wahlberg moved Mung Dynasty to the Brewhouse in 1976, and by 1983 had things sprouting up all through the front two rooms of the large brick building.

This summer, he frequented the weekly Oakland Farmers Market, where young people could peruse his produce outdoors. Students can continue to do so every Friday until Thanksgiving.

“I had your onion sprouts in the early summer, they were really good,” complimented a blond-haired college student as he purchased a package of stringy alfalfa sprouts at the market on one sunny September afternoon.

Wahlberg continues to experiment with new varieties of sprouts in the city, and views the younger generation as “really doing things differently” and “really looking out for health.”

He offered one young person his version of pizza at the market.

The student looked mystified, smiled and then gave a “no thanks.”

Wahlberg smiled back nonchalantly. For a man who does outdoor business indoors, he seemed to really enjoy being out.

“The weather’s perfect – everybody’s out,” he said.