It’s no accident that Fullness Organic Farm’s most popular item is its Spring Mix, a 50-50 balance of fresh baby lettuces and greens that are seeded and grown year-round by farm founders Grant and Allison Guidroz.
A take on the Provençal salad mix, mesclun, Fullness’s Spring Mix is a wild tangle of greens highly varied in texture, flavor and color and grown on the old Longwood Plantation site near Gardere. It’s also packed with nutrients.
Grant Guidroz says the couple became interested in growing salad mixes early in their career while working on other organic farms.
“We noticed how much people—chefs, customers at the market, ourselves, friends and family—enjoyed a good salad mix,” Guidroz says. “We were drawn by its versatility and utility as an easy side dish or instant healthy meal without much effort.”
The composition of Fullness’s Spring Mix changes with what’s available, but it typically contains red and green romaine, red and green oak lettuce, the heirloom variety Mill’s Lettuce, arugula, red mustard greens, bull’s blood beet greens, Swiss chard, tatsoi, spinach, red Russian kale, pea shoots, red vein sorrel and French sorrel.
“The variety of shapes, colors, textures and taste are so beautiful,” Guidroz says, “especially when you consider the spectrum of nutrients the mix contains.”
To keep up with demand among farmers market patrons and local chefs, the Guidrozes have committed to growing the mix 12 months out of the year—not an easy task during the sweltering Louisiana summer. The couple are currently trying several new heat-tolerant greens.
“We’re always evaluating and looking for new things to add flavor, color or texture,” Guidroz says. “We get a lot of joy from making the perfect mix.”
