By Ann Volkwein

There was no one like Sproutman. The father of Great Barrington natives Ari and Noah Meyerowitz, Steve Meyerowitz brought vaudevillian talent to sprout education, captivating New York City schoolchildren for four decades. He was a superhero with a belief forged from his own journey through vegan, vegetarian, and raw food diets. After his death in 2015, said Ari, there was an “outpouring of people saying that his teachings changed their lives.”

Sprouts are simply baby vegetables packed with energy and growth potential, which makes them easy to digest and more bioavailable nutritionally than the matured plant. Quoting his dad, Ari said, “If you’re practicing a raw food diet, sprouts are essential. For everyone else, they should be.”

Taking over the Sproutman company, the brothers shifted what was largely a publishing company (Steve had written 10 health-focused books) to a product-focused online business.

With increased food insecurity, sustainability awareness, and the hyperlocal movement, their sprout business has found firm footing in online sales of sprouting kits and seeds. The next stage? Retail. “Direct online has always been our focus, but we are at a point with brand recognition where now retailers are interested in us,” Noah said. “Guido’s has always been our anchor store.”

Ari added, “They give us wonderful feedback. And having that, we’ve been able to experiment and talk through ideas.”

Small organic farms benefit, too: Becoming seed suppliers to Sproutman gives new life and revenue streams to those growing specialty crops or harvesting from their gone-to-seed cover crops. Noah said, “These farmers are really incredible at producing the product, then our role is to distribute them and create those markets.”

sproutman.com