Two local couples have been growing lettuce using aeroponic garden towers for the last nine years, but it has only been in the last three that they have been working to turn their passion for healthy food into a profitable venture.
“We literally went into this mission-driven,” said Brandy Foss. “Now we’re having to come back and figure out the business plan.”
Brandy and her husband Ken, along with their former neighbors, Dominic and Bridget Gildehaus, are partners in WashMo Towers. After originally collaborating with Hillermann Nursery & Florist, they are currently running their indoor food-growing operation out of Dominic and Bridget’s garage. That will soon change, though, as they’re preparing to expand into a building at 1202 W. 5th St., formerly Lakeview Banquet Hall, which the Gildehauses bought last September.
“Just lettuce is what we grow right now,” said Dominic. “That’s the easiest to grow, so we stuck with that, but a tower can grow anything that produces above ground, so I mean no potatoes, no carrots, no root vegetables, but peppers, tomatoes, strawberries, you know, herbs, cucumbers.”
Aeroponics is similar to hydroponic gardening, where plants’ roots are immersed in water, but uses a mist sprayed onto the roots rather than fully submerging them. Instead of using soil, the plants’ roots are held in place using rock wool, a spongy material made from spun-off rock.
Brandy said she was inspired to expand from small-scale vertical gardening after a third student was diagnosed with cancer during her daughter’s four years at St. Francis Borgia High School. With the idea that eating healthier is a good first step to reduce the risk of cancer, she initially wanted to supply fresh lettuce to every area school every day, she said, but after doing some math it became clear that a much larger operation would be needed.
The Gildehauses and Fosses each started with one aeroponic tower made by the company Juice Plus, which WashMo Towers is affiliated with. They now have 36 towers in the Gildehauses’ garage, with space to expand to 100 in their new facility. It would take three times that many to consistently supply lettuce to every area school, Dominic said, although Brandy noted that Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School, St. Francis Borgia Grade School and Washington Middle School now have their own vertical farms.
While the partners in WashMo Towers may have had to slightly scale down their original vision, they say they are currently growing as much lettuce in a 625-square-foot garage as could be grown conventionally on an acre of land.
“One of the things that really makes sense to us with it is that it uses 98 percent less water, uses 90 percent less space, grows 30 percent more, yields three times faster than traditional gardening and it’s safe in nutrition,” Dominic said, adding that, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the United States loses thousands of acres of farmland every day.
“I think about when I was growing up here, where Schnucks is, that was all farmland just not too long ago,” said Brandy. “And so at the end of the day, we really do take our land for granted.”
While there is still some work to be done running electrical and water lines at their new facility, as well as painting the entire growing space bright white to better reflect light, the WashMo Towers owners hope to have lettuce growing in the upstairs of their building within the next few weeks. The downstairs of the building, rebranded as the WashMo Event Center, will remain available to rent out for weddings, parties and other events — when WashMo Towers isn’t hosting events of its own there.
Source: emissourian.com
Photo Credit: wikimedia-creative-commons-jeremy-bronson
Categories: Missouri, Business, Crops, Fruits and Vegetables