Earth-Friendly, Low Maintenance Food-Growing: The Lettuce Grow Farmstand
Updated: Aug 29, 2021
I've been a big fan of Zooey Deschanel ever since 2006 when I saw her portray Kit, the quirky, slightly aggressive roommate to Sarah Jessica Parker's character Paula in the rom-com Failure to Launch. My partner and I adopted "Champagne Thursday" from that movie and have celebrated it ever since (though we use sparkling juice, because we don't drink).
We are such fans of Zooey that our daughter was even partially named after her! When I was pregnant in 2007, I was thinking of baby names and I thought of Zooey Deschanel and said, "Oh, what about Nozomi, and we can call her Zoie for short, like Zooey Deschanel!" I knew I wanted to incorporate my Japanese heritage into my daughter's name, so Nozomi-Zoie-for-short was the perfect name.
Years later, we watched Zooey venture from small supporting roles and indie films to make it big on the small screen with New Girl, and my Zoie adores her. We still watch New Girl on repeat to this day.
A couple years ago, I saw Zooey Deschanel post about the company Lettuce Grow, which she founded. They offered this thing called "The Farmstand" which sounded promising for someone with a history of a brown thumb like me. I've always wanted to grow my own food. I've been researching it and procrastinating on purchasing it ever since.
I'm very particular with food. I'm not a vegetarian by title, but I naturally don't eat a lot of meat, because meat freaks me out. I always hear about recalls and e. Coli and salmonella and...no thank you.
A couple of years ago, I noticed that there were increasing recalls for produce contaminated with bacteria, specifically Romaine lettuce. I haven't eaten Romaine lettuce since, because of the past recalls. In the last year, we've seen recalls in the U.S. for e. Coli, salmonella, cyclospora, norovirus, and hepatitis. (I know, because I use this app called FoodKeeper before I go shopping and it lists all the food recalls.) These recalls have affected lettuces, berries, apples, and even whey protein! So now, in addition to being weird about meat, I have the same apprehension about produce from the store.
But I want to eat produce! I love produce! It tastes good, it's healthy, it makes my body feel good. Between the recalls and the pandemic, getting in my produce the way I should be just hasn't been happening.
Enter the Lettuce Grow Farmstand, the product I've been dragging my feet on buying for over a year.
Basically, it's a tower with stackable sections so you can start as small or big as you want (my family will be starting with the largest size, because we always cook at home).
Earth-Friendly
The Farmstand is made from ocean-bound plastic recovered from coastal communities. It is BPA-free, FDA food grade, and CA Prop 65 compliant. It is a hydroponic system, which means it doesn't require soil, which also means no weeds and no need to spend hours pulling weeds or using toxic weedkillers.
When your Farmstand arrives, it comes in recyclable, eco-conscious packaging. Instead of a 40-foot garden, this only takes up 4 square feet, which is perfect for people who have small yards or apartment balconies. It can even be setup indoors with grow lights so you can grow and harvest year-round! My family is planning on growing ours mostly indoors with grow lights, as the winters in Wisconsin get frigid, but we may move our Farmstand outdoors in the summer months.
You purchase your seedlings from Lettuce Grow, where they start them off for you and ship them to you via mail. The cost is much less to you as the consumer than if you were going to purchase produce in the store. I can purchase 10 seedlings, which will grow into 10 full plants that continue to feed my family until the harvest is complete, for as little as $20. The best part about the seedlings for me is that they are pesticide-free and non-GMO.
The thing I love most is that it's good for the environment. Here are the ways the Farmstand helps you make a positive impact on the planet:
95% reduction in water use. For a conventional farm to grow ingredients for a simple salad, it takes 21 gallons of water. With the Farmstand, because the water is continuously reused via pump system within the stand, it takes less than a gallon of water for that same salad.
Reduction in land use. To grow the same amount of produce in a traditional garden, you would need 40 square feet of space. The Farmstand only requires 4 feet of space. In addition to reduced land requirements, it also doesn't contribute to soil erosion, since it's entirely hydroponic and contained within itself. Find out why that's important here.
95% reduction in carbon emissions. With traditional farm-to-distributor-to-store-to-consumer produce, it takes an average of 1,500 miles for food to travel from its source to your plate. Not only is the produce losing nutrients during that time, but it is also relying on fuel and power to make it to you. There is a lot of cost, both monetarily and environmentally, involved with the traditional distribution process of produce. With the Farmstand, your food travels from your Farmstand to your plate, with no carbon emissions or fuel required.
No pesticides. The USDA has found over 50 different varieties of pesticides, including known carcinogens, on traditionally-farmed produce. These pesticides also include 14 honeybee toxins, 17 suspected hormone disruptors, and 10 neurotoxins! The produce you grow with your Farmstand has none of those, and none are required to keep your produce healthy.
More nutritious produce. Within 3 days of being harvested, produce loses up to 30% of its nutrients. With the Farmstand, you harvest as you need to, so you're always receiving the optimal nutrients offered by your food.
Less waste. With the current traditional system of farm-to-distributor-to-store-to-consumer, over half (52%) of produce is wasted! Whether it's damaged or simply isn't used in time and spoils, that's a huge amount of waste! With the Farmstand, you can harvest the entire amount at once, or you can cut and come again, leaving whatever you're not going to use intact and allowing it to continue to grow.
You get to choose from over 200 vegetables, fruits, herbs, and leafy greens, which are sprouted for you and shipped as seedlings in the mail. Shipping in this way reduces emissions by 95%.
On our list, we have several varieties of lettuces and leafy greens, but I also made sure to get some zucchini, because we eat that most nights of the week. I think I'm most excited for the strawberries though! It will be nice to have some chocolate-dipped strawberries along with our sparkling juice on Champagne Thursdays. 🥂🍓
Sources:
Charlie Nichols is the founder of WHE and a staff contributor. Charlie studied Journalism & Mass Communication, Marketing, and Psychology at Madison College in Madison, Wisconsin. She has practiced witchcraft for over two decades and is a certified spiritual empowerment coach, a certified ethical psychic, and a certified crystal healer. Charlie lives on the shores of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin, USA with her partner, daughter, and animal companions.
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