Detroit Lakes Boys & Girls Club members and staff will be enjoying the fruits of their own labors this summer, in the form of freshly grown crops from the club's new hydroponic garden. The first crop of lettuce grown in the garden was served up to club members on Wednesday, May 12, just under four weeks after the seeds were planted. Alex, one of the club's members, gave the plants an enthusiastic "100 thumbs up!" according to marketing director Alyssa Hoskins.
"We grew 144 plants in there," said Ethan Mattson, the club's recreation director. "We can have up to 288." The number of seeds planted is based on how large they will be when fully grown, he added. Future crops grown in the soil-free indoor garden may include not just vegetables, but also herbs, flowers, and even pumpkins or melons.
"The garden was purchased through proceeds from our thrift store," said BGC Executive Director Pat Petermann. "We're the first Boys & Girls Club in Minnesota to have one." The system came complete with an educational curriculum for teaching kids in grades K-12 how to grow their own crops. "We'll be incorporating it for the kids who come to the club this summer," he said.
To learn how the system worked, Petermann added, club staff drove out to River Falls, Wis., to view a similar, but larger system being used by one of Fork Farms' partners. Several schools and clubs in Wisconsin are already using Fork Farms' hydroponic systems to grow and harvest food for their own use, he said.
Petermann added that future plans may include partnering with Detroit Lakes High School's Academy program on an agricultural project of some kind. "My goal is to get about 10-12 of them (flex farms) to start an entrepreneurial program for teens," he said. "We're excited by the possibilities."
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