Nour El-Naboulsi, an innovative farmer in Burlington, Vermont, grows tons of fresh produce all winter without using any soil or sunlight, according to Vermont Public Radio. How is that possible, you ask? With hydroponics, a well-proven technique for growing plants indoors using nutrient-rich water and specific climate controls.
That might sound like something only a fancy laboratory can pull off, but El-Naboulsi built a fully operational growing space inside a retrofitted shipping container. The project, Village Hydroponics, provides healthy vegetables to the local community free of charge. So far, the vertical indoor farm has produced a variety of greens, including lettuce, Swiss chard, bok choy, cilantro, thyme, kale, and collard greens, VPR reported.
El-Naboulsi also prioritizes growing culturally specific foods, such as molokhia, a type of spinach central to his Palestinian heritage. The team tailors what it harvests for local Nepali, Somali, Iraqi, Congolese, and Burundian families, VPR explained.
Winters in Vermont are long and cold. It's tough for farmers to grow vegetables all year round, and adjusting to the region can be difficult for new Americans. Village Hydroponics aims to close each of those gaps by growing fresh produce during the dead of winter and choosing foods that immigrant families may wish they could find at the grocery store.
Read more at The Cool Down