Nestled on a small hill between the vibrantly colored houses of East Cherry Street is a farm capable of producing two-and-a-half acres' worth of crops, all in a metal freight container the size of a school bus. To any passersby, Cherry Street Farm looks no different from a misplaced shipping unit. Indeed, the hydroponics setup, which grows plants in a controlled climate using a nutrient-enhanced water drip, is built within a converted shipping container by Freight Farms based in Boston, and it's Seattle's first Freight Farms hydroponics lab.
Stepping into the container is like walking into a completely new biome. First, the humid air hits the nose with the fragrance of fresh earth. It took a minute for my eyes to adjust to the intense glare of the red and blue LED lights before I could focus on the grow operation: four floor-to-ceiling sliding plant walls. Currently, only two walls are growing plants, but the entire farm can accommodate up to 280 vertical channels, which can each fit 15 to 20 plants. Keith Tucker, founder of Hip Hop is Green, plans to expand the farm to full operation in a month.
"Right now, it's really a hot, sunny 70-degree day in here," Tucker says. He explains that the LEDs match the spectrum of sunlight ideal for growing plants. At night, the lights turn dark blue. The heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system strictly controls the climate for its botanical residents.
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