Gospel Rescue Mission begins vegetable growing program

Mar. 5—Gospel Rescue Mission is working to sell fresh vegetables year-round and help people get a Fresh Start.

"Fresh Start not only includes our vegetables, it includes a Fresh Start for many of our neighbors who have trouble getting a job because they have felonies, addiction, bad work history," said Rich Schaus, director of the Gospel Rescue Mission. "They now have a place to work for minimum wage or better."

GRM recently bought a hydroponic produce container, or Greenery, from the agriculture tech company Freight Farms. Hydroponic produce is grown with a water solvent and without soil.

The container, as big as a semi trailer, arrived Monday.

Schaus said the mission will start growing the vegetables as soon as the container's growing units are set up. GRM will have a ribbon cutting when the first crop is ready for sale.

"Once we get going, it would be three to six weeks," he said. "Every four to six weeks weeks, we'll be able to grow crops."

The produce will be sold in small, medium or large bags, Schaus said. Prices have not yet been set.

With each bag a person buys, GRM will match by giving a bag to needy people living in the neighborhood, Schaus said.

"You can buy a bag of vegetables or spinach, whatever happens to be that month's offering," he said. "You buy a small bag, a small bag goes to them. You buy a medium bag, a medium bag goes to them."

Initially, Fresh Start will focus on lettuce or other greens, Schaus said.

"We'll be progressing to what people would like to have," he said, adding that produced could be available any time of year.

Fresh Start Director Josh Baird said he can control the Greenery's temperature, water level and light through a computer.

"Everything the plant needs is delivered through water," Baird said. "It uses UV light. The temperature is controlled, the amount of water is controlled, the amount of light we use each day. It's all self-contained."

He said the container's nursery area holds up to 4,600 seedlings before they're transplanted to the cultivation area, which can hold 8,800 plants, depending on what's being grown. The plants are grown on racks that reach from floor to ceiling. He said the container is not expected to use more than five gallons of water each day.

"In 320 square feet of space you can grow two and a half acres worth of produce," he said." Two to four tons in a year's time."

Schaus said GRM had considered setting up greenhouses for clients, but there was so much damage to the property. He said GRM heard about Freight Farms while researching other options. Initial cost to set up the container was $150,000, he said, adding that GRM is seeking donations to maintain the Greenery through its first year.

Mission guests who have completed the job training program can work at Fresh Start for above minimum wage. He said there will be four or five workers once the Greenery is fully operational.