Food-flation, wilted produce and recalls cause indoor garden trend to grow like a weed – Winnipeg

Whether it’s $5 for a handful of droopy herbs, $6 for flavourless lettuce that gets recalled or $10 for a small package of berries, most have had a moment of frustration or outrage while shopping the produce aisle.

Two Manitoba companies are joining an industry banking on that.

They’ve launched an almost-foolproof indoor garden system to feed the demand for food security and nutrient-dense produce.

Headingley’s T&T Seeds has helped feed millions around the globe in the near-century they’ve been in business. They’ve partnered with Winnipeg’s Les Verts Living to develop hydroponic growing systems small enough to fit into most homes or apartments, as well as a mid-size and larger model for restaurants, condo complexes, company lunch rooms and schools.

“If you’re looking at this in a grocery store, you’re probably looking at $300 worth of produce in this growing set up,” says T&T Seeds president Jarrett Davidson, pointing at the mix of lettuces, microgreens, mini pumpkins, heirloom tomatoes, colourful sweet peppers and herb varieties growing in the home-size mini garden.

“And if there’s a growing problem in Canada, the U.S. or Mexico, the demand is still high but if the supply drops, the price is going to skyrocket,” says Davidson.

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Most indoor gardens on the market plug into a basic outlet and cost less to power than a refrigerator.

Kerry Green, co-founder of Les Vert Living says anyone can do it and it takes only about 10 minutes a week to garden like this — and no dirt is involved.

“It’s literally almost from across your dining room or kitchen right to the table so it’s significantly closer than even farm-to-table,” Green says. The gardens will grow in a corner or basement so long as it’s 16 degrees or warmer.

Winnipeg care home Donwood Manor is using this new way of growing to get back to an old way of eating.

“We have a lot of residents who have typically gardened and when they come here they lose that ability,” says Donwood Manor CEO Paul Nyhof. “We’re also looking at strategies around food and dignity and around meaningful recreation.”

He hopes the next step in the care home’s food sovereignty journey involves chickens and goats on the property.

Resident Madelene Field hopes so too but in the meantime, takes joy in tending to what she jokingly refers to as the “grow-op.”

All of the spoils make their way into the facility’s kitchen including ingredients for summer borscht, now served-up year-round.

“It’s amazing here, it really is,” Field says.

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