ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — When you imagine a farm, most will picture acres of land, red barns and green tractors. But in the Quad City Botanical Center parking lot sits a different type of farm: a hydroponic farm inside a freight container.
Tapestry Farms announced its new urban farm venture last December. It's in partnership with the John Deere Foundation, River Bend Food Bank and the city of Rock Island. The entire farm is contained within a single 320-square-foot freight container.
"We have wanted to grow hydroponically since the very beginning of Tapestry Farms," said executive director Ann McGlynn. "It takes a lot to get into hydroponics though, and so we just never had a clear path towards that. The reason we wanted to do that is because hydroponics obviously allows us to grow year round. And we really liked the concept of having fresh produce available to our community year round. So when we were approached by the Deere Foundation about the possibility of this project, we said absolutely, yes."
Hydroponics is the technique of growing plants using a water-based nutrient solution rather than soil. After the seeding process and the initial growth period, the plants are transplanted and all grow vertically on moveable walls inside the container.
Tapestry Farm's hydroponics manager Sonja Kinzer has spent the past few months experimenting inside the urban farm. In the last two months, she's harvested 200 pounds of different types of lettuce and 40 pounds of radishes. It only takes a couple weeks from seed to harvest and radishes are the quickest crop.
"It's all automated with lights and water," Kinzer said. "And it only uses about five gallons of water a day, which is pretty good. And all that will come down through the emitters, and then it goes back into the water tank. So it keeps reusing that water until I do a water turnover about once a month."
Part of the experiment is finding out what grows well and what people will like.
"I think it was like a month, a little over a month that we weren't doing anything. We had some issues getting water and electricity," Kinzer said. "I've had to learn a lot about that and little things here and there like nutrient wise having to figure out how much to do and watering. So it's a lot of trial and error."
The goal is to not only provide fresh produce all year round, but Kinzer also wants to start experimenting to grow foods that the refugees Tapestry Farms work with like. A woman who runs an African market has asked if she can try growing okra.
"I do also want to try and grow things that the refugees that we work with like, things that they had from home or that they tend to veer towards more often," she said. "So like the green onions or herbs, a lot of our clients from Afghanistan use those."
Some of the produce gets donated to area food banks. Tapestry Farms also sells some to Nest Café and is starting to sell at the Rock Island Farmers Market.